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the Light: Plato versus Aristotle and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization. Mr. Yoo is the Heller Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of Point of Attack: Preventive War, International Law, and Global Welfare.Lots of things matter where your job satisfaction, earning power, and the success of your career are concerned. Your boss matters. So does your education, the industry you've chosen, and macroeconomics.
And luck. Luck definitely plays a part.
But while those are all important factors in your career -- and your earning power -- here's one factor you probably haven't considered:
Your spouse.
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis found that people with relatively prudent and reliable partners tend to perform better at work, earning more promotions, making more money, and feeling more satisfied with their jobs.
That's true for men and women. "Partner conscientiousness" predicted future job satisfaction, income, and likelihood of promotion (even after factoring in the participants' level of conscientiousness) for both sexes.
According to the researchers, "conscientious" partners perform more household tasks, exhibit more pragmatic behaviors that their spouses are likely to emulate, and promote a more satisfying home life... all of which enables their spouse to focus more on work.
As one researcher said, "These results demonstrate that the dispositional characteristics of the person one marries influence important aspects of one's professional life." (Or, in non-researcher lingo, a good partner sets a good example and makes it possible for you to be an even better you.)
I know that's true for me. My wife is the most organized person I know. She juggles family, multiple jobs, multiple interests... she's a goal-achieving machine.
For a while her "conscientiousness" got on my nerves until I realized the reason it bugged me was because her level of focus and drive implicitly challenged my inherent laziness. I finally realized the best way to get more done, something we all want to do, is to actually get more done -- and she definitely helps me do that.
And I try to do the same for her. Since my daily commute is two flights of stairs, I take care of most of the household stuff: laundry, groceries, cleaning (I don't do all the cleaning but I make sure it gets done), etc, so when she comes home she can just be home.
So, while she's still considerably more conscientious and organized than I am, she's definitely rubbed off on me in a very positive way.
Which of course makes sense: as Jim Rohn (and others) likes to say, we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with -- and that's particularly true where our significant others are concerned. Bad habits rub off. Poor tendencies rub off. We all know that.
But great habits and great tendencies rub off too.
Plus, if one person is extremely organized and keeps the household trains running on time that frees the other up to focus more on work. (In a perfect world both would more or less equally share train-engineer duties so that both can better focus on their careers, whether those careers are inside or outside the home.)
Of course I'm not recommending you choose your significant other solely on the basis of criteria like conscientiousness and prudence. As the researchers say, "Marrying a conscientious partner could at first sound like a recipe for a rigid and lackluster lifestyle."
Nor am I suggesting you end your relationship if you feel your partner is lacking in those areas. But it does appear that having a conscientious and prudent partner is part of the recipe for a better and more rewarding career.
So here's what you can do. Instead of expecting your partner to change, think about what you can do to be more supportive of your significant other. Maybe you can take on managing finances, or take on more household chores or schedules.
Since the best way to lead is to lead by example, in time you may find that you and your significant other make a great, mutually supportive team, each of you genuinely, and actively, supporting each other... and supporting each other's goals and dreams.
You don't need research to tell you that kind of relationship would be awesome.
Now it's your turn. How has your significant other affected (positively or negatively) your career? Better yet, how have you helped your significant other?
I also write for Inc.com:
Check out my book of personal and professional advice, TransForm: Dramatically Improve Your Career, Business, Relationships, and Life -- One Simple Step At a Time. (PDF version here, Kindle version here.)
While I could go all hyperbolic on you, here's the deal: If after 10 minutes you don't find at least 5 things you can do to make your life better I'll refund your money.
That way you have nothing to lose... and everything to gain.As a culture, our love affair with all things Trek began in 1966, and as the franchise continues to grow, so does our passion. In this six-post series, we’ve been exploring Star Trek’s role in television comprehensively, beginning first with The Original Series. We’re now moving on to The Animated Series. I’m a huge fan, but no expert. I may miss something, and there’s always room for more Trek goodies. I’d love your feedback and welcome a hearty discussion, “where no one has gone before”.
As the Spring of 1973 dawned, a burgeoning Writers Guild strike took hold. The arduous hold out represented a demand for increased wages and better health benefits. The upside? Members of the Guild were only prevented from writing for live action TV programs. Authors were permitted to write one episode of an animated TV program, in essence funneling highly talented writers just where we needed them. Sci-fi writers formed the basis of a very special project: an animated series unlike any to have graced the screen.
Budgetary limitations that had previously saddled the live action series did not plague the newest member of the franchise: no makeup budget meant that more aliens could be introduced, and telling the stories via illustrations meant that more exotic starships and more mysterious planets could find their way into our homes each Saturday morning. More creative liberty also brought us precursors of the holodeck and replicators. While not everyone wholeheartedly welcomed TAS, The Great Bird approved, and that’s all that mattered.
Captain – James T. Kirk
Vessel – USS Enterprise NCC-1701
Mission – To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. (TAS is widely considered a representation of the final year of the original five-year mission.)
Setting – Milky Way Galaxy
Number of Seasons – 2
Number of Episodes – 22, each a half hour
Aired – 1973-1974 (Reruns aired in the 80’s and 90’s.)
Stardates – 1254.4-7403.6
Pilot Episode – “Beyond the Farthest Star”
Awards – Two Daytime Emmy Awards nominations, one win. Also, one Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA nomination.
Quotes –
Scotty: “Captain, the engines are buckling! We cannot keep up at this speed!”
Kirk: “I can’t command a ship from inside an aquarium.”
Scotty: “We’ve got tribbles on the ship, quintotriticale in the corridors, Klingons in the quadrant – it can ruin your whole day, sir!”
Uhara: “Due to Chief Engineering Officer Scott’s euphoric state of mind, I am assuming command of the Enterprise.”
Spock: “Two Doctor MyCoys just might bring the level of medical efficiency on this ship to acceptable levels.”
Trivia –
Also known as: “Star Trek”, “ST:TAS”, and “The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek”
A copy of the “series bible”, as revised for TAS, is held in the science fiction research collection at the Samuel Paley Library, Temple University, Philadelphia.
TAS was the only Star Trek series not to feature a cold open “teaser” and started directly with the title sequence.
Four episodes were sequels to live action episodes: “Once Upon a Planet”/”Shore Leave”, “Yesteryear”/”The City on the Edge of Forever”/”The Journey to Babel”, “Mudd’s Passion”/”I, Mudd”, “More Tribbles, More Troubles”/”The Trouble with Tribbles”
‘The life-support belts came about simply because the bulky spacesuits created for Star Trek were too complex to draw. (In the Original Series, the concept of the transporter had come about the same way: it got the crew to the planet without the expense of filming a landing sequence every week.) Ironically, the belts were never adapted for the later live-action movies and TV series because making the actors “glow” via special effects would have cost more than making spacesuits!’ ( source: IMDb)
‘The animated series was not considered canon by Paramount and could not be included in Michael and Denise Okuda’s reference books. However, they made an exception in the case of “Yesteryear” because of its importance to the STAR TREK timeline. So “Yesteryear” was mentioned on pages 29-30 of their STAR TREK Chronology.’ (source: danhausertrek.com)
Kirk’s middle name was revealed in the series: the “T” stands for Tiberius.
Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and James Doohan (Scotty) are the only actors to appear in all 22 episodes of the series.
This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for Star Trek and the geek it’s made me to be.
AdvertisementsGenre: Run-‘n-Gun Developer: Sega Ent. Publisher: Sega Ent. Players: 1-2 Released: 1986
My battle to complete The Ninja goes back to December, 1986. My father took me to buy an NES on Christmas Eve – that’s right, the very day before Christmas – and we went to almost a dozen stores to find one. All were sold out, so he gave me the options of an Atari 2600 Jr. with 10 games or a Master System with one. I was tempted by the 2600 because of the instant library I’d get and all the fond memories I had with the machine, but the Master System won out thanks to its great visuals and arcade titles. Of course, the console came with Hang-On/Safari Hunt, and my brother chipped in and bought F-16 Fighting Falcon. For my additional game, I chose The Ninja.
It was on that day that my seemingly eternal war with this great little run-‘n-gun began. See, I could easily get through the game, honing my ninja skills to almost championship levels. The problem was that I couldn’t get the real ending, since five hidden scrolls are required to access the last level and rescue the princess. I could only find three, and in those pre-Internet days, only magazine were available for cheats and tips. Sadly, none that I ever read revealed the locations of the final two scrolls, and at the time, I wasn’t privy to fact that there were Sega cheat sheets that could be obtained through the 1-800-USA-SEGA hotline. Thus, the game remained unfinished for me for practically three decades. I spent that time searching… hunting for the remaining scrolls, as though finding them would open the door to ultimate power or something. In reality, I’d get a lame ending screen and the satisfaction of conquering another Sega title, but I can assure you that the stakes felt much larger for me!
It was also during that period that I read up on the origins of the The Ninja and how it was an adapted version of the 1985 arcade title Sega Ninja. The Master System port received a change of main character (originally a girl named Princess Kurumi), as well as a graphical overhaul and some level redesigns. The most notable change was the addition of the aforementioned scrolls, much to my chagrin. The game was released as part of Sega’s 8-bit “Martial Arts Trio,” which included Black Belt and Kung Fu Kid.
Essentially, The Ninja plays the same as its arcade sibling. It’s a mostly vertical-scrolling run-‘n-gun that has the brave Kazamaru battling evil ninjas en route to the Ohkami Castle. There, the evil Gyokuro must be defeated and the princess rescued. Typical arcade fare of the time, to be sure, but story is never needed when battling ninjas. All one must do is advance through to the end of the stage and defeat the boss, using an endless supply of darts along the way. Kazamaru also has the ability to briefly turn invisible when both buttons 1 and 2 are pressed together, and this is quite useful for dodging enemy crossfire or to avoid being trapped in a corner.
Each of the game’s 13 stages is filled with varied foes. Ninjas of all types have answered Gyokuro’s call to terrorize the nation, and they brandish shuriken stars, sickles, and katanas, disguise themselves as rocks, hide in the ground, transform into wolves, and breathe fire. Thankfully, Kazamaru isn’t without resources, and red scrolls can be obtained to make his darts tear through several enemies in a row, and blue scrolls to increase his running speed.
The third scroll type is what fueled my rage for so long. The five green scrolls needed to enter the castle are hidden throughout the game, and they are revealed by hitting them with darts. For those unwilling to check the Internet, they can be anywhere, so players must let fly a barrage of darts to all corners of every stage. This can sometimes be hard to do, as the stages are quite varied. Not all scroll vertically, and some are isometric and even horizontal. Kazamaru must dodge falling boulders while running up a mountain slope, avoid a stampede of horses in the village, and move from log to log, Frogger-style to cross a river. There is great variety to the level designs, and changing the style of play, coupled with the game’s length, make for a satisfying adventure.
The stages are also beautifully drawn and colored. For such an early Master System title, The Ninja looks great. Enemies are detailed and animate smoothly, even when the screen is full of them and ninja stars. The sound completes the excellent presentation by offering catchy musical themes and rich sound effects. For instance, Kazamaru’s darts strike enemy stars with a satisfying “CLINK.” I do wish the soundtrack were larger, as there are really only two themes in the whole game: the standard stage theme and the one that plays when you obtain a dart power-up. This isn’t a major problem though, since the game moves quickly enough that one doesn’t really have time to appreciate the music anyway. How players will perceive that reality is entirely subject, and I’m sure that some might consider it a strike against the overall product, but I wasn’t really bothered by it.
The only issue I really had with The Ninja was remedied by time itself. Playing a twitch run-‘n-gun title with the stock Master System controller was not really comfortable, since the D-pad isn’t the greatest (and that’s being kind). My original console came with those neat little joysticks that screwed into the center of the pad, and this made playing somewhat better for me; however, I now use a modded Genesis three-button controller for my 8-bit gaming (simply cut the grey wire!), and it works wonderfully. I wholeheartedly recommend anyone with a Master System or Power Base Converter to play their games this way; it’s so much more responsive and comfortable.
Overall, I’m really happy with The Ninja. It’s fast-paced and fun, has a decent length and great visuals, and it plays quite well. The audio is its only downside, but again, your mileage will vary as to how big an issue it is. Those seeking a classic Sega arcade title that was actually improved on the Master System should give The Ninja a chance. It’s easily obtainable and well worth the price of admission.
SCORE: 8 out of 10
Discuss this review in our forum.Esquire columnist Charles Pierce immediately politicized the tragic shooting in Las Vegas as he sickeningly exploited the victims to attack the Second Amendment as he raged: “The massacre of country music fans is....the 273rd blood sacrifice to that one provision of the Constitution this year.” The former Boston Globe columnist, on Monday, also disgustingly blamed the massacre on gun owners, Wayne LaPierre, Donald Trump and Christians.
Incidentally, this column was tweeted out by the increasingly vocal and liberal late night host Jimmy Kimmel.
The following excerpts are from Charles Pierce’s October 2 Esquire column: “If Newtown Wasn’t Enough, Why Would Las Vegas Be Enough? Our leaders are afraid to tolerate limits on Second Amendment ‘freedoms.’:
First, Pierce blamed the Second Amendment for the actions of the alleged shooter:
“This makes [Stephen] Paddock’s unfortunate exercise of his Second Amendment freedoms the deadliest mass shooting in history. This makes Paddock’s unfortunate exercise of his Second Amendment freedoms the 273rd mass shooting in the United States this year....Paddock came well-prepared to exercise his Second Amendment freedoms on a penned-in crowd of Jason Aldean fans. And he did.”
Then Pierce launched into his attack on the Constitution overall and Christians.
“The Constitution is not a pact with the devil, nor is it a suicide pact. It is a formalized, legalistic ritual of blood sacrifice. There are some things that we as a society, alas, must tolerate in order to stay true to our founding beliefs and to remain free. Schoolchildren shot to pieces is one of those things. The massacre of country music fans is another one of those things, the 273rd blood sacrifice to that one provision of the Constitution this year.”
...
“Blood sacrifices are born of the fear of unseen power and invisible threat. Carve up a bull, and Zeus won’t send a thunderbolt up your ass. Cut out someone’s heart, and Tlaloc will make it rain to provide a bountiful harvest. Take your son up on a mountaintop, tie him to an altar, and unsheath your knife, hoping in your heart that Jehovah will step in and stop the whole business. Buy a gun. Buy two. Buy 10, and the monsters and knockout gamers and carjackers from the silent playgrounds will be held at bay. Christians believe that the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary obviated forever the need for further blood sacrifice. However, not even that could obviate or eliminate the entirely secular desire for blood sacrifice within a society perceived to have gone astray. Christians pray to the crucified Christ. Christians also push the plungers that send the poisons into the veins of prisoners. Christians believe that atonement comes through the intercession of Jesus. Christians also believe that atonement comes from smart bombs and predator drones. The fear of unseen power and invisible threat is more than is thought of in your theologies, Horatio.”
Pierce then attacked President Donald Trump and NRA president Wayne LaPierre:
“The president* and Wayne LaPierre together created an America of the mind in which blood sacrifice is the highest form of patriotism. They have taken the legitimate right of all people to self-defense and twisted it, for their own purposes, into a demand for ritual atonement on the part of an imaginary universe filled with nothing but bogeymen. For the president*, this helped him attain the office he now holds. For LaPierre, it made the people for whom he was the frontman wealthier than they ever were before. So now, here we sit, after another unfortunate exercise of Second Amendment freedoms, the 273rd of this year and the worst one of modern times, another opportunity for presidential leadership, the fourth one of those in a month. Storms are breaking everywhere, the carnage in America suddenly is very real, and blood sacrifices are lying all over a parking lot in Las Vegas.”
...
“Better that one Stephen Paddock go free than a hundred law-abiding gun owners wait a week before buying an Uzi. This is a vision of the nation that has been sold to us by a generation of politicians who talk brave and act gutless, and by the carny shills in the employ of the industries of death. Better that one Stephen Paddock go free than a hundred law-abiding gun owners wait a week before buying an Uzi. We are all walking blood sacrifices waiting to happen.”
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rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint text 3.64 KB OP - Today at 4:39 PM if a modder is an asshole,i never use ther mods no matter how essential it is alot of assholes out there Comment2 - Today at 4:39 PM @OP really? most of the time i see users being assholes to modders, not the other way around Comment3 - Today at 4:40 PM I can see where you're coming from @Negan Totally understandable.. For me I could care less, unless the software is affected by it... like making it not support any other mod Comment2 - Today at 4:40 PM i've seen it on several SSE mod comments already OP - Today at 4:41 PM fuck those losers who think they are above others Comment4 - Today at 4:41 PM @OP well if a modder is an asshole to you then thats his fault unless ofc you did somehting to provoke him which i dowt you did(edited) OP- Today at 4:42 PM this guy mod is broken http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2202/? and he keeps deleting any comment about bugs Comment4 - Today at 4:43 PM @OP what did he say to you like? OP - Today at 4:43 PM if your mod have bugs but you try hiding it by deleting people`s comments,THEN FUCK YOU and your mod Comment4 - Today at 4:44 PM @OP wow seriously deleting comments lol Comment5 - Today at 4:44 PM @OP Probably because the mod shouldn't have any bugs if the load order is properly set up.. he says there can't be any compatibility issues but idk "Edit: Keep in mind there is a possibility of brow textures being out-of-place depending on whether or not the POV author made new head meshes. If you experience anything weird, use the Vanilla mod." OP - Today at 4:44 PM oh yeah? OP - Today at 4:45 PM @Drakonas go try downaloding his mod with nmm or manually OP - Today at 4:46 PM and have the nerve to come comment on my perfect mod,i fucking banned him Comment5 - Today at 4:46 PM well reading his description yeah seems sketchy he has a big paypal donation thank you gif lol OP - Today at 4:47 PM fuck his eyebrows mod,im more intressed in npc dicks overhaul Comment5 - Today at 4:47 PM "TRUE BROWS SE is fully compatible with everything including other face mods except those mods which replace eyebrow textures." Comment4 - Today at 4:48 PM @OP i believe you to say the mod has had 20k of dwonload there very few comments on it and they all seem to be good comments aswell lol OP - Today at 4:49 PM 3 people i hate at the modding community:rude ass ones-the ones that try hiding stuff so they delete comments of people asking simple questions-and the last ones that port old skyrim mods to SSE without an actual port or testing @Comment4 yea lol he fucking deletes anything that is not thanks or kissing his ass comments The Vampire Dante - Today at 5:05 PM There's no deleted posts from that eyebrow mod's comments by the way, the author hasn't removed anything. OP - Today at 5:28 PM @The Vampire Dante i saw comments getting deleted with my own eyes,including mine where i was asking about the download bug thing,which seals the deal that he actually is deleting comments The Vampire Dante - Today at 5:38 PM @OP When an author removes a comment, it is only hidden - the staff can see those hidden comments, and when I looked, there was none. They show up as red to us. OP - Today at 5:40 PM well now you have even more reason to check that guy out,maybe he hacked nexus,or maybe a bug is preventing you from checking removed comments,or im insane and we not actually having this conversation The Vampire Dante - Today at 5:43 PM Nope, no removed comments of any kind - we also have an option to restore removed posts - nothing there. OP - Today at 5:44 PM is this some kind of cover up?fine,if you say so,ill drop it
RAW Paste Data
OP - Today at 4:39 PM if a modder is an asshole,i never use ther mods no matter how essential it is alot of assholes out there Comment2 - Today at 4:39 PM @OP really? most of the time i see users being assholes to modders, not the other way around Comment3 - Today at 4:40 PM I can see where you're coming from @Negan Totally understandable.. For me I could care less, unless the software is affected by it... like making it not support any other mod Comment2 - Today at 4:40 PM i've seen it on several SSE mod comments already OP - Today at 4:41 PM fuck those losers who think they are above others Comment4 - Today at 4:41 PM @OP well if a modder is an asshole to you then thats his fault unless ofc you did somehting to provoke him which i dowt you did(edited) OP- Today at 4:42 PM this guy mod is broken http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2202/? and he keeps deleting any comment about bugs Comment4 - Today at 4:43 PM @OP what did he say to you like? OP - Today at 4:43 PM if your mod have bugs but you try hiding it by deleting people`s comments,THEN FUCK YOU and your mod Comment4 - Today at 4:44 PM @OP wow seriously deleting comments lol Comment5 - Today at 4:44 PM @OP Probably because the mod shouldn't have any bugs if the load order is properly set up.. he says there can't be any compatibility issues but idk "Edit: Keep in mind there is a possibility of brow textures being out-of-place depending on whether or not the POV author made new head meshes. If you experience anything weird, use the Vanilla mod." OP - Today at 4:44 PM oh yeah? OP - Today at 4:45 PM @Drakonas go try downaloding his mod with nmm or manually OP - Today at 4:46 PM and have the nerve to come comment on my perfect mod,i fucking banned him Comment5 - Today at 4:46 PM well reading his description yeah seems sketchy he has a big paypal donation thank you gif lol OP - Today at 4:47 PM fuck his eyebrows mod,im more intressed in npc dicks overhaul Comment5 - Today at 4:47 PM "TRUE BROWS SE is fully compatible with everything including other face mods except those mods which replace eyebrow textures." Comment4 - Today at 4:48 PM @OP i believe you to say the mod has had 20k of dwonload there very few comments on it and they all seem to be good comments aswell lol OP - Today at 4:49 PM 3 people i hate at the modding community:rude ass ones-the ones that try hiding stuff so they delete comments of people asking simple questions-and the last ones that port old skyrim mods to SSE without an actual port or testing @Comment4 yea lol he fucking deletes anything that is not thanks or kissing his ass comments The Vampire Dante - Today at 5:05 PM There's no deleted posts from that eyebrow mod's comments by the way, the author hasn't removed anything. OP - Today at 5:28 PM @The Vampire Dante i saw comments getting deleted with my own eyes,including mine where i was asking about the download bug thing,which seals the deal that he actually is deleting comments The Vampire Dante - Today at 5:38 PM @OP When an author removes a comment, it is only hidden - the staff can see those hidden comments, and when I looked, there was none. They show up as red to us. OP - Today at 5:40 PM well now you have even more reason to check that guy out,maybe he hacked nexus,or maybe a bug is preventing you from checking removed comments,or im insane and we not actually having this conversation The Vampire Dante - Today at 5:43 PM Nope, no removed comments of any kind - we also have an option to restore removed posts - nothing there. OP - Today at 5:44 PM is this some kind of cover up?fine,if you say so,ill drop itThe recent wave of protests – sometimes violent – at U.S. colleges and universities that have forced the cancellation of conservative speakers’ lectures take place predominantly at liberal schools, many of whose students are progressive and come from wealthy families, the Brookings Institute said in a new study.
The analysis of who on these campuses is making it increasingly difficult to invite conservatives comes shortly after a disturbing such instance at Middlebury College. Earlier this month, controversial libertarian social scientist Charles Murray arrived at the Vermont campus to deliver a guest lecture. But the intensity of the student protests forced Murray and those who had invited him to move to a different section of the campus to continue.
However, student protesters disrupted that venue, too. When a Middlebury faculty member attempted – for Murray’s physical safety -- to escort Murray to a vehicle, a student mob physically attacked them.
After a struggle, which left the faculty member injured, they were able to get inside a vehicle, at which point students began battering the vehicle and jumping on top of it.
Middlebury is not an isolated incident. A study from the nonpartisan Foundation for Individual Rights in Education found that the number of reported disinvitations and demands that speakers be disinvited has skyrocketed in recent years — from six in 2000 to 43 in 2016.
Those who predominantly engage in such violent protests generally fit an identifiable demographic profile, according to the study by the Brookings Institute’s Center on Children and Families. The analysis found that it is predominantly upscale students from liberal institutions who are demonstrating illiberal values by protesting, and at times rioting, to force their schools to disinvite or cancel events featuring conservative thinkers.
Since 2014, at the 90 or so colleges that have tried to disinvite conservatives from speaking, the average student comes from a family with an annual income $32,000 higher than that of the overall average student in America, the Brookings study found.
“It seems likely that many of the students most offended by the likes of Charles Murray come from the wealthiest families and attend the most expensive universities in the country,” wrote Richard V. Reeves, a senior fellow of economic studies at Brookings. “After all, when Murray spoke at Saint Louis University, where the median income of students’ families is half Middlebury’s, he was received respectfully, with some silent, peaceful protests.”
One of the names that appears most frequently on the disinvitation list is former Breitbart editor and controversial public speaker Milo Yiannopoulos.
“The quintessentially liberal commitment to free and open dialogue is indispensable for building mutual understanding and respect in a diverse society,” Reeves wrote. “The spectacle of rich, ‘progressive’ protesters refusing to hear a lecture on the roots of their own privilege; well, it tells you how much work there is to do.”
Earlier this year, students -- and members of the anarchist movement Black Bloc -- disrupted a planned speech by Yiannopoulos at the University of California, Berkeley by hurling smoke bombs, breaking windows and starting a bonfire outside the student union where he was to appear.
"No one’s safety is at risk from different opinions," Yiannopoulos told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" in a phone interview. "No one’s physical safety is endangered by political ideas from a speaker on campus, but universities have sort of allowed this stuff to happen, and even in some cases encouraged it."
A day after the Berkeley riots another chaotic protest occurred at New York University where at least 11 people were arrested after the conservative speaker and Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes was hit with pepper spray. The raucous crowd appeared outside NYU's Kimmel, Rosenthal Pavilion in New York City, protesting McInnes' planned speech at a seminar for college Republicans.Aborigines who were taken from their families as children in a policy of forced racial assimilation will receive a historic apology from Australia's new government Wednesday.
In what will be the first parliamentary act of his government, center-left prime minister Kevin Rudd will fulfill an election campaign promise when he stands up in parliament in Canberra, the capital, and says sorry to the so-called Stolen Generation. The Labor leader said the apology would remove a "blight on the nation's soul" and had the overwhelming support of Australians.
Supporters say it is of similar magnitude to America's apology in 1988 for interning Japanese citizens during World War II.
Mr. Rudd's speech will be shown on giant outdoor screens in Australia's two largest cities, Melbourne and Sydney, and aired live on two national television networks. The red, black, and gold Aboriginal flag will fly from landmarks across the country, including Sydney's iconic Harbor Bridge.
About 13,000 people today identify themselves as either members of the Stolen Generation or relatives who were adversely affected by the long-standing policy. Based on the premise that "full-blood" Aborigines were a race headed for extinction, up to 100,000 mixed-race children were taken from their parents between 1910 and 1970. The children, some of them babies, were often snatched from sobbing mothers by policemen or government officials.
They were then placed in the care of white foster parents or sent to institutions to be raised as domestic servants for white families. Many encountered sexual abuse, neglect, and cruelty.
Rudd's decision to apologize contrasts with the attitude of his conservative predecessor, John Howard, who during 11 years in office insisted that today's Australians had no need to atone for past injustices.
Still, many Australians feel it is long overdue.
"It's a sign of the maturing of Australia as a nation. I think it will go down as one of the most significant moments in this country's history," says Jason Glanville, strategy director of Reconciliation Australia, an independent agency set up to improve relations between black and white Australians.
For Debra Hocking, Rudd's words will go a little way toward healing the terrible wounds of her past. A mixed-race Aborigine from Tasmania, she was removed from her parents as a baby, along with her four siblings. The children were split up, with Ms. Hocking sent to a foster home where she suffered years of abuse.
"I was 18 months old when I was taken away, and I didn't meet my mum until I was 20. I grew up not even knowing her name – the authorities wouldn't tell me," she recalls. "Eventually I tracked her down but by then she was gravely ill. We met twice, but two weeks later she died."
She says there was no evidence of neglect in her family. The policy "was bizarre, and very cruel," she adds. "Perhaps it was a deliberate attempt to breed out the Aboriginal race, by splitting up families."
A member of a lobby group, the Stolen Generations Alliance, Hocking believes the government's apology is of great symbolic importance. "In just a few minutes Rudd will change the history of this country. It will open the eyes of a lot of Australians and people around the world."
Not all Aborigines agree, arguing that the apology won't improve their often appalling living conditions.
In what has been described as a national disgrace and international embarrassment, the life expectancy of Australia's 450,000 indigenous people is 17 years shorter than the rest of the population. They suffer shocking levels of alcoholism, child sexual abuse, and domestic violence.
The apology will be a largely meaningless gesture, says Leo Abbott, a community leader and member of the Aranda tribe in the Northern Territory. "The proper way to say sorry is to fix up health, education, employment, and housing for Aboriginal communities," he says.
Australia's political leaders are also divided over the apology, with some conservative MPs uncomfortable with the label of Stolen Generation. They maintain that many mixed race children were removed for their own safety from violent or neglectful families.
The opposition's spokesman on Aboriginal affairs, Tony Abbott, insists that many of the removals were carried out with the best of intentions. "Yes, some kids were stolen and this is shameful, but many were helped and some were rescued," he said.
The issue of compensation is also highly contentious. Some Aboriginal leaders have called for the setting up of a compensation fund of about $900 million or more, but the government has so far refused. Reconciliation Australia hopes the government will eventually accept the idea of payouts, as some Australian states have done. "These people were done a grave injustice. Compensation is considered to be part of any reparations process," says Mr. Glanville.AT THE end of June, when the Supreme Court saved the Affordable Care Act from a technical challenge in King v Burwell, it seemed the legal battles over Obamacare were finally over. But the “never-ending saga” of anti-Obamacare litigation, as Justice Elena Kagan put it, presses on. On August 7th two federal appellate courts turned back separate challenges to Barack Obama’s signature health-care law. The rulings are more bad news for litigants who have approached the courts to try to undermine the law, but either or both cases could eventually be heard by the Supreme Court.
The first challenge goes after the law’s individual mandate, the provision that requires most Americans to buy a health-insurance policy (subsidised by the feds, for lower-income people, in states that expanded Medicaid) in order to expand coverage while keeping insurance companies solvent. This part of the law was upheld in 2012 by a 5-4 vote, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the opinion. This ruling, in National Federation of Independent Business v Sebelius, determined that the individual mandate, backed by a penalty for non-compliance, was within Congress’s power, under Article I of the constitution, to “lay and collect taxes”. Now the plaintiffs are taking a new tack, pointing to the so-called “origination clause”, one section back |
when her South Korean mother left her at a police station in Seoul. The police brought her to Holt Children’s Services, a local adoption agency, where a worker assigned Klunder the case number K85-160. It was only two weeks into 1985, but she was already the 160th child to come to the agency that month, and she would go on to be one of 8,800 children sent overseas from South Korea that year. Klunder became part of the largest adoption exodus from one country in history: Over the past six decades, at least 200,000 Korean children — roughly the population of Des Moines — have been adopted into families in more than 15 countries, with a vast majority living in the United States.
Klunder, who is 30, has a warm goofiness and a tendency toward self-deprecation. (“I was the chubby kid with glasses wearing Lisa Frank T-shirts,” she said, shaking her head at the memory of her middle-school self.) But she also resonates intensity. She chose the tattoo of her case number as a critique of adoption, she told me. “I was a transaction. I was a number in the same way that people who are criminalized and institutionalized are given numbers.”
Klunder, who was raised in Wisconsin, moved back to South Korea in 2011, which is where I met her one night last February along with three of her friends, all adoptees from the United States. We were at a restaurant in the Hongdae section of Seoul, known for its galleries, bars and cheap restaurants. Outside, the streets teemed with university students, musicians, artists and clubbers. The neighborhood is also a popular spot for the approximately 300 to 500 adoptees who have moved to South Korea — primarily from the United States but also from France, Denmark and other nations. Most lack fluency in the language and possess no memories of the country they left when they were young. But they are back, hoping for a sense of connection — to South Korea, to their birth families, to other adoptees.
That night, Klunder and her friends passed plates of bibimbap (rice topped with meat and vegetables), soondubu jjigae (tofu stew) and pa jun (scallion pancake) around the table and ordered bottles of beer and soju. Everyone there was a member of Adoptee Solidarity Korea, or ASK. It was started as a reading group in 2004 by a handful of politically progressive Korean female adoptees (and one man) in their 30s, who began to discuss why Korean single mothers felt pressure to give away their children — 90 percent of those who place their children for adoption are not married. They talked about a culture in which single mothers are often ostracized, one in which employers typically ask women about their marital status in job interviews; parents sometimes reject daughters who raise their children alone; and the children of single mothers are often bullied in school. They also questioned why the government offered little aid to mothers to help keep their families intact. At an adoption conference organized a year after the group was created, members handed out fliers that read, in part, “ASK stands in opposition to international adoption.” They sold T-shirts, designed by Kimura Byol-Nathalie Lemoine, an early adoptee activist, that depicted a wailing baby with a large stamp on its rear end: “Made in Korea.”Friday, February 22, 2019
The latest ICAM newsletter is up! You can view it here.
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
We are now accepting applications for QuantEmX. Applications due no later than February 28, 2019. You can access the application here.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
We are now accepting applications for ICAM workshops! The applications will close February 28, 2019. You can access the application here.
Monday, December 17, 2018
The ICAM Summer School on Emergent Phenomena in Correlated Quantum Matter will be held in Cargese, France. This event will take place on August 5 - 16, 2019. More information will be provided soon!
Thursday, November 29, 2018
The application deadline for the 2019 Annual Conference has been extended to December 7, 2018!
Monday, November 26, 2018
The application deadline for QuantEmX has been extended to November 30, 2018!
Thursday, October 5, 2018
Applications for QuantEmX are now open! Applications are due no later than October 31, 2018. Please apply using this link.
Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor and writer, known for playing Spencer Olchin in the sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007), voicing Remy in the Pixar film Ratatouille (2007), co-starring with Charlize Theron in Young Adult (2011) and guest starring as the Koenigs on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014–2017). He has appeared in six stand-up specials and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special and a Grammy for his Netflix special Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping (2016).
Oswalt made his acting debut in the Seinfeld episode "The Couch", appeared in the superhero film Blade: Trinity (2004), starred in the comedy-drama film Big Fan (2009) and the series The Heart, She Holler (2011–2014). He currently narrates the sitcom The Goldbergs (2013–present) as the adult Adam F. Goldberg, voiced male Jesse in the video game Minecraft: Story Mode, stars in the 2017 revival of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (2017–present), voices the title character in Happy! (2017–present) and plays Principal Ralph Durbin on A.P. Bio (2018–present).
Early life [ edit ]
Oswalt was born January 27,[1][2] 1969,[3] in Portsmouth, Virginia, the son of Carla (née Runfola) and Larry J. Oswalt, a career United States Marine Corps officer.[4] He was named after General George S. Patton.[5] He has one younger brother, Matt Oswalt, a comedy writer best known for the YouTube web series Puddin'. While he was a military brat, his family lived in Ohio and Tustin, California, before settling in Sterling, Virginia.[6] He is a 1987 graduate of Broad Run High School in Ashburn, Virginia. He subsequently graduated from The College of William & Mary, where he majored in English,[7] and was initiated into the Alpha Theta Chapter of the Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity.[8]
Career [ edit ]
Oswalt began performing stand-up comedy on July 18, 1988.[9] After writing for MADtv and starring in his own 1996 comedy special for HBO, he went on to garner notable roles in films and television shows, his film debut coming in the 1996 military comedy film Down Periscope alongside Kelsey Grammer and his television debut in the Seinfeld episode “The Couch”.[10] His most prominent and long-running role was as Spence Olchin on The King of Queens.[11] His first starring film role was as the voice of Remy, the lead character in the 2007 Pixar film Ratatouille.[10] He has also appeared in smaller roles in such films as Magnolia[10] and 22 Jump Street.
Oswalt wrote the comic book story "JLA: Welcome to the Working Week", a backup story in Batman #600; a story for Dwight T. Albatross's The Goon Noir #01 and a story for Masks: Too Hot for TV.[12] Expanding his voice artist repertoire, he began voicing the villainous character "Tobey" on PBS Kids GO! series WordGirl in 2007.[13] He also appeared on the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner. In August 2007, he appeared on the Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav.[14] In 2007, he appeared on an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, "The Original Fry Cook", as Jim. In 2008 Oswalt moderated a reunion panel of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 cast at the San Diego Comic-Con International.[15]
In 2009, Oswalt played Paul Aufiero, the leading role in Robert D. Siegel's 2009 directorial debut, Big Fan. He was to star in a 2010 Broadway revival of Lips Together, Teeth Apart.[16] However, the show was postponed then eventually canceled due to Megan Mullally's departure from the production when the director denied her request to replace Oswalt due to his lack of stage experience.[17]
He starred in the Showtime drama The United States of Tara as Neil, an employee of Four Winds Landscaping.[18] He also provided the voice of Thrasher, a robot protagonist from the Cartoon Network show Robotomy.[19]
In 2011, Oswalt released the book Zombie Spaceship Wasteland.[20]
In November 2011, Oswalt played the role of Hurlan Heartshe in the surrealist comedy miniseries The Heart, She Holler on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim. Also in November 2011, Oswalt appeared in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.[10] In December 2011, Oswalt played Matt Freehauf in Jason Reitman's black comedy Young Adult.[11] In 2012, he played Billy Stanhope, ex-best friend of Ashton Kutcher’s Walden Schmidt on Two and a Half Men.[21]
As of September 2013, Oswalt narrates the TV series The Goldbergs.[22] He also had a recurring role as Constable Bob Sweeney in the fourth season of the FX series Justified.
Patton played the role of Agent Koenig on the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He later appeared in separate episodes as brothers Eric and Billy Koenig. He continued to appear in the second season as Billy and a third brother named Sam.
In January 2015, Oswalt's memoir Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film was published by Simon & Schuster. He also voiced the male version of Jesse in Minecraft: Story Mode, which was released in October 2015.
In November 2015, Oswalt was announced to be the second "Mad" to appear in the reboot of Mystery Science Theater 3000, as the son of Frank Conniff's character TV's Frank.[23][24]
Oswalt had a voice over role in science fiction comedy film Sorry to Bother You,[25] which was released in theaters on July 6, 2018.[26]
Oswalt replaces Louis C.K. in the 2019 film The Secret Life of Pets 2 as the voice of main character Max. In addition, he is set to reprise his role as Professor Dementor in the Disney Channel Original Movie Kim Possible, a live action adaptation of the 2002-2007 animated series.
Stand-up comedy [ edit ]
Oswalt's stand-up comedy covers topics ranging from pop culture frivolity, such as comic book supervillains and 1980s glam metal, to deeper social issues like American excess, materialism, foreign policy and religion. He also discusses his atheism in his stand-up. On February 28, 2009, Oswalt recorded his third comedy album at the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. It premiered on Comedy Central as Patton Oswalt: My Weakness is Strong on August 23, 2009, and was released on DVD August 25, 2009.[27]
In November 2009, an animated video of Patton's take on New Song's Christmas Shoes was posted on YouTube.[28] The track isn't found on any albums. The audio is claimed to be recorded at Lisner Auditorium in Washington DC.[29]
Oswalt's album, Patton Oswalt: Finest Hour, was released on September 19, 2011. The extended and uncensored DVD of this special was released in April 2012, a few days after its television premiere on Comedy Central.[30][31]
Oswalt's comedy special Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time was to be released on January 16, 2014 via online movie streaming website Epix, but was pushed back by the company for unknown reasons.[32] However, it did premiere on Comedy Central on April 6, 2014 and became available for purchase on April 8, 2014 in both DVD and CD format.[33]
Oswalt's comedy special Talking for Clapping was released on Netflix on April 22, 2016.[34]
Oswalt's comedy special Annihilation was released on Netflix on October 17, 2017.
Personal life [ edit ]
Oswalt married true crime writer[35] and journalist Michelle McNamara on September 24, 2005. They had one daughter together, born in April 2009.[36]
On April 21, 2016, McNamara died in her sleep in the family's Los Angeles, California, home. Her death was attributed to a combination of a previously undiagnosed heart condition and complications from prescribed medication (Adderall, Xanax, and Fentanyl).[37] The season-three finale of The Goldbergs was dedicated to her memory. On August 1, 2016, Oswalt announced that he had been working to complete McNamara's nonfiction book on the Golden State Killer, which was left unfinished at the time of her death.[38] In September 2017, Oswalt announced that the book, titled I'll Be Gone in the Dark, was scheduled for release on February 27, 2018, and was subsequently available for preorders.[39] Less than two months after the book's release, on April 25, 2018, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department announced they had made an arrest in the Golden State Killer case. Oswalt posted a brief video to Instagram, saying: "I think you got him, Michelle."[40] He also posted on Twitter that same day, saying that he hoped to visit the suspect if he was indeed the Golden State Killer, "not to gloat or gawk - to ask him the questions that [McNamara] wanted answered in her 'Letter To An Old Man'" at the end of her book.[41]
He was confirmed to be engaged to actress Meredith Salenger in July 2017.[42] They were married in November 2017.[43][44]
In 2013, he teamed up with PETA and spoke out against chaining pet dogs, and sent a letter to the mayor and members of the city council of Newport News, Virginia, urging them to ban the practice.[45]
Oswalt is an outspoken atheist[46] and has referred to his atheism in his comedy specials: No Reason to Complain, Feelin' Kinda Patton, My Weakness Is Strong, and Finest Hour.
Oswalt's influences include Jonathan Winters, Richard Pryor,[47] Emo Philips, Blaine Capatch, Bill Hicks, Bobcat Goldthwait, Sam Kinison, Steve Martin,[48][49] and Louis C.K.[49]
Discography [ edit ]
Albums [ edit ]
EPs [ edit ]
Compilation album appearances [ edit ]
Filmography [ edit ]
Film [ edit ]
Television [ edit ]
Video games [ edit ]
Music videos [ edit ]
Theme park attraction [ edit ]
Year Title Role 2016 The Lego Movie: 4D – A New Adventure Risky Business
Works and publications [ edit ]
Autobiography [ edit ]
Comics [ edit ]25User Rating: 2 out of 5
Review title of Wayne Controls are broken
I gave 2 stars because graphics look nice, especially on my tablet. BUT the controls are terrible! The Virtual joysticks don't work on simulation mode. As I was going through the tutorials, when I got to landing and takeoff training I had no way of accelerating, only one virtual stick is shown, and it says to push forward to accelerate, but it's pitch control that it's telling me to move forward, and there is no other virtual stick for throttle. And there doesn't appear to be any joystick control. Settings say that there is joystick control option, but I can't get it work. And these are just a couple of issues I've been having. There are more, but don't have time to list them. This would be a cool game if it were patched to fix some of these issues.arthur Itis Reader
Join Date: 20 Apr 2013 Location: New Jersey, USA Posts: 55 Threads: 0 Thanked 11 Times in 9 Posts
Re: Boston Bombing Victim Sydney Corcoran Busted!!! with fake blood!!! Quote: clive Originally Posted by So in your experience you have seen:-
blood that is the colour depicted here
people walking in blood but leaving no footprint
a man who has had both of his legs blown to smithereens being wheeled to medical aid with nary a drop of blood to be seen pouring from his wounds
ps: Do you realize how silly this all sounds to anyone possessing a shred of intellectual honesty?
plus
other people just sauntering through the carnage
smoke haze covering some scenes
people with broken legs, ankles, damaged achilles walking around
a man getting up and changing his position within the carnage
some medical/emergency personnel being kept away from the site
powder or such being thrown over victims and their helpers
announcements of a bomb drill
Shall I continue...???
Please understand that I my intention is not to belittle anyone nor besmirch what they might believe. I guess that I'm more than just a bit confused as to the reason no attempt has been made to contact the people involved in any given photograph. You all raise some interesting questions. I just question the methods by which you attempt to obtain the answers to those questions.
Has anyone here spoken or otherwise communicated with anyone who was part of the Boston bombing drama? If so, can you direct me to the thread here that discusses that contact? If not, why in the world has no one done so? Not necessary. I respect your right to believe what you wish to. I guess I'm just a little surprised that folks that take these theories so seriously wouldn't make an effort to communicate with those directly involved/affected by the alleged blast. It would not be nearly as difficult, nor time consuming, as scrutinizing photos of a trauma scene with expectations of fraud and unsurprisingly finding just that. Why has no one here tried to talk to people directly involved in the incident? Surely you recognize that in the absence of such an inquiry, everything being suggested in your photographic investigations remains rather suspect. You do have eye witnesses at your disposal. Why on Earth would you not avail yourselves of such invaluable information before basing theories upon other theories based upon yet other theories?Please understand that I my intention is not to belittle anyone nor besmirch what they might believe. I guess that I'm more than just a bit confused as to the reason no attempt has been made to contact the people involved in any given photograph. You all raise some interesting questions. I just question the methods by which you attempt to obtain the answers to those questions.Has anyone here spoken or otherwise communicated with anyone who was part of the Boston bombing drama? If so, can you direct me to the thread here that discusses that contact? If not, why in the world has no one done so?Investigators know where the deadly April 1 fire started at a Spearfish home but they are having trouble pinpointing the exact cause.
According to a release from Lt. Boyd Dean of the Spearfish Police Department, they believe the fire started on a porch where there was a 20-gallon metal trash receptacle used for ash and hot coals from a wood burning fireplace. This is also an area where cigarette smoking materials were disposed of by occupants of one of the living unit (it was a multi-family home).
With two separate possible ignition sources, investigators can’t determine the exact cause. They did rule out electrical since there was no wiring or appliances in the area where the fire started.
Five children died in the fire; all of them found in an upstairs bedroom.5 Chinese Dishes to Quell Your Homesick Cravings Depending on where in China you live, you might not always have access to decent copies of our favourite foreign food. But do not despair! There are a number of Chinese dishes that taste a lot like Western classics.... Read More>>
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Story going online now with @chadfordinsider: Wolves making No. 5 overall pick available in hopes of tempting Bulls into Jimmy Butler trade — Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) June 13, 2016
We’ve heard the rumors before. We have seen the photoshopped pictures of Jimmy Butler in a Wolves uniform. This was nothing new. Some may say that ESPN is struggling and they finally got the rumors weeks later. But in the age of the internet, I find that hard to believe. The internet has been the most reliable source of speedy information ever. Just ask Steph Curry’s new ‘Emergency Room’ 2s. The way this story came out, it felt planted.
—
Over the last couple weekends, I have been absent due to being in class. I was taking a condensed-MBA course that met three times from 8am-5pm called ‘Persuasion & Influence.’ Of course, after taking a class for that long consecutively you not only see everything through the lenses of the class, but you believe everything has do to with the material you just learned. While in the class, I was eager to apply it to everything I could, especially basketball. Well this is one of them. One of the principles of influence, a pretty basic one, is contrast. What the principle says is a way to influence people is through the contrast of one thing to another. There are experiments that prove this to work. One example is having three buckets, one hot, one room temp, and one cold. If you dip your hands in the hot and the cold buckets and then bring both hands into the room temp bucket, your senses will be confused. While both hands are in the same bucket, the hand that was in the hot bucket will feel cold and the hand that was in the cold bucket will feel warm. The contrast principle is used a lot in sales. When selling something expensive, a lot of times a sales person will say in comparison to what.
After that quick lesson in influence, I feel like that is exactly what is happening here for the Wolves. The league knows that the 5th pick will not net Jimmy Butler. Something needs to be added. But what is happening is that the Wolves are essentially raising the stock price on that 5th pick. The 5th pick inherently seems more valuable than it did before the rumors started swirling. Who would ever think that Buddy Hield or Jamal Murray plus another prospect would be worth one of the best two-way players in the league?
This is how the Celtics have gotten into the mix. The Celtics have more assets and a better pick than the Wolves. And a team that just made it to the playoffs, it seems that naturally they would be more inclined to make a deal with the Bulls. If the Bulls were to make Butler available, the first team that would get a call is the Celtics. The only reason they wouldn’t be because they wouldn’t want to send Butler to another team in the East, but when you’re rebuilding that doesn’t really matter. At the same time, chances of the Bulls dealing with Thibodeau are slim to none. The only way the Bulls do a deal with Thibs is if they can ruin his life. The rumors around the deal have mentioned Wiggins plus the 5th pick, which is just about what could ruin Thibs’ life. So unless something crazy happens between now and next Thursday, Jimmy Butler will not be a Timberwolf.
So why? Why did the rumors get thrown out there when it did? Now it’s time to do a lot of speculation. What we do know is the following in terms of draft workouts:
ICYMI: it's Jamal Murray day at Mayo Clinic Square. He's here for an individual workout, I hear. #twolves — Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) June 13, 2016
Report: Buddy Hield hit 85 of 100 threes in a pre-draft workout with Boston today: https://t.co/xwoVloBmSF #Sooners pic.twitter.com/FINBm4wN4K — OU Daily Sports (@OUDailySports) June 13, 2016
Three tidbits on guys the Wolves will look at in the 5th slot. Jamal Murray was working out in MN the day the rumors came out. Kris Dunn expressed that he will only workout against Ben Simmons, Ingram, or Jamal Murray. Also Buddy Hield hit 85 of 100 threes at a Celtics workout. These are the facts/ credible rumors. Dragan Bender is also coming to work out in MN on Thursday.
Now it is time to take a trip behind the smokescreen. It is time to speculate. There is certainly going to be a lot more that will happen in the next week and a half but for now, we will try to make sense of all this.
First, is there a link between the timing of the rumors and Jamal Murray’s workout? What does this say about Murray’s workout? Was it bad it enough that the Wolves want to move the pick? Is he not worth it there? Could it be an act?
Then there is the Buddy Hield workout with the Celtics. Did Buddy Hield just raise his stock with hitting 85 of 100 threes? Is he a serious candidate for the 3rd pick in this draft? Were the Wolves secretly trying to get him?
I don’t think there is enough there on the Murray or Hield front to speculate that the rumors had to do with them. I do however believe it had to do with Kris Dunn though. Why? Well first, the Wolves were using the contrast influence principle to raise the value of the 5th pick by attaching an All-Star to it like Jimmy Butler. Why you may ask? Because the Celtics or the Suns will want to get equal or greater value now for the 3rd or 4th pick. Now a deal around the troubled Jahlil Okafor doesn’t seem as appealing for the 3rd or 4th pick. The reason that is important is because the Sixers reportedly like Kris Dunn and desperately need a point guard.
Kris Dunn is doing his part as well. After refusing to work out for the Suns and Celtics, he came out and put up conditions that are near impossible to meet, especially a week before the draft. Teams are absolutely going to be concerned about his injuries and how he matches up against other picks in the 3-8 range. The reason Dunn can do this is because he has less to lose. He doesn’t want to go 3rd or 4th. He would be happy to go 5th where he has an opportunity to grow with one of the most exciting franchises and eventually compete for a starting spot if Rubio is to get hurt or demand a trade. The Wolves do have serious interest in Dunn. If he is on the board at 5, I have to believe he is the best player available from the Wolves perspective. The only person I think the Wolves truly consider over Dunn will be Dragan Bender.
If Dunn is the Wolves’ guy behind closed doors, they are putting themselves in a win-win situation. The Wolves are truly interested in Jimmy Butler. If the Bulls bite on a deal, the Wolves are automatically playoff contenders. If not, the value of the pick went up without doing anything. And as the pick’s value is going up, the stock of Kris Dunn is going down as he is an unknown. It will be interesting if this ends up being the scenario that works out because all season long there were jokes about why the Wolves never took Steph Curry in the 2009 NBA Draft. The reason was because Curry refused to workout for the Wolves. It is risky business to draft someone who never worked out for you. The Wolves have already seen Dunn in LA and probably have more information on him in the background.
I am aware there are a lot of Buddy Hield and Jamal Murray fans in Wolves Nation, but the forecast is showing Kris Dunn more and more…
The Timber Rebuilder.
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After watching lots of video reviews about this camera I took the plunge and I am hooked! This camera can make a novice like me take great shots and give me plenty to use as I learn more about professional photography. Everything I need from beginner to pro is already in this piece of kit. From shooting RAW to 4k video you have it all in one self contained unit. About the worst thing about the camera is the lack of a headphone jack while shooting video forcing you to use an off board solution for audio during video recording. Of course, any pro will have this tech already and it does have on screen levels so you can see what is being recorded. Also the NFC on the bottom of the camera forced Panasonic to move the tripod mount off-center making the camera less than perfectly balanced. And it lacks ND (neutral density) filters to reduce light entering the camera so you still need a screw on for that. And the zoom is not silent so make shure if shooting video that you take care to eliminate camera noises. These quibbles aside, this is a great camera. It's a big camera, almost like a DSLR. Nice sensor, nice Leica glass, and it has the same focusing system found on the GH4 this camera's big brother. But I find holding it is comfortable for long periods of time. The EVF (electronic viewfinder, the part you put your eye up to) is super clear with no lag. Too many features to list just go on YouTube and look at some of the video samples taken with this camera! The 4k is wonderful! Even in low light. Seeing what this camera can do with video (and its shortcomings) has me interested in the Panasonic HC-X1000 camcorder. Let me say this about the Panasonic FZ1000: If you are looking for a camera that takes great stills, can do 4k video (UHD only at 30fps no DCI)has WiFi, NFC, a hot shoe, pop up flash, is programmable, has excellent battery life, and does not require you to buy any lenses and is under a grand this is for you.Read full reviewAny bets on how long it will be until these people regret shelling out their hard-earned cash for (often poorly executed) Twilight tattoos? I'd love to be the dermatologist who makes a ton by getting to remove these."If I could dream at all, it would be about you""Look after my heart. I've left it with you"Cullen family crest"Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does.""And so the lion fell in love with the lamb" written on the ribbonOk, I seriously can't tell what this is. I see the flower and the ribbon, but what is that white thing? It seriously looks like a vulture skull.*EDIT* - It is a wolf howling at the moon. Thanks to everyone who pointed this out, I honestly couldn't tell."Twilight, New Moon, Breaking Dawn" and "Eclipse" written on the ribbonI think any tattoo bigger than your face is a bit much.I think this one is actually pretty, but I'd consider it a rule for life to not get the word "stupid" tattooed anywhere on your body.Yes, someone got Robert Pattinson's signature tattooed on their wrist.One huge Twilight-related forearm tattoo is crazy enough, but two?"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb"This is gonna look amazing after she has kids.This one isn't bad so much for what it looks as for where it is. Hope you're ok with it being visible anytime you're wearing anything less than a turtleneck.Aww, how cute, you and your friend got matching tattoos of a fictional vampire's name on your upper back. Good luck explaining this to your parents... and all your future boyfriends... and your children.*EDIT* - These are h |
the Air Line Pilots Association--Sean Cassidy, an Alaska Air Group Inc. pilot and former member of a Transportation Security Administration aviation-security advisory committee. At Amazon, Cassidy will oversee partner relationships for the Prime Air project.
It remains to be seen whether the testing going on in Canada will have more permanent repercussions for the U.S.
"The potential of the introduction first to Canada may not only open doors in terms of approval in the US, but also further consumer comfort in the meantime," said Walker Sands director of retail technology, Dave Parro.Many web sites offer users the option to use a streamlined single-click registration and login built on third party authentication services, typically run by the big social networks. In my Flask Mega-Tutorial I showed you how to use one of these protocols, called OpenID.
In this article I want to give you an introduction to the OAuth protocol, which these days has replaced OpenID as the preferred third party authentication mechanism. I will also show you a complete Flask application that implements "Sign In with Facebook" and "Sign In with Twitter" functionality. With these two implementations as a guide you should find it easy to add any other OAuth providers you may need.
Brief Introduction to OAuth
The best way to explain OAuth is by going over the list of events that occur during the sign in process:
The user navigates to the application's home page, say http://www.example.com, and clicks the "Sign in with Facebook" button, which links to an application route, for example http://www.example.com/authorize/facebook. The server receives the request and responds with a redirect to Facebook's OAuth authorization URL. All OAuth providers must document a URL to redirect the user to. The user is now prompted to login to Facebook (if not logged in already). Then a request to share information is presented, where the user needs to give Facebook permission to share the requested information with the originating application. This is all done at Facebook's website and is a private transaction between Facebook and the user, the application does not participate. Once the user accepts the request to share information, Facebook redirects back to the application at a pre-configured callback URL, for example http://www.example.com/callback/facebook. The query string of the redirect URL includes an authorization code that the application can use to access the Facebook API on behalf of the user. The application uses the Facebook API to obtain user information. Of particular interest is a unique identifier for the user, which can be used to register the user in the application's database, and once the user is registered to perform a login.
You can see above that the exchange between the application and the third party service is not trivial, but for the user it is extremely simple, since all the user needs to do is log in to the third party site and give permission to share information with the application.
There are two versions of the OAuth protocol currently in use, both following the overall process described above but with some implementation differences. OAuth 1.0a, used by Twitter, is the most complex of the two. OAuth 2, used by Facebook, is a backwards incompatible revision of the protocol that eliminates much of the complexity of version 1.0a by relying on secure HTTP for encryption.
Registration with OAuth Providers
Before an application can use a third party OAuth provider it needs to register with it. For Facebook and Twitter this is done on their respective developer sites with the creation of an "app" that represents the application for users of these sites.
To create a Facebook app you can visit https://developer.facebook.com. Select "Add a New App" from the Apps dropdown, and make the type "WWW/Website". Then enter a name and category for your app. Once the application is created, go to the "App Configuration" section and set the URL of the application, which in the case of you running it on your own computer will be http://localhost:5000.
For Twitter the location is https://apps.twitter.com. You will be asked to provide the app name, description, website and callback URL. For the last two you can enter placeholders, for example http://example.com and http://example.com/callback/twitter.
Note: If you want to use other OAuth providers you will need to find the appropriate procedure to register an application in their developer documentation.
The newly created app will be assigned two codes, usually called "id" and "secret". These identify the application that is making the authentication request, and are passed in the query string of the redirect URL to the provider site, in step 2 above.
OAuth Authentication Example
In the following sections I'm going to describe a relatively simple Flask application that implements Facebook and Twitter authentication.
I'm only going to show you the important parts of the application in the article, but the complete application is available on this GitHub repository: https://github.com/miguelgrinberg/flask-oauth-example. At the end of this article I show you the instructions on how to run it.
User Model
The users of the example application are stored in a SQLAlchemy database. The application uses the Flask-SQLAlchemy extension to work with the database, and the Flask-Login extension to keep track of logged in users.
from flask.ext.sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy from flask.ext.login import LoginManager, UserMixin db = SQLAlchemy(app) lm = LoginManager(app) class User(UserMixin, db.Model): __tablename__ = 'users' id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True) social_id = db.Column(db.String(64), nullable=False, unique=True) nickname = db.Column(db.String(64), nullable=False) email = db.Column(db.String(64), nullable=True) @lm.user_loader def load_user(id): return User.query.get(int(id))
The database has a single table for the users. In addition to the id that is the primary key, the users table contains three columns:
social_id : a string that defines a unique identifier from the third party authentication service used to login.
: a string that defines a unique identifier from the third party authentication service used to login. nickname : a nickname for the user. Must be defined for all users, and does not need to be unique.
: a nickname for the user. Must be defined for all users, and does not need to be unique. email : the email address of the user. This column is optional.
The model also inherits from UserMixin from Flask-Login, as that gives it the methods required by that extension. The user_loader callback function, also required by Flask-Login, loads a user by its primary key.
OAuth Implementation
There are several OAuth client packages for Python. For this example I have decided to use Rauth. But even when using an OAuth package, there are many aspects of the authentication against OAuth service providers that are left up to each provider to implement, which makes the task harder.
First of all, there are the two versions of the OAuth protocol, both widely used. But even among different providers using the same OAuth version, there are many details that are not part of the specification and need to be done according to the provider's own documentation.
For this reason I have decided to implement an abstraction layer on top of Rauth, so that the Flask application can be written generically. Below you can see a simple base class under which the provider specific implementations will be written:
class OAuthSignIn(object): providers = None def __init__(self, provider_name): self.provider_name = provider_name credentials = current_app.config['OAUTH_CREDENTIALS'][provider_name] self.consumer_id = credentials['id'] self.consumer_secret = credentials['secret'] def authorize(self): pass def callback(self): pass def get_callback_url(self): return url_for('oauth_callback', provider=self.provider_name, _external=True) @classmethod def get_provider(self, provider_name): if self.providers is None: self.providers = {} for provider_class in self.__subclasses__(): provider = provider_class() self.providers[provider.provider_name] = provider return self.providers[provider_name] class FacebookSignIn(OAuthSignIn): pass class TwitterSignIn(OAuthSignIn): pass
The OAuthSignIn base class defines the structure that the subclasses that implement each provider must follow. The constructor initializes the provider's name, and the application id and secret assigned by it, which are obtained from the configuration. Below you can see how the example application is configured (of course you will need to replace these codes with your own when you try this application):
app.config['OAUTH_CREDENTIALS'] = { 'facebook': { 'id': '470154729788964','secret': '010cc08bd4f51e34f3f3e684fbdea8a7' }, 'twitter': { 'id': '3RzWQclolxWZIMq5LJqzRZPTl','secret':'m9TEd58DSEtRrZHpz2EjrV9AhsBRxKMo8m3kuIZj3zLwzwIimt' } }
At a high level there are two significant events supported by this class that are common to all OAuth providers:
Initiation of the authentication process. For this the application needs to redirect to the provider's web site to let the user authenticate there. This is represented by the authorize() method. Once the authentication is completed the provider redirects back to the application. This is handled in the callback() method. Since the provider does not have direct access to the internal methods of the application, it will be redirecting to a URL that will call it. The URL that the provider needs to redirect to is returned by the get_callback_url() method and is built using the provider name, so that each provider gets its own dedicated route.
The get_provider() class method is used to lookup the correct OAuthSignIn instance given a provider name. This method uses introspection to find all the OAuthSignIn subclasses, and then saves an instance of each in a dictionary.
OAuth Authentication with Rauth
Rauth represent OAuth providers with an object of class OAuth1Service or OAuth2Service, depending on the version of the protocol that it uses. I create an object of this class in each provider's OAuthSignIn subclass. The implementations for Facebook and Twitter are shown below:
class FacebookSignIn(OAuthSignIn): def __init__(self): super(FacebookSignIn, self).__init__('facebook') self.service = OAuth2Service( name='facebook', client_id=self.consumer_id, client_secret=self.consumer_secret, authorize_url='https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/authorize', access_token_url='https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token', base_url='https://graph.facebook.com/' ) class TwitterSignIn(OAuthSignIn): def __init__(self): super(TwitterSignIn, self).__init__('twitter') self.service = OAuth1Service( name='twitter', consumer_key=self.consumer_id, consumer_secret=self.consumer_secret, request_token_url='https://api.twitter.com/oauth/request_token', authorize_url='https://api.twitter.com/oauth/authorize', access_token_url='https://api.twitter.com/oauth/access_token', base_url='https://api.twitter.com/1.1/' )
For Facebook, a provider that implements OAuth 2, the OAuth2Service class is used. The service object is initialized with the name of the service and several OAuth specific arguments. The client_id and client_secret arguments are the ones assigned to the application in Facebook's developer site. The authorize_url and access_token_url are URLs defined by Facebook for applications to connect to during the authentication process. Finally, the base_url sets the prefix URL for any Facebook API calls once the authentication is complete.
Twitter implements OAuth 1.0a, so class OAuth1Service is used instead. In OAuth 1.0a the id and secret codes are called consumer_key and consumer_secret, but are otherwise identical in functionality to the OAuth 2 counterparts. The OAuth 1 protocol requires providers to expose three URLs instead of two, there is an additional one called request_token_url. The name and base_url arguments are identical to the ones used in OAuth 2 services. I should note that Twitter offers two options for the authorize_url parameter. The URL shown above, https://api.twitter.com/oauth/authorize, is the most secure, as it will present the user with a screen in which they need to give permission to the app to access Twitter every time. Changing that URL to https://api.twitter.com/oauth/authenticate will make Twitter ask for permission just the first time, and then will silently allow access for as long as the user is logged in to Twitter.
Note that there is no standardization for the OAuth entry point URLs, OAuth providers define these as they like. To add a new OAuth provider you will need to obtain these URLs from the provider's documentation.
OAuth Authorization Phase
When the user clicks the "Login in with..." link to initiate an OAuth authentication the following application route is invoked:
@app.route('/authorize/<provider>') def oauth_authorize(provider): if not current_user.is_anonymous(): return redirect(url_for('index')) oauth = OAuthSignIn.get_provider(provider) return oauth.authorize()
This route first ensures that the user is not logged in, and then simply obtains the OAuthSignIn subclass appropriate for the given provider, and invokes its authorize() method to initiate the process. The authorize() implementation for Facebook and Twitter is shown below:
class FacebookSignIn(OAuthSignIn): #... def authorize(self): return redirect(self.service.get_authorize_url( scope='email', response_type='code', redirect_uri=self.get_callback_url()) ) class TwitterSignIn(OAuthSignIn): #... def authorize(self): request_token = self.service.get_request_token( params={'oauth_callback': self.get_callback_url()} ) session['request_token'] = request_token return redirect(self.service.get_authorize_url(request_token[0]))
For OAuth 2 providers like Facebook the implementation simply issues a redirect to a URL generated by rauth's service object. The scope is provider specific, in this case I am asking that I want Facebook to provide the user's email. The response_type=code argument tells the OAuth provider that the application is a web application (there are other possible values for different authentication workflows). Finally, the redirect_uri argument is set to the application route that the provider needs to invoke after it completes the authentication.
OAuth 1.0a providers use a slightly more complicated process that involves obtaining a request token from the provider, which is a list of two items, the first of which is then used as an argument in the redirect. The entire request token is saved to the user session because it will be needed again in the callback.
OAuth Callback Phase
The OAuth provider redirects back to the application after the user authenticates and gives permission to share information. The route that handles this callback is shown below:
@app.route('/callback/<provider>') def oauth_callback(provider): if not current_user.is_anonymous(): return redirect(url_for('index')) oauth = OAuthSignIn.get_provider(provider) social_id, username, email = oauth.callback() if social_id is None: flash('Authentication failed.') return redirect(url_for('index')) user = User.query.filter_by(social_id=social_id).first() if not user: user = User(social_id=social_id, nickname=username, email=email) db.session.add(user) db.session.commit() login_user(user, True) return redirect(url_for('index'))
This route instantiates the OAuthSignIn provider class and invokes its callback() method. This method has the function to complete the authentication with the provider and obtain the user information. The return value is a tuple with three values, a unique id (called social_id to differentiate it from the id primary key), the user's nickname and the user's email. The id and the nickname are mandatory, but in this example application I made the email optional, since Twitter never shares that information with applications.
The user is searched in the database by the social_id field, and if not found, a new user is added to the database with the information obtained from the provider, effectively registering new users automatically. The user is then logged with the login_user() function of Flask-Login, and finally redirected to the home page.
The implementation of the callback() method for the Facebook and Twitter OAuth providers is shown below:
class FacebookSignIn(OAuthSignIn): #... def callback(self): def decode_json(payload): return json.loads(payload.decode('utf-8')) if 'code' not in request.args: return None, None, None oauth_session = self.service.get_auth_session( data={'code': request.args['code'], 'grant_type': 'authorization_code','redirect_uri': self.get_callback_url()}, decoder=decode_json ) me = oauth_session.get('me').json() return ( 'facebook$' + me['id'], me.get('email').split('@')[0], # Facebook does not provide # username, so the email's user # is used instead me.get('email') ) class TwitterSignIn(OAuthSignIn): #... def callback(self): request_token = session.pop('request_token') if 'oauth_verifier' not in request.args: return None, None, None oauth_session = self.service.get_auth_session( request_token[0], request_token[1], data={'oauth_verifier': request.args['oauth_verifier']} ) me = oauth_session.get('account/verify_credentials.json').json() social_id = 'twitter$' + str(me.get('id')) username = me.get('screen_name') return social_id, username, None # Twitter does not provide email
In the callback() method the provider passes a verification token that the application can use to contact the provider's APIs. In the case of OAuth 2 this comes as a code argument, while for OAuth 1.0a it is oauth_verifier, both given in the query string. This code is used to obtain an oauth_session with the provider from the service object from rauth.
Note that in recent versions of the Facebook API, the session token is returned in JSON format. The default format that rauth expects for this token is to be provided in the query string of the request instead. For that reason, it is necessary to add a decoder argument that points to a function that decodes the JSON payload. In Python 2, it is sufficient to pass json.loads, but in Python 3 we need an additional step because the payload is returned as bytes, which the json parser does not understand. The conversion from bytes to string is done in the decode_json inner function.
The oauth_session object can be used to make API requests to the provider. Here it is used to request user information, which has to be done in a provider specific way. Facebook exposes a user id and an email, but does not give out usernames, so the username for the application is created from the left portion of the email address. Twitter provides the id and the username, but does not share emails, so the email is returned as None. The data obtained from the provider is finally returned as a three element tuple to the view function.
Note how in both cases the id value from the provider is prepended with "facebook$" or "twitter$" before it is returned, to make it unique across all providers. Since this is what the application will store as social_id in the database, it is necessary to do this to ensure that two providers that assign the same id to two different users do not collide in the application's database.
Conclusion
As I mentioned above, the example application allows any user to register and login with either a Facebook or a Twitter account. The application demonstrates how to register and login users without them having to enter any information, all they need to do is to login with the provider and authorize the sharing of information.
If you want to try this example, you need to follow some preparatory steps:
Clone or download the project's repository: https://github.com/miguelgrinberg/flask-oauth-example
Create a virtual environment and install the packages in the requirements.txt file (you can use Python 2.7 or 3.4).
file (you can use Python 2.7 or 3.4). Register "apps" with Facebook and Twitter, as described above.
Edit app.py with the id and secret codes of your Facebook and Twitter apps.
After you complete these instructions, you can run the application with python app.py, and then visit http://localhost:5000 in your browser.
I hope this article is useful in demystifying OAuth a little bit. If you have any questions feel free to write them below.
MiguelRELATED COMICS: Roger Ebert On Kindness, John Lennon Produce Your Own Dream, Bill Watterson A Cartoonist’s Advice, Chris Hadfield An Astronaut’s Advice, The Dalai Lama answers a question.
Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) was a filmmaker responsible for classic movies such as Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket.
Growing up in the Bronx in New York, Kubrick was terrible at school and often skipped class to go to the movie theatre. He soon developed an interest in photography, teaching himself how to use the camera his father gave him as a gift. Similarly, Kubrick didn’t have any formal education in directing and taught himself all aspects of filmmaking. Kubrick on making his first short film, Day of the Fight in 1951:
“I was cameraman, director, editor, assistant editor, sound effects man—you name it, I did it. It was invaluable experience, because being forced to do everything myself I gained a sound and comprehensive grasp of all the technical aspects of filmmaking.”
By the age of 31, Kubrick had already worked as a photojournalist at Look magazine for five years (check out some of his amazing photos) and directed four feature films. In 1960, he was hired to direct the most-expensive film ever made at the time, Spartacus. Kubrick butted heads with Kirk Douglas, the leading-man and producer, over the film’s direction and the bad experience made Kubrick vow that he would have complete creative control on all of his future films.
Kubrick is often described as an eccentric thanks to the stories about his obsessive attention to detail, treatment of actors, personality quirks and reclusiveness. But these anecdotes are overshadowed by his ground-breaking movies, technical expertise and the opinions of those close to him, who described him as a warm, loving and gregarious genius of a man.
The quote used in the comic is taken from a 1968 Playboy interview Kubrick did soon after the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey. You can read the context of the question in this Brain Pickings article.
– Watch this awesome 11-minute tribute video to Kubrick (NSFW).
– The recent documentary Room 237 claims that the visual effects Kubrick pioneered in 1968 for 2001: A Space Odyssey was just a dress rehearsal for his most ambitious ‘film’: the 1969 Apollo moon landing. The film argues that Kubrick was in cahoots with the United States Government and faked the moon landing. Kubrick was so guilt-ridden he left clues in his next movie, The Shining, which gave away his involvement. I don’t believe the claim, but it’s a fascinating documentary and it makes a pretty convincing argument.
– It’s recently been announced that Steven Spielberg will be turning Kubrick’s unrealised movie Napoleon, often referred to as ‘the best film never made’, into a TV miniseries.
– Spielberg and Scorsese on Kubrick.
– Thanks to Anthony and Max for submitting this quote.It’s finally a go. The Wheat Street Towers – the nation’s first federally funded, church-sponsored affordable senior high rise – recently received the green light from the Invest Atlanta and HUD to close on a $24 million dollar deal to renovate the 14 floor, 210 unit building. Invest Atlanta, a component of the city’s Economic Development Authority arm, will contribute $12.5M from its coffers to launch the initial phase I of this renovation project.
The Wheat Street Towers project falls under the purview of the Wheat Street Charitable Foundation (WSCF), a 501c-3 non-profit which is associated with but separate from the church itself. WSCF is solely responsible for managing and operating all aspects for existing Foundation properties as well as all the development of new projects supporting its mission of affordable housing and economic development in the Sweet Auburn corridor.
WSCF is the largest, non-profit land owner located within the Auburn Avenue Historic District. Phase I of WSCF development includes the renovation of all 210 Wheat Street Towers apartments into newer state of the art housing units. Phase II plans will include the development of additional market rate and affordable housing as well as exploring various retail entrepreneurial opportunities.
“Wheat Street has been very fortunate to amass several acres of prime real estate situated on the outskirts of downtown which features a postcard picturesque view of Atlanta’s skyline in the foreground,” said Ben Logan, a member of the WSCF Strategic Planning & Development team. Location, location, location has been our best asset. We have remained steadfast in the church’s legacy, and we are proud of our church’s civic and business accomplishments. Our church history reflects that we have always served as both a spiritual and social beacon for the Atlanta community at large,” he added.
Despite millions of tourists visiting the area annually, and the constant flurry of media exposure, many residents have been displaced and numerous small minority owned businesses located between Decatur Street and John Wesley Dobbs have struggled financially in the past to keep their doors open. The current influx of Georgia State University’s collegiate residential projects along with several new diverse small businesses and restaurants in the area appears to be making a change in the right economic direction.
All of the Wheat Street properties are located within Atlanta’s primary urban Transit Oriented Development (TOD) area. Studies show that urban TODs are creating quite the buzz in inner city areas around the country. Real estate developers are very eager to work with transit authority officials, city planners, and property owners in and around city mass transit hubs to revamp these properties into vibrant inviting successful enterprises.
“All of our properties are just a stone’s throw away from the Auburn Avenue Atlanta Streetcar stop, which shuttles thousands of visitors to the Martin Luther King Jr. historic sites” commented Logan. This project represents an opportunity for us to continue fulfilling our organization’s mission of service to the community, and we have additional goals and aspirations to continue to reinvest in this historic corridor. We are very grateful to Atlanta’s Mayor Kasim Reed and Invest Atlanta for their confidence in our organization. Without their vision and support, the Wheat Street Towers renovation project would not be possible.” he added.
The Benoit Group has been selected as the developer, and general contractor. The Dorchester Management Group will oversee the day-to-day property management for Wheat Street Towers. Construction on the building has already begun, with completion set for Fall of 2018.
Also On Atlanta Daily World:Using a $100 graphics card and a freeware utility, you can bruteforce NTLM MD5 password hashes at a rate of 3.3 billion guesses per second. A comparable CPU can bruteforce the same hashes at just 9.8 million per second. The same utility can only crack SHA1 passwords at around half the speed, but it’s hard to avoid the shocking truth: if you use passwords less than 10 characters in length, you are not safe.
Using a straightforward brute-force attack, the $100 graphics card — a Radeon 5770 — can crack your five-character password, with caps and numbers, in less than a second. A CPU, by comparison, takes 24 seconds. Six-character passwords take the GPU four seconds, while a CPU would take 90 minutes. Seven-character passwords take 17 minutes, while a CPU would take no less than four days.
The problem lies in the fact that GPUs are massively parallel, with hundreds of stream processors that can simultaneously crack password hashes. CPUs have always been notoriously bad at parallel processing, and even the advent of multi-core chips is nothing to write home about. Supercomputers with hundreds of CPUs obviously ameliorate the problem slightly — but considering GPUs can also be used in supercomputing, it’s probably just time to face facts: if you want an uncrackable password, you need to use some seriously long phrases.
It’s unfair and infeasible to expect everyone to use 15-character passwords with punctuation — everyone would just write their passwords down, which is just as bad — but with password managers like LastPass and KeePass, you only have to remember one master password. KeePass has the advantage that it works across every platform, including Android and iOS. While KeePass stores passwords locally or on a USB dongle that you need to carry around, LastPass stores your passwords securely in the cloud. On the flip side, LastPass only works with browser-based services.
When it comes to choosing a master password, rather than forcing yourself to remember something unmemorable and full of silly punctuation, pick a phrase from your favorite book or poem: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” Take a long word, like “elephant”, and intersperse groups of numbers: “el123eph456ant789”. If you don’t want to use a password manager, take the name of the service — “gmail.com” — and append the digits of a friend’s phone number or their street address: “gmail.com2165551234”.
If you have any tips for creating GPU-proof passwords, leave a comment!
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dsc08377Over the course of an NFL game, some bad blood is bound to surface, thanks in large part to the game's physical nature. Today's Ravens-Texans playoff game was no exception. But amid all that physicality and sometimes downright antipathy, bonds are formed. One such bond exists between the Ravens' Ray Lewis and Texans' Arian Foster. And so after Lewis' side was finished vanquishing Foster's earlier today, we had this:
Such jersey swaps, of course, usually happen in that other football, and the fact that they're as rare as they are in American football makes it all the cooler that Lewis and Foster did this. That, plus the fact that Lewis and Foster are two elite players, the types you can really see respecting one another enough as competitors that they'd do a thing like this. Jersey-swapping in soccer alwaus weirded us out a little bit, but that might have had something to do with everyone doing it. Thinking of it as an activity of the greats of the game, a status you earn by proving you're one of the best of the best, a sign of respect from star to star - that's a tradition we can get behind.
Video by CJ Fogler.LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays Plc (BARC.L) is to close a mortgage centre in Cardiff, Wales, with the loss of more than 180 jobs, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, as the bank continues a major restructuring to cut costs.
FILE PHOTO: A Barclays logo is pictured outside the Barclays towers in Johannesburg, South Africa, December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo
The employees at the centre were told about the job losses on Wednesday, sources familiar with the cuts told Reuters.
A spokesman for Barclays confirmed the closure, but said only 60 jobs would be cut, while 144 people would be offered the chance to relocate to Liverpool and Leeds.
“We appreciate that for some staff they may wish to take a redundancy option and this will be available,” the spokesman said in an emailed statement.
Workers’ union Unite condemned the closure.
“This highly skilled and dedicated workforce will be made redundant and we call on Barclays to think again and reverse this decision,” Unite regional officer Steve Pantak said in an emailed statement.
The announcement comes as a further blow to the financial services industry in Wales, which has been disproportionately hit by branch closures in Britain according to a Reuters analysis last June.
Barclays in common with other British banks has been closing branches, cutting jobs and selling unwanted assets in its retail and investment bank as it seeks to become more profitable.
Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley on Feb. 23 said the bank would close its ‘non-core’ division of unwanted assets in June, 6 months ahead of schedule.
The lender is also overhauling its back office operations by creating a new standalone unit to provide support services, Reuters reported last month, as it seeks to cut costs and make the group more efficient.Books are arriving courtesy of Northern Ireland Humanists following a crowd funding campaign
A BOOK that explores humanist views of morality and ethics and the origins of life, is being sent free to schools.
The books are arriving courtesy of Northern Ireland Humanists following a crowd funding campaign.
What is Humanism? by Michael Rosen and Annemarie Young is aimed at secondary age pupils.
It is intended for use in the classroom or at home to help children from all backgrounds better understand the mainstream non-religious values shared people in the UK.
It features special content provided by authors Stephen Fry, Natalie Haynes and Philip Pullman.
Northern Ireland Humanists coordinator Boyd Sleator said the religious education curriculum in Northern Ireland was dominated by the Christian religions.
He said humanists are non-religious people whose values include looking to reason and science to gain an understanding of the world around them and relying on empathy to make moral choices.
Northern Ireland Humanists campaigns for integrated education for people of all faiths and none.
"It's important that schoolchildren also have the opportunity to reflect widely on the different beliefs and values that make up our society and the world we live in today," Mr Sleator said.
"Children across Northern Ireland, whatever their background, now have a resource designed with them in mind so they can improve their understanding of Humanism and of their non-religious friends and neighbours."Keyhole gardens may have started in Africa, but their simple, efficient design makes them desirable in any location, especially those affected by drought.
The name comes from the shape of the raised-bed design. If observed from a bird’s-eye view, the garden looks like a circle with a wedge taken out, or a keyhole.
The design was pioneered by a U.K. humanitarian group called Send A Cow. Generally 3 feet high, the beds take out the backbreaking part of tending a garden by being conveniently waist high. They retain soil and moisture and no fertilizer is needed.
The reason why no fertilizer is needed is because the garden gets its nutrients from the composting basket that is in the center of the bed. Thanks to the moisture-retaining nature of compost, keyhole gardens use 80 percent less water than a normal backyard patch, according to ABC News.
The use of compost materials, such as cardboard and other paper products, provides carbon |
10 times more permeable to water than the HD conformation. The insertion of a positive charge at the N terminus by desformylation hardly affects the behavior of water molecules in the DH conformation. Therefore, the recent hypothesis () that the positive charge at the channel entry might be involved in lowering the access resistance for water to enter the channel and thereby increasing water permeability is not confirmed. Instead, a shift in equilibrium between the HD and DH conformation toward DH is proposed here to cause the higher observed water permeation rate in desformyl gA.
Figure 8 Thermodynamic cycle of the calculated free energies. The vertical, solid arrows depict the simulations that were actually performed, with the corresponding numbers the associated free energy change (in kilojoule/mole) including long-range electrostatics (the numbers in parenthesis denote the free energy change including only short-range electrostatics, until 1.5nm). The desformylation was achieved by mutating the native formyl-capped N termini into positively charged amino groups (see text). The horizontal, dashed arrows denote the transitions of interest, and estimates for the associated free energies are shown. “0” denotes a state in which the peptide is completely vanished. This is achieved by slowly mutating all gA atoms into dummy atoms, without interactions with the surrounding bilayer and solvent. To investigate the effect of the desformylation on the relative stability of the channel in more detail, free energy perturbation simulations were carried out. In these simulations, the formyl group was slowly “mutated” into a positively charged amino group for both the HD and DH conformation (for details, see Materials and Methods). The results are summarized in Fig. 8. As already observed from the RMSD values ( Fig. 3 ), desformylation leads to a structural destabilization of the HD conformation. Energetically, however, introduction of the positive charges at the N termini of the peptide is favorable, even (at first sight unexpectedly) for the HD conformation. When only short-range electrostatic interactions (up to 15Å) are taken into account, the energy required for the mutation (values in brackets) is positive, due to the two positive charges in close proximity. Therefore, the favorable decrease of this energy is a long-range electrostatic effect (presumably caused by interactions with dipolar lipid head-groups and water molecules). Note that this free energy change corresponds largely to the transfer of two charges from vacuum to the lipid environment. In contrast, the transfer of an ion from bulk water to the membrane, as would occur in forming the desformyl gA HD conformation, is a highly unfavorable process. Further note that the end structure of the simulation is structurally unstable (see also Fig. 3 ) due to short-range electrostatic repulsion. The conformational response to the perturbation continues at the end of the FEP simulation, rendering the desformyl HD conformation (and the corresponding free energy) only a snapshot along the pathway toward the equilibrium desformyl gA structure.
For the DH conformation, in contrast, also the short-range contribution to the free energy of desformylation is negative, rendering the total energy for the mutation more favorable than in the HD conformation. This can be explained from the fact that in the DH conformation the two positive charges are located on both sides of the membrane and thus can be fully solvated by water molecules and polar lipid head-groups.
Unfortunately, the conformational transition between the HD and DH conformation is too complex and, therefore, cannot be simulated directly. This renders a direct comparison of the stability of the HD and the DH conformation problematic, because the free energy difference between the native HD and DH structures, which are required to close the thermodynamic cycle, cannot be directly computed. To overcome this problem, we defined a nonphysical “empty” state (denoted “0”) with all peptide atoms mutated to dummy atoms, i.e., without interactions with the surrounding lipids or with water. Because this state is identical for both structural forms, the transitions to this state connect the left- and right-hand side of the thermodynamic circle and hence the “0” state is a suitable reference structure for calculating the free energy differences of interest; those between the HD and DH conformation in both the native and desformyl form. Note that the “mutation” of the complete peptide into dummy atoms is still a rather drastic perturbation, which cannot be expected to be fully equilibrated in the nanosecond simulation time. Yet, full closure of the membrane is observed in the simulations, which justifies to interpret the free energies associated with the transitions to the empty “0” state at least qualitatively.
The calculated free energy change to the empty “0” state is almost identical for the two structural forms. Because the left and right half of the thermodynamic cycle are now connected, one can conclude that the conformational transition from the HD to the DH conformation for desformyl gA must be associated with a highly favorable free energy change. Hence, desformylation shifts the natural equilibrium between the two structural forms toward a higher population of the DH conformation as compared with native gA.
Interestingly, the very similar free energy values obtained for the simulations to the “0” state for both conformations imply that the HD and DH conformation are about equally stable in the simulation setup. Therefore, the HD and DH dimer can be expected to coexist in DMPC bilayers. Note, however, that from these simulations no accurate assessment of the population of both conformations can be obtained.
Saparov et al., 2000 Saparov S.M.
Antonenko Y.N.
Koeppe R.E.
I I.
Pohl P. Desformylgramicidin: a model channel with an extremely high water permeability. The experimentally observed lower cation conductance for desformyl gA as compared with gA () can be rationalized by the electrostatic repulsion introduced by the positively charged channel entry and exit in desformyl gA. This repulsion can be expected to create an additional free energy barrier for ions passing the pore. Explicit simulations of cation permeation, accompanied by free energy calculations would certainly provide more detailed information on this phenomenon.Looking for news you can trust?
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North Carolina Republican Senate candidate Greg Brannon has an interesting argument for eliminating food stamps: “slavery.” In a videotaped interview with the North Carolina Tea Party in October, Brannon, a Rand Paul-endorsed doctor who is top contender for the GOP nomination to take on Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, cited James Madison in making the case for abolishing the Department of Agriculture—and with it, the $76 billion-a-year Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps. Brannon has a real chance of winning: A December poll from Public Policy Polling found the GOP primary field split but showed him leading Hagan, 45-43.
“We’re taking our plunder, that’s taken from us as individuals, [giving] it to the government, and the government is now keeping itself in power by giving these goodies away,” Brannon said in the interview. “The answer is the Department of Agriculture should go away at the federal level. And now 80 percent of the farm bill was food stamps. That enslaves people. What you want to do, it’s crazy but it’s true, teach people to fish instead of giving them fish. When you’re at the behest of somebody else, you are actually a slavery to them [sic]. That kind of charity does not make people freer.”
It’s something of a mixed metaphor, because Brannon is suggesting that people on food stamps are lazy, while also conflating them with a system of labor exploitation in which people were literally worked to death. (Also: Madison liked slavery.)
Food stamps aren’t the only thing Brannon believes is subjecting Americans to the cruelties of the chattel system. At the RedState Gathering in November, an annual event organized by the influential conservative website, Brannon suggested that bipartisan compromises also “enslave” Americans.
A call to Brannon’s campaign was not immediately returned. We’ll update this post if he responds.Submitted by Gregory Brew via OilPrice.com,
With the OPEC production deal holding, at least for the moment, questions have now arisen over how prospects look for the cartel’s biggest producer. It’s been a strange few years for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as its endured budget deficits for the first time in its modern history, stagnation in oil prices and rising competition from other OPEC members and the American shale boom. Recently, talk has centered on the Saudi monarchy’s glimpse of the future: the Vision 2030 plan, whereby it hopes to diversify its economy and end its dependence on the mercurial oil and gas market. But can the world’s biggest oil producer and OPEC’s de facto leader pull it off?
In the short term, Riyadh will continue to feel the pain of lower-than-normal oil prices. The growth outlook for Saudi Arabia has been slashed, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on January 16 that the world’s largest oil producer would see its GDP grow by only 0.4 percent in 2017. The estimate comes on the basis of the continued low price of oil, but more importantly on the country’s slashed oil production: as a result of the recent OPEC production deal, Saudi Arabia has agreed to keep its production level at or below 10 million bpd. This has resulted in a cut in its growth outlook, down from 2 percent in October, according to Bloomberg.
This comes after anemic growth in 2016, where GDP expanded by only 1.4 percent. If oil prices stabilize, and the country’s economic forecast improves, GDP will likely expand by 2.3 percent in 2018.
The official Saudi response decried the IMF’s results as overly conservative. A government spokesman declared that Saudi growth would be “north of 1 percent,” citing the anticipated investment in renewable energy and a stimulus packaged the Saudi government was planning for the private sector, according to Bloomberg.
The Saudi leadership had been pivotal in the campaign to bring about an OPEC cut, after resisting production deals for years. The stakes were raised this year, as draining cash reserves and a resistant American energy sector convinced Riyadh that cuts were needed to boost prices. The cuts have come, surprising many analysts, and the OPEC deal looks set to hold at least for the time being.
Along with the cuts to production, the Saudi government looks to cut spending. The 2017 budget, the most detailed in the country’s history, lays out a series of measures for stabilizing state finances, which plunged into deficit in 2016 as a result of the crash in prices. The state is the largest employer and spender in the Saudi economy, which is largely built on the oil and gas industry. Cuts to construction projects and social programs, estimated at around $20 billion, will help to balance the budget. The deficit in 2016 was around 12.6 percent, down from 2015’s budget deficit of 15 percent, and if prices stay where the Saudis expect them to, between $50 and $43 per barrel, the budget gap in 2017 will be smaller still. The official Saudi estimate has the deficit amounting to 7.7 percent of GDP in 2017.
The current fiscal forecast is based on the National Transformation program (NTP) which aims at a balanced budget by 2020. The plan, also known as Vision 2030, was announced in 2016 and is intended to diversify the Saudi economy away from petroleum. The largest single component in the Saudi economic sector, the massive state energy company Saudi Aramco, is to be privatized, and its assets used to develop the country’s manufacturing, tourism and other sectors.
Gestures towards building investors’ confidence in the Saudi economy have included last year’s $17.5 billion sovereign bond sale, the largest such issue in history and a move which attracted bids totaling $67 billion, according to Bloomberg. Looking ahead, the Saudi government is expected to raise another $15 billion on international markets this year, boosting debt levels as high as 30 percent of total GDP by 2020. It is hoped that by then the budget will be back in surplus, likely spurred on by further sales of Saudi Aramco.
Investors are spurred on by the attractive Saudi rial-dollar rate, the continued strength of Saudi oil production (which has shown no signs of slowing down), and the clear interest within the current Saudi government in serious financial and economic reforms. This should make it easy for the Saudi state to raise all the funds its needs on international markets.
But that’s in the short term. Borrowing can only cover budget deficits for so long, and growth in the non-oil economy will have to be kick-started if the Saudi vision can be realized. The problem is that Saudi non-oil prospects aren’t great, with the non-oil economy on the edge of recession pending the release of some Q316 data. Government borrowing an increase in contracts in 2017 should boost non-oil growth from 0.2 percent to 0.8 percent, hopefully reaching 1.9 percent in 2018, according to CPI Financial.
Public debt will grow from 1.6 percent in 2014 to 23 percent in 2018. This is still a historically low rate for a country the size of Saudi Arabia, but the growth in debt could have investors alarmed and scare markets away from accepting more and more Saudi debt, which looks likely to fund continued growth past 2017.
So, while the Saudi forecasts are upbeat, and Saudi rhetoric around oil prices remains buoyant and hopeful, storm clouds are hovering on the horizon for the oil kingdom. Should the Vision 2030 plan succeed, and the country pivots away from oil and gas, fostering non-oil growth and a balanced budget in the next five-to-ten years, it will have justified Saudi enthusiasm. But oil remains the most important component in the Saudi economic picture, and the assertions of the 2017 budget and future forecasts are based on the assumption that oil prices will climb back up to $60 by 2018. Should that increase fail to occur, and the Saudi treasury continue to sell off more bonds and accumulate more debt, things in Riyadh could get more unstable.SEOUL (Reuters) - A defector’s treatment for critical injuries suffered during a dramatic dash from North Korea has highlighted a shortage of South Korean trauma doctors and again underscored Seoul’s lack of preparedness in the event of hostilities with Pyongyang.
The defector, identified only by his family name of Oh, was shot at least four times by his former comrades during his daring escape into South Korea last week.
American military helicopters flew the wounded soldier not to one of the many hospitals in Seoul, closer to the border, but to the Ajou University trauma center an hour south of the capital.
The center, and its lead surgeon John Cook-Jong Lee, have been thrust into the spotlight amid a push for more trauma facilities and specialist doctors in a country still technically at war and where preventable trauma death rates are already amongst the highest in the OECD.
An official at South Korea’s Ministry of Health said more than 30 percent of people who suffered fatal trauma injuries last year could have survived if they had access to proper, timely treatment. That’s far higher than the 10 to 15 percent in places such as the United States and Japan.
“Although 133 surgeons are currently entitled to perform trauma surgery, I highly doubt that all of them can actually perform,” said Park Chan-yong, general affairs manager of the Korean Society of Traumatology. “Many of them just gained the rights, but never had practiced this kind of surgery.”
By Friday, attention sparked by the defector’s case had prompted nearly 200,000 South Koreans to join a petition asking the presidential Blue House to boost funding for Lee’s trauma center, one of just nine in the country.
“THERE IS NO HOPE”
During increased tensions this year with heavily armed North Korea, Seoul has faced criticism over a lack of preparation for major emergencies, with many bomb shelters, for example, laying forgotten and unstocked with food or water.
The government has launched programs to raise awareness, but public emergency drills often fail to attract much response.
Despite the apparent need for specialists, Lee said he has faced “ignorance,” including from some doctors who complained he was showing off with new techniques, since returning from training in the United States in 2003.
“I had to explain whenever I met new doctors here, what a trauma surgeon was. Every day,” he said.
Often, trauma medicine is not seen as attractive or lucrative as other fields, said Park.
“Residents and medical students avoid coming to traumatology, because there is no hope and no dream.”
The South Korean government says it recognizes the problem, and in 2014 set a goal of lowering its rate of preventable trauma fatalities to levels closer to those of other OECD countries by 2020.
But with a shortage of funding, only half of a planned 17 regional trauma centers have been built so far, a health ministry official said.
Germany, for example, has less than twice the population of South Korea, but 10 times as many operational trauma centers.
MADE TO WAIT
South Korea’s strict gun control laws also mean there are far fewer gunshot wounds like those suffered by the defector. Between January 2012 and August 2017, 31 people were killed and 51 wounded by guns, according to the police.
In comparison, in the United States, where Lee trained, more than 33,000 people die from gunshot wounds every year, according to annual averages of government data.
However, the kinds of industrial accidents and car crashes commonly seen in South Korea can cause equally bad injuries, Lee said.
“In South Korea, roughly speaking, more than 90 percent of trauma victims are brought to the hospital in less than an hour,” Lee said. “However, frequently, they are put in emergency rooms for a while, sometime for hours, to get proper care.”
Lee has made a name for himself and the Ajou trauma center, in part by cultivating a close relationship with the American and South Korean militaries, making it an obvious choice for the defector’s treatment.
Lee said his fascination with the American medical evacuation crews and the techniques he learned in the United States have led him to push for a series of new additions at the trauma center, including a recently completed roof-top helipad with flashing neon messages in English for American pilots.
U.S. military air crews, however, have yet to obtain Pentagon permission to use the new helipad, Lee said.
FILE PHOTO: Lee Cook-jong, a South Korean surgeon who operated the defected North Korean soldier with gunshots, speaks during an interview with Reuters at a hospital in Suwon, South Korea, November 23, 2017. REUTERS/Yang Hee-kyong/File Photo
The arrival of the North Korean defector has brought Lee a new round of criticism for appearing to seek attention, including from one lawmaker, a charge he says is unfounded.
But it has also highlighted the need for more funding for his center and more trauma facilities in South Korea.
“To those who get only 10, 20 minutes of sleep while working to save emergency room patients, to those who only get to go home once a week or not even that – we should not be criticizing them but rather, discuss how to resolve problems within the system,” the petition submitted to the Blue House said.Dipa Karmakar has come a long way from home.
On Aug. 07, the 22-year-old from Tripura made history in Rio de Janeiro as the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the women’s vault finals at the Olympics. Karmakar came in eighth after performing one of the most advanced gymnastic feats: the Produnova vault, otherwise known as the “vault of death.”
Named after Russia’s Elena Produnova, who first performed it in 1999, the feat has only ever been executed successfully by five gymnasts around the world, including Karmakar. With a front handspring and two front somersaults, it’s an extremely dangerous routine that most gymnasts dread.
But Karmakar is not just any other gymnast.
Beating the odds
India’s first ever gymnast to qualify for the Olympics began training at the age of six, undeterred by the flat feet she was born with.
Unlike in other parts of the world, gymnastics is an afterthought in India, a country more enamored by sports like cricket. As a result, it’s extremely difficult to raise money for expensive equipment or advanced training.
Karmakar’s road to Rio involved long years of training in a ramshackle gymnasium using makeshift equipment fashioned out of discarded scooter parts and crash mats. What’s more, Karmakar and her coach Bisweshwar Nandi also had to contend with India’s conservative social norms that frown upon a young girl spending so much time with a man, even if he is her trainer.
“There were so many ridiculous rumors but I knew that if Dipa produced the kind of results I knew she was capable of, that would silence everyone,” Nandi told Reuters in an interview.
It does look like the pair’s efforts are beginning to pay off. Karmakar’s execution of the Produnova earned her 14.850 points, guaranteeing that at the finals on Aug. 14, all eyes will be on her.
Here’s Karmakar’s inspiring career in photos.
Reuters/Issei Kato Dipa Karmakar competes in the women’s vault final of the artistic gymnastics competition during the 17th Asian Games in Incheon September 24, 2014.
Reuters/Andrew Winning Dipa Karmakar performs during the women’s gymnastics vault apparatus final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland July 31, 2014. Karmakar won the bronze medal.
Reuters/Phil Noble Dipa Karmakar reacts after a successful vault during the women’s gymnastics vault apparatus final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, July 31, 2014.
Reuters/Damir Sagolj Dipa Karmakar competes on the floor exercise during the women’s qualifications. REUTERS/Damir SagoljThe library gproc was recently recommended to me for registering processes in my elixir app. While I was researching the library I came across this in the readme:
An interesting application of gproc is building publish/subscribe patterns. Example:
subscribe ( EventType ) -> %% Gproc notation: {p, l, Name} means {(p)roperty, (l)ocal, Name} gproc : reg ({ p, l, {? MODULE, EventType }}). notify ( EventType, Msg ) -> Key = {? MODULE, EventType }, gproc : send ({ p, l, Key }, { self (), Key, Msg }). >
While doing some further research I came across a blog post with an elixir example. These peaked my interest and got me thinking about using gproc for pub/sub in a project, instead of GenEvent.
Below is an example of a bare-bones implementation using GenEvent similar to how I’ve been using it in projects. Then a comparable example using gproc.
Example GenEvent usage
# supervisor.ex defmodule EventSup do use Supervisor def start_link, do : Supervisor. start_link ( __MODULE__, [], []) def init ( _ ) do supervise ( [ worker ( GenEvent, [[ name: :event_manager ]], [ id: :event_manager ]), worker ( EventMonitor, [ :event_manager ]) ], [ strategy: :one_for_one ] ) end end # event_monitor.ex defmodule EventMonitor do use GenServer def start_link ( mgr ), do : GenServer. start ( __MODULE__, [ mgr ], []) def init ( mgr ) do :ok = add_handler ( mgr ) { :ok, mgr } end def handle_info ({ :gen_event_EXIT, _handler, _reason }, mgr ) do :ok = add_handler ( mgr ) { :noreply, mgr } end def add_handler ( mgr ) do GenEvent. add_mon_handler ( mgr, EventHandler, []) end end # event_handler.ex defmodule EventHandler do use GenEvent require Logger def init ( _ ), do : { :ok, {}} def handle_event ( event, state ) do Logger. info " received event #{ inspect event } " { :ok, state } end end # send event iex > GenEvent. notify ( :event_manager, { :event, " stuff" })
Example gproc pub/sub equivalent
# supervisor.ex defmodule EventSup do use Supervisor def start_link, do : Supervisor. start_link ( __MODULE__, [], []) def init ( _ ) do supervise ( [ worker ( EventHandler, [ :event_manager ]) ], [ strategy: :one_for_one ] ) end end # event_handler.ex defmodule EventHandler do use GenServer require Logger def start_link ( topic ), do : GenServer. start_link ( __MODULE__, topic, []) def init ( topic ) do :gproc. reg ({ :p, :l, topic }) { :ok, topic } end def handle_info ( msg, topic ) do Logger. info " received message #{ inspect msg } " { :noreply, topic } end end # send message iex > :gproc. send ({ :p, :l, :event_manager }, { :message, " stuff" })
Between these two I’m favoring gproc. Only needing to add one GenServer to my supervision tree to receive events from another module or OTP application is really nice. The ability to register more than just atoms as property names is good too. I’m not crazy about the api, but I could easily wrap that if I’m going to be using throughout a large project.
I’m not totally sold on gproc just yet though. I still have some other pub/sub solutions to research. I found elixir_pubsub and erlbus. Which could both fit the same use case.
There is also the Phoenix.PubSub now that its being broken out into a separate module. This is the option I’m most interested in as it matures with the next version of Phoenix.The Beatport Top 10 has regained its credibility [Editorial]
Something extraordinary has happened to the Beatport Top 10 over the past couple years: it’s regained its credibility.
Consistently hailed by producers and non-producers alike as one of the crowning achievements in terms of releasing dancefloor-oriented music, the chart — and more specifically the top 10 — has long offered a quick snapshot into the biggest tracks of the moment. As such, the chart further serves the purpose of a transparent window into the changing tastes of our scene.
Circa 2010-2014, for instance, during the rise (and subsequent plateau) of big room culture, Beatport’s famed front page soon came to embody the increasing homogenization of dance music culture. Progressive House, or at least its bastardized mainstream offshoot, seemingly dominated the charts without end, with but a few other genre outliers cutting through the noise. With opportunistic producers replicating the chart’s top hits ad nauseam — no doubt capitalizing on the easy marketability of the genre’s time in the sun — the Top 10 soon became synontmous with formulaic dance productions.To strive for, admire, or even celebrate the Top 10 soon became regarded as shameful behavior for artists.
[It’s worth noting that this phenomenon has never been unique to mainstage-oriented productions. For every banal big room track, there are just as many (if not more) mediocre tech house tracks biting on the sound of the moment.]
Somewhere along the way, however, Beatport’s Top 10 started to evolve — or rather yet, devolve — back to its old ways, before the EDM explosion. Artists like Sasha, Solomun, and Green Velvet once again began ruling the charts, with labels like Innervisions, Crosstown Rebels, and Diynamic holding steady court over the home page. And somewhere during this period — which is holding steady throughout 2017 — the chart has regained its credibility.
One need look no further than the current Top 10 (June 9 as time of writing) to corroborate this:
[Beatport’s Top 10, June 9th]
Pleasurekraft’s 7-year rework of their seminal tech house anthem “Tarantula” has held steady atop the chart for the past few weeks, lending further credence to the idea of a pre-EDM chart revival. This is followed by CamelPhat and Dennis Cruz, two underground power houses with releases on two of the biggest tech house imprints of the day, Relief and Stereo Productions. The list then includes Maceo Plex’s new dancefloor bomb “5th Dimensional Groove” for his own Ellum, as well as Patrice Bäumel’s inescapable Afterlife anthem, “Glutes.” Rounding out the list is a huge Diynamic cut from Dee Montero, “Halcyon,” a new one from Bontan, and two appearances from Berlin’s Keinemusik star, Rampa.
Do you notice something? For one, the chart is comprised almost entirely of tech house and techno — and not just that, but really f*cking good house and techno. All killer, no filler. The fact alone that Rampa has not one, but two releases in the top 10 speaks wonders. Add in the timeless draw of “Glutes,” the menacing arrangement of the new “Tarantula,” and the ‘90s bliss of “5th Dimensional Groove,” and it’s easily one of the most compelling Top 10s in recent memory.
Where the list is perhaps most telling is in the changing tastes of consumers. Beatport is, after all, first and foremost a digital retail store. Kids who were once buying Sander van Doorn and Swedish House Mafia are now wielding Maceo Plex and Patrice Bäumel. Commercial labels like Spinnin’ and Revealed have been usurped on the chart by underground titans like Hot Creations and Kompakt. All of this points to not just the legitimacy of a post-EDM era (yes, that’s unfortunately a term), but a bonafide revitalization and reaffirmation of house and techno culture.
Does this sound like dramatic overstatement? If you’re not a DJ or producer (or one of those crazed fans clamoring for uncompressed WAVs), then it very well may be. But if one is to view the Beatport Top 10 in its long-standing light as a barometer of our scene’s health, then it points not to a decaying electronic culture (which has became the popular narrative in mainstream media), but a burgeoning underground scene where innovation and authenticity thrive.
Read More:
Premiere: Pleasurekraft update ‘Tarantula’ with their own dark, brooding remix
These are Beatport’s top artists of the year by genre
Categories: FeaturesTens of thousands of people took to the streets of Burkina Faso on Friday to press President Blaise Compaoré to step down, a day after the army dissolved parliament and announced a transitional government.
Compaoré has refused to resign in the face of violent protests that pose the greatest threat to his 27-year rule, saying instead he will lead the transitional government.
Many protesters on the streets of Ouagadougou, the capital, said on Friday they wanted retired general Kouame Lougue, a popular former defence minister who was accused of trying to topple Compaoré in 2004, to take charge on an interim basis amid frustration with the fractious political opposition.
“We want him out of power. He is not our president,” said Ouedrago Yakubo, part of the huge crowd that gathered at the main Place de la Nation and in front of the army headquarters.
The square, the size of a football stadium, and surrounding streets were packed with more protesters than any other day this week, according to a Reuters reporter.
Protesters stormed the parliament building on Thursday and set part of it ablaze in a day of violence around the country triggered by a planned parliamentary vote to change the constitution and allow Compaoré to rule longer. It was scrapped as the scale of the anger became clear.
At least three protesters were shot dead and scores were wounded by security forces, emergency services said. A state of emergency was imposed for several hours but lifted late on Thursday.
Army general Honore Traore, the joint chief of staff, later announced that the government and parliament had been dissolved and a new, inclusive government would be named.
After hours of confusion about whether Compaoré would hold on to power or even where he was, the president spoke briefly on television and radio to state he was still in charge and would not step down. “I am available to open discussions with all parties,” he said in a recorded address.
The transitional government will include representatives from all sides and work to hold elections within 12 months. It was unclear if the opposition would agree to join a unity government, and the unrest underscored the threat Compaoré faces as frustrations mount in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Compaoré was 36 when he seized power in a coup in which Thomas Sankara, his former friend and one of Africa’s most revered leaders, was ousted and assassinated. Now 63, he is a staunch ally of the US and France but was also notoriously close to Muammar Gaddafi, the former Libyan leader, and former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who was found guilty of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity.
Emile Pargui Pare from the opposition Movement of People for Progress said Thursday was “Burkina Faso’s black spring, like the Arab spring”.
Simon Compaoré, a senior opposition figure not related to the president, told Reuters: “It is absolutely necessary for Blaise Compaoré to leave power and for a transitional government to take over. Talks are taking place with General Lougue … but there is no agreement yet.”
Months of tension in the country erupted on Thursday when about 1,500 people broke through a heavy security cordon and laid siege to the parliament building in Ouagadougou despite police firing warning shots in the air.
A huge crowd converged on the main square and began marching towards Compaoré’s presidential palace, where security forces reportedly fired live rounds and teargas.A 41-year-old man was fatally shot Christmas night in the Hoffman Triangle area of the city, New Orleans police said. His name was not released.
According to the New Orleans Police Department, the man was found at 11:45 p.m. inside a home in the 3300 block of First Street (map). He had been shot more than once and was pronounced dead at the scene.
NOPD said investigators were in the process of gathering evidence to determine a motive and a possible suspect. No other details were immediately available. Anyone with information should call Homicide Detective Barret Morton at 504-658-5300 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.
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Correction: An earlier version of this story, citing information from NOPD, reported the victim was 76. The department later corrected his age to 41.
Carlie Kollath Wells is a morning reporter at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Have an early-bird tip? Send it to her: cwells@nola.com or Twitter @carlie_kollath.Most system administrators working with a large number machines will be at least passingly familiar with LDAP, or it's Microsoft's incarnation as Active Directory. Like most organizations, we used LDAP to organize shell account information for SN's backend servers, and spent the last year and a half cursing because of it. As such, we've recently replaced LDAP with a much older technology known as Hesiod, which is a DNS-based system of storing user accounts and other similar information. Given Hesiod's unique history (and relative obscurity), I though it would be interesting to write a review and detailed history of this relic, as well as go more in-depth why we migrated.
Why We Dumped LDAP
One of the golden rules of system administration is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Given that LDAP is generally considered critical infrastructure for sites that depend on it, its worth spending a few moments explaining why we replaced it. Our LDAP backend was powered by OpenLDAP, which is generally the de facto standard for LDAP servers on Linux. In our experience though, OpenLDAP is extremely difficult to configure due to storing its configuration information within the LDAP tree itself (under cn=config), and being incredibly difficult to examine its current state, as well as recovering from any misconfiguration. In practice, I found it necessary to dump the entire LDAP configuration, modify the raw LDIF files, and then reimport with slapcat, and then pray. Painful, but manageable since, in practice, the overall server configuration shouldn't change frequently.
Unfortunately, every aspect of OpenLDAP has proven to be painful to administer. In keeping with the idea that none of our critical infrastructure should have single points of failure, we established replica servers from our master, and configured client systems to look at the replicas in case the master server take a dive (or is restarting). While a noble idea, we found that frequently without warning or cause, replication would either get out of sync, or simply stop working all together with no useful error messages being logged by slapd. Furthermore, when failover worked, systems would start to lag as nss_ldap kept trying to query the master for 5-10 seconds before switching to the slave for each and every query. As a whole, the entire setup was incredibly brittle.
While many of these issues could be laid at OpenLDAP (vs. LDAP itself as a protocol), other issues compounded to make life miserable. While there are other LDAP implementations such as 389 Directory Server, the simple fact of the matter is that due to schema differences, no two LDAP instances are directly compatible with each other; one can't simply copy the data out of OpenLDAP and import it directly into 389. The issue is further compounded if one is using extended schemas (as we were to store SSH public keys). As such, when slapd started to hang without warning, and without clear indication as of why, the pain got to the point of looking for a replacement rather than keep going with what we were using.
As it turns out, there are relatively few alternatives to LDAP in general, and even fewer supported by most Linux distributions. Out of the box, most Linux distributions can support LDAP, NIS, and Hesiod. Although NIS is still well supported by most Linux distributions, it suffers from security issues, and many same issues with regards to replication and failover. As such, I pushed to replace LDAP with Hesiod, which was originally designed as part of Project Athena.
Project Athena
Hesiod was one of the many systems to originate out of Project Athena, a joint project launched between MIT, DEC, and IBM in the early 80s to create a system of distributed computing across a campus, eventually terminating in 1991. Designed to work across multiple |
We thought that most on the left saw it the same way. But since more and more people on the left have been “using” Facebook (or Facebook has been using them), we are not so sure any more. Instead, our political work has been seen as lacking and exhausting. Encrypted communication with autonomous servers is not perceived as liberating but rather as annoying.
Disneyland
We just hadn’t realised that, after all the stress out on the streets and all those lengthy group discussions, many activists seem to have this desire to prattle at length on Facebook about everything and with everyone. We hadn’t realised that, even for the left, Facebook is the sweetest of all temptations. That the left along with everyone else enjoys following the subtle flow of exploitation where it doesn’t seem to hurt and, for once, not having to resist. Many people suffer from a bad conscience. While this may lead them to anticipate the fatal consequences of Facebook, it does not seem to translate into action.
Is it really ignorance?
Just to give a short outline of the problem. By using Facebook, activists do not just make their own communication, their opinion, their ‘likes’, etc. transparent and available for processing. Instead – and we consider this far more important – they expose structures and individuals who themselves have little or nothing to do with Facebook. Facebook’s capability to search the net for relationships, similarities etc. is difficult to comprehend for lay people. The chatter on Facebook reproduces political structures for the authorities and for companies. These can be searched, sorted and aggregated not just in order to obtain precise statements regarding social relations, key people, etc., but also in order to make predictions, from which regularities can be deduced. Next to mobile phones, Facebook is the most subtle, cheapest and best surveillance technology available.
Facebook users as unwitting informants?
We have always thought that the left wants something else: to continue our struggles on the internet and to use the internet for our political struggles. This is what it’s about for us – even today. That is why we see Facebook users as a real danger for our struggles. In particular, activists who publish important information on Facebook (often without knowing what they are doing), which is increasingly used by law enforcement agencies. We could almost go as far as accusing those activists of collaborating. But we’re not quite there yet. We still have hope that people will realise that Facebook is a political enemy and that those who use Facebook make it more and more powerful. Activist Facebook users feed the machine and thereby reveal our structures – without any need, without any court orders, without any pressure.
Our Point of View
We are aware that we’re talking from ‘above’. For us, having worked for years – and sometimes have earned a living – with the net and with computers, system administration, programming, cryptography and lots more, Facebook comes as something like a natural enemy. And since we also consider ourselves to be part of the left, this adds to the analysis of the political economy of Facebook, where ‘users’ are turned into a product, that is sold, and become consumers at the same time. The jargon for this is ‘demand generation’. We realise that not everyone deals as enthusiastically with the internet as we do. But for activists to allow this Trojan horse called Facebook to be part of their everyday lives is a sign of ignorance on a critical level.
We urge everyone: close your Facebook accounts! You are putting others in danger! Act against this data monster!
Also: Leave Yahoo! mail and co. Down with Google! Against data retention! For net neutrality! Freedom for Bradley Manning! Long live decentralisation!
Fight capitalism! Also – and especially – on the internet! Against exploitation and oppression! Also – and especially – on the internet!
Get on your comrades’ nerves. Point out to them that by feeding Facebook they have chosen the wrong side!
nadir, october 2012For those who aren’t familiar with Path’s media moments, it’s enables sharing what you’re reading, a movie you’re watching or music that you’re currently playing. It may seem like a trivial thing, but it’s a core aspect of the social network, since presumably you want to be able to tell your friends what you are up to, including entertainment. With it missing on Windows Phone, the app was never complete for most fans of Path.
The private social network Path is slowly getting better with each update, especially after coming out of beta a few weeks ago. The app was first introduced earlier in the year and after a hiatus, it’s back with another significant update. Version 2.1 is now live in the Store, and it introduces the most coveted feature of ‘media moments.'
Version 2.1 finally brings that feature to Windows Phone users. After loading the update to your phone, you can now tap the ‘+’ button to enabling sharing of photos, location, media (music, book, movie), text and when you go to sleep/wake up. When you choose media, you can type in what you’re watching or listening too, with a lookup feature. Once found, you can post that information along with who you are with to Path. From the changelog:
Path 2.1
Post media moments like music, movies, and books
Post photos from all photos albums on your device
Path is still slow to load for our liking, but there’s no denying that today’s update is significant. With parity with iOS and Android, Windows Phone is today a little more complete.
So why use Path? The social network is private with only your closest friends and family allowed to view what you share. It’s like Facebook, but more private (and less crap). Users are limited to 150 contacts with fine-grained controls on what is being shared. Likewise, you can use this app to post to Facebook, Foursquare, Tumblr or Twitter, meaning you don’t have to give anything up (even if you don't have many friends on Path, it's a good mass-publishing app).
Pick up Path 2.1.0.2465 here in the Store. Thanks, Loay A., for the tip!BEER-SHEVA, Israel...January 28, 2014 - Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev President Rivka Carmi yesterday announced the establishment of a national cyber complex in Beer-Sheva, called CyberSpark.
"Beer-Sheva will not only be the cyber capital of Israel but one of the most important places in the cyber security field in the world," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared yesterday at the opening of a two day Cybertech International Conference and Exhibition in Tel Aviv, sponsored by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the National Cyber Bureau, Israel Defense Journal and the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, is a leading center of innovation in information security, in partnership with industry, security agencies and the government in a variety of tasks to protect Israel's digital borders," said BGU President Rivka Carmi. "We are at the forefront of cyber security research and are training the security researchers of tomorrow in our Master's Program in Cyberspace Security, the first of its kind in Israel."
At the Cybertech Conference, Fortune 500 companies Lockheed Martin and IBM both announced they would invest in CyberSpark R&D facilities, joining other cybersecurity leaders Deutsche Telekom, EMC, RSA and many startups at CyberSpark located in the new Advanced Technology Park (ATP) at BGU.
The 15 building ATP will be the only type of complex of its kind in the world that includes Fortune 500 companies and cyber-incubators, academic researchers and educational facilities as well as national government and security agencies. Together, they will produce a complete eco-system with all the components for global leadership in the cyber field - a common physical space, allowing the pooling of resources, shared technology infrastructure construction and synergy of specialists, researchers and students. The ATP is a partnership between the City of Beer-Sheva, and BGU and other investors.
"The new CyberSpark complex is a significant step ahead for BGU in the global cybersecurity playing field," explains Doron Krakow, executive vice president, American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. "It is attracting the world's largest companies, who will need to hire our graduates and researchers and fund our startups, as well as have a positive impact on the "brain drain" that has been an issue for Israel."
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American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the NegevMario Kart 8 Deluxe for Nintendo Switch races to the top of the All Formats Chart this week to become Nintendo’s first All Formats No1 since ‘Pokemon White Version’ on DS back in W9 2011 and the first Mario title at the top since ‘Mario Kart Wii’ back in W34 2008. There are also new entries for ‘Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3’ from CI Games/Koch at No2 and ‘Little Nightmares’ from Bandai Namco at No4.
Renewed stock of Nintendo Switch hardware comes just in time with ‘The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ also benefiting as it jumps from No10 to No5 (its highest chart position since its second week of launch). ‘Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands’ drops from top spot to No7. ‘FIFA 17’ almost drops out of the Top 10 for the first time as it falls from No3 to No9. There are two more entries that make the Top 40 with ‘Outlast Trinity’ debuting at No14 and ‘Puyo Puyo Tetris’ for Nintendo Switch new at No18.
Top 40 Entertainment Software (All Prices)
Week 17 Year 2017 Ending 29th April
LW TW Title Age Rating Publisher 1 MARIO KART 8 DELUXE PEGI 3+ NINTENDO 2 SNIPER: GHOST WARRIOR 3 PEGI 18+ CI GAMES 2 3 GRAND THEFT AUTO V PEGI 18+ ROCKSTAR 4 LITTLE NIGHTMARES PEGI 16+ BANDAI NAMCO ENTERTAINMENT 10 5 THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD PEGI 12+ NINTENDO 4 6 LEGO WORLDS PEGI 7+ WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 1 7 TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON: WILDLANDS PEGI 18+ UBISOFT 8 8 CALL OF DUTY: INFINITE WARFARE PEGI 18+ ACTIVISION 3 9 FIFA 17 PEGI 3+ EA SPORTS 6 10 HORIZON ZERO DAWN PEGI 16+ SONY COMPUTER ENT. 5 11 ROCKET LEAGUE PEGI 3+ 505 GAMES 12 12 FORZA HORIZON 3 PEGI 3+ MICROSOFT 9 13 MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA PEGI 16+ EA GAMES 14 OUTLAST TRINITY PEGI 18+ WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 24 15 HALO 5: GUARDIANS PEGI 16+ MICROSOFT 11 16 LEGO CITY UNDERCOVER PEGI 7+ WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 7 17 OVERWATCH PEGI 12+ BLIZZARD 18 PUYO PUYO TETRIS PEGI 3+ SEGA 20 19 THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM SPECIAL ED. PEGI 18+ BETHESDA SOFTWORKS 17 20 TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW 6: SIEGE PEGI 18+ UBISOFT 16 21 MINECRAFT: XBOX EDITION PEGI 7+ MICROSOFT 13 22 WWE 2K17 PEGI 16+ 2K 15 23 YOOKA-LAYLEE PEGI 7+ TEAM 17 14 24 BATTLEFIELD 1 PEGI 18+ EA GAMES 22 25 LEGO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS PEGI 7+ WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE 18 26 FOR HONOR PEGI 18+ UBISOFT 26 27 1-2 SWITCH PEGI 7+ NINTENDO 21 28 MAFIA III PEGI 18+ 2K 29 29 POKEMON SUN PEGI 7+ NINTENDO 25 30 TOM CLANCY'S THE DIVISION PEGI 18+ UBISOFT 31 31 RESIDENT EVIL 7: BIOHAZARD PEGI 18+ CAPCOM 35 32 MARIO KART 7 PEGI 3+ NINTENDO 40 33 DARK SOULS III: THE FIRE FADES EDITION PEGI 16+ BANDAI NAMCO ENTERTAINMENT 28 34 MINECRAFT: PLAYSTATION EDITION PEGI 7+ SONY COMPUTER ENT. 35 GEARS OF WAR 4 PEGI 18+ MICROSOFT 36 FALLOUT 4 PEGI 18+ BETHESDA SOFTWORKS 19 37 SNIPER ELITE 4 PEGI 16+ SOLD OUT SALES & MARKETING 38 CITIES SKYLINES: XBOX ONE EDITION PEGI 3+ PARADOX 39 POKEMON MOON PEGI 7+ NINTENDO 27 40 HITMAN: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON PEGI 18+ SQUARE ENIX
Ukie Games Charts ©, compiled by GfKpp. 171-172 of Competition and Entrepreneurship has J.K. Galbraith asserting, “that independently determined consumer desires [do not] dictate the pattern of production. The ‘institutions of modern advertising and salesmanship…cannot be reconciled with the notion of independently determined desires, for their central function is to create desires–to bring into being wants that previously did not exist.'”
Beyond the obvious first step (recognizing that consumers’ desires could not possibly be determined independently of the market process), this raises an interesting hypothesis: Advertisers should a) recognize that they’re selling snake oil and consume significantly less than similar people, or b) be particularly excited about the prospects of new and exciting products generally. In either case advertising should affect them differently than regular consumers and they should consume a different amount than consumers generally. At the very least, their consumption patterns should be different from regular consumers in the particular goods that they are advertising.
The criticism of advertising as socially wasteful (i.e. using up resources without actually making consumers better off) may hold up if evidence is found in support of the above hypothesis. In the case of pattern ‘a)’ it may be clear that advertising is manipulative and anti-social. But in the case of pattern ‘b)’ or the null (advertisers buy the same junk as the rest of us) we either have to abandon the criticism of advertising or come up with some ad hoc story about how everyone is stupid and their preferences shouldn’t matter.(NASHVILLE) A bill that would have directed state officials to disobey the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriages died in the House Civil Justice subcommittee on Wednesday.
The committee members heard about 90 minutes of testimony from pastors and lawyers and past legislators — much of it surrounding issues of states' rights to nullify a Supreme Court decision — before it killed the bill.
Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, said though he disagreed with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling and believed the court's decision was overreaching, he did not feel the bill was the way to do it.
"You’re asking us to step out where no one has stepped before," he said, adding that the bill to nullify the nation's highest court decision should be the last resort.
The hearing drew a full crowd to the committee room, with about 75 people spilling out to watch on a television in the hallway. Representatives of the Tennessee Equality Project and ACLU of Tennessee attended, as did several people wearing shirts saying "repent or parish" and stickers saying "I support HB 1412."
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They cheered and scoffed occasionally throughout the hearing.
More than 100 people gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday to rally in support of the bill. They leveraged arguments based in religion and states' rights in support of Tennessee defying the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. In that case, decided in June, the nation's highest court ruled 5-4 that same-sex couples could marry.
Tennessee for the most part swiftly fell in line with the mandate, though several counties considered local efforts to subvert the ruling.
According to the bill's financial analysis, Tennessee's refusal to comply could be costly if the federal government cut of funding for programs such as TennCare. Then the cost of the bill could exceed $8.5 billion, the note says.
The bill's main sponsors were Rep. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, and Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet.
The Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act sought to treat the Supreme Court ruling as void and called on the attorney general to defend any state official who refuses to comply.
An amendment called on clerks in vital records to reject licenses that were not between a man and a woman. The death of the bill doesn't mean the conservative fight on the issue of same-sex marriage is over.
Beavers and Pody filed another bill on Tuesday that could be a backup plan. That bill would prohibit Tennessee and local governments from enforcing executive actions and U.S. Supreme Court rulings until the General Assembly approves them.When asked by The Post whether the current state of the Knicks should be viewed as a glass half full or half empty, Reggie Miller took longer to answer than he needed to score eight consecutive points and beat the Knicks in Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference finals at the Garden.
“I would say it’s half empty,” Miller finally summarized before the Knicks’ latest loss, a 110-94 blowout loss to the Nuggets in Denver on Tuesday night. “I wanted to go half full because of [Kristaps] Porzingis, but where do they go after this? Their coaching situation is in a state of flux. You have a superstar in [Carmelo Anthony] who is frustrated. Where do they want to go?”
NBA legends-turned-broadcasters Miller, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith were in Manhattan on Tuesday for the CBS-Turner Media Day promoting the upcoming NCAA Tournament. But the uncertainty surrounding the Knicks (26-39) was a frequent topic of discussion. All three agreed the addition of Porzingis was a positive for the franchise, while the rest is a mess.
For starters, the Knicks’ implementation of the triangle offense has been a failure, with Miller suggesting team president Phil Jackson needs to adjust to a more suitable offense.
“What does Phil want to do?” Miller questioned. “What does [owner James] Dolan want to do going forward with this? How do we want to play?
“Are we going to continue with this triangle crap or are we going to play a traditional free-flowing style like the Warriors play?
“I love the triangle if I have Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, [Shaquille O’Neal] and Scottie Pippen. I’d play the triangle all day. But if I’ve got Carmelo and Porzingis, no, I do not like the triangle.”
Barkley said he is not a fan of Jackson’s offensive system either.
“It’s all about the players,” he said. “Without Kobe, and Shaq and Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, the triangle is just a circle.”
Beyond the development of Porzingis, the Knicks have little to show for their season, having won just four of their previous 21 games.
It’s why Smith said he also sees the Knicks’ glass as half empty.
“To me great teams always have a style of play,” said Smith, a Queens native and two-time NBA champion with the Rockets. “When I think of the Knicks, do they play up-tempo? Some nights. Do they slow it down and run the triangle? Some nights. Are they defenders? Sometimes. To me, that dictates if your glass is half empty or half full. Right now, it’s empty because they don’t have a style of play.
“What a style of play does is it allows you to draft, trade and get free agents to come. For Golden State, this is the player I need: a guy who can spread the floor and shoot 3s but can also defend bigger than his position. Now I know what I’m looking for. But if I said that to New York, I don’t know if that guy fits in New York because there’s no style that’s been created.
“In San Antonio, I know I need a guy who has a high basketball IQ that understands he doesn’t need the basketball to be effective. Now I can pick a guy like that. In New York, I don’t know what I’m picking.”
Frustration over the Knicks’ season apparently got the best of Anthony recently when he got into it with a heckler and later apologized. That doesn’t surprise Miller.
“The guys that he came in with in his draft class are playing for championships or competing for championships,” Miller said. “When you’re on a banana boat with LeBron [James] and Dwyane Wade and those guys are showing their bling and you’re playing on the richest franchise in the NBA and you have resources where you thought you could recruit guys, but no one wants to come play for the Knicks, I think that’s all building up and it’s coming out.”i-was-a-dragon:
candycoatedracism:
An angsty post about cultural appropriation towards pagans
No it is not. Not even close.
Up top: The Ouija board is a board game that was invented in 1890, not a religious or cultural matter of any kind. It is so new, that it is actually currently patented by Hasbro, which is why most versions you see don’t actually say Ouija on them. The mystical history of the ouija board was pretty much invented out of whole cloth by its creators, and even if they were true, their version of events is actually cultural appropriation from the chinese, so no, there is literally nothing that a white pagan could legitimately be upset about in the use of the Ouija board in jewelry and nailart.
The five-pointed-star is a symbol that has been so widely used in history, it’s current ‘wicca’ meaning is actually the odd man out, here. Using it as a protective symbol is within it’s historical uses, and if it were in fact being misused in these images it is not being used in a way that is causing you harm.
But the biggest difference is that the pictures on the bottom? They’re part of an ongoing problem in american culture. Seeing a pagan symbol used in a way you don’t agree with may be upsetting, but native people are so marginalized and fetishized that some people believe they are imaginary. Native women suffer outrageous statistics or rape, violence, and murder. The projected lifespan of a native person is drastically shorter than that of a white person due to outside factors. Asian women in the US are seen as a fetish and ‘geisha dolls’, while the men are considered a joke. Blacks in the US are unjustly incarcerated, murdered with impunity, and suffer levels of violence and discrimination I’m only just beginning to understand.
So unless the Ouija board and Supernatural are causing genocide and rape, do not compare the two. It’s okay to be upset about something, but do not claim that misplaced anger is even close to the legitimate anger the bottom images should cause.Exclusive: Bleaching may be standard by 2020s says leading reef researcher as new images show the damage to areas around Japanese islands of Okinawa
The worst global bleaching event on record could simply be the new normal, according to one of the foremost experts on coral reefs and their response to warming oceans.
Mark Eakin, head of the Coral Reef Watch program at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has told the Guardian he was hopeful the current global bleaching event would end in 2017, but said it was possible it would just roll on, alternating between the northern and southern hemispheres as the seasons changed.
Coral bleaching in Okinawa – in pictures Read more
Some of the most recent reefs to be hit by the unprecedented event are those around the Japanese islands of Okinawa.
Eakin said he had received preliminary reports that some reefs around the Japanese islands of Okinawa had 90% of their coral bleached, and about 10% of it had died so far.
“What I’d heard was that this is the worst since 1998,” Eakin said.
Striking new images reveal the impact unusually warm oceans are having on coral reefs around Okinawa in Japan have been shared exclusively with the Guardian.
Coral begins to bleach when comes into contact with water that is unusually warm. Unless that water returns to normal temperatures quickly, it begins to die.
Sometimes when coral is moderately stressed, it over-expresses some of its colour pigments, glowing in unusually rich colours, in what’s known as “fluorescing”. Each state – bleached, fluorescent and dead coral – was seen in striking detail around Okinawa.
“The fluorescing was spectacular, especially the corals that were glowing a brilliant shade of blue,” said Stephanie Roach the underwater photographer from XL Catlin Seaview Survey who took the images.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest This brightly coloured corals around are ‘fluorescing’, a sign that they are distressed. Photograph: XL Catlin Seaview Survey
She said the bleaching was widespread in the shallow areas, generally under about two metres in depth. In that region almost all the branching coral, called acropora, was bleached, if not dead.
She said as she went below 4m, the bleaching was more sporadic.
As is commonly the case with severe bleaching, the rest of the ecosystem appeared to be suffering too, with Roach reporting that she saw very few fish, and those that she did see were mostly herbivores, which would be feeding on the algae beginning to grow over dead coral.
Richard Vevers from XL Catlin Seaview Survey said the bleaching appeared to be similar to what they witnessed in the Maldives in May, except for the widespread and spectacular fluorescing.
“It is certainly unusual to witness this level of fluorescing, however we did see even more of it in New Caledonia,” Vevers said.
The global coral bleaching event began in 2014 as a splurge of warm water spread across the Pacific Ocean was pushed further through 2015 and early 2016 by a strong El Niño weather pattern. It has continued during an unprecedented run of record warm weather.
The phenomenon of global coral bleaching was seen for the first time in recent decades, and the current event is the longest and most severe such event recorded.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A bleached anenome photographed off Okinawa. Photograph: XL Catlin Seaview Survey
Every major reef region has been hit by it, and some areas like Hawaii have been affected three years in a row.
Eakin said although there wasn’t a global coral bleaching event in 2013, every year featured bleaching somewhere in the world. That meant some of those regions had bleached four years in a row.
Eakin was speaking from Guam, where he was attending a US Coral Task Force meeting. He said some reefs around Guam had been hit for a fourth year in a row.
Eakin said the current forecasts suggested there would be bleaching next in Micronesia and the Marshall Islands and there was a good chance of bleaching in the Caribbean.
“It’s not finished yet but I’m hopeful at this point we are going to be seeing the end of it soon,” Eakin said.
The Great Barrier Reef: a catastrophe laid bare Read more
But worryingly, Eakin said there was no guarantee. Forecasts as far out as 2017 were not very reliable but were already suggesting some warming in the Pacific, which could affect corals there again.
“I expect to see some bleaching every year from now on,” Eakin said. “The questions is: Does it continue to look like a global event, or is it just places here and places there?”
“At some point, we’re probably going to hit that level [of global warming] where it doesn’t go away and it’s continuous,” Eakin said. “The climate models have been saying for well over a decade that we’re looking to some time around the 2020s where global bleaching becomes the norm.”
Eakin said he was still hopeful that the models were over-predicting the bleaching risk in the future but he was also worried they could be under-predicting.
“That’s always been one of the problems – the global climate models tend to under-predict things,” Eakin said.Happy Saturnalia to all!
December 17 marked the beginning of Saturnalia, one of the most popular festivals in Ancient Rome. The midwinter celebrations lasted for several days (the number changed through the Roman era) and it was a time of feasting, partying, playing games, gift-giving and role-reversal. It was the merriest festival of the year and all work and business were suspended.
Long awaited, the seven Saturnalia are now at hand. (Macrobius, Saturnalia, I.10.3)
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Saturnalia originated as a farmer’s festival to mark the end of the autumn planting season in honour of Saturnus and, despite Livy’s claim that the festival was established in 496 BC, there is evidence that it began much earlier. Originally the festival was celebrated on a single day, on the fourteenth before the Kalends of January (December 19), but it was later extended to three days. With the Julian reform of the calendar, Saturnalia was celebrated sixteen days before the Kalends of January (December 17). However, by the end of the Republic the festival was so popular that it expanded to cover a week. The emperor Augustus would shorten it to a three-day holiday during his reign but Caligula later extended it to five days. According to the author Macrobius, the celebration of Saturnalia was extended with the Sigallaria on the 10th day before the Kalends (December 23) so named for the small terracotta figurines which were sold in Roman shops and given as gifts to children.
Saturnalia was described by 1st century AD poet Gaius Valerius Catullus as “the best of days”. It was certainly the most popular holiday in the Roman calendar.
The god Saturnus, who gave his name to the festival, was regarded as chief of the Roman gods. The Romans equated him with the Greek agricultural deity Kronos. Exiled from Olympus by Zeus, Saturnus ruled Latium in a happy and innocent “golden age”, a time when peace, harmony and prosperity prevailed. Depictions of the god in surviving art show him as a bearded man wearing a veil and brandishing a sickle or a scythe (the symbols of his agricultural function).
—
In Rome, the celebrations began with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturnus located at the western end of the Forum Romanum and thought to be the oldest Roman temple. Following the sacrifice, a lectisternium was held by placing the deity’s image on a sumptuous couch (lectus) with tables and offerings before him, as if Saturnus was really partaking of the things offered in sacrifice and participating in the festivities. The cult statue of Saturnus was usually tied together with wool throughout the year but during his festival it was freed from his chains as an act of liberation. A public banquet followed (convivium publicum).
After the official rituals, the celebrants would go out to the streets and shout the holiday greeting ‘IO Saturnalia’. It was followed by several days of feasting and fun.
To celebrate the festive season in style, I made my own Saturnalia altar.
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Hadrian is wearing the pilleum, as was the tradition during the festival. These pointy hats were traditionally worn by freedmen but during Saturnalia all men, regardless of status, wore the pilleum. Hadrian is set among foliage, holly (sacred to Saturn), pine leaves, candles and images of the god Saturn. During the winter festival, the Romans decorated their homes with greenery. Garlands and evergreen wreaths bearing red berries were hung over doorways and windows. Images of the god Saturn were placed around the altar, candles were lit and a suckling pig was sacrificed to the god.
In addition to the large-scale public feasts at the Temple of Saturnus, there was lots of eating and drinking at home and slaves were allowed to join in. All schools were closed and most businesses were suspended. Dress codes were relaxed and the whole population ditch the traditional toga in favour of something more relax and comfortable. Men and women would dress in brightly coloured tunics called synthesis (meaning “put together”), creating a carnivalesque atmosphere. Children could play at home and received toys as gifts.
Saturnalia also saw the inversion of social roles. For example, slaves were permitted to dine with their masters and even demand to be served by them. Adults would also serve children. People would wear a cap of freedom (the pilleum) which was usually worn by slaves who had been set free. Slaves, who ordinarily were not entitled to wear the pilleum, wore it as well, so that everyone enjoyed the same status. It was a time of free speech -the poet Horace calls it “December liberty”- and slaves were even allowed to disobey a command without being punished. Instead of working, slaves could spend their time playing dice and other games, drinking, feasting and enjoying themselves.
Gambling and dice-playing in public, normally forbidden, were permitted for all during Saturnalia. Children usually used nuts as gambling tokens.
…during my week the serious is barred; no business allowed. Drinking and being drunk, noise and games and dice, appointing of kings and feasting of slaves, singing naked, clapping of tremulous hands, an occasional ducking of corked faces in icy water,–such are the functions over which I preside. Lucian, Vol. IV: Saturnalia
On the first day of Saturnalia, a Princeps Saturnalia was appointed among the whole household by throwing the dice. The King of Saturnalia presided over and could command people to do things like to prepare a banquet or sing a song. According to Tacitus (Annals 13.15), the young Nero played that role and mockingly commanded his younger step-brother Britannicus to sing.
The last day of Saturnalia (23rd December) was a day of gift-giving when candles as well as small clay or wax figurines (sigillariae) were exchanged as gifts. Other presents could be given too. In his many poems about Saturnalia, Martial names both expensive and cheap gifts, including writing tablets, dice, knucklebones, moneyboxes, combs, toothpicks, a hat, a lyre, a hunting knife, oil lamps, perfumes, pipes, a pig, a parrot, a Priapus made of pastry, wine cups and spoons.
The Emperor Augustus was particularly fond of gag gifts while Hadrian often surprised his friends with presents.
—
At the Saturnalia and Sigillaria he [Hadrian] often surprised his friends with presents, and he gladly received gifts from them and again gave others in return. Historia Augusta – The Life of Hadrian
Not everyone embraced the spirit of Saturnalia! Pliny the Younger revealed in a letter that he was not such a merrymaker and said “when I retire to this garden summer-house, I fancy myself a hundred miles away from my villa, and take special pleasure in it at the feast of the Saturnalia, when, by the license of that festive season, every other part of my house resounds with my servants’ mirth: thus I neither interrupt their amusement nor they my studies.”
Two days after the end of Saturnalia, on December 25th, the Romans observed the birthday of the major imperial deity Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun-god, whose resurgence on the winter solstice initiated the daily increase in the hours of sunlight.
1,900 years ago Hadrian was celebrating his first Saturnalia festival as Emperor in Nicomedia, the capital of the province of Pontus and Bythinia in worth-west Asia Minor. Nicomedia was the home of the intellectual Arrian (Lucius Flavius Arrianus) who was to be Hadrian’s life-long friend. It would be reasonable to speculate that they celebrated Saturnalia together.
Yesterday I partied like it was 117 AD as I organised a small banquet at home on the occasion. I love ancient Roman food and for this banquet I tried a few more ancient recipes. Once again, everything was so delicious!
Gustatio: Moretum (Herb Cheese Spread) Columella, De re rustica Book XII / Panis (Bread) Primae Mensae: Gruem Vel Anatem (Duck in spiced gravy) Apicius, De Re Coquinaria 6,212 & Olus Mole (Mashed Vegetables) Apicius, De Re Coquinaria 3,105 Gustatio: Moretum (Herb Cheese Spread) Columella, De re rustica Book XII / Panis (Bread) Primae Mensae: Gruem Vel Anatem (Duck in spiced gravy) Apicius, De Re Coquinaria 6,212 & Olus Mole (Mashed Vegetables) Apicius, De Re Coquinaria 3,105 Secondae Mensae: ApothermumApicius, De Re Coquinaria 2,58
IO SATURNALIA!
Source: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/saturnalia.htmlOn Monday and Tuesday, games between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox at Camden Yards were cancelled due to safety concerns related to protests and civil unrest in Baltimore. Because of a lack of common off days among teams in the typical Major League Baseball schedule, additional cancellations would have been nearly impossible to make up, but the solution is still stunning: Wednesday's game will be played in front of an empty stadium. From an Orioles press release:
After consultation with Major League Baseball and city and local officials, tomorrow |
1,700,000
178. Just a Mess by Mercer Mayer (Golden, 1987) 1,694,589
179. Wee Sing Silly Songs (Price Stern Sloan, 1987) 1,690,238
180. Tex by S.E. Hinton (Dell, 1980) 1,688,627
181. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (Aladdin, 1975) 1,685,573 (figures not available before 1985)
182. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume (Dell, 1982) 1,685,272
183. Grover's Hide & Seek by Jon Stone, illus. by Michael Smollin (Random House, 1976 OP) 1,683,969
184. Double Love (Sweet Valley High #1) by Francine Pascal (Bantam, 1984) 1,674,452
185. Mary Anne Saves the Day (BSC #4) by Ann M. Martin (Scholastic, 1987) 1,672,214
186. Do You Know Colors? by Katherine Howard, illus. by J.P. Miller (Random House, 1979) 1,668,402
187. Addy Learns a Lesson by Connie Porter, illus. by Dayl Taylor (Pleasant Co., 1993) 1,665,358
188. Say Cheese and Die& Again! (GB #44) by R. L. Stine (Scholastic, 1996) 1,663,438
189. Scary Stories 3 by Alvin Schwartz, illus. by Stephen Gammell (HarperCollins, 1991) 1,659,865
190. Puppies Are Like That by Jan Pfloog (Random House, 1975) 1,659,544
191. Wee Sing Play (Price Stern Sloan, 1987) 1,656,447
192. Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary (Avon, 1991) 1,651,294
193. The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1983) 1,645,434
194. The Bug Book & Bug Bottle by Hugh Danks (Workman, 1987) 1,637,000
195. Wee Sing Christmas Book (Price Stern Sloan, 1989) 1,634,985
196. Deep Trouble (GB #19) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,628,163
197. Clear and Simple Thesaurus Dictionary (Grosset & Dunlap, 1971) 1,627,941
198. Ghost Beach (GB #22) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,626,052
199. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (Puffin, 1977) 1,623,359
200. Ernie and Bert Can--Can You? (Random House, 1982) 1,617,461
201. The Christmas Story by Ruth J. Morehead (Random House, 1986) 1,595,269
202. The Berenstain Bears' Nursery Tales by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1973) 1,591,493
203. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (Macmillan, 1970 and HarperCollins, 1994) 1,591,435 (figures not available before 1994)
204. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary (Avon, 1992) 1,586,721
205. Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik, illus. by Maurice Sendak (HarperCollins, 1978) 1,585,832
206. Just Me and My Little Brother by Mercer Mayer (Golden, 1991) 1,581,139
207. Farewell to Manzanar by James and Jeanne Houston (Dell, 1983) 1,580,386
208. Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff (HarperCollins, 1978) 1,579,940
209. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (GB #14) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1993) 1,577,808
210. Animal Babies by Harry McNaught (Random House, 1977) 1,577,302
211. Just Me in the Tub by Mercer Mayer (Golden, 1994) 1,570,575
212. The Great Brain by John Fitzgerald (Dell, 1972) 1,566,060
213. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson (HarperCollins, 1979) 1,565,688
214. The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo by Judy Blume (Dell, 1982) 1,564,332
215. The Horror at Camp Jellyjam (GB #33) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995) 1,558,523
216. Sooper Dooper Mad Libs by Roger Price and Leonard Stern (Price Stern Sloan, 1974) 1,554,284
217. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (GB #5) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1993) 1,552,763
218. The Original #1 Mad Libs by Roger Price and Leonard Stern (Price Stern Sloan, 1958) 1,551,898
219. The Barking Ghost (GB #32) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995) 1,547,996
220. One Day at Horrorland (GB #16) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,542,934
221. What a Bad Dream by Mercer Mayer (Golden, 1992) 1,542,581
222. The Berenstain Bears' Trouble at School by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1987) 1,541,772
223. Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger by Louis Sachar (Avon, 1996) 1,536,982
224. The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1989) 1,529,187
225. The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Vacation by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1989) 1,528,311
226. Kittens Are Like That by Jan Pfloog (Random House, 1976) 1,524,138
227. The Little Engine That Could (Easy to Read) by Watty Piper (Grosset & Dunlap, 1986) 1,523,233
228. The Story of the Nutcracker Ballet by Deborah Hautzig, illus. by Diane Goode (Random House, 1986) 1,520,603
229. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (GB #9) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1993) 1,519,350
230. Samantha Learns a Lesson by Susan Adler, illus. by Dan Andreasen (Pleasant Co., 1986) 1,517,388
231. Meet Molly by Valerie Tripp, illus. by Nick Backes (Pleasant Co., 1986) 1,517,199
232. Just as Long as We're Together by Judy Blume (Dell, 1988) 1,507,735
233. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (Puffin, 1991) 1,498,747
234. Night of the Living Dummy (GB #7) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1993) 1,496,515
235. A Visit to the Sesame Street Firehouse by Dan Elliott, illus. by Joe Mathieu (Random House, 1983) 1,489,225
236. Let's Get Invisible! (GB #6) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1993) 1,484,187
237. The Unbelievable Bubble Book by John Cassidy et al. (Klutz, 1987) 1,481,187
238. Howliday Inn by James Howe (Avon, 1983) 1,465,001
239. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (Puffin, 1996) 1,464,282
240. Mother Goose by Aurellius Battaglia (Random House, 1973) 1,459,584
241. Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary (Avon, 1990) 1,458,821
242. The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (Dell, 1978) 1,457,508
243. Pokémon: Official Pokémon Handbook by Maria Barbo (Scholastic, 1999) 1,449,712
244. The Berenstain Bears and the Double Dare by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1988) 1,442,811
245. Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (Aladdin, 1969) 1,442,225 (figures not available before 1985)
246. Addy's Surprise by Connie Porter, illus. by Dayl Taylor (Pleasant Co., 1993) 1,437,873
247. The Little Lamb by Judy Dunn, photos by Phoebe Dunn (Random House, 1977) 1,436,646
248. The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Habit by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1987) 1,433,777
249. The Haunted Mask (GB #11) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1993) 1,428,820
250. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, illus. by Jules Feiffer (Random House, 1988) 1,428,101
251. The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars (Puffin, 1981) 1,424,466
252. The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight (GB #20) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,421,001
253. Monster Blood II (GB #18) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,420,019
254. Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery (Bantam, 1985) 1,419,466
255. Secrets (SVH #2) by Francine Pascal (Bantam, 1984) 1,415,414
256. The Ghost Next Door (GB #10) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1993) 1,412,734
257. Happy Easter, Little Critter by Mercer Mayer (Golden, 1988) 1,409,788
258. The Berenstain Bears and Mama's New Job by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1984) 1,402,176
259. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, illus. by Ron Barrett (Aladdin, 1982) 1,399,908 (figures not available before 1985)
260. The Night of the Living Dummy II (GB #31) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995) 1,397,515
261. The Berenstain Bears and the Ghost of the Forest by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1988) 1,394,665
262. Mad Libs #5 Goofy by Roger Price and Leonard Stern (Price Stern Sloan, 1993) 1,386,527
263. Dinosaur Days by Joyce Milton (Random House, 1985) 1,385,277
264. The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle (HarperCollins, 1986) 1,384,434
265. Mad Libs #6 Off the Wall by Roger Price and Leonard Stern (Price Stern Sloan, 1978) 1,383,796
266. Richard Scarry's Early Words by Richard Scarry (Random House, 1976 OP) 1,381,331
267. The Berenstain Bears and the Slumber Party by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1990) 1,381,145
268. Night of the Living Dummy III (GB #40) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1996) 1,380,612
269. It Came from Beneath the Sink (GB #30) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1993) 1,374,806
270. Mad Libs #4 by Roger Price and Leonard Stern (Price Stern Sloan, 1974) 1,373,528
271. You Can't Scare Me! (GB #15) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,372,395
272. The Berenstain Bears and the In Crowd by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1989) 1,369,885
273. The Mystery of the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks (Avon, 1982 and HarperCollins, 1994) 1,369,456
274. Big Dog, Little Dog by P.D. Eastman (Random House, 1973) 1,368,803
275. I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier (Dell, 1978) 1,366,633
276. Playing with Fire (SVH #3) by Francine Pascal (Bantam, 1984) 1,363,779
277. The Berenstain Bears Trouble with Pets by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1990) 1,361,320
278. Nighty-Nightmare by James Howe (Avon, 1988 and Aladdin, 1997) 1,359,359
279. Where's Waldo? The Ultimate Fun Book by Martin Handford (Little, Brown, 1990 OP) 1,357,706
280. The Berenstain Bears and the Big Road Race by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1987) 1,353,601
281. The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander (Dell, 1969) 1,351,437
282. How I Got My Shrunken Head (GB #39) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1996) 1,349,965
283. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr (Dell, 1979 and Puffin, 1999) 1,349,146
284. Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery (Bantam, 1985) 1,348,853
285. Ghost Camp (GB #45) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1996) 1,344,700
286. The Day of the Dinosaur by Stan and Jan Berenstain, illus. by Michael Berenstain (Random House, 1987) 1,337,595
287. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (GB #13) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1993) 1,336,138
288. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (Puffin, 1977) 1,329,767
289. Just Going to the Dentist by Mercer Mayer (Golden, 1990) 1,327,556
290. Samantha's Surprise by Maxine Rose Schur, illus. by Dan Andreasen (Pleasant Co., 1986) 1,323,746
291. Go Eat Worms! (GB #21) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,323,436
292. Be Careful What You Wish For (GB #12) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1993) 1,321,582
293. Ernie's Bath Book (Random House, 1982) 1,321,011
294. A Night in Terror Tower (GB #27) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,316,723
295. In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord (HarperCollins, 1986) 1,307,137
296. Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry (Aladdin, 1971) 1,306,975 (figures not available before 1985)
297. My First Picture Dictionary by Katherine Howard, illus. by Huck Scarby (Random House, 1978) 1,305,937
298. The Headless Ghost (GB #37) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995) 1,305,104
299. Egg Monsters from Mars (GB #42) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1996) 1,304,465
300. Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes (GB #34) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995) 1,298,774
301. The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena (GB #38) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995) 1,298,152
302. The Black Pearl by Scott O'Dell (Dell, 1977) 1,292,117
303. Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman (HarperCollins, 1995) 1,291,533
304. Hungry, Hungry Sharks by Joanna Cole, illus. by Patricia Wynne (Random House, 1986) 1,290,726
305. A Shocker on Shock Street (GB #35) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995) 1,286,993
306. Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (Puffin, 1976) 1,282,443
307. It's Not the End of the World by Judy Blume (Dell, 1982) 1,280,220
308. The Bravest Dog Ever by Natalie Standiford (Random House, 1989) 1,278,397
309. Son of Mad Libs by Roger Price and Leonard Stern (Price Stern Sloan, 1959) 1,277,865
310. Happy Birthday, Samantha! by Valerie Tripp, illus. by Dan Andreasen (Pleasant Co., 1987) 1,271,571
311. The Girl Who Cried Monster (GB #8) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1993) 1,245,193
312. Dawn and the Impossible Three (BSC #5) by Ann M. Martin (Scholastic, 1987) 1,237,219
313. Meet Babar and His Family by Laurent de Brunhoff (Random House, 1973 OP) 1,228,596
314. A Very Special Critter by Mercer Mayer (Golden, 1992) 1,225,998
315. The Black Stallion by Walter Farley (Random House, 1977 OP) 1,219,250
316. Bad Hare Day (GB #41) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1996) 1,217,778
317. Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (HarperCollins, 1987) 1,216,164
318. I Can Count to 100& Can You? by Katherine Howard, illus. by Michael Smollin (Random House, 1979) 1,208,413
319. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (HarperCollins, 1992 and Little, Brown, 1999) 1,607,738
320. The Berenstain Bears Get Stage Fright by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1986) 1,204,883
321. Monster Blood III (GB #29) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995) 1,203,032
322. My Hairiest Adventure (GB #26) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,201,099
323. Attack of the Mutant (GB #25) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,200,351
324. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (Puffin, 1976) 1,198,820
325. There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar (Random House, 1988) 1,198,525
326. Samantha Saves the Day by Valerie Tripp, illus. by Dan Andreasen (Pleasant Co., 1988) 1,193,951
327. The Berenstain Bears and the Prize Pumpkin by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1990) 1,188,316
328. The Haunted Mask II (GB #36) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995) 1,187,300
329. Phantom of the Auditorium (GB #24) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,171,777
330. The Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room by Patricia Reilly Giff (Dell, 1984) 1,167,702
331. The Cuckoo Clock of Doom (GB #28) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995) 1,161,407
332. Why I'm Afraid of Bees (GB #36) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,160,624
333. Just Me and My Babysitter by Mercer Mayer (Golden, 1986) 1,156,523
334. Arthur's Birthday by Marc Brown (Little, Brown, 1991) 1,151,938
335. Arthur's Reading Race by Marc Brown (Random House, 1996) 1,151,009
336. Return of the Mummy (GB #23) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1994) 1,149,236
337. Left Behind: The Kids #1: The Vanishings by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (Tyndale House, 1998) 1,145,768
338. Changes for Samantha by Valerie Tripp, illus. by Dan Andreasen (Pleasant Co., 1988) 1,143,960
339. Kirsten Learns a Lesson by Janet Shaw, illus. by Renee Graef (Pleasant Co., 1986) 1,142,192
340. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (Macmillan, 1970 and HarperCollins, 1994) 1,136,640 (figures not available before 1994)
341. Wee Sing Along (Price Stern Sloan, 1987) 1,136,333
342. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (Puffin, 1985) 1,135,412
343. Power Play (SVH #4) by Francine Pascal (Bantam, 1985) 1,130,000
344. Thomas Gets Tricked by Rev. W. Awdry (Random House, 1989) 1,123,266
345. Kirsten's Surprise by Janet Shaw, illus. by Renee Graef (Pleasant Co., 1986) 1,115,339
346. Richard Scarry's Best Rainy Day Book Ever by Richard Scarry (Random House, 1974 OP) 1,114,920
347. Catch Me, Catch Me! by Rev. W. Awdry (Random House, 1990) 1,113,713
348. The Riddle Book by Roy McKie (Random House, 1978) 1,112,194
349. The Borrowers by Mary Norton (Harcourt, 1965) 1,109,633
350. The Book of Classic Board Games (Klutz, 1990) 1,108,108
351. Miss Nelson Is Missing by James Marshall (Houghton Mifflin, 1985) 1,106,727
352. Just a Daydream by Mercer Mayer (Golden, 1989) 1,105,409
353. The Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute (Anymore) by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1991) 1,100,906
354. Little Critter Joke Book by Mercer Mayer (Golden, 1993) 1,084,719
355. Titanic: Lost & Found by Judy Donnelly (Random House, 1987) 1,084,124
356. Pinballs by Betsy Byars (HarperCollins, 1987) 1,081,792
357. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Avon, 1984 and Puffin, 1992) 1,080,100
358. Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary (Avon, 1983) 1,072,802
359. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illus. by Tasha Tudor (HarperCollins, 1987) 1,068,157
360. Escape from the Carnival of Horrors (Give Yourself Goosebumps #1) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995) 1,067,419
361. Explorabook by John Cassidy (Klutz, 1991) 1,065,454
362. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis (Macmillan, 1970 and HarperCollins, 1994) 1,061,954 (figures not available before 1994)
363. Just Me and My Cousin by Mercer Mayer (Golden, 1992) 1,061,775
364. Happy Birthday, Kirsten! by Janet Shaw, illus. by Renee Graef (Pleasant Co., 1987) 1,061,727
365. Trouble for Thomas by Rev. W. Awdry (Random House, 1989) 1,050,137
366. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton (Houghton Mifflin, 1977) 1,047,419
367. Little House on Rocky Ridge by Roger MacBride (HarperCollins, 1993) 1,045,194
368. How To Kill a Monster (GB #46) by R.L. Stine (Scholastic, 1996) 1,043,904
369. 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth (Andrews McMeel, 1990) 1,040,000
370. Surprise Island by Gertrude Warner (Albert Whitman, 1989) 1,034,435
371. Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber (Houghton Mufflin/Lorraine, 1975) 1,030,085
372. Letters to Karen by Charlie Schedd (Avon, 1976) 1,028,913
373. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis (Macmillan, 1970 and HarperCollins, 1994) 1,028,758 (figures not available before 1994)
374. Cooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual (Klutz, 1987) 1,027,202
375. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis (Macmillan, 1970 and HarperCollins, 1994) 1,004,296 (figures not available before 1994)
376. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis (Macmillan, 1970 and HarperCollins, 1994) 1,001,907 (figures not available before 1994)
Note: The sales figures for Golden Books were submitted prior to the Golden/Random House merger in August.Gov. Dannel P. Malloy center, gestures while he speaks to the media as Scott X. Esdaile, president of the Connecticut chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, left, and Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP, right, listen at the Capitol in Hartford, Conn., Thursday, March 29, 2012. Malloy met with Jealous to discuss the state's death penalty repeal effort. (Jessica Hill/AP)
Soon, probably next week, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy will sign into a law a bill that abolishes the death penalty in his state. When he does, Connecticut will be the fifth state to enact such legislation in as many years — and the third with a governor who was raised Roman Catholic.
As a younger man, Malloy supported the death penalty. But after working as a prosecutor in Brooklyn, he saw the possibility for human error in the justice system and changed his mind.
“I don’t want to overemphasize my Catholicism here,” the governor, who grew up in a family of eight children and went to Jesuit-run Boston College, told me. “But I know my religion. I know religions in general. In the New Testament, the one place where Jesus talks about the death penalty, he says, ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.’ When I’ve reflected on the death penalty, the reality is I frequently ponder that passage.”
Powerful, vocal Roman Catholics have been much in the news of late, mostly for their hard-line positions on abortion and birth control, and their self-serving rhetoric on the subject of religious rights in the health-care debate. But Catholic activists are playing another political role, too — under the radar — on an issue that hasn’t made the same sorts of headlines.
They are helping to turn the tide of public opinion in the United States against the death penalty. (According to a Pew poll earlier this year, about a third of Americans now oppose capital punishment, up from 18 percent in the mid-1990s.) And they are appealing to the consciences of Roman Catholic politicians to do it.
The sanctity of human life is central to Catholic theology, and for death penalty opponents, this sanctity extends as much to living men and women convicted of capital crimes as it does to embryos and fetuses. Malloy’s change of heart is reflected in the opinion of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, for 30 years ago, popes and bishops were not so clearly emphasizing their opposition to capital punishment.
In November, a delegation of international death-penalty opponents was invited to a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI. There, the pope praised and encouraged “the political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a growing number of countries to eliminate the death penalty.”
In 2011, on Ash Wednesday, Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation that abolished the death penalty in Illinois. Quinn attended Catholic schools as a child and went to Georgetown University but had long supported capital punishment.
After the bill passed in the Illinois legislature, he pondered his decision for months — for, as he puts it, “there are people of great conscience on both sides of this debate.” During that time, he received a visit from Sister Helen Prejean, the author of “Dead Man Walking,” and a call from the Catholic death-penalty opponent Martin Sheen. For guidance, he read Scripture, and on the morning he signed the bill, he read from the writings of the late Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. Afterward, news reports said he “looked drained.”
“I felt it was one of the most important things I’ve ever done in my life,” he says now. The archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, called to thank him, he says.
He has since become part of the country’s informal network of prominent Catholic death-penalty opponents. He phoned Malloy to offer his congratulations on the passage of Connecticut’s bill and has told California Gov. Jerry Brown — who had at one time considered becoming a priest — that he supports anti-death-penalty efforts in his state.
Before the vote in Connecticut, the Society of St. Egidio, an international group of lay Catholics based in Rome, sent letters to key Catholic members of the state Senate, appealing to their consciences. “I am sure that it will be possible,” the letter said, enticingly, “to create a special event at the Coliseum in Rome to tell the world that Connecticut has taken the lead to abolition.... The world will be able to love your state even more than now.” Mario Marazziti, St. Egidio’s spokesman, said the letter helped to swing undecided votes in support of abolition.
Malloy isn’t interested in such appeals to vanity or legacy. He wants to work on education reform. “Nobody remembers who the governor of Wisconsin was when Wisconsin outlawed the death penalty in 1853.” But on the morality of death as punishment for crimes, Malloy believes the Gospels contain something like the first word. “Jesus Christ — he laid out what the standard was.”Rep. Brian Sims totally out-trolled an antigay troll and the Internet is living for it
Brian Sims, currently serving in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (and in our fantasies, as president in 2020), has once again proven that politicians aren’t all bad. And he’s done it in the best way possible.
A few days ago, a deplorable internet troll went on Sims’ Facebook page and wrote “N*gger fa*got.”
How positively charming.
The openly gay politician had a choice to make — ignore the hate speech and try to forget about it, or engage the troll in an argument that would likely play right into the sort of reaction they were attempting to provoke in the first place. Both options fall short of producing any real sense of satisfaction, which is precisely what trolls thrive on.
But wait; there’s a third choice.
Related: PHOTOS: Gay State Rep. Brian Sims Posts Deliciously Beefy TBT, But He Hasn’t Lost The Goods
If you happen to be a cunning (not to mention awfully handsome) politician named Brian Sims, you’d delve into the troll’s account to discover that he lists his grandmother’s phone number publicly on his profile.
So he called her and the two had a “very disappointing chat” about his trolling ways.
“David, I can’t tell if you’re just a really dumb little boy or an angry bigot but I know for sure that you shouldn’t have posted your grandmother’s telephone number on your Facebook page,” Sims responded on Facebook.
“She and I just had a very disappointing chat about you. We’ll talk soon…”
Boom.
Sims shared the story on Facebook, where it has understandably gone viral:
Dear Bigots, posting your grandmother's telephone number all over the same page you use to post slurs on other people's pages is not going to end well for you. Brian Posted by Brian Sims on Wednesday, April 26, 2017
We couldn’t agree more.ATLANTA — On the same day Rutgers terminated the contract of his boss, Mike Rice, Scarlet Knights assistant men's basketball coach Jimmy Martelli resigned from the program, according to a spokesman in the school's sports information department.
Attempts to reach Martelli were unsuccessful, but he released a statement to the Associated Press:
“I am sickened that as an assistant coach I contributed in any way to an unacceptable culture. Wednesday I resigned from Rutgers and I hope that coaches on all levels will learn something important from these events," Martelli said. "For my actions, I am deeply sorry and I apologize to the players from the bottom of my heart.”
In the wake of Rice's firing Wednesday because of the revelations of verbal and physical abuse over a two-year period from practice tapes thrust into the public spotlight, the Scarlet Knights men's basketball program has been thoroughly scrutinized. The 40-minute tape — which was made public in small portions by ESPN's "Outside the Lines" program earlier this week — contained a number of instances of Rice crossing the line in practice.
On a portion of the full tape that did not make airwaves, Martelli was seen shoving an unidentified player twice during a practice.
During an impromptu meeting with the media on Tuesday, following the airing of the full tape, Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti said that Martelli's involvement had been addressed.
"Jimmy was spoken to about the matter," Pernetti said earlier this week. "We dealt with that. Certainly the tape focused on Mike, but it brought some other things to light that we dealt with at the same time that we dealt with Mike."
Martelli, the son of longtime Saint Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli, came to Rutgers when Rice was hired from Robert Morris in May 2010.
He was a part of Rice's staff with the Colonials for three seasons from 2007-08 until leaving for the Scarlet Knights program in 2010. He was the first hire that Rice made when he officially arrived on campus.Former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas's comments on a TV interview claiming that French Prime Minister Manuel Valls is "under Jewish influence" because his wife is Jewish have raised a furor, and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL |
the disruption of urban gentrification. Can you explain what that is?
Bartell: Sure. When gentrification is a participatory model — by that, I mean gentrification includes the disadvantages — then you can work out scenarios and it’s going to take time. When gentrification includes the disadvantages, a model can be set up to impact all of the forces that cause gentrification that is disruptive. Disruptive urban gentrification is gentrification that does not include the disadvantages.
For example, the housing market in metro is going to be funded, no question. There’s Northside Drive and the mayor’s out there with a starter pistol and he pulls that trigger and that thing’s going to rush across Northside Drive and eat up everything between Northside Drive and 285. If we consider that the people who live over there cannot even meet the threshold of what’s currently called affordable housing, so a market-driven model is not going to work. You got to have a support-driven model that works. The only one currently that works in the southern part of the United States is what’s called community land trust, where the community owns the land, and you, in effect, own the house.
When you leave, you leave all that behind. You don’t get to sell it, you don’t get to do the windfall profit. There’s several zones throughout the city where we can create a community land trust. We went to the mayor, we went to the city council, we asked them to do it, and because they couldn’t justify it in a market-driven model where the right people couldn’t get a return on their investments, they wouldn’t move on it.
A city budget and a county budget and a federal budget can be designed to impact community land trust and community land trust zones and set up the kind of affordable housing that’s going to be necessary. Because the affordable housing model currently leaves out 95.3 percent of the people who can’t meet the criteria for an affordable housing model. We have to have a community land trust model that worked in the early ’80s that we will be able to sustain at the level of an urban neighborhood and prevent urban gentrification, disruptive urban gentrification.
Franklin: Where would you get that money in the budget to sort of re-orientate towards that model, and what kind of fight back would you expect from developers who say, “You know, leave this model alone because we like it because we get rich on it.”?
Bartell: Absolutely. One of the things that is one of the best-kept secrets in Atlanta is one of the largest land owners in the city of Atlanta is the City of Atlanta. The whole reference point to land ownership in the city of Atlanta is huge. The things we could do with community reinvestment dollars from the banking industry. The city puts up a match, community reinvestment dollars are available. We just have not had the political courage or, more specifically, when we use a corporate model of governance and a corporate model of development, then that’s not going to happen.
We have to use a community-based model of development. The city being such a land, a large land owner, we could get at least 35 to 40 percent of the rental community in community land trust today because of just the land that the city owns. We challenge the elected leadership who say that they’re only going to invest in a market-driven model because they don’t have the land. We challenge that because the data shows that over 30 percent of development land in the city of Atlanta, the city owns.
Albright: Yeah, maybe, or there may be more. Is the community land trust your primary vehicle for addressing the affordable housing issue? If not, are there any other?
Bartell: It’s the prime issue. It is absolutely the prime, No. 1 issue. Absolutely. It’s the one that Marian Berry used up in Washington D.C., and then Coleman Young used it in Detroit. Bradly used it out in Los Angeles, and so the community land trust model works. Man, that corporate market-driven model was so strong and Wall Street backed it on the investment calendar that you couldn’t even get people to talk about community land trust. Now that we’ve separated the hedge fund money from the Wall Street investment model, we can bring that conversation back to bear.
Franklin: Would you put any resources into building affordable housing particularly for renters?
Bartell: Absolutely. Multifamily can be a key component. Over on Joseph E. Bloom Boulevard, in particular, the multifamily model worked real, real well. We took them helicopters and went in there and took the bluff back. Let’s put multifamily housing in there.
Albright: In your issue section of your website, you say you want to protect the environment … from urban pollution and urban density. Can you describe what you mean by that, and what laws and/or policy initiatives would you enact to counter those things?
Bartell: Sewer laws. Our sewer laws are horrible when it comes to being able to address urban density, to the degree that we had to “sue” the city of Atlanta. We were betting on the EPA to back our hand and they didn’t. The consent decree went in and it was supposed to be finalized by 2013 or there was going to be a huge fine and a court monitor would take over the management of that sewer system. Because President Obama wanted to get re-elected, and rightfully so, and Atlanta was a great fundraising base, and rightfully so, the power broker said, “Well, if you want that to happen here, we need an extension on our consent decree.” They moved it out to 2026 and the EPA signed off on it.
What I want to do, Cliff, is I want to make sewer redesign a part of public policy development. Nothing moves on the development scale unless the sewer system can support it. That means we’ve got to go from combined sewers to separated sewers. We’ve got to go from just having it be an afterthought in the Department of Watershed Management to an entire what’s called a public utility. We don’t have a public utility in our city. We’re not going to be able to manage an environmental concern without having a public utility. As mayor, one of the first departments I want to create is a public utility department. That way, I can restore the sewer system, restore our relationship to environmental policy and restore our relationship to state, county and federal government in the area of environmental protection that we currently do not have.
Kenney: Also on your website, you have an outline of ways for stakeholders to engage with government. How do you practically see yourself enacting these ideas?
Bartell: It’s a capacity-building strategy. We have to build the capacity of neighborhood leaders, community leaders, faith leaders and small-business leaders to communicate data, collect data and distribute data. For example, on any given day, we can go into the community and see entrepreneurs selling stuff, making things happen, hospitality. How many laptops do you see of people collecting data and information from their customers? How many laptops do you see that can say, “Here, I can give you a print-out right now of how to be in communication with me and the kind of products that are available and the kind of events that’s going to last from March to October”? That kind of capacity building for small businesses would be critical.
The communication relationship is already in place neighborhood to neighborhood. People grew up here, they know each other, but none of that’s on data. None of that has been captured. None of that information has been collected, so to speak. The faith community, on any given Sunday, the amount of communication and people and impact and contacts is huge. How much of this is on data? You’ve got major churches who you see a group of people huddled in the back of the church on Sunday morning, holding programs that they printed up the night before.
The whole relationship to neighborhood leaders, community leaders, faith leaders and small-business leaders and building their capacity for data would give us the opportunity to build economic, social, political and faith-based structures that we currently do not have. That’s what it’s going to take, by the way, to address the challenges that come with being selected as a global destination. That’s why, on the website, I put, “Neighborhood leaders, community leaders, faith leaders and small-business leaders.” Then, I put, “Communicate data, collect data and distribute data.” Then, the last part of where you measure the capacity building is in the design of projects, programs, ministries, initiatives, coalitions, collaboratives and networks.
Albright: Would you support the establishment of a minimum wage in Atlanta? If so, how much should it be and why?
Bartell: Love those labor questions. Here’s the deal, Cliff. We have to establish a collective bargaining strategy in our city. The current strategy in place of strong-arm tactics for political marketing strategies is a disservice to the labor community and a disservice to the employee base. If we had a collective bargaining strategy, the minimum wage would automatically be a part of it. It wouldn’t be some afterthought that we now got to lobby for and march for and advocate for if we had a collective bargaining strategy.
We don’t have to have a certified public policy for a union in order to have a collective bargaining strategy. We can have unions be at the table designing a collective bargaining strategy in our city. If we do that, the minimum wage would come along with it, Cliff. We can’t just do a standalone reference point called minimum wage because there’s no framework, no structure in place that can manage all the partners, that can manage the data, that can manage the governance. To just do a minimum wage without governance is not going to work and we can’t sustain that.
If we do collective bargaining strategies, then we can do a minimum wage, we can sustain it and we won’t have to use the financing of the pitching system to hijack the rights of employees. Right now, we use the firing of the pitching system to hijack the rights of employees. Under a collective bargaining strategy, we could challenge that. The city council has the authority to put one in place, just like the mayor was. Now, it’s going to take political courage to do that and I’m willing to put that kind of matrix in place.
Franklin: [Question on minimum wage] I just have to be clear, though. Do you support, even if it’s a collective bargaining strategy, do you support a raising of the minimal amount … in Atlanta even under a system of collective bargaining?
Bartell: I support raising it to what the market will bear. The metropolitan Atlanta market can bear $23-$24 an hour because we’re just that [connected] to the global economy that’s becoming a data-driven model. The manufacturing base that strapped places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, those Rust [Belt] cities, we didn’t have that here. We’re on the ground floor of building an economy. The economy that’s going to be built in the Southeast region of the nation can support an escalation in the wages, absolutely.
Nelson: [Minimum wage follow-up] For clarity’s sake, for my clarity at least, if you’re the mayor, do you have an idea what that number would be [for] the city employee?
Bartell: A city employee now, given that we’re in a data-driven economy, we could justify $17.50 per employee, absolutely.
Kenney: On your website, you have a question about revitalizing the community through infrastructure projects and initiatives. Can you give me some specific examples of how you’ll enact policy to build infrastructure and what does that word mean for you?
Bartell: Reliably so, and in my opinion, justifiably so, the criticism of the Republican governance strategy is justified. One of the things that they are going to do is fund infrastructure. The market for funding infrastructure in America is in the Southeast region of the nation. That money is going to come out of Washington, D.C., through the South like Grant through Richmond. That’s an old Civil War term. The question is can we develop an entrepreneurship approach to city government and take advantage of the infrastructure funding that is coming? That’s what I mean by an infrastructure strategy based on public policy and the funding that’s going to be coming.
Many of the arguments made in urban American that we’re not going to be able to do X, X, X because they’re going to cut off the funding, they’re going to cut off this, and they’re going to cut off that. That assessment is accurate, except for when it comes to infrastructure. Because they’re clear that the job creation base, the job sustainability base, and all those markets that are going to fund the investment ratio up in New York, is going to come from urban framework. That infrastructure has to be in those urban frameworks. We as a city need to position ourselves to start to plan for that now. On my website, I’m talking about now, let’s do the planning. Let’s do the planning.
Albright: Just off of what we now know, the status quo [without the federal government providing infrastructure dollars]… what do we have within our own means to do our own infrastructure spending? If the cavalry doesn’t come, what will you do?
Bartell: If the cavalry doesn’t come, then the banks are going to fork over that money. Because all the investment scenarios of the banking industry are based on infrastructure. If it doesn’t come, they’re going to fund it themselves. Case in point: We, Atlanta, got picked as a global destination. We talk about American football and the Super Bowl. American football has a Super Bowl once a year. Soccer has events like that two or three times a week. The Mercedes Benz stadium, that’s not an American football stadium. That is a global soccer stadium that was built with private money. What I’m saying to you is, if money for infrastructure doesn’t come from Washington, D.C., the private sector’s going to fund it because they want to participate in that global economy.
Nelson: How does the city make sure that those kind of units are not being overrun or being bought out or undercut by that private equity money that comes in to fund the infrastructure?
Bartell: You have to build the capacity of the people who live there. Which means the following: I’ve got to go to those neighborhood associations and say, “I want to know everybody on all these streets that’s got a computer. I want to know how many people on these streets that’s got a cell phone. I want to know how many people on these streets have been to what’s called some kind of training and development about organizing or project management.” That becomes my database. As a mayor, if I can do that, then I can start building the capacity.
The only way that it’s going to happen is I’ve got to build the capacity of neighborhood, community, faith and small-business leaders. Because, currently, they don’t have the capacity to sit at the table. They don’t have the capacity to communicate and they don’t have the capacity to prevent their own neighborhoods. As much as I am guilty of criticizing Kaseem, there are things that he says that are blatantly, cold-bloodedly accurate. One of them is the following: He says, “I could take a hundred million dollars per neighborhood and give it to them today and they wouldn’t know what to do with it. They wouldn’t be able to handle it.” He’s accurate when he says that.
Franklin: Let’s move on to our Trump question. You’d be considered … left of [center]. Knowing that Trump’s administration is considered far right, what are the things you think you may have in common with the Trump administration that you can work on together in Atlanta if you were to become mayor?
Al Bartell: The Trump administration is far right on everything but the investments criteria. They aren’t far right on the investments criteria, they are straight down the middle. If that return on investment can be justified, it’s coming. All of the economic development data, save the following. The most sustainable growth and development opportunities are in the southern cities of the United States of America. Atlanta is at the top of the list because of the … resource base we got here. Airport, hospitality industry, sports industry. We’ve got all kind of feeders that the investment community uses. The person who knows that better than anybody is Donald Trump. He’s a major player in the hospitality industry and it’s coming to serve that global sports industry. What there is for us to do is plan for that. If we plan for it, we can participate in it. The Trump administration, they’re going to follow that investment matrix. They’re not far right on it, they don’t have some manic ideology about it, it is solid, reliable and sustainable and it’s coming.
Nelson: The final question. Atlanta Black Star, our publication. We reach over six million per month of the country. Atlanta, in particular, we reach over 300,000. I think that’s significant for America. Can you give me five reasons why our readers should vote for you, and why we should potentially endorse you and tell them to vote for you?
Bartell: [Atlanta] Black Star has the capacity to communicate, collect and distribute data. That’s what you do. All day, every day. No other candidate is going to come in here and talk to you about their relationship to communicating data, collecting data and distributing data. If the matrix for communicating data, collecting data and distributing data becomes the power broker reference point for the 2017 mayoral election, Black Star is in a position to broker that election. Because you know how to communicate to both African-Americans and Black folks. The Inquirer doesn’t have that matrix. The Tribune doesn’t have that matrix.
None of the other Black publications have the matrix of data reference point like you do. They just don’t have it. They could have it, but they don’t. No other candidate is going to come in here and communicate to you about your strength that you currently have and it’s relationship to the larger marketplace like I have communicated. That’s the kind of mayor you’re going to need, that’s the kind of mayor that will be useful for your support and that’s kind of mayor that can hear what you’re communicating. That’s why you should endorse me and tell your folks to vote for me.
Franklin: What are the issues that you think the readers agree with you on that makes them want to endorse you? I mean, makes them want to vote for you.
Bartell: Sure. Your readers agree with me on the single fact that’s glaring. They are not included in the future of what’s coming to metro. Everywhere they look for data, they can talk about how they can be included, they don’t find it. Sooner or later, they’re going to depend on you, your readers are going to depend on you to communicate something about that. It would be useful for you to vet candidates against that particular background. That’s my pitch.
Franklin: Thank you so much.Story highlights The Trump administration is engaged in a fierce debate about how to proceed with the Paris climate deal
Op-ed argues withdrawal "carries major implications for America's place in the geoeconomic order"
Washington (CNN) A veteran Republican official is urging the Trump administration to remain in the Paris climate agreement, co-writing an op-ed arguing "the business case" for the international accord.
The perspective comes as the Trump administration is engaged in a fierce internal debate about how to proceed with the Paris climate deal and whether to explore leaving the accord altogether.
George Shultz -- who served as secretary of state, secretary of labor, treasury secretary and director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Nixon and Reagan presidencies -- lays out the argument in an op-ed published Tuesday in The New York Times with Ted Halstead, president of the Climate Leadership Council.
Shultz and Halstead note the "newly invigorated pro-Paris campaign by many of America's top CEOs," citing a series of "public letters and full-page ads."
"This is as close as big business gets to a consensus position," they write, arguing that "our companies are best served by a stable and predictable international framework that commits all nations to climate-change mitigation." Shultz and Halstead say that a US withdrawal from the Paris deal would cloud the international business climate.
Read MoreWith an ore body 4km long, 80m thick and reaching a depth of 2km, LKAB’s Kiruna is the world’s largest, most modern underground iron ore mine.
Since mining began at the site over 100 years ago, Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB) has produced over 950Mt of ore, yet only one third of the original ore body has been extracted.
Since mid-1999, Kiruna’s haulage level at a depth of 775m has been replaced by the next level down at 1,045m and a further expansion is being carried out to increase the depth further, which will support production until 2030. The deepening requires relocation of the town and rail infrastructure.
On 28 October 2008, LKAB approved the decision to construct the new 1,365m haulage main level at the mine.
The main level will be built at an investment of around $1.7bn. In 2008, Kiruna produced 27.5Mt of iron products. The operation currently employs 1,800 people, of whom 400 work in the mine.
Geology and reserves of the Kiruna Mine
"LKAB’s aim is to make Kiruna a ‘one-product’ operation, with the focus exclusively on pellet production."
The Kiruna orebody was formed at around 1,600Ma following intense volcanic activity with the precipitation of iron-rich solutions on to a syenite porphyry footwall.
The ore bed was then covered by further volcanic deposits (quartz porphyry) and sedimentary rocks before being tilted to its current dip of 50-60°. The ore contains a very pure magnetite-apatite mix, containing more than 60% iron and an average of 0.9% phosphorus. Black ore contains less apatite than grey ore.
The original reserve at Kiruna was some 1,800Mt. As of the end of 2008, LKAB estimated that the current proven reserve at the mine is 602Mt grading 48.5% iron, with probable reserves of 82Mt at 46.7% iron.
Measured, indicated and inferred resources add a further 328Mt-plus to the inventory, with exploration continuing to identify further resources at depth.
Mining at Kiruna
The mine is divided into eight production areas, each containing its own group of ore passes and ventilation systems. Mining the ventilation shafts for the current production level was carried out by SIAB using Indau 500 raise borers, while Skanska Raise Drilling developed a total of 32 ore passes between the 775 and 1,045m levels using Tamrock and Robbins raise borers.
"LKAB’s Kiruna is the world’s largest, most modern underground iron ore mine."
Alimak developed two special units based on its RCM-6 system to reinforce the ore passes with cable bolts and shotcrete as necessary.
Ore is mined using sublevel caving, with sublevels spaced at 28.5m vertically. With a burden of 3.0-3.5m per ring, this yields around 8,500t for each blast. LKAB subsidiary Kimit AB supplies the explosives and prepares the holes for blasting.
The main haulage level at Kiruna lies at a depth of 1,045m, with the mine’s ore-handling systems capable of handling 26Mt/y of run-of-mine rock.
Seven 500t-capacity shuttle trains, controlled from the 775m level, collect ore from ten groups of ore passes and deliver it to one of four crushing stations. -100mm ore is then skip hoisted in two stages to the 775m level and then to surface.
Electric-powered, remote-controlled drilling and ore handling equipment supplied by Atlas Copco and Tamrock is widely used.
After blasting, load-haul-dump machines (some of which are fully automated) carry the run-of-mine ore to the nearest ore pass, from which it is loaded automatically on to one of the trains operating on the 1,045m level.
After primary crushing, sampling using a Morgårdshammer automatic sampler to obtain the apatite and magnetite contents, and hoisting to surface, the ore is processed in Kiruna’s complex of a sorting plant, two concentrators and two pellet plants to give pellet and sinter fines products.
Some ore is moved by rail to LKAB’s Svappavaara plant for pelletisation. Products are hauled by rail to the ports of Narvik (Norway) or Luleå for shipment.
Current and future projects at the Kiruna mine
Although the 1,045m haulage level was originally expected to serve the mine until at least 2015, higher production rates meant that a new level and shaft-hoisting system would be needed in future.
LKAB studied the options for this, with a main haulage system to be located at a depth of 1,365m.
The new main level will deepen the mine by 320m. A new haulage level will be constructed at 1,365m depth for shuttle-train traffic.
New mine locomotives and cars will be bought for a 1,435mm-wide track that will be wider than the previous mine levels.
Ore will be transported via remote controlled shuttle trains to the crushing plant. The ore will then be skip-hoisted approximately 1.4km vertically in two stages to the processing plant. Mining will be carried out in ten production areas.
Each area will be equipped with an access road, ventilation and media systems, and multiple ore passes and rock chutes. Mining will be conducted in stages between the current 1,045m level and the new 1,365m level.
An estimated 615Mt of crude ore will be mined over its lifetime, resulting in nearly 375Mt of finished products including pellets and special products.
The new level is the seventh since underground mining started. It is being developed in five stages. The first stage involved the construction of three groups of shafts. The first sections of the new main level were commissioned in May 2013. The remaining four stages will add more production areas, groups of shafts, trains, crushers and skip hoists for the new level.
The new level is expected to be completed by early 2017. Based on a yearly production of approximately 19Mt of finished products, the operating life of the Kiruna mine will be increased by more than 20 years to 2030.
The company also invested $925m in a third pelletising plant at Kiruna that was commissioned on 17 June 2008. The project also included a concentrator and ancillary equipment. The world’s largest grate-kiln pelletising plant, KK4 has an initial capacity of 5Mt/y of pellets, with the potential to increase its capacity to 6Mt/y.
With the contribution of the pelletising plants, production capacity of LKAB increased by nearly 10Mt pellets annually. Due to market slow down, one of the pelletising plants in Kiruna was closed in December 2009.
LKAB’s aim is to make Kiruna a ‘one-product’ operation, with the focus exclusively on pellet production. As a result, it has also invested in new flotation equipment for the Svappavaara concentrator that was inaugurated in May 2008.
The flotation enables it to produce pellet feed from some higher-phosphorus Kiruna ores. The project provides around 1Mt/y of additional output through efficiency savings.
Contractors involved with the Kiruna mine deepening project
Midroc Electro is providing a fully automatic process control and train transportation systems to for the new mining level. Bombardier Transportation will act as a subcontractor to Mirdroc Electric. Bombardier will provide its fully automated driverless INTERFLO 150 train control technology to support the operations of the new level.
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Solomon Hub open-cut iron ore mine is located around 60km north of Tom Price in Western Australia.
Christmas Creek iron ore mine is operated by the Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), Australia’s third-largest iron ore producer.Share this...
Not only is North America bracing for a possible near record-setting cold blast from the Arctic, but also Siberia has been reporting massive snow cover and widespread cold. It’s only the first half of November and the dead of winter is still two months away!
The CO2 blanket having no effect in Siberia. Image source: earth.nullschool.net729.
This, experts have been warning, bodes ill for the chances of a harsh winter over North America and Europe. Two weeks ago Siberan snow cover and cold was already close to record high levels. That situation has only gotten worse, the Big Wobble Almanac here writes:
Remember how evidence was mounting last month that early snowfall was accumulating across Siberia? And remember how there’s a theory that says this snowfall signals a cold winter? So in the two and a half weeks since, the news for the winter-haters has, unfortunately, only gotten worse.
About 14.1 million square kilometers of snow blanketed Siberia at the end of October, the second most in records going back to 1967, according to Rutgers snow lab.”
There are other signs that Europe could be facing a cold winer, although so far early on it has seen weeks of very mild weather. The online prfire writes:
The first migrating Siberian swans landed in Britain – heralding the belated arrival of winter. Each year around 300 Bewick swans flock to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve at Slimbridge, Glos after flying 2,500 from Arctic Russia. This year’s arrival – coinciding with the first cold snap of the season – is the latest for 45 years and more than two weeks ahead of usual. […] The Bewicks – the smallest and rarest members of the swan family – live in Siberia during the summer. In winter they migrate west – aided by chilling easterly winds – to escape winter temperatures of -25 degrees C. Bewick’s have migrated to Slimbridge every winter for 60 years and adult swans teach their young the route. Their arrival comes after weather experts predicted the harshest winter in 100 years. James Madden, forecaster for Exacta Weather, said last week: “The worst case and more plausible scenario could bring something on a similar par to the winter of 2009/10. ‘That was the coldest in 31 years, or an event close to 2010/11 which experienced the coldest December in 100 years.'”The Rohingya refugee crisis, posts slamming demonetisation, a YouTube link on “explaining gay rights to Indian parents”, and another mocking the BJP-led government at the Centre — these were among the tweets and Facebook posts shared by Gauri Lankesh in the last 24 hours. And in her Kannada weekly, she carried at least eight stories critical of the central government and its leaders over the last three months. In her last weekly column, Lankesh wrote on the death of children at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital in Gorakhpur, and criticised the removal of its doctor, Dr Kafeel Khan.
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On social media, Lankesh retweeted or shared posts critical of the BJP and its government, including by James Wilson, a Kerala bureaucrat who has often criticised the Centre’s narrative on various topics — most prominently on demonetisation. In her own tweets over the last 24 hours, she mostly shared web links, including a report on the Supreme Court asking the government why it wanted to deport Rohingya refugees. Read | Who is Gauri Lankesh?
“Why do i feel that some of ‘us’ are fighting between ourselves? we all know our “biggest enemy’’. can we all please concentrate on that,” she tweeted, although the context is not clear. “OK some of us commit mistakes like sharing fake posts. let us warn each other then. and not try to expose each other. peace…comrades,” she tweeted.
Her Facebook profile largely mirrored her Twitter timeline, as both were linked.
While her Facebook page has a photograph of Dalit student Rohith Vemula, her Twitter header image shows her with Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar. Hours before she was shot dead, Lankesh posted a photograph of herself with her father, the late journalist P Lankesh. “An absentee father most times but a wonderful teacher of life — My Appa!! Happy teachers day,” she wrote. Also read | Gauri Lankesh journalist who spoke her mind shot dead in Bengaluru
After she lost a defamation case for a story she wrote about BJP workers she had told Newslaundry in an interview in November 2016: “When I looked at the tweets and the kind of comments that were made about me, I was alarmed…(they) made me fear for the freedom of expression of the fourth estate in our country today in a larger context and not just in the personal sense.”
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Related Civil society on murder of Gauri Lankesh: ‘Murder of democracy, climate of hate, intolerance complicit’Angela Eagle rose for her first PMQs to the rare sound of enthusiastic cheering from the Labour benches. The shadow business secretary and shadow first secretary of state (who stands in for Jeremy Corbyn when David Cameron is away) was given a warmer welcome than her leader usually is. After her deft performance against George Osborne, MPs were still cheering at the end.
Eagle began by challenging Osborne on the government's response to the floods, prompting the Chancellor to announce a £50m fund for families and businesses affected. But Eagle calmly responded by pointing out that spending had already been cut by £115m this year.
She later moved on to Cameron's "endless" EU renegotiation, the cause of the PM's absence. "He’s been jetting all over the place - no wonder we had to buy him his own plane," Eagle, who honed her skills as shadow leader of the House, quipped. "Can the Chancellor tell us, please, how's it all going?" But Osborne had a sharp riposte: "The good news is we have a party leader who’s respected abroad." When Eagle quoted Tory MPs' low opinion of Cameron's European plan, he went one better: "I'm not sure I'd be quoting the views of backbenchers if I was speaking for the Labour Party, most opposition parties are trying to get momentum, they're trying to get rid of it."
At this point, some opponents would crumble. But the redoubtable Eagle fought on. After noting that Osborne had failed to comment on his leadership ambitions ("Does he really aspire to be Britain's first post-EU prime minister?"), she referenced a female rival before theatrically pausing as all eyes turned to Theresa May ("she knows who she is"). “I’ve got a letter," she continued, in imitation of Corbyn, "It’s from Donald [Tusk] of Brussels". Rocking with laughter, the Labour and Tory benches hadn't enjoyed themselves this much for months.
As expected, Osborne quoted Tony Blair's mournful Spectator piece on Corbyn's Labour (a "tragedy") but Eagle was again well-prepared, quoting the former PM's declaration (albeit from 1996) that "Just mouth the words 'five more Tory years' and you feel your senses and reason repulsed by what they have done to our country." Her reference achieved the rare feat of getting Labour MPs to cheer their erstwhile leader.
The remainder of the session was notable for Osborne's statement that he did not believe Donald Trump should be barred from the UK ("I think the best way to confront the views of someone like Donald Trump is to engage in a robust, democratic argument about why he is profoundly wrong") and for Tim Farron's mounting, and justified, fury as the Speaker failed to call him to ask a question on his flood-hit constituency. The Lib Dem leader, a tenacious champion of his seat, had to settle for a Point of Order.Thousands of wireless IP cameras connected to the Internet have serious security weaknesses that allow attackers to hijack them and alter their firmware, according to two researchers from security firm Qualys.
The cameras are sold under the Foscam brand in the U.S., but the same devices can be found in Europe and elsewhere with different branding, said Qualys researchers Sergey Shekyan and Artem Harutyunyan, who analyzed the security of the devices and are scheduled to present their findings at the Hack in the Box security conference in Amsterdam on Thursday.
Tutorials provided by the camera vendor contain instructions on how to make the devices accessible from the Internet by setting up port-forwarding rules in routers. Because of this, many such devices are exposed to the Internet and can be attacked remotely, the researchers said.
Finding the cameras is easy and can be done in several ways. One method involves using the Shodan search engine to search for an HTTP header specific to the Web-based user interfaces of the cameras. Such a query will return more than 100,000 devices, the researchers said.
The vendors selling these cameras also have them configured to use their own dynamic DNS services. For example, Foscam cameras get assigned a hostname of the type [two letters and four digits].myfoscam.org. By scanning the entire *.myfoscam.org name space an attacker could identify most Foscam cameras connected to the Internet, the researchers said.
Around two out of every 10 cameras allow users to log in with the default "admin" user name and no password, the researchers said. For the rest that do have user-configured passwords, there are other ways to break in.
One method is to exploit a recently discovered vulnerability in the camera's Web interface that allows remote attackers to obtain a snapshot of the device's memory.
This memory dump will contain the administrator user name and password in clear text along with other sensitive information like Wi-Fi credentials or details about devices on the local network, the researchers said.
Even though the vendor has patched this vulnerability in the latest firmware, 99% of Foscam cameras on the Internet are still running older firmware versions and are vulnerable, they said. There is also a way to exploit this vulnerability even with the latest firmware installed if you have operator-level credentials for the camera.
Another method is to exploit a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) flaw in the interface by tricking the camera administrator to open a specifically crafted link. This can be used to add a secondary administrator account to the camera.
A third method is to perform a brute-force attack in order to guess the password, because the camera has no protection against this and the passwords are limited to 12 characters, the researchers said.
Once an attacker gains access to a camera he can determine its firmware version, download a copy from the Internet, unpack it, add rogue code to it and write it back |
double upgrading Terran, ensuring your units will have an advantage throughout the mid and late game. Never underestimate the value of an upgrade advantage especially in this matchup, where armor upgrades allow your Charge Zealots to soak up huge amount of Marine fire before dying.
THE DEFENSE
The early Photon Cannon in this build should not be underestimated. Cannons can eat up a surprising amount of early Marines and SCV’s, ensuring your safety from proxy Barracks play, as Oz handily showed us in his game against Maru_Prime where a 5 barracks proxy was not enough to bring down the Nexus first of Oz because of a few Cannons at the front. The Cannons also work wonders against the standard Medivac timing push where Terrans usually stretch a Protoss army thin by attacking in the main and natural at once, allowing you to send more units than usual to defend dangerous drops than with a Gateway expand.
THE ECONOMY
This build gives you the most robust economy possible while still being safe as can be. Gateway based Nexus first builds are often punished early by Terran players because of a fear of late game Protoss dominance, which is exactly what this build offers. A safe Nexus first gives Protoss players what they have against Zerg players with the Forge Fast Expand, a way to get ahead early without facing a heavy threat of early game-ending aggression.
THE BUILD
Now that we’ve gone over the why, let’s begin with the how. The build basically revolves around using an early Photon Cannon to hold off any of the usual vary early game responses a Terran may have to your fast Nexus, such as Bunker Rushes or mass Marine/SCV timings. The delaying of your Gateway becomes insignificant when you take into consideration the extra defense and economy this build offers. Now to the build order itself, exactly as it was performed by FXO_Z:
- 9 Pylon (it is best to place this somewhere obscure to delay the reveal of the forge as long as possible)
- 16 Nexus
- 17 Forge
- 18 Pylon (at the choke of your natural expansion)
- Gateway when you have enough minerals
- Cannon when you can afford it
- 20 double Assimilators
- The build becomes a little different from game to game here, so expect less exact supplies.
- Cybernetics Core when you can afford it
- Zealot
- Plus 1-armor upgrade, followed by attack (yes, it is incredibly early) Chrono Boost it frequently.
- Completion of Core: Stalker and Warpgate research (Chrono Boost both)
- 32 Pylon
- 38 Two more Gateways
- If you scout a gas or your opponent still hasn’t expanded, you want a Robotics Facility in case of 1-1-1.
- This is where Oz tends to branch out into his choice of mid-game.
Now that you’ve opened correctly, there are a number of directions to take from this point on. Let’s go into a couple of Oz’s choices.
FAST THIRD
If your opponent went for a Gasless 1-Barracks Expand, the most common Terran vs. Protoss macro build, it is safe enough for you to take a third base directly after your extra Gateways while continuing upgrades and Sentry production. You’ll want to take your third and fourth gases near the 50 supply mark, and make an extra cannon or two if you suspect heavy aggression. Get your Twilight Council in time to line up with plus 1-attack finishing, and follow up with plus 2-armor. From here you can transition into whatever tech path suits you between Colossi and High Templar, and follow up with a standard late game in which you should be far ahead in upgrades and most likely economy as well.
8 GATE TIMING
If you’re looking for a heavily aggressive option, you can follow up your initial three Gateways with an additional five, and attack with a powerful 1-1 upgrade timing attack. This is significantly more powerful than the usual 6 or 7 gate timing that is common in the matchup and will usually kill your opponent outright, or at least inflict enough damage that you can safely transition into the late game.
WEAKNESSES
Mech
The weak points of this build are very few, but as with every strategy, they exist. As pointed out by Tastosis during the GSL debut of this build, Mech play from Terran can seriously threaten a Cannoning Protoss player. Hellions can easily run by Photon Cannons and Siege Tank pushes easily wipe them out, so early Factory based aggression can pose a dangerous hazard. Early Hellion play can be denied by walling in your natural if scouted, which can buy enough time to produce enough units to hold off a strong Tank-based push, but ideally you would rather not be facing a Meching Terran with this build in the first place.
Small Maps
Of course you should not attempt to Nexus first on Shakuras Plateau or Metalopolis unless you want to take a serious risk, as the map is small enough that units can make it to your base before you have adequate defenses in place.
VODS
FXO_z vs oGs_Fin
FXO_z vs TSL_Polt
FXO_z vs Maru_PrimeYaeji was born in Flushing, Queens and lived in New York with her parents till she was 5. They moved around a lot, first to Long Island, then to Atlanta. As she entered third grade, fearing their daughter was becoming too Americanized, Yaeji’s family moved back to South Korea; her father, who once played in heavy metal bands, was particularly wary of American pop music, going as far as to censor the Pussycat Dolls from his young daughter. Eventually, Yaeji made it back to the States when she enrolled in Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University to study painting and conceptual art. She also got involved in college radio, where she was exposed to electronic music for the first time and picked up an interest in DJing and producing.
In NYC after school, she still wasn’t sure if she wanted to enter the art world or devote herself to music. By day she hustled as an artist assistant and later as a graphic designer; after work, she would upload songs to SoundCloud and head out to shows every night, taking in the city’s next generation of underground dance music producers. “The music really engulfed me,” she says.
Though she recently quit her graphic design job to concentrate on her increasingly popular songs—the video for recent single “Drink I’m Sippin On” is closing in on two million YouTube views—she hasn’t given up on visual art. During a visit to her painting studio in Bushwick, she shows me some of her work. “I was listening to witch house and had broken up with an ex when I was painting this,” she says with a laugh, looking at a mass of intricate, aggressive black lines on white canvas. As the afternoon light streams into the studio, and we consider her paintings, she asks if she can make me curry one of these days.It's well past time for Lions fans to start looking ahead to 2013. With injuries, ineffectiveness, dirty play, and Titus Young just fucking up everywhere, it hasn't been a season to remember in Detroit. So here's to future sucess! This holiday season, buy the Lions fan in your life this 2013 wall calendar...with Titus Young on the cover.
The creators of the calendar didn't have many recent images to choose from, since the highly touted Young only has 33 catches all season. In May, he was sent home after sucker-punching Louis Delmas. Last month against the Packers, he twice purposefully lined up in the wrong position, then got into a shouting match with OC Scott Linehan. The Lions sent him home for the Thanksgiving game, and when he returned to practice the next week, he was forced to do his stretches in the back row. After being sent home again, the Lions finally put him on injured reserve, ending his season and, presumably, his time in Detroit.
But the good thing about wall calendars is that when you put it on your wall, you don't have to look at the cover anymore! Unfortunately, the inside isn't much better. Mr. January is Aaron Berry, who was released during training camp. Mr. February is Jahvid Best, who hasn't played all year with concussion issues, and may never play again. Mr. March is Nate Burleson, who is almost a lock to be cut after the season. Same for Mr. November, Kyle Vanden Bosch. As CBS Detroit points out, it probably should have just had photos of Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford over and over.
There's more! Despite being a 2013 calendar, it features the Lions' 2012 schedule. And as an added bonus, there's a section on Super Bowl history; the Lions have never been to the Super Bowl. This is the perfect gift for Lions fans who hate themselves. So, this is the perfect gift for Lions fans.
Cover Of 2013 Detroit Lions Team Calendar Has Fans Shaking Heads [CBS Detroit]The Walrus and the Carpenter speaking to the Oysters, as portrayed by illustrator, as portrayed by illustrator John Tenniel
"The Walrus and the Carpenter" is a narrative poem by Lewis Carroll that appeared in his book Through the Looking-Glass, published in December 1871. The poem is recited in chapter four, by Tweedledum and Tweedledee to Alice. The poem is composed of 18 stanzas and contains 108 lines, in an alternation of iambic trimeters and iambic tetrameters. The rhyme scheme is ABCBDB, with masculine rhymes throughout. The rhyming and rhythmical scheme used, as well as some archaisms and syntactical turns, are those of the traditional English ballad.[citation needed]
Summary [ edit ]
Swept it for half a year, Do you suppose," the Walrus said, "That they could get it clear?" "I doubt it," said the Carpenter, And shed a bitter tear. "If seven maids with seven mopsSwept it for half a year,Do you suppose," the Walrus said,"That they could get it clear?""I doubt it," said the Carpenter,And shed a bitter tear.
The Walrus and the Carpenter are the eponymous characters in the poem, which is recited by Tweedledum and Tweedledee to Alice. Walking upon a beach one night when both sun and moon are visible, the Walrus and Carpenter come upon an offshore bed of oysters. Groups of four are called up; the exact number is unknown. To the disapproval of the eldest oyster, many more follow them. After walking along the beach (a point is made of the fact that the oysters are all neatly shod despite having no feet), the two main characters are revealed to be predatory and eat all of the oysters. After hearing the poem, the good-natured Alice attempts to determine which of the two leading characters might be the more sympathetic, but is thwarted by the twins' further interpretation:
"I like the Walrus best," said Alice, "because you see he was a little sorry for the poor oysters." "He ate more than the Carpenter, though," said Tweedledee. "You see he held his handkerchief in front, so that the Carpenter couldn't count how many he took: contrariwise." "That was mean!" Alice said indignantly. "Then I like the Carpenter best—if he didn't eat so many as the Walrus." "But he ate as many as he could get," said Tweedledum. This was a puzzler. After a pause, Alice began, "Well! They were both very unpleasant characters—" Through the Looking-Glass
Interpretations [ edit ]
"To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax— Of cabbages—and kings— And why the sea is boiling hot— And whether pigs have wings." "The time has come," the Walrus said,"To talk of many things:Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—Of cabbages—and kings—And why the sea is boiling hot—And whether pigs have wings." —Through the Looking-Glass
The characters of the Walrus and the Carpenter have been interpreted many ways both in literary criticism and popular culture. Some, including the character Loki in the film Dogma, interpret the Walrus to be a caricature of the Buddha and the Carpenter to be a caricature of Jesus Christ.[1] British essayist J. B. Priestley argued that the figures were political,[2] as does Walter Russell Mead, who utilises the Walrus and the Carpenter as an allegory for Britain and the United States respectively.[3] However, in The Annotated Alice, Martin Gardner notes that, when Carroll gave the manuscript for Looking Glass to illustrator John Tenniel, he gave him the choice of drawing a carpenter, a butterfly, or a baronet, since each word would fit the poem's metre. Because Tenniel rather than Carroll chose the carpenter, the character's significance in the poem is probably not in his profession, and interpretations of the poem as a commentary on religion are likely false. Gardner cautions the reader that there is not always intended symbolism in the Alice books, which were made for the imagination of children and not the analysis of "mad people".
Other appearances [ edit ]
Pub on Monument Street, London
See also [ edit ]As we’ve broken out the popcorn and watched the meltdown among Democrats over the question of their primary debates I’ve been noticing one marked similarity between the 2012 cycle and this year: the Democrats are still treating this contest as if the Republicans were the only ones holding an open primary. The way that Debbie Wasserman Schultz is running things you would think that her party already has an incumbent in office and there’s really no need to talk about anyone else being in contention. If we needed any more evidence to support this premise it can be found in a column from Greg Sargent at the Washington Post. Those familiar with Greg’s previous work will be aware that you’re unlikely to find many folks in the media who are more heavily invested in electing Democrats, so if he’s willing to point out some flies in their ointment it’s probably a solid story.
The “big idea” behind this tale is that while Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders (along with the latter’s army of supporters) are arguing for more debates, Hillary Clinton’s team was fighting all along to have even less, and the DNC chair clearly got the memo.
Last spring, when negotiations between the DNC and the Dem campaigns over the debate schedule got underway in earnest, the Clinton camp’s preference was to have only four debates, one in each of the early contest states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, according to a senior Democrat with knowledge of those conversations. Asked to comment on this version of events, DNC spokesperson Holly Schulman didn’t immediately dispute it, but declined comment. A Clinton spokesperson didn’t immediately return an email. (This version comports with Politico’s reporting that the Clinton camp prefers to keep the number of debates low.)
That part isn’t much of a surprise. Clinton has seen herself as the Candidate of Destiny since long before she officially announced. When you consider yourself the incumbent (or at least the obvious leader) there is no upside to debates. They offer you nothing and only open the door to upstarts having a brilliant moment which helps them tear you down. You’ll also be asked to stake out positions which could cause problems down the line in the general election. In that sense, pushing for fewer and later debates was a no brainer for Team Clinton.
But the real news here is that the timing of the few debates they did manage to schedule was an even greater bone of contention.
The dates of the debates were announced in August. It was at that point that outrage really began to build, because the dates themselves created a situation that began to be seen as problematic. (Those dates are October 13, November 14th, December 19th, January 17th, and two in February or March that are not nailed down yet.) The problem is that of the four debates that are actually scheduled, three come on weekends (as opposed to during weeknight prime time), one of them on the weekend between the end of Hanukkah and Christmas. The two remaining (as yet unscheduled) debates are in February or March, one on Univision and the other on PBS.
Virtually every factor in that schedule is designed in an obvious fashion to keep public awareness of the rest of the candidates to a minimum and to make sure that even a breakout debate performance by an upstart will come too late to seriously dent Hillary. Think about those details for a moment. The Republicans are already through two of their debates with another one coming next month. Two major, credible candidates have already dropped out and the field is thinning. The debate have been held on the major news outlets most likely to draw the largest audiences.
Now look at the Democrats’ schedule. While they keep talking about six debates, two of them will take place after the voting has already begun and momentum is building for whoever takes the early states. And of the four that will take place before the voting begins, three of them are on weekends (which are a ratings dud compared to prime time on a weeknight) with one of those being right when the country is diving into the Christmas break. The only one which seems to provide any real opportunity for a big hit will come on January 17th which is – coincidentally I’m sure – on a Sunday night during the NFL playoffs.
This game is completely rigged and the Democrat challengers are right to be upset. Unfortunately for them I don’t know that there’s anything they can do about it at this point. If Debbie Wasserman Schultz doesn’t budge they’re probably up the creek without a paddle, and it doesn’t look like she’s going to. The coronation is proceeding right on schedule unless Bernie or Uncle Joe can move enough of the electorate to overcome the power of the party elders.New Zealand PM Releases Documents... That Don't Actually Discuss GCSB Mass Surveillance
from the wait,-what? dept
"There is not, and never has been, mass surveillance of New Zealanders undertaken by the GCSB.
He would not discuss XKEYSCORE, ''we don't discuss the specific programmes the GCSB may, or may not use''.
''But the GCSB does not collect mass metadata on New Zealanders, therefore it is clearly not contributing such data to anything or anyone," Mr Key said.
So we had just posted New Zealand Prime Minister John Key insulting the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, referring to him as a "henchman" and "a loser" for showing up in New Zealand to reveal that, contrary to Key's own claims, the country's GCSB (local equivalent of the NSA) had been engaged in mass surveillance of New Zealand residents. The documents Greenwald revealed showed how the Kiwi government was being pressured by the NSA to pass a law to fully "legalize" the program for mass surveillance of metadata. Further support to Greenwald's claims was provided in an article written by Ed Snowden, discussing just how easy it was to go surfing through the metadata collected on New Zealanders by GCSB.Over the weekend, Prime Minister Key had said that once Greenwald revealed what he had, he would declassify a set of documents proving that Greenwald was wrong. Well, now Key has, in fact, declassified a set of documents from the GCSB... and they don't actually discuss what Greenwald or Snowden were talking about. Instead, they look like some internal discussions of why GCSB needed a (dangerous) program that would allow GCSB to try to spot and deal with foreign cyberattacks (similar to what the NSA wanted to do in the US, but which banks on Wall St. rejected ).So, basically all that Key has revealed is that GCSB supported an overly broad cyberattack plan that would let the GCSB take it upon itself to deal with cyberattacks -- a plan so insane that even the US has rejected it -- in part because it would massively increase surveillance. So, Key has revealed secretly approved plans to increase GCSB surveillance, while pretending he's debunking increased GCSB surveillance. And, yet, the documents don't even address any of Greenwald and Snowden's actual claims. When asked about that Key appears to have done his standard childish pouting, refusing to answer about specifics:Frankly, this is a bit of a let down. Given the documents that Greenwald revealed on Monday, there was still the slight possibility that changes had happened along the way and people had rethought a bad plan. So I was wondering if Key might actually reveal something miraculous like that. Instead, it seems like he's trying a sleight of hand trick by declassifying and releasing(that actually reveal a secret surveillance expansion different from the one Greenwald revealed) and hoping no one notices. Interesting strategy. It seems to assume that the New Zealand populace doesn't actually pay attention to any details, which seems like a risky move.
Filed Under: cybersecurity, ed snowden, gcsb, glenn greenwald, john key, kim dotcom, metadata, nsa, surveillanceHardee's Food Systems Inc. is an American fast-food restaurant chain operated by CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. ("CKE") with locations primarily in the Southern and Midwestern United States. The company has evolved through several corporate ownerships since its establishment in 1960 in North Carolina.
In April 1997, CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Carl's Jr., paid $327 million to Montreal-based Imasco Limited for Hardee's.[3] The merger created a chain of 3,828 restaurants – 3,152 Hardee's outlets in 40 states and 10 foreign countries and 676 Carl's Jr. outlets, primarily in California.
History [ edit ]
Hardee's founder, Wilber Hardee, opened his first restaurant in Greenville, North Carolina, on September 3, 1960.[4] After a year of success, Wilber decided to look into expanding his restaurant and opening another location so he met with James Gardner and Leonard Rawls to discuss doing so.[5] Shortly thereafter, the first company store was opened in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in May 1961 by James Carson Gardner and Leonard Rawls on McDonald Street on North Church Street in Rocky Mount, known within the chain as building number 1. That location was demolished in 2007 and replaced with a veterans' park named for Jack Laughery, a former Hardee's chairman and military veteran.[6]
According to Wilbur Hardee, Gardner and Rawls won a controlling share of the company from him during a game of poker. After realizing that he had lost control over his namesake company, Hardee sold his remaining shares to them as well.[7]
Rawls and Gardner sold their first franchises to a small group of longtime friends and acquaintances who formed their own companies and over time, built hundreds more franchised locations. Hardee’s Food Systems went public in 1963 with Rawls as president. Gardner, who was vice president, had political ambitions and left the company when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1966.[5]
The 1964 menu included: hamburger-15 cents, cheeseburger-20 cents, fries-10 cents, apple turnovers-15 cents, milk-12 cents, coffee-10 cents, Coke, Pepsi, root beer and orange soda-15 cents and 10 cents, and milkshakes (chocolate-strawberry-vanilla)-20 cents. Strawberry shakes were created from vanilla by addition of a berry syrup which had to be mixed with a spindle.[5]
At the end of the 1960s, the corporation operated nearly 200 restaurants in the Midwest and Southwestern U.S., as well as its first international locations in Germany.[8] Around this same time, Hardee's began an expansion into the mid-Atlantic states, notably Southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. The expansion was done via the franchisee Hardee Northern, Inc, which was a subsidiary of Acme Markets, a prominent grocery store chain based in Philadelphia.
Hardee's purchased Sandy's in 1972 with the last of the restaurants converting to Hardee's by 1979.[citation needed] During the mid-and-late 1970s, Hardee's saw rapid chain growth and high profits on the strength of its two key sandwiches: the "Big Twin" and the "Big Deluxe".[citation needed] Another acquisition occurred in the late 1970s when Hardee's purchased the Utah-based burger chain Dee's Drive-In.
Hardee's logo, 1976-1999. Revived as part of a marketing campaign in 2018, alongside the current "Happy Star" logo.
Hardee's was purchased by Canadian company Imasco Limited in 1981. In 1982, General Foods sold Burger Chef to Imasco for $44 million.[9] Imasco converted many locations to Hardee's restaurants and let franchises and locations near existing Hardee's locations convert to other brands. Remaining restaurants that did not convert to Hardee's or new names and branding simply closed.
A new management team, in the early 1980s, seeking to cut costs, changed the signature burger recipe and eliminated the flagship menu item, the Big Twin. The Big Deluxe continued to be offered throughout the 1990s.
For a few years after acquiring the Roy Rogers Restaurants fast food chain in the early 1990s, Hardee's outlets sold the popular Roy Rogers Restaurant fried chicken recipe, hoping it could compete with Kentucky Fried Chicken.[citation needed] In addition to Roy Rogers, Hardee's also owned Rax Roast Beef for a period of time and sold roast beef sandwiches throughout the Hardee’s system.
In April 1997, CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Carl's Jr., bought Hardee's from Imasco for $327 million. The merger created a chain of 3,828 restaurants – 3,152 Hardee's outlets in 40 states and 10 foreign countries and 676 Carl's Jr. outlets primarily in California.[citation needed]
In 2001, Hardee’s headquarters moved to St. Louis, Missouri. In 2005, Hardee’s introduced Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes & Malts.
In September 2013, it was announced that Hardee's would expand into the Northeastern United States. In April 2015, Hardee's announced the opening of its 300th restaurant in the Middle East with longtime franchisee, The Americana Group.
In 2015, Nation's Restaurant News ranked Hardee's as the No. 28 foodservice chain by sales in the United States through 2011. Carl's Jr. was ranked at No. 37. Combined sales would rank the two at No. 15. In 2013, QSR listed Hardee's at No. 20 and Carl's Jr. at No. 24; if combined they would have been listed at No. 14.[10]
In July 2015, Hardee’s announced that it would be offering The All-Natural Burger, which launched at sister-chain Carl’s Jr. restaurants in December 2014.[11]
As of March 2016, CKE has a total of 3,664 franchised or company-operated restaurants in 44 states and 37 foreign countries and U.S. territories.[12]
Controversies, disputes, and legal issues [ edit ]
Burger Chef copyright dispute [ edit ]
In January 2007, Hardee's had a challenge filed against it with the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office by River West Brands, LLC of Chicago for the use of the Burger Chef trademark and name. Shortly thereafter, Hardee's reissued the Burger Chef Big Shef sandwich in Terre Haute, Indiana, as a trial offering and later in additional Indiana markets and Dayton, Ohio for a limited time. The reissue of the Big Shef has also utilized the Burger Chef name and logo in advertisements in the markets in which it is offered, and claimed to provide Burger Chef fans with their Big Shef "fix". On April 16, 2009, River West Brands dropped their petition for cancellation and both parties agreed to pay their own attorney's fees.[13]
Harvey's controversy [ edit ]
Due to a trademark dispute with Canada's Harvey's burger chain, the Hardee's brand name cannot be used in the country. Instead, CKE Restaurants operates exclusively under the Carl's Jr. banner.[14]
Advertising [ edit ]
A Hardee's in Hong Kong
A new Hardee's logo was unveiled in 2006 that featured script lettering and retained the iconic Happy Star, further unifying the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. brands. Hardee's also marketed special Super Bowl celebratory pins in the early 1990s.[citation needed]
Hardee's logo, 2006–2018. This logo is still being used on new restaurant openings.
Controversy [ edit ]
Several Hardee's ad campaigns in the 2000s have been criticized by groups including Parents Television Council for their sexually suggestive nature. A campaign titled "More Than a Piece of Meat" featured scantily clad women appearing to receive sexual gratification from consuming Hardee's products, and "Name Our Holes" — an ad campaign and website promoting Hardee's Biscuit Holes.[15][16]
In January 2015, Carl's Jr. released a commercial online featuring model Charlotte McKinney advertising its new All Natural Burger to air regionally during Super Bowl XLIX. The ad features McKinney walking around a farmers' market, implying that she is "all natural" and uses double entendres to suggest that she is naked with strategically placed items in the market until it reveals McKinney in a bikini eating the All Natural Burger. Critics suggest that the ad "sets feminism back four decades," while others, including McKinney's elderly grandfather, enjoyed the ad.[17][18][19] The ad now features Hardee's cobranding, as the All Natural Burger is now offered by Hardee's. As of March 2016, the ad has received over 4.5 billion media impressions worldwide and more than 12 million views on the chains’ YouTube channel.[citation needed]
Carl Hardee Sr. Campaign [ edit ]
In March 2017, Hardee's began to move away from the sexualized ads by releasing a commercial featuring a white bearded character played by Charles Esten as "Carl Hardee Sr." who had come back into the office (much to the delight of the employees) to find his son (Drew Tarver), a.k.a. "Carl Jr." who was focusing on sex appeal over its food. The commercial marked a turning point in CKE's advertising, as the company wanted to move away from its provocative ads and focus more on food and as a competitor to Five Guys, Steak 'n Shake, and In-N-Out Burger. "Carl Hardee Sr." was also expected to become the new company spokesperson.[20]
Tastes Like America [ edit ]
In 2018, CKE resumed producing separate campaigns for their Hardee's and Carl's Jr. brands. For Hardee's, it started the Tastes Like America campaign with music by Big Wet.[21] For this campaign, Hardee's restored its 1976 logo, now in white; however, the Happy Star still appears, replacing the A in "Tastes". The previous logo will also continue to be used as well.
International franchises [ edit ]
Many international Hardee's franchises are located in countries in the Middle East and Pakistan, most being owned and operated by Americana Group.[22] The Americana Group opened the Middle East’s first Hardee’s restaurant in Kuwait in June 1980.[12] As of 2016, there are over 300 Hardee’s restaurants throughout Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, specifically in Bahrain, Curaçao, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.[12][23] Specifically, in the Middle East, the Hardee’s menu does not include any pork items and each beef is certified Halal due to religious and cultural beliefs. The same menu is offered at Hardee's locations in Pakistan, which opened its first location in the country in 2009 in Lahore.[24] Hardee's currently has eighteen locations in Pakistan, with six in Lahore, four in Karachi, two each in Islamabad & Rawalpindi and one each in Faisalabad, Bhera, Peshawar and Multan. In 2014, it opened a restaurant in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan.[25]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Infowars.com
July 22, 2011
A Dutch building demolition expert who went on record as saying he believed that World Trade Center building Seven was brought down in a controlled demolition, has been reported killed in a car accident.
Bloggers in the Netherlands have reported that Danny Jowenko was killed instantly on Saturday when his car veered off the road and collided head on into a tree. The reports state that Jowenko’s dog was found alive in the car.
Jowenko was said to have been driving home from church. It is not clear at this time what caused the car to leave the road, according to the reports.
Jowenko is best known in the 9/11 truth community for appearing in a video that first surfaced in 2006 on a Dutch television news program called, Zembla investigates 9/11 theories.
After being shown the footage of WTC 7 collapsing Jowenko stated “This is a controlled demolition carried out by a team of experts.”
At the time Jowenko did not know that he was watching footage from September 11th 2001 and responded in disbelief when the reporters explained what the footage was.
In 2007 reports began to circulate that Jowenko had retracted his stance on the footage of WTC7, however, he reaffirmed his previous opinion in a phone call with blogger Jeff Hill, noting “When the FEMA makes a report that it came down by fire, and you have to earn your money in the States as a controlled demolition company and you say, ‘No, it was a controlled demolition’, you’re gone. You know?”
The original interview with Danny Jowenko appears below, along with the 2007 phone call:
Telephone interview with Jeff Hill 2/22/07:
Jeff Hill: I was just wondering real quickly, I know you had commented on World Trade Center Building 7 before.
Danny Jowenko: Yes, that’s right.
Jeff Hill: And I’ve come to my conclusions, too, that it couldn’t have came down by fire.
Danny Jowenko: No, it — absolutely not.
Jeff Hill: Are you still sticking by your comments where you say it must have been a controlled demolition?
Danny Jowenko: Absolutely.
Jeff Hill: Yes? So, you as being a controlled demolitions expert, you’ve looked at the building, you’ve looked at the video and you’ve determined with your expertise that –
Danny Jowenko: I looked at the drawings, the construction and it couldn’t be done by fire. So, no, absolutely not.
Jeff Hill: OK, ’cause I was reading on the Internet, people were asking about you and they said, I wonder — I heard something that Danny Jowenko retracted his statement of what he said earlier about World Trade Center 7 now saying that it came down by fire. I said, “There’s no way that’s true.”
Danny Jowenko: No, no, no, absolutely not.
Jeff Hill: ‘Cause if anybody was — Like when I called Controlled Demolition here in North America, they tell me that, “Oh, it’s possible it came down from fire” and this and that and stuff like that –.
Danny Jowenko: When the FEMA makes a report that it came down by fire, and you have to earn your money in the States as a controlled demolition company and you say, “No, it was a controlled demolition”, you’re gone. You know?
Jeff Hill: Yeah, exactly, you’ll be in a lot of trouble if you say that, right?
Danny Jowenko: Of course, of course. That’s the end of your — the end of the story.
Jeff Hill: Yeah, ’cause I was calling demolitions companies just to ask them if they used the term, “Pull it” in demolition terms and even Controlled Demolitions, Incorporated said they did. But the other people wouldn’t — didn’t want to talk to me about Building 7 really because obviously ’cause they knew what happened and they didn’t want to say it.Liquidity hoarding and systemic failure in the ecology of banks
October 18, 2013 by Artem Kaznatcheev
As you might have guessed from my recent posts, I am cautious in trying to use mathematics to build insilications for predicting, profiting from, or controlling financial markets. However, I realize the wealth of data available on financial networks and interactions (compared to similar resources in ecology, for example) and the myriad of interesting questions about both economics and humans (and their institutions) more generally that understanding finance can answer. As such, I am more than happy to look at heuristics and other toy models in order to learn about financial systems. I am particularly interested in understanding the interplay between individual versus systemic risk because of analogies to social dilemmas in evolutionary game theory (and the related discussions of individual vs. inclusive vs. group fitness) and recently developed connections with modeling in ecology.
A particular interesting phenomenon to understand is the sudden liquidity freeze during the recent financial crisis — interbank lending beyond very short maturities virtually disappeared, three-month Libor (a key benchmarks for interest rates on interbank loans) skyrocketed, and the world banking system ground to a halt. The proximate cause for this phase transition was the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers — the fourth largest investment bank in the US — at 1:45 am on 15 September 2008, but the real culprit lay in build up of unchecked systemic risk (Ivashina & Scharfstein, 2010; Domanski & Turner, 2011; Gorton & Metrick, 2012). Since I am no economist, banker, or trader, the connections and simple mathematical models that Robert May has been advocating (e.g. May, Levin, & Sugihara (2008)) serve as my window into this foreign land. The idea of a good heuristic model is to cut away all non-essential features and try to capture the essence of the complicated phenomena needed for our insight. In this case, we need to keep around an idealized version of banks, their loan network, some external assets with which to trigger an initial failure, and a way to represent confidence. The question then becomes: under what |
]
In 1736 after being chosen by an assembly of notables to be Shah, Nader agreed to accept on condition that they accept his new religious policy of restoring Sunnism in Iran. The abandonment of Shiism was necessary as the linchpin of a peace treaty he wanted to conclude with the Sunni Ottomans and was probably intended also as a way of diminishing the religious prestige of the Safavid house and of making himself a more attractive figure to the Sunni populations of areas he was planning to conquer. However, his religious policy fueled discontent in Iran itself.[88]
He implemented the following anti-Shia policies:
Nader abandoned Shiism and instead founded a mixed Shia/Sunni Islamic school of theology, to add to the other four Sunni schools of law. [89]
Nader had the leading cleric in Persia strangled. [90]
He relied on his army, which was increasingly recruited from Sunni Afghans, Kurds, Turkmen, Baluchis and others (who naturally were gratified by the new religious policy). [90]
The Persians were not simply ordered to adopt Sunnism as practiced elsewhere in the Muslim world; they were to retain their own discrete religious identity. [90]
Internally, he banned certain Shia practices; the more extreme ones, typical of the early Safavid period. He issued instructions to the Ulema that Imam Ali should be venerated as before, but that the formula naming him as the deputy of God should no longer be spoken, because it had caused enmity between Shias and Sunnis. Externally he presented the policy as a wholesale conversion to Sunnism. In general, this religious policy did not provoke popular opposition within Persia because the people simply adapted. [90]
In 1736 from Qazvin he issued an edict that was sent throughout the country, enforcing the cessation of the traditional Shia practices that were most offensive to Sunnis. [91]
Nader made a major effort to redefine the place of Shiism within the Islamic world by working to gain recognition from the major Sunni powers. He attempted to integrate a redefined Shiism into the Sunni tradition. He rejected the Shia condemnation of the first three Sunni Caliphs and enforced that position within his realm. In addition, he tried to secure Ottoman recognition of Twelver Shiism as a fifth Sunni school of law, to be called the Jaafari school after the 6th Imam, Jafar al-Sadiq. The whole pattern of Shiism as built on the idea of the Imamate was to be replaced. However, neither the Sunni Ottomans nor the major Shia scholars of the time accepted his redefinition. [92]
Nader alienated the Shiite clergy (partly in order to destroy the influential position they held) by trying to bridge the gap between Sunni and Shia by attempting to restore Sunnism in Iran. He also confiscated large sections of the religious endowment lands (Waqfs) belonging to Shia religious institutions. Fearful for their lives and feeling threatened in Iran, many Persian clergymen sought refuge and settlement in Iraq and formed the core of the Shia religious infrastructure that has persisted until the present around the Shia shrines in Iraq, such as Najaf and Karbala.[60][86][93][94]
After Nader's death and the rapid disintegration of his empire, Shiism was quickly restored and religious properties were built up again in the following century.[86]
Historical outcome of Ismail's conversion policy [ edit ]
Map showing ethnic and religious diversity among the population of Iran.
Ismail's conversion policy had the following historical outcomes:
Although conversion was not as rapid as Ismail's forcible policies might suggest, the vast majority of those who lived in the territory of what is now Iran and Azerbaijan did identify with Shiism by the end of the Safavid era in 1722. Thus, the population of Azerbaijan was forcibly converted to Shiism in the early 16th century at the same time as the people of what is nowadays Iran, when the Safavids held sway over it. [1]
Hence it is no accident that in Iran and Azerbaijan, today's Sunni minorities are concentrated among the country's non-Persian and non-Azerbaijani ethnic groups that are scattered along the country's borders, with their Sunni co-nationals next door. [32] [45] [95] [96] [97] [98] [99] [100]
Hence it is no accident that in Iran and Azerbaijan, today's Sunni minorities are concentrated among the country's non-Persian and non-Azerbaijani ethnic groups that are scattered along the country's borders, with their Sunni co-nationals next door. The Safavid experience largely created the clear line of political demarcation and hostility between Twelver Shiism and Sunnism, even though doctrinal differences had long been recognized. Before the Safavids the Twelvers for many centuries had mostly accommodated themselves politically to the Sunnis, and numerous religious movements combined Twelver and Sunni ideas. [101]
Ismail's advent to power signaled the end of Sunni Islam in Iran and Shiite theologians came to dominate the religious establishment. [44] [102]
The hierarchical organization of the Shiite clergy began under Ismail. [103]
The current borders between Iran, on the one hand, and Afghanistan and Turkey on the other, date from this time and are not ethnic but religious, opposing Shiites and Sunnis. [35]
The Sunni majority was treated brutally and was most resistant to the Safavids' conversion policies, which went on at least until the end of the Safavid period. [104] [105]
The use of the Shia religion to exert control was not completely successful. It resulted in the annexation of large areas of the country, but was followed by centuries of conflict between the Sunni and Shia populations, even after the fall of the Safavids. [106]
Iran was a Shia country and gradually became an isolated island surrounded by a sea of Sunnism. While lamenting the cruelty of forced conversion, modern Iranian historians generally agree that the establishment of Shia religious hegemony ultimately saved Iran from being incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. [107]
The Ottoman advance in Europe suffered (since they now had to split their military resources) as the Safavids and European powers forged alliances, such as the Habsburg–Persian alliance, to combat their common Ottoman enemy. [108]
The word 'Safawi', as used by Sunnis, came to be associated with any expansionist Shia groups acting against Sunnis or their interests.[109] The label is especially used against Iran or Iranian-backed groups and has particularly found currency during the sectarian turmoil in the Middle-East in the early 21st century, e.g. in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.[ citation needed ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]A man who sat in a kauri tree for nearly two weeks doesn't believe he should be prosecuted for it.
Johno Smith appeared in the Waitakere District Court for the first time on Wednesday after coming down from the tree in the West Auckland suburb of Titirangi on December 23.
He was charged with trespass after sitting in the tree for 13 days to prevent the owners, John Lenihan and Jane Greensmith, from cutting it down to make way for development.
LAWRENCE SMITH/FAIRFAX NZ Johno Smith spent 13 days up a kauri tree protesting plans by a developer cut it down.
Smith entered no plea when he appeared in front of a registrar on Wednesday morning, and will reappear on January 20.
READ MORE:
*Protesting neighbours step in to save Titirangi kauri again
*Kauri protester pleads guilty to trespassing
Outside court he said he still believed he'd done the right thing.
Peter Meecham Protester and arborist Johno Smith surveys the damage done to the Kauri Tree on a property at Paturoa Road in Titirangi, West Auckland, after it was ringbarked.
"I believe I shouldn't be here," he said. "We should have laws protecting our trees (but) we have a strong community who won't allow stuff like this to happen.
"It's not just about this tree it's about kauri trees up and down the country."
Save Our Kauri estimated the tree to be about 500 years old and has been protesting Lenihan and Greensmith's intention to chop it down since May, when another protester, Michael Tavares, sat in it for 81 hours.
He too was charged with trespass and was convicted but avoided a penalty.
Smith was forced to come down from the tree ahead of Christmas, after a group of people began ringbarking the kauri with chainsaws.
Smith said the ringbarking was the worst thing you could do to a kauri, which could die because of it.
On Tuesday police said nobody would be charged with the ringbarking because the owners had given permission for it to happen.
Smith said he wasn't surprised the owners had sanctioned the action, but only became aware of that fact recently.
Save Our Kauri are still engaged in a legal battle with Lenihan and Greensmith, and all will be in the High Court at Auckland in February for a judicial review of Auckland Council's decision to allow the tree to be felled.
It's not the first time Smith has appeared in court for his environmental beliefs.
Last year he and a group of Greenpeace protesters were ordered to pay reparations after scaling Parliament buildings to protest over climate change inaction.A hefty majority of Democrats have a clear message for presidential hopeful Sen. Bernard Sanders: don’t drop out.
A new NBC News poll finds that 57 percent of registered Democratic voters say Mr. Sanders should remain in the presidential race through the Democratic convention, which begins July 25.
“Though the Clinton campaign and many in the party elite may be ready for a Sanders exit, a majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaners would like to see Sanders stay,” the survey analysis said.
The poll found that 89 percent of voters who support Mr. Sanders and even 28 percent of Hillary Clinton’s fans agree with the idea. So does the candidate, who is campaigning in West Virginia on Wednesday.
“Maybe it’s over for the insiders and the party establishment, but the voters in Indiana had a different idea. The campaign wasn’t over for them. It isn’t over for the voters in West Virginia. It isn’t over for Democrats in Oregon, New Jersey and Kentucky. It isn’t over for voters in California and all the other states with contests still to come,” Mr. Sanders said in a message to his supporters.
“I understand we have an uphill climb to victory, but we have been fighting uphill from the first day of this campaign. I am in this campaign until the last vote is cast,” Mr. Sanders said.
The determined candidate has hunkered down on the campaign trail, even with news that Republican hopefuls Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich have given up their quest for the White House.
Some Democratic voters still have their reservations. The NBC poll also found that a quarter of them think Mr. Sanders should drop out after the final primary on June 14; 10 percent of Sanders voters and 40 percent of Clinton voters agree. Another 16 percent say he should “drop out now”; 0 percent of Sanders voters and 30 percent of Clinton voters agree.
The source is an NBC News/SurveyMonkey online poll of 12,462 registered U.S. voters conducted April 25 to May 1.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.In a deeply personal essay, youth worker Iain Stevens* tells of the small joys and savage pains of his work with some of our community’s most damaged families.
I wondered what it was going to take to break my heart.
I’ve been a youth advocate for just on four years. Moving all around West Auckland, inner to outer, New Lynn to Helensville, I’m deeply involved with kids and families who have fallen apart but have nowhere to go, so they have to stay in the place where the pain began.
I’ve met no one bad yet. Busted-up and angry, suspicious and self-sabotaging, yes. But no one truly bad. The kids have trauma like soldiers have trauma. Exactly like soldiers: some of our streets are trenches, some of our interventions are weapons, some of our ideas are dangerous. The ones used in the past certainly were. Older workers talk about the way things have changed, how families are actually listened to now. I wonder how families survived the paternalism of the “old days”, when the state came down like a hammer.
Today we still dictate too much. Our institutions are set up to ask the wrong questions, and they also can’t hear the answers through the noise of the system’s churn. There are good ideas out there – they just haven’t made it through to policy yet. Time will tell.
When something won’t heal, it becomes a wound, painful and noticeable, and then what do you do? Pretend it’s not there? The families I see, most do pretend that they function properly and just get on with things. It’s not like they’re the only ones that live in this way – there are whole streets, out west, out east, down south, that are just holding on. The people who live there have learned to keep their heads down; piping up means getting slapped down.
I’m in no way a shrinking violet. I’ve seen and done things that would shock most mothers – most relatives, really. I spent years with an addiction that – in order not to get ‘sick’, to keep from collapsing in withdrawal with barbed wire being pulled backwards through my veins – led to situations that, to this day, cause my left eyelid to flicker at their memory. I’ve seen some shit, I’ve done some shit.
In many of my clients, I can see kindred spirits, fellow travellers who know how it feels to be a very small cog in a machine that chews you up if you squeak too hard. The survival attitude of “just hold on” is one I know intimately. That we are making a large swathe of our society live like this disgusts me. Too many of us believe that the poor somehow deserve their lot. Too many deny that our shared history has contributed to the present they find themselves in. We have a wound in this society; it’s scab that must be ripped off so we can look at the putrescence.
Still, in some of the worst houses on good days, I have been privy to moments that have made my heart sing. The way humans can make joy is an endless sense of wonder to me, and to see that joy manifest is one of the blessings of being alive. Laughing with aunties. Watching girls twerk in school uniforms in front of their horrified mums. I’ve watched puppies flop down stairs in ways that have made me wee a bit with laughter. We know how to laugh in this country. We are really good at it, and we don’t do it enough.
We have also gotten really good at ignoring our neighbours.
And there are wastelands just next door, within earshot if you want to listen. All over the country there are big screens pulsing colours and energy into rooms that have neither. I can understand why you would want to get out of it, to remove yourself from these places for a while, at least in your mind. It’s hard to dream while staring at chipboard floors and walls grey-green with mould down to the skirting boards. Back and front yards just fences and grass, overgrown or perfunctorily mown, the edges tatty. Dead cars and broken furniture. The underlying smell of fried things.
You shouldn’t dream here; these places are not made for fantasy, they’re places that should be changed. Being comfortable with this type of environment will kill you; the mould will get in your lungs, the damp will give you eczema. Or maybe someone will explode with pent-up impotent rage and attack anyone within range. You should escape from it. People like me should help you leave.
It takes technique, resilience and often some emotional sleight-of-hand to get a person who isn’t used to talking to talk. But they all will, eventually. The chest will un-puff, the dog will be told to sit the fuck down, the look of “what will this Pākehā promise me?” will leave their face. Sometimes I’ll get a cup of tea, or I’ll sit while they smoke and we’ll let the silence do the introductions. Most mums love to chat about their kids.
My father was a policeman and I knock like he did. I apologise for it all the time. Trust can be hard to win and the initial few minutes can taint the outreach irreparably. I want to be easy to know, I want it to seem like their homes don’t bother me. Most of the time I can pull this off; only sometimes will I involuntarily crinkle my nose or stare too long. And then I’ll realise I’ve been caught out – not judging, just honestly confused at how people can live amongst this squalor with the smells and the cold and the colds without going crazy and soaking themselves in booze or whatever is at hand so that they can sleep at night. And then I just close my mouth, turn my head, do some mental gymnastics to inure myself, because staring is what too many are doing already. It’s my job to try to change this, it’s my job to make some sense in senselessness. To help humans live humanely.
I wondered what it was going to take to break my heart. And I can feel the image looming and I don’t want to describe it. Because I’m going to remember that I walked away that day. I said nothing, I failed to help. But it triggered a feeling so visceral that later I saw the outline of a Subaru Legacy logo on my palm. I’d gripped my keys so tight I’d imprinted it into my flesh.
First, another story. There was a split family I worked with, trying to get a child back to school. The child was truant on the days that the dad was scheduled to do the school pick-up. The mother’s side of the family had alleged abuse and a court case was pending, but before it came up they were having to live with the fact of a cousin abusing one of the children. The mother knew; she’d laid charges as yet unproven. But agencies and the other side of the family were demanding that the visitation rights were met and so she had to let her kids be picked up from her house to spend days with the father’s family, and the cousin.
She more than “knew” – she knew, but was told she would be arrested if she in any way hindered the pick-up. She was hard to deal with and belligerent; if she had any sense of being shunned, she’d act up, and she defended her child to the hilt. After a family conference, the agreement was made that the visits would continue. The lawyers and CYFS had agreed to this. The child was to be given to a predator, until the law said otherwise.
That night I could barely sleep. In the morning, I’d decided that I would side with the mother. I’d stand in front of whoever came and not let the child go. I thought I could not do my job in good conscience if I allowed this to happen without making myself heard. But as I drove to work the next day I got a text saying that the cousin had admitted the abuse. I cried with the mother. It felt like a difference had been made, and I’d been around to see it. I patted my back a little bit.
The next week the mum, who has a history with our service, had a meltdown and demanded to lay a complaint against me. I’d “done nothing,” “hadn’t helped a bit”. My co-workers talked her down and after a while she came round and apologised. But something has changed, our rapport has been dented. She needed to lash out and I was the closest one that day. I wore it, but it’s tainted my joy a bit. I think this is still a success. Time will tell.
That is not what broke my heart.
There are these kids that can’t get off synthetics. Even when they were outlawed everyone knew the shops that still had them or the houses of the people who had stocks.
I started this job a few months after they were taken off the market, and the workload was immense. The burnout of confused, blendered brains bashed by chemicals; the heaviest users were schizoaffective. If you ask me, in a land with such quality marijuana as New Zealand, these toxic chemical grenades are totally unnecessary.
We were tasked with counselling people while they came down from years of having synthetics in their system. The confusions receded, and the families were getting back in touch, happy that their whānau had returned to the land of the thinking. Then we all found out that they were set to come back into shops and I started fielding calls from parents and Nanas and Poppas asking why this poison is still allowed to be sold. I tell them to write to Peter Dunne c/o Parliament House, Private Bag, Lambton Quay, Wellington. No need for a stamp.
I went to see a family about their son in youth prison. He was 14 and had more charges than his age. I was going to get some support around his exit from the system. I wanted to talk to his parents about the options: maybe we could get him in an immersion program, to get him thinking about his strengths. How working with others is necessary to get some things done, how working with others is how we discover things about them and ourselves. See who can handle three weeks in a tent outside Gisborne, making some tools, killing some possums. Learning that human connection means more than wifi status, that anger is good but so is empathy. Things some homes can’t teach.
And this home was definitely one of the worse ones I’d seen. In the corners of the lounge were bags of cheap alcohol cans, empty except for the sickly sweet smell of cola. The windows were open but in Auckland this is not necessarily a good thing; it was 27 degrees and humid, like walking through soup. This house smelt like an old casserole dish wrapped in a dog blanket, a couch with bare foam squabs emitting puffs of dirty air whenever someone sat on it. Mum, high on something, was up and down like Nick Smith in the debating chamber on a dissembling jag. Carpetless floors with piles of dirt around table legs, trails scuffed through the muck on the floor. Mum and Dad smoked constantly and talked about getting their son back so they’d get more accommodation supplement, or more basic benefit, or something.
My phone was running flat and I asked if they had a USB charger,
“Over there on the kitchen bench.” I got up to plug my phone in, and looked through an open door into the hallway. I noticed the hallway was carpeted, and something went through my mind that I can’t remember; something like “at least there’s some carpet.” It was the same colour as the dirt on the chipboard floor. I saw further into the hallway and saw a baby gate across it, making a space about the size of a big suitcase against a closed door. Behind the gate was a child less than a year old. I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl. The child was naked but for a bulging nappy, brown at the edges. A large tin of baked beans lay on its side, spilling its contents on the carpet. The child was turned away from me, eating the beans straight off the carpet. Some of them had been smeared and crushed into the carpet. The baby was sitting on some sauce, its hands and cheeks covered in fluff and dirt and sauce and beans, and at the noise of my phone on the bench the baby turned and looked straight at me with eyes like a deep answer to a question I didn’t know how to ask and my heart broke.
I could not say anything. Maybe as I mature as a person, and a professional, I’ll be able to react differently but that time, I had nothing.
Maybe I’ll be able to gently chide the family. “Aue, your baby needs a wipe eh? They’ve made a mess – let’s clean it up hey?”
Not that time. I pretended my phone did not fit their cord. I had to jam my hands into my pockets because they had begun to shake. I held my keys hard. I was going to walk out of there and get into my car and drive away and try to process what I had just seen.
I forgot my diary and had to go back later to pick it up. They said that they had passed my number on to their son so that I could talk to him directly about what was going on. “Just let us know when he’ll be back so we can tell WINZ.”
The boy texted me a couple of days later, I told him about his options and asked what he thought. It will be challenging at the camp, I said, but the outcomes will be all good. The course sounds choice, it’s been running 23 years and only four boys have quit and only two stayed quit. It’s long though; it’ll be almost August by the time you get back home.
“Is there somewhere else I can go if I don’t want to go home?”
I texted, “That’s not a question I can answer, if that’s what you feel like, you have to let your parents know.”
“I don’t know how to talk to them I don’t know what to say”
I knew how he felt.
“We’ve got 9 weeks, we’ll work out something.”
I think this could be a success. Time will tell.
Postscript: The service has assigned a CSW to help the family navigate through their benefit entitlements, and they have received a food parcel and some funding for carpet cleaning, which has begun the process of making the house better for its youngest members.
* Not his real name – to protect his job and the families involved we have withheld Iain’s identity.Alexander Gustafsson (16-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) proved again why he’s one of the world’s best light heavyweights with a second-round TKO of Jimi Manuwa (14-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in today’s UFC Fight Night 37 headliner.
The main event at London’s O2 Arena carried massive significance for “The Mauler,” and he’s now likely to challenge the winner of UFC 172’s title bout between divisional kingpin Jon Jones and challenger Glover Teixeira.
Gustafsson didn’t allow the title repercussions to affect his performance, though, and he handily dispatched Manuwa en route to the second-round finish.
To see what fighters, media members and others in the MMA community thought about arguably the most significant victory of Gustafsson’s career, check out these Twitter reactions:
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Come on @POSTERBOYJM do ol’ DC a favor haha — Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) March 8, 2014
Maul Alexander, maul! Is exactly what my corner Instruction would be if I were cornering alex…🙈 — Brad Tavares (@BradTavares) March 8, 2014
Nice takedown by Gus @AlexTheMauler — Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) March 8, 2014
Pretty clear first round for Gustafsson. Spent most of it in top position. Worked for submissions. Dropped some ground and pound. — UFCONFOX (@UFCONFOX) March 8, 2014
Gustafsson just merked Manuwa. — Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) March 8, 2014
UFC Fight Night 37 results: Alexander Gustafsson def. Jimi Manuwa via TKO (knee, punches) – Round 2, 1:18 — MMAjunkie (@MMAjunkie) March 8, 2014
That awkward front flip may cost Gustafsson a title shot. — Aaron Bronsteter (@aarbron) March 8, 2014
OK, Gustafsson’s front flip looked like the kinda shit I do on the living room floor for lulz, but that knee + hockey fight punches were A+. — Jordan Breen (@jordanbreen) March 8, 2014
Gustafsson is a great fighter and a terrible gymnast. — Jesse Holland (@Jesse_Holland) March 8, 2014
That was the best flip I have ever seen if the octagon! Congrats to you @AlexTheMauler nice fight! — Brad Tavares (@BradTavares) March 8, 2014
Gustaffson is BEAST!!!!!!!!!!! — Dana White (@danawhite) March 8, 2014
This dude @AlexTheMauler has a wide array of weapons in his arsenal. Add in size, high fight IQ & a chin from hell & u have a Swedish beast! — Kenny Florian (@kennyflorian) March 8, 2014
“I want my title shot. Whenever you want!” — Alexander Gustafsson (@AlexTheMauler) March 8, 2014
Good luck @AlexTheMauler in ur title fight. Dang! Haha my time will come. DC — Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) March 8, 2014
They were BLASTIN!!!!!! Now if @JonnyBones wins we have a NASTY rematch! — Dana White (@danawhite) March 8, 2014
For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 37, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.[ NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT ]-Replaced Competitive mode "Join in Progress" matchmaking system with "Queued" matchmaking. -Searching for a Competitive game, either from "Find a Game" or "Play with Friends," will enter the player/s ( between 1 and 5 ) into a waiting queue. Once 10 compatible players are found then the game will begin. -Players that disconnect from a match can reconnect to it from the main menu or abandon it. Abandoning a game will result in a cooldown period during which no new competitive match can be joined. -Note: Elo will be recalibrated for the new matchmaking system over the coming weeks.-New maps: -de_vertigo is now available for Classic Casual and Classic Competitive. -ar_monastery is now available for Arms Race.[ MINOR FIXES ]-Weapon changes: -Reduced p90 kill award from 300% of default to 200%. -Reduced other SMG kill awards from 300% of default to 200%. -Increased Bizon kill award from default to 200%. -Reduced all shotguns' price by 300.-Guns are now considered "reloaded" at the point during the reload animation in which they visually appear to be reloaded - this allows you to switch away from a gun after the new magazine has been entered without having to wait until the whole reload animation has finished * the weapon refire delay after starting a reload is not affected.-Fixed HUD not showing during demo playback.-Changes to Matchmaking Lobby -Removed global Join Button and added Join Buttons for individual friends in the Invite Friends section. -Join state is now visible when you browse the friends list. -Removed global Steam Profile button and added ability to click on any avatar image to see Steam Profile. -Removed global Invite Button and added Invite Buttons for individual friends in the Invite Friends section.-Added new feature section to the main menu-Fixed issue that caused doors and other "pusher" entities to move at the wrong speed when the tick rate was > 64 Hz.-Fixed post-process blur effect getting enabled (and left on) during demo playback if the player invoked the buy menu.-Fixed MOTD on OSX.-Fixed scoreboard getting stuck in toggle mode after halftime sometimes.-Fixed ability to connect to community servers using server browser from in*game pause menu.-Fixed exploit where models could be subsituted via a hardware performance setting.-Fixed memory corruption related to bots cleaning up their occupied nav areas.-Fixed spectator glow materials not being precached.-Resolved several minor bugs to clean up console spew on launch and map load.-Fixed a crash associated with targetIDs and the sv_competitive_official_5v5 convar.-Votes that match or exceed the number needed to succeed now end the vote early instead of waiting for the timer to expire.-The radar now displays when a player or bomb is above and below you.-Reduced the aim punch that happens when shot in arms and legs as well as in the chest/stomach when wearing chest armor.-Slightly increased the velocity boost grenades get when thrown by moving players.-Fixed in-game voice chat not working with some microphones on OSX.-Added convars mp_teamname_t and mp_teamname_ct that allow overriding team names on the scoreboard.-Fixed grenade bounce being significantly reduced when tossed at the ground at most angles.-Fixed not being able to vote when spectating/observing or when the scoreboard was up.-Changes to warmup period: -Players now respawn in the warmup period. -Warmup periods now only end when the warmup time expires. -Warmup period no longer allows friendly fire.-The community server browser warning pop*up can now be dismissed and told to never show again.-There is now a visual and audible change in place of the silence on planted c4 when its about to explode.-Fixed the medals on the main menu showing the wrong categories.-The Buy Previous hotkey in the buy menu now only buys things that you purchased in the previous round.-Fixed an exploit that let players infinitely spawn golden knives.-Fixed a case where if all players on both teams had the same clan team name the were considered on the same team.-Fixed a crash on startup when launching a game by joining a game server from Steam.This is a deeply disappointing move by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). He has joined with Paul Ryan (R-WI) to push for a bipartisan “reform” of Medicare, but like every recent plan for Medicare the word “reform” just means “make it worse” for regular Americans.
While it is almost impossible to fully judge the proposal because it is comically vague on details, in the simplest terms the plan is to make Medicare more like Obamacare. Seniors would be forced to buy their insurance on a health care exchange that includes private plans and traditional Medicare. Just like with Obamacare, the amount of premium support seniors would get would be based on the cost of the second cheapest plan on the exchange and their income level.
This dangerously moves Medicare from a universal entitlement for all to a welfare style program. Such a move is likely to erode the programs broad popular support.
The logic behind this plan is that the economagic of insurance competition will reduce cost. This is and has always been a fantasy. We have tried health care exchanges repeatedly and they have always been a cost control failure. We tried it with Medicare Advantage and the program ended up costing the government billions. For decades we have had a health care exchange for federal employees and it has totally failed to keep costs down. The idea that seniors can understand the incredible complexity of insurance coverage and properly predict their future needs to make the economically correct choice is ridiculous.
Implementing this plan is almost assured to increase health care costs. Medicare will lose some market share and, as a result, its ability to negotiate lower rates. The system is almost guaranteed to be gamed by private companies trying to cherry pick customers. They say there will be risk adjustment mechanisms to prevent cherry picking but that is extremely difficult to implement, especially when you have lobbyists with billions of dollars of profit at stake fighting to shape obscure regulations.
When costs rise expect that to be passed onto seniors. Their “reform” plan would fix spending increase at inflation plus 1 percent. When it goes over that rate of increase, “Any increase over that cap will be reflected in reduced support for the sectors most responsible for cost growth, including providers, drug companies, and means-tested premiums.” Translation: Seniors will be forced to pay more out of their own pockets.
It seems the big reason Wyden is supporting this proposal is that it also includes his beloved “free choice vouchers” that would allow employers to give their employees a voucher to buy insurance on the individual market. Even with the ACA in place, this provision would reward the healthy but likely leave the sick with even more medical bills.
In addition, if Paul Ryan succeeds in repealing ACA, then implementing this provision would likely be a total disaster for millions. Wyden has no guarantee from Ryan that the individual market protections necessary to make free choice vouchers even semi-viable would be left in place.
This bipartisan plan would be a big policy mistake hurting millions. While it is technically much less horrible than Ryan’s original plan for Medicare, it would still quickly accelerate the great shift risk. The burden of health care would be shifted more onto regular people who are expected to basically stand alone against the private insurance companies.
Beyond that, it is a huge political disaster for Democrats. Attacking Ryan’s plan to destroy Medicare has proven to be a real winner for Democrats. This move by Wyden gives Ryan and all Republicans a way out of the political quagmire they created, yet Wyden received no policy concessions for progressives. Ryan did not agree to not repeal ACA, make insurance universal or give everyone the choice of Medicare.
Almost everyone from regular working class Americans to his fellow Congressional Democrats should be extremely disappointed in Sen. Wyden for endorsing this stupid proposal he signed his name to. The only people who should be happy with him are, of course, the Republicans for saving them from political attacks and the for-profit health care industry for trying to expand their business.
[photo: dundanim/Shutterstock.com]Don't take on the backcountry without knowing what you're looking at when you see that grand hunk of rock and fluffy white stuff. Each mountain hosts any combination of ever-changing features and conditions—here's a breakdown of what to pay attention to, and how it can affect your safety.
Wind can displace tremendous amounts of snow, in some cases affecting the nature of the snowpack much more than a new storm. Wind-loaded slopes can be dangerous, while wind-eroded slopes are usually fairly safe. Cornices are obvious indicators of the prevailing wind direction. Downslope of a cornice, you’ll often find a wind slab—a cohesive layer of wind-deposited snow. Big dumps, high winds, and recent warming can cause cornices to break off and trigger an avalanche. Large buried rocks, patches of brush, and cliff bands tend to be weak, shallow zones in the snowpack. Skiing above a cliff band is never a good idea, especially if the slope is avalanche prone. Loose-snow avalanches, one of two main types of avalanches, often called point releases, usually start from a single source—often |
idea of pacing it like a tension-filled procedural. The device of having one piece of information travel up the chain of command gave the story a needed momentum, Mr. Chandor said. “The underlying factor of the whole movie is that this is not the day for choices — that was years ago,” he said. There lay the drama, for the audience, and for the filmmakers.
Because even for experienced screenwriters like Mr. Logan (who in addition to adapting Mr. Scorsese’s “Hugo” also wrote this season’s animation nominee “Rango,” as well as Ralph Fiennes’s “Coriolanus”), keeping the right perspective on a project, as it changes shape and stretches out for years, is a struggle.
“The temptation, since Marty and I are veterans, is that you become cynical about the art form,” Mr. Logan said. In making “Hugo,” “we were careful to talk about movies as magic. Marty kept saying, ‘Look at movies as a form of enchantment.’ ”Decked out in his Juventus jersey, fan Vince Carlucci watches nearly every match his team plays. But when it comes to Major League Soccer, the Juventus Fan Club of Toronto president is slightly less devoted and he’s not alone. For decades, he says, the GTA’s Italian community has largely preferred tuning into Serie A matches, featuring more prolific athletes and a much more calculated style of play than Major League Soccer in North America.
That’s why he visits Italy a handful of times each year to watch Juventus play, but has only made it out to a few Toronto FC games since the team began in 2007. “The last few times I went to see them I was almost sleeping,” Carlucci says. “The soccer here is lower than the first division in Italy.” With the recent signing of former Juventus striker Sebastian Giovinco, Toronto FC’s second-rate status is shifting.
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“(Italian fans) have been a very important part, but I don’t think we have been able to galvanize them like we have through the signing of a player like Seba,” Tom Pistore, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment’s vice-president of sales, told the Star. Giovinco’s arrival, he said, brought 3,000 new ticket buyers, plenty of them Italians. “Our sales are skyrocketing. Our premium inventory is almost sold out. We are expecting that to be the landscape for BMO Field this year,” Pistore said. “The Italian community is coming in as strong as ever.” But keeping them around won’t be simple, said Vince D’Elia, a sports marketer and season-ticket holder. Supporting Serie A teams is part of a culture ingrained at birth for most Italians, he said, and not many immigrants or their children were brought up on TFC.
“MLS wasn’t even a thing when I started following soccer. My first thing was Italian soccer because there weren’t players here to look up to,” he said. To court Italians, Pistore said TFC is building relations with “key organizations” including the Italian congress and chamber of commerce, ethnic media like CHIN, TLN and Corriere Canadese and local Juventus fan clubs.
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The ties might have generated impressive sales, but how many bleachers are filled come game day is another matter — one that fans have a hard time grappling with. They’ve seen the team gamble on big international stars before, said Red Patch Boys supporter group president Phil Tobin, and the disappointing result has left a stale taste in their mouths. Last year’s Jermain Defoe signing, for example, came with splashy ads featuring a red, double-decker bus and promises that the star would be a “Bloody Big Deal,” but not with a plethora of British fans. Giovinco has been different, said a cautiously optimistic Tobin. When he touched down in Toronto, hundreds awaited his arrival armed with Juventus jerseys, Italian flags and cultural epithets including “Forza TFC.” It was a surprise for a team yet to experience en masse the devotion of Italian fans, known for blaring horns, shutting down streets and partying atop streetcars when their beloved national team wins in the World Cup or Euro championships. That pride, said Tobin, can transform the bleakatmosphere at games. “We want the entire stadium to sing the songs, not just the (Red Patch Boy’s) corner,” he said. “(The Italian fans) are going to bring more voices to the stands and more willingness to sing. They are going to be able to bring new chants and ideas and that is exciting.” But it will take more than singing to win over Italians — or any other fans really — warns Carlucci. “We want to see our team at the top. If my team is at the bottom, it doesn’t give me the strength to go see them,” he said. “If TFC will improve, then Italians will go because they like to see a strong team, but we have to wait and see.”
Read more about:Earlier this week, Indian smartphone maker Ringing Bells unveiled their record-setting Freedom 251, an Android device that had some astounding specs for its unbelievable $3.64 price tag (Rs. 251). There was so much fervor over the device’s release that Times of India described the rush for pre-orders as “breaking the internet.” Now that people are actually getting their hands on the device, however, the whole thing is looking pretty damn sketchy. Right out of the box, you know something’s not right when your new phone has a blob of Wite-Out cleverly concealing the name of the device’s actual manufacturer.
That’s right: the Freedom 251 is actually the Adcom Ikon 4, an entry-level Chinese smartphone. Not only is this a scam, but it’s one where the scam artist isn’t even trying! What’s more, the device looks nothing like the smartphone advertised on Ringing Bells’ website.
Fortunately, Ringing Bells noticed the discrepancy and made the appropriate changes. Not to the phone, of course, but to their website.
There! Much better.
This raises some interesting questions, seeing as the Adcom Ikon 4 normally retails for $54 dollars. How Ringing Bells is making any money selling these devices at 1/14th of that figure is anyone’s guess. And that’s not even taking into consideration the cost of Wite-Out.
The mysteries keep coming, however, because when you boot up the device, you’ll discover a familiar sight… if you’ve ever been an iPhone user. Although the Freedom 251/Adcom Ikon 4 runs Android 5.1 Lollipop, for some reason most of the icons have been ripped directly from iOS. Hell, the browser icon is just straight up the Safari logo.
Adcom says that they had no idea their branding and products were being used for this and that they are beginning to investigate the matter. In the meantime, Ringing Bells is telling journalists not to worry, and that the device they’ve received is “just a preview version.” Oh, that explains everything then.The messages demand the world do something about the war. And because he won't listen to them, Kafranbel's protestors deeply, truly despise President Barack Obama. "Happy July 4, America!," one sign reads. "Who wants to protect the war criminal Assad and ignore his crimes against humanity? Do you, President Obama?" Another sign compares him unfavorably to Bush: "Obama's procrastination kills us: we miss Bush's audacity," it reads. "The world is better with America's Republicans." A third is simply a drawing of the White House covered in Syrian blood.
The theme, in case it isn't obvious, is that America could end the bloodshed in Syria. But, whether out of cowardice or indifference, it chooses to let Syrians die.
The problem isn't that America has gotten weaker. It's that the Middle East has changed.
Once upon a time, the Kafranbel protestors were right. During the latter half of the 20th century, the United States was able to alter the course of events in the Middle East, to fundamentally reshape the region, for better and worse, along America's preferred lines. The US severely limited Soviet influence in the Middle East, brokered a historic peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, and successfully contained Saddam Hussein's regional ambitions.
But today's America can't solve the region's still-huge problems. The United States can't stop the Syrian civil war any more than it can end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, halt the Egyptian military's brutal repression of political dissidents, or prevent Iraq from becoming a bloody sectarian nightmare. American policymakers will likely never admit this, but they've lost the Middle East.
The problem isn't that America has gotten weaker. It's that the Middle East has changed. When the Middle East's biggest problems were about conflict between formal governments, the United States had a lot more influence. But today, the Middle East is defined by a shifting, impossibly complicated web of ethno-religious tension, weak and failed states, and ascendant terrorist organizations. The collapse of central governments and rise of powerful non-state actors breed problems that foreign powers, even the world's only superpower, simply cannot address.
The United States can't arrest the region's transformation. The best America can hope to do is manage its consequences. And the sooner American policymakers realize that, the better the US's Middle East policy will be.
America's influence in the Middle East peaked before the 21st century
By October 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower was furious. That July, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser had seized control of the Suez Canal, a critical trade passageway, from the British-French owned Suez Canal Company. In response, the two European powers, in a joint operation with Israel, took the canal by force. Eisenhower was blindsided by the European move. The Soviet Union leaped to the defense of its Egyptian client, even going so far as issue a thinly veiled threat to nuke Britain and France.
The American president forced Britain, France, and Israel to back down. The next year, he announced a new American strategy in the Middle East, now called the Eisenhower Doctrine. "If the Middle East is to continue its geographic role of uniting rather than separating East and West," Eisenhower said, "then the United States must make more evident its willingness to support the independence of the freedom-loving nations of the area." It was now officially America's job to police the Middle East.
The Suez crisis hardly marked America's first major move in the region. Just a few years earlier, Eisenhower had helped overthrow Iran's socialist, democratically elected President Mohammad Mossadegh. But the Eisenhower doctrine signaled a sea change in Middle Eastern politics. Out were the old colonial powers, Britain and France. In came the United States and, with it, Cold War power politics.
In the decades after Eisenhower, American involvement transformed the politics of the region. Richard Nixon's arms shipments and nuclear threats, according to renowned historian Stephen Ambrose, may well have saved Israel from destruction after a surprise Arab invasion in 1973. President Jimmy Carter brokered a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt later that decade, which ultimately led to the creation of a conservative, pro-American bloc aligning Israel with its traditional enemies — the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Saudi dictatorships. George H.W. Bush put an end to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s, a gambit for control of oil wealth and regional hegemony.
All of these examples share something in common: they're all about struggles between governments. Unlike the Syrian civil war, with its enormous number of factions and ever-shifting allegiances, conflicts like the many Egyptian-Israeli wars were fundamentally about enmity between governments. The United States has a much easier time applying its military might, economic power, and diplomatic influence to governments than to al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, or extremist Israeli settlers. Between the end of World War II and the Clinton administration, it applied that leverage to get what it wanted in a fairly significant list of Middle Eastern crises.
So it is is not an exaggeration to say that American influence has been a fundamental force in the past half-century of Middle Eastern politics. The Middle East may be better or worse for it, depending on your perspective. But there's no denying the fact that America has played a critical role in shaping the modern Middle East.
So much so, in fact, that the idea of an impotent America strikes Americans and Middle Easterners alike as absurd. It runs contrary to everything leaders and citizens around the region have seen for their adult lives. A massive decline in American influence marks nothing less than an epochal shift in the politics of the Middle East.
Yet it's increasingly hard to deny.
Disaster in Iraq: a symbol of the region as a whole
Sipping his coffee in a Capitol Hill bakery in late June, Douglas Ollivant seemed very far away from the turmoil in Iraq he was once tasked with taming. But the former National Security Council Director for Iraq from 2005 to 2009 is still preoccupied with Iraq's war, particularly after the extremist Islamic State's (ISIS) blitzkrieg in the north of Iraq.
A sense of America's limits seeps through Ollivant's reflections on the country. Ask him about the surge, the 2007 troop commitment that's often credited with ending Iraq's post-invasion civil war, and he's quick to say that America's contribution to the short-lived peace is overrated. "I take the somewhat modest position that the action of 6 million Iraqis may be more important than those of 30,000 American troops and one very talented general," he quipped, referring to the Sunni tribal uprising against al-Qaeda in Iraq widely known as the Anbar Awakening.
Ollivant's grand theory of Iraq is that everything, everything, is about domestic politics. The gulf splitting Iraq's Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds are about sectarian mistrust, sure, but also about intra-Sunni and intra-Shia politics. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's utter failure to make some major concessions to the Sunni minority isn't because he hates Sunnis personally, according to Ollivant. It's because his Shia political allies won't let him because it will cost them their jobs.
There is nothing — absolutely nothing — the United States can do to address the fundamental dynamic driving the violence in Syria and Iraq
This is hardly the sort of problem that's amenable to American resolution, let alone large-scale military intervention. "If I have one thing to say, I think the problem with our narrative about Iraq is that 99.5 percent of the people we had in Iraq were uniform, and therefore we have a very military-centric lens," Ollivant said.
Post-American Iraq is an almost perfect synecdoche for the Middle East as a whole. After the 2003 invasion, the long-suppressed tension between Sunnis and Shias erupted. This escalated the struggle for power between two of the region's strongest states, Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf monarchies are fundamentally OK with the way the Middle East works today, while Iran wants to expand its influence at the expense of the United States, Israel, and the Gulf states. The Iranian-Saudi proxy war has been fought throughout the region, but it's been deadliest in Iraq and Syria. There, the key problem is that Sunnis and Shias disagree violently over who should have power. That's already a nearly impossible problem for the United States to solve. But Iranian and Saudi interference has empowered extremists on both sides and made the problems much worse.
Through measures like the ongoing bombing campaign against ISIS in Kurdistan, the United States can try to contain the fallout from these messes. But there is nothing — absolutely nothing — the United States can do to address the fundamental dynamic driving the violence in Syria and Iraq.
Why America can't stop the bloodshed in Syria and Iraq
In Syria, Iran provides massive amounts of military and financial support to president Bashar al-Assad's government, while the Saudis and other Gulf monarchies, including Qatar and Kuwait, have shipped heavy weapons to the anti-government rebels, including extreme jihadists. Iranian troops are leading Baghdad's fight against ISIS in Iraq. The Saudis helped the Bahraini government violently put down a Shia uprising, which Iran supported. All around the region, the competition between these two heavyweights had made conflicts worse.
The US invasion of Iraq "started this new round of competition" between Iran and Saudi Arabia, according to Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. It was "one hundred percent the Iraq war, and the Arab Spring." The power vacuum in Iraq created an opportunity for Iran to build a Shia client state, which terrified Saudi and Gulf strategists. The Saudis began opposing the Iranians wherever they could be fought, as both sides believe a world where the other dominates is a fundamental threat to their national security. Competition between the Gulf States themselves, particularly Saudi Arabia and Qatar, fueled even more escalation.
This power struggle played up sectarian divisions in a very bad way. "I don't think that the Saudis and Iranians are engaged in a sectarian war with each other," said F. Gregory Gause, a University of Vermont professor who studies the politics of the Middle East. "But they use sectarianism. This battle for influence is played out not in military conflicts between the two states, but in civil conflicts in weak Arab countries … the Saudis will back the Sunnis and Iranians will back the Shias because those are natural allies. And the Saudis and Iranians don't have to force themselves into these fights; the local players invite them in." That's exactly what happened in Syria and Iran. In both cases, Iranian-backed Shia central governments are fighting Sunni rebels that have received heavy Saudi support.
Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states have slowed support of extremist groups recently, but there are no takebacks in wars. ISIS got its startup capital from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies.Their support for it and likeminded groups helped set the stage for the horrific ethno-religious polarization that now defines the wars in Iraq and Syria.
This has led to a vicious cycle of violence in Iraq and Syria. First, there's a breakdown in state authority — both the Iraqi and Syrian governments lose control of huge swaths of their country to rebel movements, breaking the seal on Sunni-Shia conflict imposed by authoritarian central governments. Second, the increase in sectarian violence creates opportunities for Saudi Arabia and Iran to intervene on their sectarian side, providing military aid to both sides that increases the casualty count. As the fighting gets bloodier, sectarian tensions get worse, making Sunnis and Shias even more mistrustful of their religious opponents and more convinced of the need to keep fighting them. The ongoing fighting further weakens the central government, inviting more external intervention on both sides, and the bloody beat goes on.
"I think that's the dynamic," Gause said. "Things are awful. And if my diagnosis about state weakness being the driver of sectarian tension is right, then there's no quick fixes."
Especially not from Washington. It's tempting to think, if the United States intervened in just the right way in either Syria or Iraq, that we could resolve this fundamental dynamic. Aid to the right rebel group there, a little airstrike here, and presto: deal done. But everything we know about conflicts like these suggest America is incapable of solving problems this large.
"I think [ethnic] civil wars are harder to end," said Alexander Downes, a professor of political science at George Washington University. He thinks this applies just as well to religiously defined struggles, like in Iraq and Syria, as ethnic ones. "Once identities are mobilized, you're judged based on your associational identity rather than anything you did. It becomes very hard to end these wars when the groups are intermingled."
The more the wars in Syria and Iraq become wars over which group controls the government, the harder it will be for any third party to stop the conflict. People stop having a choice about which side to support, because fighters on each side of the religio-ethnic divide target the other side's communities. The stakes are too high, and the fundamental divisions too entrenched, for the parties to listen to the United States or any other third party.
Downes cited a wealth of political science research to support his point. Take a recent, sophisticated paper from three European researchers. According to their findings, civil wars were more likely in countries where whole ethnic groups were discriminated against and denied access to political institutions as a group. A different 2008 paper found robust statistical evidence that, so long as warring ethnic groups were still packed near each other, ethnic civil wars were exceedingly more likely to start again after being stopped.
That points to a depressing truth about Iraq and Syria. If the root of Iraq and Syria's conflict is unwillingness to accept the other group's control of the state, it's hard for any third power to impose a political solution that could stop the violence in the long run. Now that these are Sunni-Shia conflicts — a development fueled by Iranian and Saudi meddling — the US has no feasible option for addressing the core cause of the continued crisis.
"Things are awful. And if my diagnosis about state weakness being the driver of sectarian tension is right, then there's no quick fixes."
In other words: even if the US could temporarily staunch the bleeding with some kind of intervention, it's not clear how it could prevent the wars from quickly spiraling out of control again. The US governed Iraq for about a year after the invasion, and had hundreds of thousands of troops there for several years, and it still couldn't negotiate a permanent resolution to Iraq's civil conflict. At this point, there's no political solution to the deep Sunni-Shia divide that the United States can impose, especially given Saudi and Iranian interference.
Two University of Maryland professors compiled a dataset of 218 civil wars and found that ones where third parties contributed arms to rebels were longer and less likely to be resolved politically. Why? Because governments were less likely to make deals with rebels who are growing stronger from foreign aid. The rebels could always renege on the deal after they've benefitted from a cease fire. The more weapons Iraqi and Syrian proxies get from their sponsors, the less of an incentive each side has to pause the fighting. They both think the other will gain from it.
Incidentally, that's why it's likely that American arm-and-train Syrian rebels plans couldn't end the conflict. The US never contemplated any policy options that would totally upend the balance of power in the rebels' favor; to do so would have involved a significant on-the-ground deployment.
Even Gause, who thinks that the US had a window to alter the course of the Syria war in 2011, believes there's not much to be done now in military terms. "It would have had to have been early," he said. After late 2011 and early 2012, "when it became clear that the Alawites are fighting for their lives, and the revolt becomes more and more sectarian Sunni-Salafi-jihadist — at that point, a few bombs here and there aren't going to do that much." The sectarian arc of the conflict, according to Gause, has escalated to the point where the US can't make either side back down.
So the US has basically no tool available to solve the two bloodiest, and potentially most important, crises in the Middle East today. Even if it were willing to deploy large number of ground troops, that might not make things better — as we saw in Iraq post-Saddam Hussein. The sectarian conflict and Iranian-Saudi competition have tied America's hands.
The death of the American-led peace process
"I know what America is," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in 2001. "America is a thing you can move very easily."
Netanyahu wasn't Prime Minister when he said that. Apparently, he didn't even know he was being recorded. But when the remarks surfaced in 2010, they embarrassed the conservative Prime Minister, who was already on tense terms with his American counterpart.
More than any other conflict in the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is built around deep American involvement. "The parties need a third party," Hussein Ibish, a Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, said. "I think there is no other candidate than the United States. There's no other party that's capable, and no other party that's interested."
But even here, the United States has failed, consistently and dramatically, for the past 15 years. It's easy to forget now, but the 1990s were dominated by something a lot like optimism. In 1993, the Palestinian Liberation Organization recognized Israel's right to exist for the first time. In 1995, Israel set up the Palestinian Authority and gave it legal power over parts of the Palestinian territories, giving Palestinians their first taste of real self-governance. These two milestones, the foundational achievements of the Oslo Peace Process, made it seem like peace was at hand. And the US was playing a huge role in peace process (though it didn't have much of a role in the Oslo negotiations proper), much as it had negotiated peace between Arab nations and Israel before.
But the hopeful edifice began collapsing in 2001. The Second Intifada, which stretched from 2000 to about 2005 and was the deadliest war between Israelis and Palestinians in modern history, shattered its foundations. At the same time, American influence over the two parties dwindled. Many, including Ibish, believe there's still time for the US to help broker a peace deal. But there's no doubt that Israeli and Palestinian politics have transformed in profound ways, ones that have given the US less sway with Israelis and Palestinians than it once had.
Start with Israel. During the Second Intifada, Israelis faced an unprecedented wave of suicide bombings. This was something different than the threat of invasion from Arab states, which had beset Israel since its founding; murder stalked Israeli cafes and school buses. Worse, it came after what Israelis saw as extraordinarily generous peace offers at Camp David in 2000 and January 2001. From the Israeli point of view, Palestinians had turned down their best offer in favor of war.
"The Second Intifada really was a traumatic event for Israeli society," Natan Sachs, a fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, said. "For a decade in the ‘90s, Israelis were coming to terms strongly with Palestinian aspirations...it was shattered in the Second Intifada, and the consequence was the pendulum swung in the entire opposite direction" — the direction of skepticism that Palestinians were willing to make peace.
There's hard evidence behind Sachs' claims. Esteban Klor, an economist at Hebrew University, has done extensive statistical analysis of the effect of Palestinian terrorism on Israeli voting. He has repeatedly found that Palestinian violence made Israelis significantly more likely to vote for right-wing parties. In Israel, these parties, like Netanyahu's Likud, are significantly less interested in an American-mediated peace agreement.
Now, Klor also found evidence that from 1988 to 2006, Israeli right-wing parties developed more accommodating stances towards the Palestinians. Klor and his coauthor attribute that to a concession effect; terrorism at low or medium levels convinced Israelis that they needed to compromise to stop the violence.
But 2006 is a really unfortunate year to cut off. Since 2006, the Islamist group Hamas has won the Palestinian elections, taken over the Gaza Strip, and fired rockets that Israel has fought three wars to try to stop. These developments further reinforced Israelis' sense that peace with Palestinians was impossible. Statistical evidence confirms that Israelis in areas hit by rockets vote for right-wing parties at noticeably higher levels.
The newer, younger Israeli right is the most vital part of Israeli politics today. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the popular Yisrael Beiteinu party, has been one of the fiercest supporters of Israeli settlements in the West Bank — a principal barrier to peace. Interior Minister and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett thinks the two-state solution has "reached a dead end." Lieberman and Bennett lead two of the four most popular parties in the Israeli government. They've both risen to power in the past five years, and Bennett is particularly popular among young Israelis. Both exert a great deal of pressure on Netanyahu to reject any major concessions to Palestinians in the name of peace.
If the United States were willing to totally sacrifice its relationship with Israel by threatening foreign aid and diplomatic assistance, it could probably wring concessions out of even hardline governments. But for both political and strategic reasons, that's not a price any modern American president has been willing to pay.
Instead, Israel's rightward shift limits the more subtle ways of influencing Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. American influence depends, critically, on its ability to serve as a mediator: taking one side's proposals to the other side, asking what the other one could give in return, and trying to push Israelis in the Palestinians' direction and vice versa. The more right-wing Israelis get, the harder this give-and-take becomes: Israeli governments are less willing to make real concessions in the name of peace, which makes Palestinians less likely to reciprocate.
Not that Israel and Palestine are in a great position to make peace in their own right. The newest problem on the Palestinian side really began with the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections — pushed for by the George W. Bush administration over Israeli objections — that Hamas won. The international community wouldn't support any Palestinian government that refused to recognize Israel or abide by past agreements with it. Hamas, whose formal ideology is violently anti-Semitic, wasn't all that interested. After months of deadlock, Hamas launched a bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip — allegedly to preempt a coup launched by the other major Palestinian party, Fatah, that the US helped plan. Israel's strangling blockade of the Gaza Strip since has failed to seriously weaken Hamas' control over the territory.
"It is safe to say that if we the US are the only party that has a sense of urgency, these negotiations will not succeed"
The Palestinians have yet to recover from this schism. True, Hamas and Fatah announced a plan for shared government in April 2014, but they haven't really implemented it. During the Gaza war, Hamas conducted its war with Israel entirely independently of Fatah, which opposed every escalatory step both Hamas and Israel took.
And even if the unity agreement recovers, there's little evidence that Hamas would ever sign on to a permanent peace agreement on terms Israel would accept. (Hamas leaders have signalled support for a decades-long truce, which isn't the same.) There's certainly no reason to think Israel would negotiate with any Hamas-backed government, at least in the short term.
So, on the Palestinian side, any American-led peace process is stuck between the unity frying pan and the Hamas-in-Gaza fire. "The split between Fatah and Hamas is the most important thing [limiting negotiations]," University of Vermont's Gause said, because "it means no one speaks for the Palestinians." But on the other hand, the unity deal — which according to the International Crisis Group's Nathan Thrall, was obtained on terms maximally favorable to Fatah — creates a government that Israel won't work with. There's just no way to arrange the Palestinian government that would lead to a peace agreement right now.
Growing Israeli skepticism about peace and Palestinian division explains why Secretary of State John Kerry's attempt to broker a framework for a final peace deal (not even a final peace deal in its own right!) failed so dramatically in April 2014. "He had this idea that, with enough application of diplomatic and personal energy he could shift things," Ibish said, but "I don't think Secretary Kerry was dealing with parties who were capable of going through with an agreement on final status issues or anything like that."
After the talks, an Obama official who was directly involved basically admitted as much. "One problem that revealed itself in these past nine months is that the parties, although both showing flexibility in the negotiations, do not feel the pressing need to make the gut-wrenching compromises necessary to achieve peace," Martin Indyk, the US Ambassador to Israel during the talks, said in a speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It is safe to say that if we the US are the only party that has a sense of urgency, these negotiations will not succeed."
To outsiders, that last observation seems almost comically banal. Yet, coming from a US official as important as Indyk, it's an extraordinary admission of America's limits. For the past two decades and three presidential administrations, the United States has thrown a tremendous amount of effort into pushing the parties to make concessions for peace. Indyk is admitting, at least tacitly, that Israelis and Palestinians have placed this situation outside America's power. American influence over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is, today, a dried-out husk of what it used to be.
The Arab Spring destroyed what influence the US had left
While Syria, Iraq, and Israel might be the most prominent crises in the Middle East today, they are hardly the only ones.
Libya is a mess of competing militias; by late July, the fighting had gotten so intense that the official Libyan parliament was forced to relocate. The Yemeni government still hasn't put down al-Qaeda-affiliated rebels in southern and eastern Yemen — and only recent negotiated a ceasefire with Houthi rebels in the north. The Egyptian military usurped the country's democratic revolution; hundreds of Egyptians died during the government's crackdown on the also-authoritarian Muslim Brotherhood opposition. The Lebanese army has fought pitched battles with Islamist insurgents who have been pushed across the Syrian border. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been slowly, but surely, cracking down on basic political freedoms in the region's oldest Muslim democracy — and mercilessly breaking up the protests that have risen to challenge him.
This is not an exhaustive list.
"Things are awful," Gause said. "We're in for a long-term mess in the region." And once again, it's a mess the United States is largely powerless to avoid. The three biggest drivers of the chaos — weak or failed states, Islamist extremism, and authoritarianism — are problems America is in an especially terrible position to solve.
Perhaps the most depressing part of this already-depressing diagnosis is its origins. The 2011 wave of protests around the Arab World called the Arab Spring were the first ray of hope in the Middle East in years. The Middle East is the least democratic major geographic region on Earth. The massive demonstrations in the streets of Tunis, Cairo, Benghazi, Homs, Manama, and other major cities gave a lot of observers hope that one of the major sources of misery in the Middle East — the overwhelming prevalence of dictatorships — might finally be on its way out.
But three years later, the Arab Spring's legacy has been at best a wash, and even then only if you set aside the chaos in Syria. At worst, it's a disaster. It's not for nothing that "the Arab Winter" has become a tiresome cliche of Middle East punditry.
Every major Arab Spring state except Tunisia has, to varying degrees, fallen prey to anarchy or authoritarianism. Both problems are widespread and very, very difficult for the United States to solve.
The only real solution to anarchy, of course, is building some kind of political order. Realistically, that means big military deployments designed to put an end to fighting and somehow negotiate a political settlement.
Good luck with that. It's not just that the United States, after Iraq, has zero interest in nation-building in the Middle East. "More importantly," Gause said, we're terrible at it. "We broke the state in Iraq," he notes. "We're good at breaking things. But we're not particularly good at putting them together."
Downes, the GWU political scientist who studies regime change, agrees. Together with the University of Oklahoma's Jonathan Monten, he studied 70 cases where democracies intervened in a foreign country to install another democracy. They found that these interventions almost exclusively succeeded in countries that were either wealthy and well-developed (Germany and Japan in 1945) or ones with real experience with democracy prior to the foreign invasion (Haiti in 1994-1995). These are countries completely unlike Libya, Iraq, Yemen, or Syria.
As long as states around the Middle East remain weak, the US willl have very little influence over the countries where anarchy reigns. "The state-to-state thing we have leverage, lots of leverage," Gause said. But "in these broken-down states, we don't have a lot of resources, and we don't have many ideas."
To make matters worse, anarchy in today's Middle East is breeding extremism. Though virtually everyone predicted the Arab Spring would be a catastrophe for al-Qaeda and likeminded groups, the opposite has turned out to be true. Al-Qaeda franchises have revitalized, particularly in Yemen, Syria, and Libya. And ISIS, now split from al-Qaeda, rivals its predecessor in global influence.
"The big difference in the region is not Sunni-Shia, and it's not pro-American or anti-American. The big difference in the region is between states that basically work and states that don't."
Gartenstein-Ross, the FDD scholar, was one of the few to predict early on that extremists would come out ahead after the Arab Spring. After the rise of ISIS, that's looking increasingly prescient. Syria "will prove to have a far more long-reaching impact than the Afghan-Soviet war did," Gartenstein-Ross said. The Afghan-Soviet war, of course, gave birth to al-Qaeda.
It gets even worse. One of the perverse consequences of the Arab Spring is that it's seriously reduced American leverage with the authoritarian Arab states that the US does brisk business with — particularly on issues of democracy and rights. That's because when regimes have a choice between crossing the US and doing whatever they need to stave off a revolution, they'll choose the latter every time.
Egypt is the perfect example here. Despite giving $1.5 billion in annual aid, the US has had virtually no influence over the Egyptian military's coup against the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood government. "The US has little power to influence matters that are of life-or-death importance to the generals," Eric Trager, the Esther K. Wagner Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, writes. "The fact that Egypt's generals responded to mass protests by removing President Mohammed Morsi from power means that the current fight between the military and Muslim Brotherhood is existential." So the US can't stop it.
"The big difference in the region is not Sunni-Shia, and it's not pro-American or anti-American," Gause said. "The big difference in the region is between states that basically work and states that don't." And right now, the United States has very little leverage with either group.
The future: solutionism vs. managerialism
Two more things need to be said before this gloomy diatribe ends.
First, noting that American influence is waning is not a prediction that the Middle East is doomed. It's true that most of the trends that explain America's shrinking sway are also dangerous, harmful trends in Middle Eastern politics. The mere fact that they're trends doesn't mean they're permanent trends.
It is conceivable, for example, that there could be an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in |
PDT
After a historic MVP season, during which Westbrook averaged a triple-double of 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists, his choice promises the Thunder relevance and contention into the foreseeable future -- and even stands as a victory for the NBA's beleaguered small-market teams.
The timing of Westbrook's extension could become a crucial cog in the recruitment of his new Thunder teammate Paul George, who will become an unrestricted free agent in July. For Westbrook and Presti, the chance to convince George to spurn big-market overtures, including from his hometown Los Angeles Lakers, could go a long way in selling George that his best chance to beat Golden State belongs with the core of Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony in Oklahoma City.
Westbrook, a two-time All-Star Game MVP, has become an iconic NBA figure in Oklahoma City, one of the league's most thrilling and unique talents and owner of an off-court persona built around the fashion industry. Westbrook signed a 10-year contract with Jordan Brand in September to become the face of the shoe giant.
In the aftermath of Kevin Durant's free-agent departure to the Warriors in July 2016, Westbrook agreed to a contract renegotiation that extended his contract through the 2018-19 season, including a player option on the final year. Amid the Thunder's despair in losing Durant, Westbrook's shorter-term commitment gave Presti and assistant GM Troy Weaver the ability to pursue the trades with Indiana and New York to acquire George and Anthony, respectively.
Westbrook was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft out of UCLA, and rapidly developed into one of the NBA's biggest stars.
ESPN front-office insider Bobby Marks and ESPN.com's Royce Young contributed to this report.A- A+
The Associated Press
ASHLAND — An Ashland man turned activist says he’s willing to get arrested repeatedly to bring attention to what he believes are unfair city laws against camping in public places.
So far this week, 23-year-old Keith Haxton has racked up three citations for sleeping on a park bench in the downtown Plaza of the tourist and theater town. He’s also been charged with interfering with a police officer, the Ashland Daily Tidings reported Friday.
City codes prohibit camping on any publicly owned property and sleeping on benches or within doorways between the hours of 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Haxton says he moved to Ashland from Florida, worked as a teacher’s aide in high school and then went to college before he ran out of money and became homeless a year ago, sleeping for a time in his car. Since then he’s become an activist on the issue.
His protest is the latest turn in the city’s debate over how to treat street people. Recently, business leaders and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival have expressed concern about aggressive panhandlers, and the City Council will consider an exclusion zone downtown.
The city should provide a shelter for those who need it, amend the anti-camping ordinance or “just strike it down and come up with a different approach to this,” Haxton said.
Advocates for the homeless say the council hasn’t done enough to alleviate the problems, citing rejection of proposals for a day center and for a showering facility. Council members rejected the shower proposal because of safety and liability concerns and because council members thought such an operation should be run by an experienced organization.
It also declined to give the Salvation Army $24,000 it requested to run a day center, saying funding should be decided when the city awards social and housing services grants.
Police Chief Terry Holderness is working out the details of the proposal for the City Council’s consideration. It would ban repeat offenders from downtown temporarily. Those who ventured back before the time limit could be jailed on trespassing charges.
“It would step up enforcement for a law that was already wrong to begin with,” Haxton said.
Meanwhile, each of Haxton’s citations carries a $250 fine, said Sgt. Jim Alderman. “It is a task on our resources,” said Alderman. “We have to decide how long we let this go on.”
3063852Why are some kids crying when they do homework these days? Here’s why, from award-winning Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York. Burris has for more than a year chronicled on this blog the many problems with the test-driven reform in New York (here, and here and here and here, for example). She was named New York’s 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and in 2010, tapped as the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State. She is the co-author of the New York Principals letter of concern regarding the evaluation of teachers by student test scores. It has been signed by more than 1,535 New York principals and more than 6,500 teachers, parents, professors, administrators and citizens. You can read the letter by clicking here.
By Carol Burris
My speech teacher came to see me. She was both angry and distraught. In her hand was her 6-year-old’s math test. On the top of it was written, “Topic 2, 45%”. On the bottom, were the words, “Copyright @ Pearson Education.” After I got over my horror that a first-grader would take a multiple-choice test with a percent-based grade, I started to look at the questions.
The test provides insight into why New York State parents are up in arms about testing and the Common Core. With mom’s permission, I posted the test here. Take a look at question No. 1, which shows students five pennies, under which it says “part I know,” and then a full coffee cup labeled with a “6” and, under it, the word, “Whole.” Students are asked to find “the missing part” from a list of four numbers. My assistant principal for mathematics was not sure what the question was asking. How could pennies be a part of a cup?
Then there is Question No. 12. Would (or should) a 6 year old understand the question, “Which is a related subtraction sentence?” My nephew’s wife, who teaches Calculus, was stumped by that one. Finally, think about the level of sophistication required to answer the multiple-choice question in No. 8 which asks students to “Circle the number sentence that is true” from a list of four.
Keep in mind that many New York State first graders are still 5 years old at the beginning of October, when this test was given.
It is easy to point fingers at the teacher or school for giving the test, or to point fingers at Pearson for creating it. The problem, however, goes much deeper. The problem (no pun intended) is at the core.
Question 1 on the first-grade test is based on the New York Common Core Standard, 1.OA4 Understand subtraction as an unknown-addend problem. Question 12 tests standard 1.OA6, which requires students to use the relationship between addition and subtraction to solve problems. Question 8 assesses Standard 1.OA 7 which requires students to determine whether addition or subtraction sentences are true or false. You can find the New York Common Core standards here.
This Pearson first-grade unit test is the realization of the New York Common Core math standards. Pearson knows how the questions will be asked on the New York State tests, because they, of course, create them. Certainly, districts buy Pearson materials in the hope of preparing their students for the tests that will evaluate teachers, principals, students and the school itself.
Part of the problem with the rushed implementation of this reform is that there was never sufficient opportunity for schools to carefully examine and critique the standards themselves. In the field, it has been “whack a mole” as districts implement evaluation systems, testing and data driven networks while wading through thousands of pages of modules.
Are the standards reasonable, appropriate and developmentally sound—especially for our youngest learners? In order to answer that question, it is important to understand how the early primary standards were determined. If you read Commissioner John King’s Powerpoint slide 18, which can be found here, you see that the Common Core standards were “backmapped” from a description of 12th grade college-ready skills. There is no evidence that early childhood experts were consulted to ensure that the standards were appropriate for young learners. Every parent knows that their kids do not develop according to a “back map”—young children develop through a complex interaction of biology and experience that is unique to the child and which cannot be rushed.
We also know that the standards were internationally benchmarked. We are told continually that we are “falling behind.” Yet the age at which students begin school varies from nation to nation.
In the United States, students begin Grade 1 at the age of 5 or 6.
In Finland, students begin Grade 1 at age 7.
In Singapore, students begin Grade 1 at age 7 after two years of kindergarten.
This is not an argument for starting school at a later age. Canadian students also begin first-grade at age 6. But we must recognize, especially given that Singapore’s standards were used to develop the Common Core, that we are asking our young children to engage in intellectual tasks for which they may not be developmentally ready.
Finally, let’s do a quick comparison of the standards of the Common Core and those of high-performing Finland. You can find the math curriculum of Finland here ( beginning on page 158). You can find the New York Common Core standards for math here.
Notice that the first Finnish math objective incorporates the importance of students deriving satisfaction and pleasure from problem solving. In contrast, the Common Core does not speak of enjoyment but rather “a habitual inclination to see mathematics as sensible, useful, and worthwhile, coupled with a belief in diligence and one’s own efficacy.”
The Finnish “description of good performance at the end of second grade” (there are no kindergarten or first-grade standards) can best be described as topical, open-ended and descriptive, thus allowing teachers to differentiate while working with tasks such as geometry or measurement. In contrast, the Common Core standards are behavioral and prescriptive such as, second-grade standard: 2MD9.
“Generate measurement data by measuring lengths of several objects to the nearest whole unit, or by making repeated measurements of the same object. Show the measurement by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked off in whole-number unit”. P 19.
Finns do not have an equivalent standard 2MD 19: Work with time and money. I will let readers draw their own conclusions.
I am amused by all of the politicians and bureaucrats who love the Common Core and see it as the salvation of our nation. I suspect they are supporting standards that they have never studied. I wonder if they have ever read the details that ask first-graders to “compose and decompose plane and solid figures” and “to determine if equations of addition or subtraction are true or false.” It is likely that much of the support for the Common Core is based on the ideal that we should have national standards that are challenging, yet the devil in the detail is ignored.
When one actually examines the standards and the tests like the sample I provided, it quickly becomes apparent why young students are crying when they do their homework and telling their parents they do not want to go to school. Many New York children are simply not developmentally ready to do the work. Much of the work is confusing. When you add the pressure under which teachers find themselves to quickly implement the standards and prepare students for standardized testing, it becomes clear why New York parents are expressing outrage at forums across the state.
It is time for New York State to heed, at the very least, the New York State United Teachers’ call for a three-year moratorium on high-stakes testing, thus providing time for New York to re-examine its reforms, and change course. New York, sadly, has been a canary in the Common Core coal mine, and if we do not heed the danger a generation of students will be lost.After meeting with Bashar al-Assad, Russian president plans summit with leaders of Turkey and Iran, bypassing UN
Vladimir Putin has sought Donald Trump’s broad endorsement for his plan to bring the Syrian civil war to a close on largely Russian and Iranian terms, after the defeat of Islamic State and the repeated pushbacks of Syrian rebels.
Putin briefed his American counterpart on the phone for more than an hour, as the Russian president prepared to host a summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with the leaders of Turkey and Iran – two other powers heavily involved in the conflict in Syria.
The summit, a display of Russia’s restored influence in the Middle East, is expected to discuss Putin’s plans for fresh deconfliction zones and a Syrian national dialogue to draw up a new Syrian constitution that would leave President Bashar al-Assad entrenched and entitled to stand for election again.
Moscow said Putin, in his talks with Trump, conveyed “the message of the necessity to keep the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria, and to reach a political settlement based on principals to be worked out in a full-scale negotiation process in Syria”.
I escaped war in Syria and am now free to dream – but other kids aren't so lucky | Bilal Rwaeh Read more
Increasingly confident that he has marginalised both pluralist and Islamist groups still holding out against Assad, Putin plans to hold a Syrian national dialogue in early December to which he will invite hundreds of Syrian groups that have reached reconciliation agreements with Assad.
Western diplomats fear Putin has decided in effect to bypass the deadlocked UN Syrian peace process in Geneva, which is due to restart on 28 November, and will instead oversee a parallel peace track.
Western diplomats are urging Putin to recognise that an imposed settlement that leaves dissidents excluded will only lead to further bloodshed, and a European refusal to provide reconstruction funds.
In the run-up to the trilateral summit, Putin hosted Assad in Sochi for four hours of talks on Monday, where they asserted that the military stage of the conflict was coming to an end. The talks were not disclosed until Assad had returned to Damascus.
It was the first time the two men had met since Assad visited Moscow in October 2015 to discuss the surprise Russian military intervention in Syria to protect the Syrian leader from inexorable defeat.
In the four-hour meeting, Putin told Assad, according to the Kremlin: “We’re still a long way off fully defeating terrorism. But as far as concerns our work … on Syrian territory, the military operation is coming to an end.
“Now the most important thing, of course, is to move on to the political questions, and I note with satisfaction your readiness to work with all those who want peace and a solution to the conflict.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Syria’s President Assad meets Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, 20 November. Photograph: Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
In carefully scripted words, Assad told the Russian leader: “At this stage, especially after we achieved victory over terrorists, it is in our interests to move forward with the political process.”
Although Tuesday’s Putin-Trump call also covered Ukraine, North Korea and Afghanistan, the focus was on Putin setting out the terms of his diplomatic push to end the Syrian civil war.
Putin’s peace plan will leave tens of thousands of Iranian militia inside Syria, and arguably Iran is emerging as the single biggest victor from the conflict.
But Putin is facing problems persuading Turkey, long-term backers of the Syrian opposition, that any settlement will not strengthen Kurdish independence forces in Northern Syria. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, regards the Syrian Kurds, the key military force in pushing back against Isis in Raqqa, as inextricably linked with Kurdish PKK forces, which Turkey says is operating as a terrorist group inside its borders.
The US has also said it will keep a military presence inside Syria, partly to ensure that the integrity of the UN peace process is maintained.
Male rape and sexual torture in the Syrian war: ‘It is everywhere’ Read more
In a sign that a triumphant Putin is dividing a demoralised opposition, 10 senior figures in the Syrian opposition umbrella group, the High Negotiations Committee, resigned including Riyad Hijab, the former Syrian prime minister. They protested that their negotiating team were being pressured into accepting that any peace deal will leave Assad in office.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, welcomed the resignation of Hijab and his allies, saying: “The retreat of radically minded opposition figures from playing the main role will make it possible to unite this motley opposition – internal and external – on a more reasonable, realistic and constructive platform. We will support the efforts made by Saudi Arabia in this respect.”
The new negotiating team was due to be formed in two days of talks in Riyadh due to commence on Wednesday.
The pressure for a revised negotiating team has largely come from Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has backed the HNC since 2015, but appears to have concluded the decisive tilt in the military balance to Assad over the past year means it is no longer realistic to make Assad’s removal a precondition for talks.AUBURN, Ala. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃÆ'¢'¬" Rising sophomore Austin Wiley and USA Basketball open the FIBA U19 World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, on Saturday against Iran, Sunday against Angola and July 4 vs. Italy.
Wiley scored 15 points in an 89-66 victory over Lithuania in a friendly on Wednesday, a day after making the 6,900-mile trip from Colorado Springs, Colo., to Washington, D.C., to Germany and finally Cairo.
"It is very exciting. It was a great experience last year and to do it again this year is a blessing," said Wiley of going for another gold medal. "I can't wait. It's going to help me because I'm playing against pro level players so it's going to get me better."
A Wiley slam gave the USA a 27-25 lead.
"I thought Austin was terrific," said Team USA head coach John Calipari.
The United States will meet medal favorite France in a friendly Thursday and practice on Friday prior to the preliminary round opener vs. Iran on Saturday at 10:30 am CT in the Cairo Stadium Indoor Hall 1.
"We are athletic, very active, very disruptive, very aggressive and very tall. We are going to be fun to watch," said Wiley. "I will play as many minutes as Coach Cal wants me to. He said I would play 20-25 minutes a game, so I will come in and play my role, rebound, play defense and score inside."
USA faces Angola on Sunday at 11:15 am CT before its final group play game against Italy on July 4 at 9:30 am CT.
Following the preliminary round, all 16 teams will be seeded according to group play results and will advance to the July 5 round of 16. Winners will advance to the July 7 medal quarterfinals, while the remaining teams will continue playing out for classification.
The medal semifinals will be held July 8, and the gold and bronze medal games on July 9.
"It is a great experience for Austin," said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. "He continues a family tradition with his mom being an Olympian and him going for a second gold medal. He is in USA Basketball's program, and I know it means an awful lot to him. We are proud of him.
"I look at this world championship that this is this year's Olympics for men's basketball. We have another Olympian like Chuck Person and Charles Barkley."
Wiley will be vying for his second-straight gold in as many summers as he was averaged 8.0 points and a team second-best 6.4 rebounds for Team USA's gold medal winner at the FIBA Men's U17 World Championship in Zaragoza, Spain in 2016.
The United States is looking for its third-straight gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Cup after winning over Serbia in 2013 in Prague, Czech Republic and defeating Croatia in 2015 in Heraklion, Greece.
For additional information, go to usab.com and www.fiba.com/world/u19/2017Reduce, reuse, recycle. On its face, following the “three R’s” seems to be the obvious path to environmental nirvana:
Reduce – Use less. Turn off the lights when they’re not needed, don’t let the water run while you’re brushing your teeth, use both sides of every piece of paper, replace incandescent light bulbs with more efficient light sources, put more insulation in the attic, buy energy efficient appliances and toilets that use less water.
Reuse – Use items again. Don’t get lost in the “paper or plastic” trap at the grocery store, get a reusable shopping bag. Don’t toss those plastic water bottles, refill them.
Recycle – Send glass, aluminum, paper, and plastic to the recycler, not the dump.
Clearly, the “Three R’s” are a win for everyone; saving resources, energy, and labor all while reducing pollution. What could be wrong with that? Nothing. But only if resources, energy, and labor really are saved and pollution really is reduced.
The catch is that while reducing, reusing, and recycling save some resources, each activity also costs other resources. Determining whether a given “R” saves more resources than it costs can be difficult, especially when we are spending “apples” to save “oranges.” But even when we’re dealing with “apples-to-apples” cases, the trade-offs may not be obvious.
Consider, for example, reducing electricity use by replacing old appliances with newer, higher efficiency models. Won’t this result in a net energy saving? Maybe, but manufacturing new appliances uses energy and, not incidentally, creates pollution.
The question is, will the new appliance save more energy over its lifetime than it costs to make, transport, and install? We can imagine a situation in which the answer is clearly “no.” Suppose, for example, that dishwasher manufacturers come out with new models that are slightly more energy-efficient every six months. Obviously, replacing your dishwasher twice a year would waste far more energy than it would save. But what about replacing the dishwasher every five years, or every ten?
Reduce or Not?
A few (relatively) simple present value calculations can provide the answer. The expected life of the appliance and the estimated energy savings over that life are typically provided by the manufacturer. We can compare the present value of the cost of electricity that would be used over those years to the cost of purchasing and installing the dishwasher.
If the present value of the energy saved is higher than the purchase price, we can be reasonably confident that replacing our old dishwasher will result in a net energy saving. Without market prices, however, we would be unable to determine the better course – keeping or replacing the old appliance. Economics to the rescue!
Reuse
Most reusable bags are never used at all and end up in landfills or on roadsides along with standard paper and plastic shopping bags.Let’s now consider the “reuse” directive. Again, it sounds very plausible. But doesn’t it contradict the reduce directive? Shouldn’t I reuse old appliances rather than replace them? As we saw in the last example, economics can provide the answer.
What about the paper vs. plastic controversy? Well, stores are pushing us to use plastic, which suggests – because stores want to make a profit – that plastic bags cost less. Their lower cost tells us that fewer resources are required to make plastic bags than are needed for paper bags.
That’s a point in favor of plastic. On the other hand, plastic bags decompose far more slowly than do bags made out of paper, so plastic bags thoughtlessly tossed out car windows may remain eyesores for decades.
Reusable grocery bags are the obvious solution, then, right? Wrong. According to a study by the British Environment Agency, a nonwoven polypropylene bag would have to be used 11 times to “break even” with the cost of one single-use plastic bag, while a cotton bag would have to be used 131 times.
Studies indicate, however, that most reusable bags are never used at all and end up in landfills or on roadsides along with standard paper and plastic shopping bags. In most cases, then, energy, labor, and resources are wasted – and pollution generated – to no purpose.
Another issue is that reusable bags are more difficult and time consuming for grocery store baggers to use than are standard plastic bags. Finally, reusable bags can accumulate and spread dangerous germs such as salmonella. As a result, they should be regularly washed and that, of course, takes additional resources and energy. In the end, the lower-cost, single-use, plastic bags probably make more sense than do reusable bags. Again, economics provides the best – or, in this case, the “least bad” – answer.
Recycling
If companies can make a profit recycling paper, no mandates are necessary.What about recycling? Isn’t that a clear-cut win? Again, sadly, no. Recycling resources costs resources. For instance, old newsprint must be collected, transported, and processed. This requires trucks, which must be manufactured and fueled, and recycling plants, which must be constructed and powered.
All this also produces pollution – from the factories that build the trucks and from the fuel burned to power them, and from the factories that produce the components to build and construct the recycling plant and from the fuel burned to power the plant. If companies can make a profit recycling paper, then we can be confident that more resources are saved than are used. However, if recycling is mandated by law, we have no such assurance.
Again, economics is the key.
The bottom line is, well, the bottom line. By saving money, we save the resources, labor, energy, and pollution that the money would have otherwise purchased. We should do what makes economic sense and not what just makes us feel good or what seems plausible. Let’s replace the three R’s with the single E: Economics.A shooting in Long Beach, California Friday afternoon left one victim and the gunman dead, the mayor said. Another person was injured.
Mayor Robert Garcia tweeted that the third person who was shot in a law office Friday is hospitalized in stable condition. He says the shooter and a victim are dead in what appears to be a workplace killing.
All three people involved are male adults and employees of a law firm at the location, police said in a press conference.
Video showed people running from an unmarked building shouting about a shooting inside. Police say they received reports of a shooter at 2:25 p.m.
One shooting victim apparently drove himself to the hospital, according to CBS Los Angeles.
Video showed people running from an unmarked building shouting that there was a shooting inside.
Apparently there is mass shooting inside the building. Saw 3 people rushing outside screaming “shooting inside”. Police blocked the area. Shooter still inside. Nothing is clear yet. #LongBeach #California #shooting pic.twitter.com/WQ4X878GCn — Basileus Zeno (@BasileusZeno) December 29, 2017
Long Beach LAW OFFICE SHOOTING 3 shot 2 dead including the shooter at 300 blk San Antonio Dr. 1 victim drove to hospital on their own LBPD did not engage the shooter @KCBSKCALDesk @CBSLA pic.twitter.com/yUtbpcXhLL — stu mundel (@Stu_Mundel) December 29, 2017
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
This is a breaking story. Please check back for updates.New Warhammer 40,000 – Morale
In the 41st Millennium, morale plays a vital role.
Battles can be won and lost by the brave actions of a few stubborn defenders, or defeat caused by the panicked flight of key elements of an enemy force.
Morale has always been a part of Warhammer 40,000. In the past edition though, it did often seem that in a lot of games it could be largely ignored – so many units were immune to its various effects. Where it did apply though, you had to take a lot of tests – it was conceivable that a unit might have to take over half a dozen Leadership tests in a turn, which had the effect of bogging down the game.
The new Morale phase is simple, and only happens once per player turn, at the end of all your other phases. It will apply to almost every unit, and represents warriors fleeing the battlefield, dying from the psychic feedback shockwaves of their allies, or retreating with injured or fallen brethren. There will be very few units indeed that will not feel its effects.
The mechanics are simple – any units that suffered casualties in a turn must take a Morale test at the end of it. You just roll a D6, add the number of models from the unit that have been slain, and if the number is bigger than the unit’s Leadership, the unit loses the difference in additional models.
That’s it! No units falling back, no regroup tests – all that is gone.
You can see straight away, this will be pretty brutal and mean units that suffer high casualties in a turn stand to lose a lot more come the Morale phase if they roll poorly. Conversely, single-model units (like many vehicles) won’t have to test; as they are units of one, there are no other models in their squad to lose.
There are a few things that can help you out in this phase. A Chaos Dark Apostle, for example, allows all nearby units from the same Legion to use his Leadership. Or, you can use some units to make your opponent’s tests more difficult – the Hemlock Wraithfighter, as an example, decreases the Leadership of enemy units by 1 if they are within 12″ (which equates to one additional lost model on every failed test).
So, that’s morale.
We’ve run through all the phases of the game now. Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at some new background and lore in the new Warhammer 40,000, and then on Friday, we’ll take a look at Battle-forged armies.For many, lagers are a daunting category of beers to attempt to make on the homebrewing level. Recipes tend to call for decoction mashes and long periods of near-freezing fermentation temperatures, which can be difficult without the ideal equipment. But don’t let this rule out lagers in your homebrew future! Bryan Cardwell of Washington-based Chuckanut Brewery explains some ways to make lager brewing more approachable.
For Cardwell’s full audio and visual presentation on Lager Brewing during the 2012 National Homebrewers Conference, visit the conference seminars page!
Decoction Mashing
A decoction mash involves pulling a portion of thick mash into a pot and bringing it to a boil. This helps further break down proteins, increase free amino nitrogen (FAN) levels and solubilize more starches. Traditionally this was used by German lager brewers out of necessity to get the most extraction out of their undermodifed malts.
The result is a decreased enzyme count, increase color extraction and caramelization, increase extraction of sugars and more melanoidin, which gives some lagers that bread crust-like characteristics.
Today, most malts are well-modified and don’t require decoction, but it is often still conducted out of respect for tradition and to achieve some of the color and flavor attributions. Instead of a true decoction, a few homebrew tricks can be done to simulate the additional mash step without actually having to do it.
Use a higher mash infusion to increase the overall extraction and create more unfermentable sugars that will ultimately leave a higher final gravity.
Use specialty malts like Munich and melanoidin to get the bread crust flavors, as well as dextrin for more body.
Increase the boil time for more color and a bit of caramelization.
Yeast Selection & Pitching Rate
Selecting a lager yeast strain can be as simple as using the one from your favorite lager brew, but you still want to keep the overall flavor profile and a few other considerations in mind.
Flocculation is particularly important when brewing lagers. Strains that are very flocculent and fall out of suspension will not be able to sufficiently reduce levels of Vicinal Diketones (VDKs), which cause butterscotch or buttery flavors. You want a yeast that will stay in susepension and in contact with VDKs long enough to reduce their level.
Many commercial lager breweries, including Chuckanut, use Weihnstephan 3470 for its clean and malty fermentation and VDK reduction ability. Homebrewers can find this in Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager or White Labs WLP830 German Lager.
Pitching rate is extremely important because lager yeast does not have as pronounced of a respiratory metabolism as ales, meaning there is less cell growth. When under pitching, there is the risk of not being able to clean up the VDKs, and producing high levels of esters and alcohols that cannot be remedied once they are created.
Generally speaking, plan to pitch 1.5 million cells of yeast per milliliter of wort per degree plato (1.5 mil cells / ml / °P). This will result in a large number of yeast cells, so making a starter will eliminate the need to buy multiple yeast packs. Be sure to sufficiently oxygenate the wort after pitching.
Fermentation and Lagering
There are many schemes for lager fermentation, but Caldwell recommends what he calls cold fermentation with accelerated maturation. It is easiest to follow the recommended schedule using a temperature controlled fermentation chamber, but you can still get good results by using a cold basement or shed.
Start by cooling the wort 3-4°F below the primary fermentation temperature. This will help limit the amount of amino acids and nucleotides excreted from yeast when it enters a state of shock after being pitched into a new environment (pH, sugar content, temperature). The higher the temperature, the more excretion, which will ultimately negatively impact yeast performance.
After pitching, start the fermentation cool for a few days, and let it naturally warm up 3-4°F for the last 1.008-1.010 for a period of accelerated maturation, which some refer to as a diacetyl rest. This will allow the yeast to metabolize fermentation byproducts like VDKs and acetaldehyde, as well as slightly increase the attenuation.
A good way to check if maturation is about finished is to warm up a sample and taste for diacetyl. If it is present, continue the maturation. If not, move on to the lagering stage.
Lagering is a period of aging at near-freezing temperatures. The goal is to achieve yeast clarification and promote the precipitation and removal of protein-polyphenol complexes, which will create the smooth lager flavor. Caldwell recommends keeping the beer as close to 30-32°F as possible for 2-3 weeks. Generally speaking, the cooler the beer, the less lagering time is necessary.
That’s it. Now get out there and start lagering!"Together, we changed history."
It sounds like a line ripped out of an episode of Timeless, NBC's time-traveling drama, but it took on a whole new meaning Thursday at the series' San Diego Comic-Con panel.
The panel came two months after the show was axed and then, shockingly, un-canceled by NBC. Despite spending much of its first season on the bubble, the series amassed a fiercely loyal fan base that was up in arms over its demise. (Timeless also ranked as the fourth-highest-rated scripted series when all delayed viewing is factored in.)
Despite the show's high price tag — Timeless hails from Sony Pictures Television and is one of NBC's few dramas not produced in-house by Universal TV — Sony and NBC were able to come to an agreement for a 10-episode second season that will launch sometime in 2018, either spring or summer. Creators-executive producers-showrunners Shawn Ryan and Eric Kripke reportedly pitched a more family-friendly second season, which also helped incentivize the decision for NBC.
Fittingly, Ryan and Kripke were joined Thursday by stars Abigail Spencer, Matt Lanter, Malcolm Barrett and Goran Visnjic to discuss the miraculous turn of events with a video that showed just how Timeless' die-hard fans and the fervent #RenewTimeless social media campaign helped resurrect the series and, as the video said, "changed history." (Watch the video below.)
"The point of the panel is to celebrate you for saving the show, so I think you deserve a round of applause," Kripke told the Comic-Con audience, which drew enthusiastic applause from the ballroom.
Barrett also celebrated the fans by bringing #Clockblockers t-shirts that he threw to the crowd towards the beginning of the panel. (Fans in attendance were also treated to a sneak peek of the blooper reel from the season one DVD, which will be released Sept. 19.)
When Kripke and Ryan polled the crowd about which fandom name they preferred, not surprisingly "#Clockblockers" easily won over "#TimeFandits." After the introductory video — set to the opening music of the time-traveling blockbuster film Back to the Future, no less — the cast and creators discussed their reversal of fortunes.
"We had been canceled that Wednesday, so … we started to make peace. You're starting to go through your grieving process," Kripke said. (Or "drinking process," as Spencer jokingly called it.)
"There was no hint. It was Sony, to their credit, and NBC busting their ass behind the scenes," Kripke continued of the surprise Saturday phone call from the higher-ups at the network. "It was truly out of the blue."
While Kripke was busy driving his kid to soccer, others (i.e. Spencer) were fast asleep when the good news broke. "I was totally asleep. My phone was off and I woke up, I'm not kidding, to hundreds of texts," said the actress. It was only when she got an e-mail from Ryan that she truly believed the good news. "It's truly magical," Spencer said of the fan campaign to save the series.
Despite the show's perennial bubble status during season one, Kripke said that didn't make the writers think twice about how to end season one, specifically the reveal that Lucy's (Spencer) mom, Carol (Susanna Thompson), is Rittenhouse. "You come in hard, like, 'No, man, we're coming back,' and you write that way," he said. "To me, that's the only way you write a show."
Spencer recalled shooting that final scene, which was also the last scene they shot of season one.
"What was difficult about that scene was … we're basically wrapping up all of season one and dropping this huge bomb all in the same breath," said the actress. "I felt very close to Lucy. I felt very overwhelmed, I felt saddened.... It was a lot of emotions and feelings going on and a lot of words to say. Lucy is, unlike me, very verbose," she added |
been aired months ago. Now the SCAF claims the power to lay down the laws that the parliament was expected to pass and even to draw up the budget. It will also have the right to choose and direct a constituent assembly or a constitution-drafting body to produce a document spelling out the president's powers and, presumably, new rules for fresh elections to parliament.
These are threatening moves, but so far at least this does not seem to be a counter-revolution. Rather than a hard coup intended to snuff out the country's evolving democracy, it is an attempt to slow and control it. The army's priority is keeping its “special role”, its economic privileges and some of the ministries of power, such as defence and internal security, much as Turkey's generals did in the 1990s, when they blocked a democratically elected Islamist government and continued forcibly to parade themselves as guardians of a secular order.
If the Turkish analogy is pursued, the outcome may yet hold out hope. Turkey has suffered more than its share of coups and political violence. But those dangers have receded as the Islamists have proved moderate and popular, winning three fair elections in a row and whittling away the generals' power. Although the “deep state”, sinister and pervasive in Turkey as it plainly still is in Egypt, lingers in the apparatus of security and repression, Turkey's Islamists have won the moral authority to send the soldiers back to barracks, and have exercised it. If Egypt follows this path, nothing the generals have done this week will stop the march to democracy for long.
Wield the stick, Mr Obama
There are two canards that politicians in the West use as an excuse for ignoring the Arab spring. The first is that there is little to choose between the generals and the Islamists. This is just Mubarakism revisited. This newspaper did not want the Islamists to trounce the secular reformers, but they did. The best way to tame the Islamists, as Turkey's experience shows, is to deny them the moral high ground to which repression elevates them, and condemn them instead to the responsibilities and compromises of day-to-day government.
The second argument is that Egypt is too complex for the West to influence. The situation is certainly messy; but messages from the outside can be clear and strong. Frequent insistence that the army sticks to its democratic promises could make a difference. The generals thrive on American aid and are plainly nervous about seizing untrammelled power. By pressing them to negotiate with Mr Morsi over a constitution to provide for a new parliament, the United States and Europe could tip the balance in democracy's favour.
In Egypt's confusion, one thing stands out: Egyptians, and Arabs elsewhere, want to run their own affairs. Kings or generals may slow progress to that end, but they cannot stop it.
Correction: Turkey's generals blocked a democratically elected government in the 1990s, not the 1980s as originally stated above. This was corrected on June 22nd 2012.The U.S. Postal Service issued a Rosa Parks “forever” stamp Monday, honoring the civil rights activist on what would have been her 100th birthday.
The Postal Service unveiled the stamp during a National Day of Courage celebration at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich.
Parks, an African American, became a prominent figure in the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Ala.
Parks’s defiance led to a boycott of the city’s bus system and helped springboard the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. into the national spotlight.
Deputy Postmaster General Ronald A. Stroman described Parks as “the epitome of courage.” He served as a young lawyer on the staff of Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) when Parks worked at Conyers’s Detroit office, according to the Associated Press.
The new Rosa Parks commemorative stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service honoring civil rights icon is seen. Today would have been Rosa Park's 100th birthday. (United States Postal Service/Via Getty Images)
“[Parks’s] quiet strength helped to change a nation,” Stroman said. “Let this stamp be a symbol of her courage and determination. And let it remind us to never forget the indignities of days gone by — and to never stop fighting for the aspirations of generations yet unborn.”
The Parks stamp marks the second in a new civil rights collection from the Postal Service.
The USPS issued its first civil rights stamp Jan. 1, unveiling the Emancipation Proclamation forever stamp at the National Archives in Washington. The series wraps up in August with the dedication of a stamp recognizing the 50th anniversary of the “March on Washington,” where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.Cannabusinesses want the Department of Health to get the ball rolling on marijuana edibles in order to provide patients with a more diverse line of products.
Some of Florida’s medical marijuana producers are calling for the state to get serious about setting the rules regarding the production and sale of edible pot products.
A report from the Sun Sentinel indicates that Surterra Florida, one of the largest medical marijuana companies doing business in the Sunshine State, is now pressuring health officials to begin crafting the rules associated with edible marijuana.
Over the summer, the state legislature passed a law during a special session that gives pot sellers all across the state the freedom to sell edible pot products, such as infused candies and baked goods. However, before any of the state’s pot businesses can begin slinging these types of products, the Department of Health must determine the legal parameters, such as “shapes, forms, and ingredients allowed and prohibited.”
Until the rules are established, the law dictates that no cannabis edibles can be put on the market – restricting the types of cannabis products that patients have access to.
“Many patients have been seeking edible products because it is the best format for them to find relief,” Surterra Florida President Wesley Reynolds said in a statement. “Surterra Wellness has and will continue to fight for access to medical cannabis, and this is just a continuation of that cause. The more available options for people, the more likely they will be able to use a cannabis product instead of highly addictive and easily abused opiates.”
State health officials say they had every intention of getting to the rule-making phase for pot edibles before Surterra filed the petition.
Mara Gambineri, a spokesperson for the department explained that, “there's so much in (the law) that we are working through. We don't have an exact timeline for each rule.”
In a separate report, Gambineri said the department was working to ensure the process moves along as quickly as possible.
The law “directs the department to create rules related to edible marijuana products and we fully intend on following the law,” Gambineri told the Miami Herald. “We remain committed to moving this process forward, and will do so in an expedient and thoughtful manner.”
Nevertheless, Suterra says its petition was designed to “jump start” the process.Next Chapter >
Into The Vault
A back road street in Brooklyn on a boiling summer’s afternoon is not exactly where you would expect to find a hidden treasure trove. This isn’t Williamsburg, where hipsters drive Mercedes-Benz W123s, or Park Slope with its stylish brownstones and Audis. This is the part of Brooklyn where you do not walk alone after sunset. It’s so far off the beaten path that you cannot see the path from here.
Yet here I am, peeking through a garage door at the tip of the iceberg – a Rolls in slightly less than pristine condition, nuzzled up against some lawn care equipment. The car itself is a diamond in the rough, carefully maintained and ready and able to emerge from its dingy surroundings to tackle the punishing roads of New York.
This is the Pannicioli Rabanne collection, a veritable hoard of luxury, rare and exotic vehicles that range in condition from race-ready to freshly salvaged from the junkyard. When I first heard rumors of it, I assumed it would be your average home-based collection. A few trophies worth showing off, but not much beyond that. Boy, was I underestimating it. But this back entrance, down the corner of a rundown alley in the middle of nowhere, is just the beginning.
When we reach the main garage, I feel something of what Alice must have felt when she landed in Wonderland. Every inch of space inside is packed – this is sensory overload. I would feel claustrophobic except that I’m too busy being blown away. Our host, Roberto Rabanne, is a Brooklyn-based artist and photographer. He talks us through his personal history with the Lamborghini Diablo and the wild rides taken as we delve deeper into the depths of his lair.
The expert parking jobs alone in this cramped basement would turn NYC lot attendants green with envy – never mind the garage’s contents. The exotic and ultra rare Ferrari 512BB Koenig Targa boasts 750hp from its 512 twin turbo engine. The smell of the freshly-upholstered Daytona seats cut through the air. I have never wanted to raid a hoarder’s stash before, but this one tempts me.
Every time I think I have come to grips with this discovery, another detail arrests me.
The Nitty-Gritty
An eerie inch-thick coat of dust covers everything. The vintage headlamps of twin black Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts stare me down through the dim-lit underground gloom. I’m drawn to them, but as I tiptoe between cars, I have to watch my step to avoid tripping on the batteries that march across the floor like lead soldiers. Stacks of tires cushion the walls, half storage space and half strangely appealing decoration.
Steering wheels dangle from cabinets. Old school thin wooden rims to leather wrapped to rubber to airbag-equipped steering wheels – it’s a study in contrast. The cabinets themselves are filled with spare equipment and parts – trays of spark plugs, scattered spare headlight bulbs. Every spare inch of space down here seems to belong to the cars. And no matter what you fancy, there’s a car here for everyone to lust after.
Here and there, however, I spot anomalies. Reminders that people occupy this space as well as vehicles. It’s a byproduct of overcrowding, I suppose, but it seems wrong to let a classic Giugiaro-styled Italdesign Maserati Merak butt up against gardening supplies, or to lean a lawnmower against any Spirit of Ecstasy.
It’s the kind of miscellany you’d see in any old house, but here it makes me do a double-take. This collection would be perfectly at home in a museum or on a classic car rally, but the environment of casual clutter almost makes the cars seem average. Oh yeah, who doesn’t have an XJ220 sitting around downstairs, let alone one that once belonged to Jay Leno?
Not to mention the 3.5-liter twin turbo V6 Jaguar XJ220 in the corner – one of only 275 ever produced, and thanks to its 213mph top speed, the fastest production car of 1992. We will just have to push the Dino 308 GT4 out of the way to get this Brit out in Brooklyn.
In truth, the breadth and diversity of this collection astounds me. A Ferrari Testarossa, a Bentley Arnage, Daimlers and Lamborghinis parked beside a Delorean. It is truly eclectic.
Though, for all its randomness, the longer I studied the room, the more I found some continuity in the chaos. Some places you may think this is weird but here it is the order of the day.
Uncovering car after car was a new surprise. The atmosphere started to relax as I noticed the Rolls’ and Bentleys lounge beneath their flags covering the aged walls; even the Porches are represented with their own section on the wall to give life to the stale ambiance.
A track-ready Ferrari Challenge race car, a Drophead and a Countach seductively stand guard between the red Ferrari flag and Formula 1 posters of their relatives in action. I take a moment to pinch myself as this is becoming to much to handle – I think the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat are here to start the tea party.
Backyard & Bonuses
I have to wonder how long it has been since some of these cars felt road beneath their sometimes deflated tires. This prepped and partially-primed classic British luxury cruiser in particular has my sympathy. Half-hidden behind drapes in the corner, waiting for an overdue paint job, it cries out to me for to drive! Did I mention they have their own paint shop in the basement? This car will be something I request to explore after the planned full in-house restoration takes place.
It’s an endless magic trick, secrets within secrets. A pure gold hood ornament shows itself in full glory sitting proud when the blue plastic tarp is pulled off. Every time you think you’ve reached the end of the collection, one more Lamborghini Diablo peers out from behind its fellows.
I want to linger in here, drink in every nitty-gritty element of this place. But Rabanne gestures to us, and our tour moves along.
Out back, Wonderland continues. The exterior lot is one-part junkyard, one-part collector’s paradise. Rabanne has gathered these treasures slowly over the years, hunting his prey with a practiced eye.
His attention to detail shows in every inch of the collection. This is the house and yard of a man who loves art in all forms, and who sees and is absorbed in the curve of a hood, the lip of a fender, the smile of a grill. Pure Joy of Machine!
When it’s time to leave, I linger at the door and give one last wave to the XJ220 that guards the gates of this subterranean paradise. Maybe if I’m lucky, I can sneak another peek someday. The next time I venture this deep into the heart of Brooklyn, this place will certainly be on my mind.
Elizabeth White
Instagram: @itswhitenoise
elizabeth@speedhunters.com
Photos by Matthew Jones
Instagram: MatthewJonesPhoto
More Collections on Speedhunters
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Cutting Room FloorIncrease in applications brings more diverse pool of students
Of the 171,449 potential freshmen who applied to at least one of the University of California (UC) campuses this past November, UC Davis received 70,904 freshmen applicants, according to a press release. This is a 3.5 percent increase in the number of applicants from last year. There was also significant progress in diversity of the applicant pool, which included students from historically underserved groups and low-income families.
“This year’s applications affirm, once again, that Californians’ demand for a UC education keeps getting stronger,” UC President Janet Napolitano said in a press release. “This is a testament to the excellence of California’s public research university and reinforces the imperative to continue working with our state government to preserve UC’s quality and affordability, and to ensure there is a place at the university for every deserving California student.”
Walter Robinson, the UC Davis associate vice chancellor for enrollment management, said the UC seeks to create accessible education for California students by admitting 2,500 residents in 2017. UC Davis is on track to uphold the UC goal, as 72.4 percent of this year’s applicants are California residents — an increase of 4.2 percent since last year.
Robinson said that there has also been an increase in applications due to outreach and recruitment efforts in California and other areas.
“Everyone seems to understand the value proposition of a University of California [education],” Robinson said. “It would be irresponsible on our part, as a public institution especially, not to acknowledge which populations are struggling the most to keep up with the graduation and retention rates.”
The efforts toward recruitment have been successful, as the percentage of African American, American Indian and Chicano/Latino applicants have increased by 2.8, 2.2 and 7.5 percent, respectively. Through financial aid and resources such as the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), the UC aspires to make their campuses more affordable to attend, especially for such underserved groups.
“I was nervous about applying to college because I knew it was very expensive,” said Joel Gutierrez, a first-year marine and coastal science major. “[The UC is] very considerate toward people and their incomes [and] they to want to make sure everyone has a good opportunity.”
The UC hopes to attract students who are first-generation college students, from low-income families or who are part of historically underserved groups. As it is the UC’s ongoing mission to admit a diverse pool of students, this year’s variety of applicants will help the campuses pursue that goal.
“Our hope is that with understanding diversity as value added, we will see a continued increase in diversity in all of its definition,” Robinson said.
Robinson mentioned that UC Davis considers students from all backgrounds and focuses on applicants who take advantage of the resources within their respective learning environments.
“We admit stories students tell us about themselves, and in doing so they give us an understanding of what each applicant could possibly bring to the intellectual, social and cultural vitality of the campus,” Robinson said. “[This] moment of introspection is probably the most mature thing a 17 or 18-year-old will ever be asked to do, […] so students have the opportunity to put their best [selves] forward.”
Gutierrez said that the UC application process in fall 2015 was highly competitive, so he concentrated on ways to stand out from the other applicants.
“The UCs [offer] a very good education, so I thought they would be looking for students who put a lot of passion into what they do,” Gutierrez said. “It’s not just about preparing us mentally, but also for the real world and to be active adults with an impact on the world.”
Written by: Jeanna Totah — campus@theaggie.org“I’m just really ready to fall in love with skiing again,” Tanner Hall says, basking in the sunny comfort of his family’s home in Kalispell.
It’s not that he’s fallen out of love with the sport that he helped innovate, or that any passion has drained from one of the world’s greatest freeskiers.
It’s not that at all.
But the wild, epic ride that Hall has experienced over the last 18 years, departing his hometown of Kalispell without graduating high school to pioneer freestyle skiing on a global stage and win seven gold medals at the X Games, becoming one of the true rock stars of the sport and surviving in an industry that has evolved into a lineup of Olympic events and mainstream success — amid all of this and more it can be easy to get distracted and lose sight of the true source of inspiration.
That’s how Tanner Hall finds himself home, back where it all started, ready to hit the reset button and shred into a new chapter in life.
“At the end of the day, I ski. I’m a skier. That’s so cool to say. It’s not a bad thing,” he says, reflecting on his journey back home. “I got wrapped up and was focusing on things you don’t need to focus on. At the end of the day I worked hard for a lot of the opportunities that I’ve been given. Why let something take my energy away from something that brought me everything?”
Following his passion, Hall has stayed busy doing what he loves in recent years. And now he’s ready to share it with his hometown.
On Oct. 26, which is also his 33rd birthday, Hall will unveil his latest film, “Ring the Alarm,” which he stars in and produced over the last two years. The screening, which is open to all ages, is from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Casey’s in Whitefish. He will also be at Sportsman & Ski Haus in Kalispell on Oct. 22, from 1-3 p.m.
Smoking Aces Events is hosting the screening and proceeds will benefit Whitefish Freestyle Inc., the nonprofit organization that provides scholarships to young skiers and snowboarders on the Whitefish Mountain Resort freestyle team where Hall started as a talented 10-year-old.
The event will feature the new 30-minute film, which showcases Hall and several other talented skiers hitting spectacular lines in Alaska, British Columbia, Oregon and other epic sites. It was filmed over the last two years and Hall considers it a return to the origins of vintage ski films as well as hopefully an inspiration for young skiers.
“It’s about bringing fun back to skiing. You got to keep it fun,” he says.
The film is quintessential Hall. Riding his favorite Armada Magic Js — one of many popular mainstay skis from the company he co-founded 16 years ago — Hall showcases just how far he’s advanced in the high country, tackling peaks few could ride. He attacks monster drops with the freestyle skills of a slopestyle star but the detail-oriented acumen of the best backcountry skiers. His creative flair is still unmistakable and feels as original as when he first emerged on the bumps at Big Mountain.
“I’ve known Tanner since we were young kids,” says Billy Marcial, a teacher in Whitefish and founder of the Smoking Aces Tour, which has developed into one of the largest slopestyle tours for skiers and snowboarders in the Pacific Northwest. “To see him grow through skiing has been phenomenal.”
“He was a part of that huge innovation in the industry and in skiing itself,” Marcial added. “He’s really a pioneer who has shaped the sport. We’re really excited for this event.”
From 2001 to 2009, Hall was king of the superpipe and slopestyle courses, winning seven X Games gold medals and four silvers while also revolutionizing the style and flavor of the sport.
“I was blessed to live here with a family that took me up to Big Mountain every day,” Hall says. “When we were all growing up, we were all characters. We looked up to Glen Plake and Brad Holmes, people who had flavor.”
Hall is now inspired to stoke the flames that fuel his passion for the sport he loves. And to do that, he’s back in Kalispell, training daily at the gym, spending time with his mother, Darla, and father, Gerry. He’s eager for snow to blanket the mountains so he can return to his second home, where it all started. He’s also turned his attention to street skiing, hitting the skateboard-esque features of rails and other urban targets.
“I don’t have too many years left into this,” he says.
“I know if I’m going to do anything in the streets, I have to do it in the next year or two. I just want to get real creative. Street skiing is art. Like skiing lines is art, too. You got a blank canvas. When somebody skis a line and you look at it in sunny weather, that’s what I think is beautiful.”
“Ring the Alarm” Premiere
Wednesday, Oct. 26
5:30-7:30 p.m., Casey’s, Whitefish
Tickets: $10 in advance at The Toggery and Sportsman & Ski Haus in Kalispell and The White Room in Whitefish, $15 at the door. Open to all ages. Proceeds benefit Whitefish Freestyle Inc., which provides scholorship opportunities for young skiers and snowboarders on the Whitefish Mountain Resort freestyle team.
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commentsJaipur: Ruling BJP and the Congress were running neck-and-neck in the keenly-fought Rajasthan Panchayati Raj polls as counting of votes to the Zila Parishads and Panchayat Samitis continued on Thursday night.
BJP and the Congress won 10 and six of the 16 Zila Parishads for which results were announced so far as the outcome for the remaining 17 Parishads was awaited.
Out of 295 Panchayat Samitis, BJP bagged 41 with Congress not far behind winning 31. The Panchayati Raj polls were held in three phases.
Of the 6,236 seats in the Samitis, BJP won 937, Congress 740, Independents 124 and BSP five seats, a spokesman of the state Election Commission said.
BJP won 174 out of 1,014 Zila Parishad wards while Congress secured 144 and Independents 3. The counting of votes began at 8 AM.
BJP won nine Zila Parishads of Chittorgarh, Baran, Jhalawar, Rajsamand, Tonk, Pratapgarh, Sirohi, Churu and Dholpur and Dungarpur, the EC said, adding Congress emerged victorious in Kota, Sawaimadhopur, Jaisalmer, Karauli, Dausa and Bundi.
It was the first major electoral test for the parties after the Lok Sabha elections eight months ago when BJP had won all 25 seats. In bypolls held in September last year, BJP had lost three out of four Assembly seats. However, in Civic Bodies polls, BJP had edge over the Opposition Congress by security 4 municipal corporations and scores of municipal bodies late last year.
Upbeat over the victory of several Congress candidates, PCC chief Sachin Pilot said the party's vote percentage has increased by at least 15 per cent which was "more than satisfactory for him".
"Initial results show that the vote percentage of Congress has increased by 15 per cent while ruling BJP's declined by 9 per cent in the Panchayat elections as compared to the vote share of 2014-Lok Sabha elections," Pilot told reporters at the PCC office here.
"This is unusual, and clearly shows that people in rural Rajasthan have given vote against the BJP's bad governance. It is a like a no-confidence vote," he said, while exuding confidence of gaining the lost ground in the coming years.
"We are very satisfied with the results declared so far. People in rural areas were unhappy with the government because of its negligence towards important issues like availability of urea for farmers and water and electricity availability. Our workers worked with full dedication and the credit goes to the party workers and leaders," he said.
"The results of Panchayat elections are eye opener for BJP," he said.
Panchayat polls were mired in controversy as Rajathan government had issued an ordinance fixing educational qualifications for candidates just days before the poll schedule was announced.
Petitions were filed challenging the ordinance promulgated on December 20, 2014 on the ground that it would take away the rights of the people, particularly of women as in many segments a majority of them have no education.
The Supreme Court had on January 5 refused to entertain petitions challenging the ordinance, saying the High Court was the forum for addressing these issues.
The High Court too refused to interfere with the ordinance saying the poll process is already on.Women in China see Ivanka as a role model.
After the election, companies in China filed hundreds of trademark applications on the word “Ivanka,” which might strike U.S. consumers as odd; the First Daughter is a somewhat controversial figure in the States. But the move makes perfect sense in a Chinese market, where some young women idolize Ivanka Trump and are modeling their lives after hers, according to a New York Times report.
“She’s pretty, she has her own career, she’s hardworking, and she has a beautiful family,” said 26-year-old Wang Ge, a Chinese business student. “She inspires me.” Wang apparently “keeps photos of Ms. Trump on her iPad … counsels burned-out friends to read Ms. Trump’s self-help tips … and models her day on Ms. Trump’s, waking at 6 a.m. to increase productivity and setting aside at least a half-hour to read.”
Wang isn’t the only one who’s into Ivanka’s self-help mantras — young businesswomen and working mothers reportedly swap translations of her guides online. Her tips on work-life balance “have found a large audience.” And many Chinese women said they’ve mimicked Ivanka “as they confront chauvinism and stereotypes in the workplace and in family life.”
Wang Jiabao, a 28-year-old reality-television producer in Beijing, told the Times she admires Ivanka’s independence. “She represents what we’re looking for — to marry into a decent family, to look good, and to also have your own career,” she said.
Ivanka’s popularity in China has done a lot to ease tensions with that country, even as her father criticizes it. Her visit to the Chinese Embassy on Chinese New Year was largely seen as an olive branch, and she’s recently made other subtle nods to Chinese culture through her children.
One woman even told the Times that “a lot of people think Ivanka is the real president,” to which we say: unlikely. But even if she is, we’ll never know.VLT Survey Telescope in the Atacama desert will contribute to research into dark matter, dark energy and evolution of galaxies
A spectacular stellar nursery shines through the gas and dust clouds of the Omega Nebula 5,500 light years from Earth in the heart of the Milky Way.
The image is the first to be released from the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) that sits on the summit of Paranal Hill in the Atacama desert in northern Chile.
Dotted with hot young stars, the region is part of the constellation of Sagittarius, the Archer, and is known by other names including the Swan Nebula and Messier 17.
The 2.6-metre aperture telescope, one of the world's largest, uses adaptive optics to ensure the instrument's mirrors are always in the perfect position to view the skies. Behind the telescope's lenses, images are captured by OmegaCAM, a 268-megapixel digital camera that weighs in at 770kg.
The telescope will conduct three surveys over the next five years, producing images that will further research on dark matter, the invisible substance that clings to galaxies; dark energy, which is thought to drive the expansion of the universe; and the evolution of galaxies.
"The combination of large field of view, excellent image quality, and the very efficient operations scheme of the VST will produce an enormous wealth of information that will advance many fields of astrophysics," said Konrad Kuijken, head of the OmegaCAM consortium.By the time G7 finance ministers met on Friday afternoon, they were staring into the abyss. In a desperate effort to restore calm to the markets, they took decisive action and came up with a five-point plan, which includes spending billions of taxpayers' money to rebuild the global banking system and reopen the flow of credit. This is how the drama unfolded...
It was 19 minutes to noon on Wednesday when Gordon Brown took the call from Mervyn King. With the seconds ticking away to the Prime Minister's first Question Time in the Commons since the summer break, the governor of the Bank of England had dramatic news: secret consultations between the world's most powerful central bankers had resulted in the decision to make the biggest co-ordinated cut in interest rates there had ever been.
With the world's financial system perilously close to complete meltdown, bankers were determined to show they meant business. The move was to be announced at midday in London and 7am New York time, and King was nervous that Brown might be embarrassed by a backbencher picking up the news via BlackBerry as he stood up to speak.
Brown had already been dealing with the financial crisis for more than six hours that morning, having held a 5am summit with Chancellor Alistair Darling at Number 11 to discuss details of a £50bn part-nationalisation of Britain's bombed-out banks, due to be unveiled to the stock exchange that morning.
With just 10 minutes to go before world markets heard the news, King's next call was to Darling. Both Prime Minister and Chancellor had been hoping for a rate cut for many weeks as the credit crisis began to take its toll on Britain's cash-strapped borrowers, threatening to tip the economy into a severe recession.
Just before Brown stood up to explain his drastic bail-out plan to Parliament, US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was appearing before reporters in Washington in an attempt to reassure American voters that their savings were safe. Asked if he planned to emulate Brown's bail-out package, Paulson was sniffy, defending his own $700bn 'troubled asset recovery plan'. Yet within little more than 48 hours, he was signing up to a promise by the G7 finance ministers to pour public cash into struggling banks, buying shares to ease the severe shortage of capital in the world's financial sector.
The reason for the volte-face was simple: Wall Street was locked into a vertiginous sell-off as terrified investors dumped stocks, commodities and the dollar, fearing that the mounting financial crisis would turn into a full-blown economic slump.
By the time the G7 finance ministers gathered in Washington on Friday afternoon, there was no doubt whatever that they were looking at disaster. The half-point rate cut, unthinkable just a few days before, was greeted with a shrug by investors who had lost their faith in governments' powers to fix the world economy. Wall Street had suffered the worst week in its history, with the Dow Jones index losing an extraordinary 18 per cent of its value, and every major stock market had plunged, day after day. On Friday alone, the Dow hurtled an eye-watering 700 points downwards, then swung up into positive territory, before settling 'only' 128 points down.
General Motors, once the proud symbol of America's car industry, was worth less by the end of the week than it was in 1929, and felt obliged to issue a statement saying it was not at risk of bankruptcy. By Saturday, it had announced talks about a merger with its rival Chrysler. Morgan Stanley was in desperate talks to save a proposed cash injection from the Japanese bank Mitsubishi, and on Wall Street the buzz was that Paulson's damascene conversion to state intervention had been triggered by the impending demise of another household name of US banking.
Thousands of miles away in Iceland, once a sleepy but prosperous example of the cautious Nordic economic model, a decade of financial excess was ending in tears. Reykjavik has been brought to the edge of national bankruptcy by its overstretched financial firms, and deposits from thousands of British savers, along with money belonging to local authorities and charities, was tied up in Icelandic banks. An IMF team was dispatched to assess its need for an emergency loan. Reports in Washington suggested that other countries were also teetering on the brink of insolvency.
G7 ministers were keen to avoid the policy paralysis that had been so evident when Nicolas Sarkozy gathered the leaders of Europe's big four economies in Paris a week earlier. Then, declarations of solidarity were swiftly belied by Germany's unilateral decision to guarantee all bank deposits, an example of the beggar-my-neighbour behaviour that had helped to deepen the Great Depression. The world's financial markets had delivered a clear message about the costs of indecision and disarray.
The strain of wrestling with the crisis was clearly visible on the faces of the finance ministers. France's Christine Lagarde, Washington's Hank Paulson and Alistair Darling all looked as if they had been burning the midnight oil - which they had. It didn't help that on Saturday, they all had to be at the White House by 6.45am to get security clearance for their breakfast meeting with George Bush.
The President has repeated his mantra that if they work together, the West's biggest economies would get through the crisis. For the first time since the turmoil entered a new and dangerous phase, Bush's remarks did not send share prices tumbling - but only because the market was closed for the weekend.
Darling's morning continued with a bilateral with Paulson, and talks with the new chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Lord Turner, over the plans for recapitalising some of Britain's biggest banks, details of which will be announced tomorrow.
Around the table at the US Treasury, Darling argued forcefully that recapitalising banks with public cash was the only viable solution to the worldwide crisis. Japanese delegates, rarely the most vehement contributors to G7 debates, argued passionately that the lesson from their country's own catastrophic banking crisis in the 1990s was that taxpayer-backed bail-outs of financial institutions should be carried out without delay. So keen was King to push home the importance of unblocking the credit markets, he summoned up the ghost of Elvis Presley, saying, 'as the King would say - a little less conversation, a little more action'.
It was not Elvis but the desperate need to restore calm to the markets that really prodded the G7 into action, however. When civil servants presented a first draft of the communiqué, several pages long and packed with waffle, finance ministers said they wouldn't sign it - because it wouldn't work.
Italian finance minister Giulio Tremonti even went public, saying 'the current draft is too weak', and wouldn't, at first, put his name to anything more than a page long. When the meeting ended, what emerged was a five-point plan, including a promise to buy up stakes in banks, on the British model.
Governments also pledged to prevent the failure of'systemically important' banks, in a bid to avoid unleashing another financial domino effect like the one that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers; take 'all necessary steps to unfreeze credit and money markets'; ensure that consumers around the world can have confidence in the safety of their savings; and take action to kick-start stalled markets in the mortgage-backed assets and other securities that banks use to help fund their lending.
In other words, governments of the world's richest countries will unleash every weapon they have, including billions of pounds of taxpayers' money, to rebuild the global banking system and reopen the flow of credit to consumers and households. Paulson called it 'aggressive,' but that was an understatement - it is financial'shock and awe'.
There are high hopes in Washington that this much concentrated firepower, perhaps combined with more drastic rate cuts from central banks, must eventually work - though European Central Bank governor Jean-Claude Trichet said it might still take time for the markets to respond positively. If this plan does succeed, finance ministers can stop worrying about the risk of total collapse of the world's financial system - and start worrying about the long, grinding recession that most believe will follow this month of extraordinary drama.
When Paulson was drafted into Washington from Goldman Sachs in 2006, with his action man demeanour and impeccable Wall Street pedigree he seemed the ideal personification of America's economic invincibility. Two years on, he, and the swashbuckling model of capitalism he represents look like a busted flush. Even even his friends on Wall Street have dramatically lost faith in his power to halt the financial storm.
For 50 years, America has been the global economy |
query by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the state agency of Kenya protecting its wildlife. Based on the press reports that the ivory is to be released, the KWS queried from Government of Sri Lanka about the impending act. With these developments the government immediately backtracked from its move pretending that there was no truth in the accusations leveled against the government.
Gross denial of the government wrongdoing at CITES conference
In the meanwhile the CITES Bangkok conference was scheduled from 10th to 12th March 2013. And the topic for discussion was on Wildlife Crime with special reference to Securing Enforcement, Ensuring Justice and Upholding the Rule of Law. At this conference, the government of Sri Lanka was represented by Justice Rohini Marasinghe of the Court of Appeal (now appointed to the Supreme Court).
The fate of the haul of ivory seized by Sri Lanka Customs was a hot topic in the summit and international criticism was launched by Dr. Kala K Mulqeeny, the National Advisory Councilor at World Wildlife Fund (WWF – the leading international body in wildlife conservation and endangered species), against the government’s alleged move to misappropriate the entire haul of blood ivory against the laid down procedure of disposal of seized ivory regulated by the CITES. Justice Rohini Marasinghe vehemently rejected the accusation, saying that they were baseless and unfounded. When a similar accusation was leveled against the government by the Leader of Opposition on 21st of February 2013, in Parliament, the government spokesman too made similar statement that there was no attempt whatsoever, made by the Presidential Secretariat to misappropriate the blood ivory violating its international obligations under CITES.
This is just another example of Sri Lankan government’s routinely adopted deceptive policy, whenever its deplorable and untoward actions were challenged in whatever forum, whether internationally or locally of which the people of this country is tired of, but forced to keep silence in fear of repression.
At least now following the example set by the government of Philippines which announced yesterday that it would destroy 5 tons of seized ivory under international supervision, the Government of Sri Lanka should admit the wrongful attempts made to misappropriate the priceless blood ivory and to initiate immediate steps to destroy the entire stock of 1.5 metric tons of ivory under international supervision, sending at least a late message to the world community that the government of Sri Lanka too is against the illegal trade of ivory and the merciless massacre of elephants.The Senators have turned to Guy Boucher to get them back to the playoffs.
Less than 24 hours after former Anaheim Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau headed for the Minnesota Wild Saturday night, the Senators signed Boucher to a three-year deal to replace Dave Cameron, who was fired at the end of the season.
While the former Tampa Bay Lightning coach won’t appear at a news conference until Monday afternoon at the Canadian Tire Centre, it wasn’t a major surprise that Boucher was chosen to take over the Senators after an exhaustive three-week search by general manager Pierre Dorion that included interviewing as many as nine potential candidates.
It’s believed one of those candidates — former Dallas Stars coach Marc Crawford — is weighing an offer to be on Boucher’s staff. Crawford, 55, who had an impressive interview with the Senators, is likely trying to find out if he has any shot at head coaching openings in Calgary and Anaheim.
Boucher spent last year in Switzerland but was let go from Bern in early November because he was determined to see if he could get back to the NHL. The decision paid off because the Wild had also contacted him before signing Boudreau to a four-year deal.
Though the Senators had shown interest in Boudreau and had done their due diligence by talking contract with his camp, Boucher was at the top of their list of candidates. The belief is that in his first interview he gave an extensive rundown on exactly what he felt about the team and the areas where improvements had to be made.
“Over the past three weeks, Pierre Dorion and our hockey operations staff have undertaken a thorough and comprehensive search for our next head coach. Following a detailed evaluation of all coaching candidates, there was overwhelming consensus that Guy was our top candidate,” said Senators owner Eugene Melnyk in a statement. “We wanted a great coach and this process yielded our top pick. I couldn’t be happier.”
Those who know Boucher like what he brings to the table.
Not only does his style demand a commitment to defence — something this team so badly needs — the hope is he’ll bring structure. Those who know Boucher like him because he’s passionate, he’s got drive and he’s going to bring the kind of approach this team has to have if it’s going to get back to the playoffs next season.
“Guy is a really good person, and he’s passionate about the game and what he believes in and how he believes his team should play,” Montreal Canadiens assistant Daniel Lacroix, who spent four seasons working on Boucher’s staff in Hamilton (AHL) and Tampa, told Postmedia in a telephone interview Sunday.
“When he’s around, you feel it right away. From my first meeting with him, he had a vision and a lot of things were in sync with what I thought at the time. It was fresh, he believes in bringing a team together through work ethic — and obviously systems are a big part — but also with the enthusiasm within the team by building a strong connection with the players.”
One of the words most frequently used to describe Boucher is intensity.
“It’s healthy intensity,” Lacroix said. “When you say intensity, I would respond with passion. It’s the mix of passion and intensity but I think, first and foremost, he’s passionate about what he believes in, and passionate about communicating that with his players and the people around him.
“I never saw it as (negative). … He is intense, he’s got those eyes behind the bench and he looks intense, but I saw it more as a passionate hockey coach. All coaches are passionate. Some hide it better than others and some don’t give a crap about hiding it. He is who he is but he’s passionate about the game, about his team and that’s why he’s a good coach.”
Last year, Boucher was only minutes away from being named the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he had the job until Mike Babcock picked up the phone to accept the club’s offer.
His biggest challenge in Ottawa will be to get the team to play with structure, and he’s got to get everybody to buy in, especially captain Erik Karlsson.
Boucher has his work cut out for him here, and this is going to be a big challenge, but the belief is that after his hiatus from the league he’s refreshed, ready and humbled for what’s a big job ahead.
Those who know him are happy to see him return.
“I’m glad to see him back. I’m not glad to see him this close,” the Canadiens’ Lacroix said jokingly. “I know he’s a good coach. He’s certainly deserving of this opportunity.”🔊 Listen to Article
By Britny Murray
In no particular order, here are 23 highly informative, must-see vaccine documentaries that you could share with your firends.
They all have to do with various factors of vaccination – evidence,, efficacy, injuries, health effects and medicinal politics.
They come with a brief description pulled from YouTube. Most of them are free and featured here in-full.
1. Vaccination – The Silent Epidemic
YouTube Source
2. The Greater Good
‘The Greater Good’ is an award winning character-driven documentary that explores the cultural intersections where parenting meets modern medicine and individual rights collide with politics. The film offers parents, doctors and policy makers a safe space to speak openly, actively listen and learn from one another.
YouTube Source
3. Shots In The Dark
Following the increase in cases of autism and other immune disorders among some particularly vulnerable people, several recognized specialists are questioning the safety of large-scale vaccination. Despite the serious side effects, pharmaceutical companies, the medical profession and government authorities continue to bury their heads in the sand, refusing to see a serious problem. In Quebec, the United States and France, as in most industrialized countries, victims are almost without recourse despite the high toxicity of substances such as mercury and aluminum contained in vaccines. With this hard-hitting documentary, Lina B. Moreco highlights a very worrying public health problem.
YouTube Source
4. Vaccination The Hidden Truth
In this extremely informative video, fifteen people, including Dr. Viera Scheibner (a PhD researcher), five medical doctors, other researchers, reveal what is really going on in relation to illness and vaccines. Ironically, the important facts come from the orthodox medicine’s own peer-reviewed research.
YouTube Source
5. Vaccine Nation
At the end of the eighteenth century, British physician Edward Jenner, with highly questionable medical credentials, initiated the theory and practice of live virus immunization that continues to serve as the scientific basis for the ever increasing vaccination of the world’s citizens. With the number of vaccinations given to infants and children rising, kids are receiving doses of toxic mercury and other heavy metals well above environmental safety levels. (Website)
YouTube Source
6. Vaccination – The Truth About Vaccines
A collection of many documentaries such as:
Shots in the Dark- Silence on Vaccines.
The Greater Good.
Vaccination -The Hidden Truth.
Vaccine and Overdose babies.
and… many many more.
YouTube Source
7. Lethal Injection
Part 1 The definitive look into the history of vaccination. From cancer, to autism, to the purposeful sterilization of innocent people around the globe, find out why all of these things are perfectly legal according to U.S. CODE – why the government considers you no different than cattle in their own law.
YouTube Source
8. Bought
This is arguably the most powerful film ever created that tells the truth about vaccines, medications and GMOs.
– Mike Adams, Natural News
9. Deadly Immunity
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. investigates the government cover-up of a mercury/autism scandal
In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials gathered for a meeting at the isolated Simpsonwood conference center in Norcross, Georgia. Convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the meeting was held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded farmland next to the Chattahoochee River, to ensure complete secrecy.
YouTube Source
10. Autism – Made in the USA
In this award-winning documentary film Gary Null explores the causes and solutions to the recent epidemic of autism in our children. In this film you will see children who have made an extraordinary recovery as they reconnect with the world around them.
YouTube Source
11. Beyond Treason
For more information or to purchase this dvd visit:
http://www.beyondtreason.com/
YouTube Source
12. Trace Amounts
Trace Amounts is an investigative documentary exploring the link between the mercury based preservative thimerosal and the autism epidemic. The film further explores the alarming rate that the world population is being exposed to mercury through industrial emissions and the unsafe use and disposal of dental silver fillings and florescent light bulbs.
YouTube Source
13. Why We Don’t Vaccinate
A comprehensive protection from dangerous diseases? Vaccinations are
classed as the best protection that modern medicine has to offer. But there
is increasing proof and indications that show that the dangers from which
the vaccinations are supposed to protect us from, are totally disproportionate
to the vaccines side effects….
We Don’t Vaccinate – Myth and Reality of the Vaccination Campaigns (first 36 mins of the movie) from WIN – Wir Impfen Nicht! on Vimeo.
14. Autism Yesterday
Autism is reversible.
Movie was produced by Lisa and JB Handley.
[Uploaded with permission of the producers]
YouTube Source
15. Denmark Documentary on HPV Vaccine
“De vaccinerede piger” (with English Subs) for international viewing
YouTube Source
16. Vaxxed (trailer)
Source
17. Man Made Epidemic
Filmmaker Natalie Beer sets off on a journey around the world speaking to leading doctors, scientists and families to find out the truth about the autism epidemic and whether or not vaccines have a role to play. The film explores the common misconception that autism is solely genetic and looks into scientists concerns over recent years about environmental factors such as medication and pesticides which continue to leave our children with physical and neurological damage.
YouTube Source
18. 50 Cents A Dose
A father revisits the autism study in which his oldest daughter participated: the study on Thimerosal (a mercury based medical product).
During this process, the story breaks on the CDC whistleblower, who confesses to the national cover-up on childhood injuries: a seminal event, on which the mainstream media remains silent. What begins as a lighthearted rumination on parenthood – ends as a discovery of scandal, and a nation in denial.
Watch Trailer
Bonus Features
B. Hooker, PhD “bonus feature” full interview 2013 from Detour Pix on Vimeo.
19. Direct Orders
“Direct Order”: An Award-Winning Documentary Tells the Story of Members of the Military who were Ordered Against their Will to Take the Controversial Anthrax Vaccine.
YouTube Source
20. Dtap – Vaccine Roulette
YouTube Source
21. Truthstream News: About All Those Vaccines
(Truthstream Media.com) In this special double episode of Truthstream News, Aaron and Melissa take on the CDC whistleblower and MMR-autism scandal (and that’s just for starters) — exposing the lies and obfuscations that have hurt untold numbers. Recently released audio of the good doc has now been leaked where he says he would NEVER shoot his pregnant wife up with a thimerosal-containing vaccine…
YouTube Source
22. Hear The Silence
Drama about Dr Andrew Wakefield & the parents of vaccine injured children.
First aired on British Channel Five in 2003.
YouTube Source
23. Cervical Cancer Vaccine – Is It Safe?
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What do you think of the list – did we miss any? Comment and don’t forget to share!
Image made by Natural Blaze via pixabay
This article (23 Must See Vaccine Documentaries to Watch and Share) was contributed to Natural Blaze by Britny Murray and appeared here first. It can be republished with attribution/links under a Share-alike Creative Commons licence.One of Wes Montgomery’s signature tunes, West Coast Blues, is a captivating take on the blues form. Drawing on classic blues elements, West Coast Blues is constructed in a way that is both unique and a joy to listen to.
This three part lesson series will take a look at improvising over this classic tune using Wes Montgomery licks.
Although you’ll be using West Coast Blues as a vehicle for learning the material, the licks in this lesson aren’t restricted to a single tune. Every lick you learn here can be played in countless other Jazz tunes. It’s highly encouraged that you apply the licks in as many musical situations as possible.
In order to help you apply this new material to new situations, each lick will be played over a specific chord or chord progression common to the Jazz music genre.
Part 1 of this lesson series will look exclusively at Wes Montgomery licks played over dominant 7 chords. The dominant 7 chord is arguably the most important and frequently occurring chord in Jazz, making it a great point of departure for learning the sounds of Wes Montgomery.
Taking the steps to really get that Wes Montgomery sound will involve learning the material slowly, internalizing concepts and playing in different contexts.
Before jumping right in, let’s take a look at the overall form of West Coast Blues and how it’s both similar and different from a standard 12-bar blues form.
The changes you see below are from the solo section of West Coast Blues.
The first thing you’ll notice is that the song is in 6/4 time. If you don’t have any experience playing in 6/4 time, by the end of the lesson you’ll have enough vocabulary to get playing.
Secondly, in bar 2, instead of playing the IV7 chord, the tune goes to an Ab7 chord, which is a bVII7.
The rest of the tune from here features chromatic II-V progressions almost exclusively until the turnaround. This is a great tune for working on II-V’s because of the frequency that they occur and the keys that they take place in.
The last important concept to digest in the changes to West Coast Blues is the turnaround. In the last 2 bars of the tune, the turnaround takes a different harmonic approach to that of most Jazz standards.
One way to look at the turnaround is as a series of tritone substitutions for a VI-II-V progression in Bb.
In Bb, a VI – II – V progression is G7 – Cm7 – F7.
Using a tritone substitution for each chord in the progression will give you the changes to the turnaround in West Coast Blues.
Db is a tritone away from G (VI)
Gb is a tritone away from C (II)
B is a tritone away from F (V)
To make the ending even spicier, maj7 chords are used instead of 7 chords. You might recognize almost the exact same turnaround here as found in Tadd Dameron’s popular bebop tune Ladybird.
Now, how do you approach learning a tune like this? Whenever you start improvising over a tune with more than 1 new harmonic component, it’s best to break the process down into manageable pieces.
It’s for this reason that this lesson is in 3 parts. The first part will take a look at licks that you can use over the first 3 bars, the Bb7 and the Ab7.
To learn even more licks after this lesson, pick up a free copy of my 64-page eBook, The Jazz Guitar Primer, here.
Dominant 7 Wes Montgomery Licks
As mentioned in the introduction, the first part of the lesson will feature Wes Montgomery licks over dominant 7 chords.
You can start from the first lick or quickly jump from lick to lick using the menu below.
Pentatonic Blues Lick
The first lick you’ll work through is shown below. Be sure to check out the video as an additional reference.
This is a great example of a really strong bluesy lick used in a Jazz setting. The lick features notes of the pentatonic scale, including the blues note, ending with a chromatic approach to the 3rd of Bb7 (D), and the root note of Bb.
After you’ve learned this lick, play it through as many keys and areas of the guitar as possible. Following this process will ensure the lick will make it into your regular playing vocabulary.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my lesson on learning Jazz Guitar licks, here. The lesson goes into detail about how to properly internalize and apply licks in Jazz.
Mixolydian Lick
This next lick may not seem very interesting at the get go, but it’s great for connecting ideas and to bring out different modal sounds.
The idea behind this lick is to simply play, note for note, the notes in the mixolyidan scale. However, instead of starting on the Bb root, you’ll start from the 6th scale degree, which is a G.
If you’re wondering why starting form the G doesn’t classify the scale as Phrygian, it’s because of the root note of the chord you’re playing over. The bass player would be playing a Bb at this point, bringing out the Bb7 Harmony. Your ears will hear Bb as the root, and therefore when you play the G, it will sound like the 6th degree of Bb, rather than the root of the Phrygian scale.
13th Chord Lick 1
Lick #3 is an excellent example of bringing out the 13th in a 7 chord while still maintaining the harmony of the 7th chord.
Starting from the Bb root, the lick progresses up a major 3rd to D, but then jumps right to the 13th (G) instead of completing a Bb major arpeggio.
The second half of this lick features a chromatic approach to the 3rd of Bb (D), finally ending with the root.
If you’re new to the idea of chromatic approaches, essentially they are notes that are progressing towards a particular note (in this case the D) in a chromatic fashion (1 fret a time). So, in this example, Eb and Db are approaching the D note on beat 5.
If you want to learn more about chromatic approach notes, you can read my lesson on the subject through the link.
Maj7 Substitution Lick
This next lick is a great example of using triplets in a Bebop setting. Check out the tab and video below in order to learn the lick.
The lick itself involves a bit of a substitution. Wes combines the notes of Abmaj7 (Ab, C, Eb, G) and Bb7 (Bb, D, F, Ab) in order to create a line that highlights both the 11 (Eb) and 13 (G) of the Bb7 chord.
Because of the use of triplets, this lick is sometimes demanding in terms of speed. Start slowly and really get the timing down before playing faster.
13th Chord Lick 2
The last single line lick you’ll work through is another great line that brings out some of the extensions of 7th chord.
Beginning on the 9th of Bb7 (C), this lick dances around the chord tones of the Bb7 chord and the 13th of Bb7 (G).
Using a bit of syncopation in the rhythm, Wes creates a captivating line that you can add to your vocabulary.
Octaves Lick
No Wes Montgomery lesson is complete without a lick featuring octaves. Use the video and tab below to get the notes for this lick.
Using nothing more than the Blues scale (the pentatonic scale with an augmented 4th), Wes creates a versatile line that you can use over any dominant 7 chord in Jazz.
If you’re new to octaves, play slowly and get a feel for the fingerings before trying to speed up the lick.
Once you’ve completed all 6 of these dominant 7 licks, make sure to play them in all 12 keys and in as many positions on the guitar as possible.
As I mentioned earlier in the article, nothing helps to internalize new solo material better than learning a given lick in as many ways as possible on the instrument. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out this lesson on learning Jazz guitar licks that goes into detail about the process of learning solos on the guitar.
That’s all for today, but don’t forget that this lesson is a 3 part series with II-V licks, turnaround licks, and a complete solo in the style of Wes Montgomery on the way. Be sure to check your inbox to get the next part of the lesson series when it’s released.
If you haven’t already, you can subscribe to stay updated on new lessons and get a free 64-page eBook, The Jazz Guitar Primer, here.
Finally, I love to hear your comments and any questions you might have about the lessons and Jazz guitar. So, please leave a comment in the section below and we’ll be in touch soon!Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Feb. 24, 2016, 8:41 PM GMT / Updated Feb. 24, 2016, 8:41 PM GMT By Lucy Bayly
Deutsche Bank advised investors on Tuesday to sell their stock in Chipotle, fearing the burrito chain that built its reputation on high-quality, freshly prepared ingredients will suffer a “permanent loss of customers” after a series of foodborne illness outbreaks that affected more than 500 people across 14 states.
Chipotle retrained all its employees earlier this month after receiving certification from the Centers for Disease Control that the outbreaks were over. The company also reconfigured each store’s food preparation setup and moved some tasks such as vegetable washing and cheese shredding to a central kitchen instead of handling them at individual restaurants.
A Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant. JASON REDMOND / AFP - Getty Images, file
But this may not be enough to convince Chipotle's once-loyal customer base — or its investors — to return, said Deutsche Bank, noting in its report that, “While there has not been evidence of any new incidences, the question still exists on whether or not Chipotle could weather another outbreak, especially as management now claims its supply chain and processes are the ‘safest’ in the industry.”
Despite all these changes, customers who do remain loyal to the burrito chain will find one thing that hasn’t been touched: the menu, which has remained exactly the same for the past 23 years, other than the addition of tofu in 2014. Though the chain prides itself on its “focused” menu, Deutsche Bank cited menu fatigue as another reason in its decision to downgrade the company’s stock.
However, Chipotle fans insisted on social media that the menu is one of the main reasons they return to the restaurant.
"We come back three times a week because it's the best thing ever and we don't want a thing to change,” wrote one. Another admitted proudly, "I've ordered the same thing every time since 8th grade." Others suggested there were additional methods of ensuring repeat visits. "How about a loyalty program... Nothing says I'll probably come back like 4 of 10 stamps."FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas - The Fort Bend County Narcotics Task Force, which is a Houston HIDTA Initiative (high intensity drug trafficking area), and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) recently finished an investigation targeting members of the Kream Clicc Gang for narcotics trafficking and money laundering.
“I am proud of how well all the different agencies involved in this operation have worked together to take down some pretty bad people,” said Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls.
Investigators said members of the gang were using the postal service to ship hydroponic marijuana from California to Texas. Over the course of the investigation, over 1,000 pounds of narcotics were trafficked and drug proceeds in excess of $300,000 were illegally laundered, according to reports.
“We work closely with our partners in law enforcement to arrest and prosecute those who misuse the U.S. mail for criminal purposes,” Adrian Gonzalez, of the USPIS, Houston Division, said.
On Oct. 20, members of the investigation conducted an orchestrated raid at several locations. The raids took place at multiple residences in Fort Bend County and Harris County. Approximately 85 pounds of marijuana, 2,000 pills of Xanax, 13 firearms (three confirmed stolen), body armor, cash, jewelry and drug contraband indicative of manufacturing, packaging and distributing illicit narcotics were seized, police said.
The following were arrested and charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, money laundering and delivery of marijuana: Emekwanem Biosah, 26, of Houston; Mmadu Biosah, 24, of Houston; Joshua Biosah, 21, of Houston; Vision Nwabufo, 21, of Houston; Anthony Bacot, 24, of Houston; Sadiq Amusan, 22, of the Richmond area; Keith Emordi, 22, of Houston; and Rashard Martin, 21, of Houston. Bacot and Emordi remain in custody at the Fort Bend County Jail.
2016 Click2Houston/KPRC2Get 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
A rare collection of 1980s pop music memorabilia is being auctioned off in Manchester.
Vintage equipment, vinyl and even clothing relating to cult electro band Depeche Mode will go under the hammer in Hulme.
The vast collection, more than 400 lots, belongs to the band’s former keyboard player Alan Wilder. The entire memorabilia could fetch up to £200,000.
Fans from as far a field as Germany and Sweden have expressed an interest in bidding, according to Sale-based Omega Auctions.
Highlights of the sale include the actual drum kit used during Depeche Mode’s Devotional tour in 1993.
Clothing worn by band members, videos, rare vinyl and a vintage Knight Gretsch guitar used by founder member and lyricist Martin Gore also feature.
The auction will be held at the Zion Arts Centre on Stretford Road on September 3.
Wilder, 52, who left Depeche Mode in 1995, said the collection spanned his entire musical career – before, during and after his association with the band.
It is the largest ever mass collection and sale relating to Depeche Mode and fans can bid for items live over the internet at the auction.
Wilder, now writing and composing for his musical project Recoil, said the auction arose from a New Year Resolution to reorganise his studio.
He said: “My needs have altered a bit since laptops and soft synthesisers have come to the fore and even though I’m emotionally attached, passing on some vintage gear and historical items seemed like a good way to start.
“Since my teenage years I’ve been an avid collector of interesting and unique musical items.
“I decided that since I was having a clear out, why not include some extra memorabilia and pass on some of the stuff I have collected over the years, like gold and platinum award discs, leather clothing, rare acetates and test pressings, artwork, posters and tour merchandise.
“The actual sorting and cataloguing process brought back great memories and I was able to re-live some key moments, which I had inevitably forgotten about, reminding me of how lucky I have been to have enjoyed such a career, doing something I’m passionate about.”
Depeche Mode had 48 singles chart in the UK – including Just Can’t Get Enough, Everything Counts, Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence – and have sold more than 100 million album and singles worldwide.
Depeche Mode lots being tested on internet auction site eBay – including drum sticks and albums – have already attracted huge sums.
Wilder is due to attend the auction in person and the entire catalogue is available to view at the arts centre on September 2, the day before the sale.
Auctioneer Paul Fairweather said: “I am a huge fan myself and it will be a privilege to sell the items on Alan’s behalf. It is a unique collection.”
A similar auction of memorabilia relating to famed Salford rock band Joy Division is also being planned.
For details visit www.omega auctions.co.uk.For over 12 months, Stan Larkin changed into a heartless man – literally. The 25 year old survived without his coronary heart in his body– what was keeping him alive was a device he wore in a backpack, for 1 and a half of years, after his biological coronary heart become eliminated, the subsequent net reported.
“They were both very, very ill”
Familial cardiomyopathy runs in Larkin’s circle of relatives, and may reason heart failure without warning. Each Larkin and his brother, Dominique has obtained artificial hearts, SynCardia devices, even as they waited to be a transplanted with a healthy heart.
“They have been each very, very sick while we first met them in our intensive care units,” said the surgeon behind the transplant, Jonathan Haft, from the college of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Centre. “We wanted to get them heart transplants, but we didn’t suppose we had enough time. There’s simply something about their precise anatomic scenario wherein other technology wasn’t going to work.”
The SynCardia device is 6 kgs, and pumps oxygen via the body by way of a connection with the vascular system.
Dominique changed into placed with a donor within weeks and had a successful surgical procedure. But Stan waited 555 days – doctors have now been amazed at just how long he controlled to carry round his synthetic heart everywhere, to even a recreation of pickup basketball. Stan obtained a new heart last month, and has made full recuperation.(Image: ChinaFotoPress via Getty)
As the Arctic warms, extremely cold winters are becoming more likely in Eurasia. Recent studies had suggested that a warmer North Pole would be linked to colder, more extreme winters in Eurasia. Now a study based on climate models of Eurasian weather suggest colder than normal winters will be twice as likely to happen. But there is a twist: the effect is unlikely to last.
The jet stream, is a fast-moving flow of air that sweeps from west to east and normally keeps Arctic weather systems swirling around the pole. Warmer than usual air over the Arctic is thought to weaken it, allowing these cold weather systems to creep south, and leading to blocking events where systems stay in one place for long periods of time rather than flowing east as normally happens. The latest study, published this week, suggests that climate change is making extreme winter systems twice as likely to settle over central Eurasia.
Masato Mori of the University of Tokyo and colleagues focused their climate modelling on central Eurasia – the region around southern Russia and northern China – and found that Arctic warming due to climate change was doubling the chances of extreme winters.
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The weather systems of western Europe are linked to the jet stream too, and Adam Scaife of the UK Met Office says the effects are likely to be similar if slightly less pronounced in this region. He says Mori’s study adds some strength to the proposed link between Arctic melting and cold Eurasian winters, though more work is needed to confirm it.
Mori and colleagues then pushed the analysis one step further and used their models to explore whether the cold Eurasian winter trend was likely to last. Their models suggest it won’t. The Arctic could have no sea ice during the autumn by some time in the 2030s, says Scaife, at which point things will change. “The key thing here is that they argue that climate change wins in the long run,” he says. So while winters may be cold for now, it might not be all that long before they follow the global warming trend.
Journal reference: Nature Geoscience, DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2277Bloodsucking bugs may have been around for a lot longer than we thought. Newly discovered fossils show that bugs have been feeding on blood since the height of the dinosaur era. One of the fossilised bugs found seems to have died just after feasting on blood.
Dong Ren of Capital Normal University in Beijing and his colleagues studied three fossilised bugs from China’s fossil-rich Yixian Formation. They realised that the insects belonged to a hitherto-unknown family of true bugs that lived in the early Cretaceous period, around 130 million years ago.
Chemical analysis showed that the three bug fossils contained a lot of iron, suggesting they drank blood. It’s unclear if they fed on dinosaurs, or other large animals.
Previously, the oldest-known blood-feeding bug was from 100 million years ago. The new fossils push the record back 30 million years.
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Blood feeding has evolved independently at least twice amongst true bugs. Such insects can carry diseases from host to host, harming animals that may be hundreds of times their size. Ren says it’s not clear what, if any, diseases the Cretaceous bugs might have carried.
Feeding on blood offered the insects a high-quality, protein-rich diet, says Gordon Hamilton of Keele University in the UK.
Other insects like midges probably evolved blood-feeding before bugs, says David Grimaldi of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. There are fossils of seemingly bloodsucking midges from as much as 230 million years ago.
Journal reference: Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.045
Since this article was first published on 25 July 2014, the distinction between earliest bloodsucking bugs and insects has been clarified.Shop called Friday for me to come pick it up. Upon my ocd inspection I found the following.1. Rough paint edge on the hood (Will be fixed)2. A very tiny black spot under the clear on the drivers door (It's so small if it doesn't buff out it's no big deal at all because the guy said he'd have to respray that side)3. Clear coat cracked on the rear bumper when it was put back on and was hard to see but I caught it (Rear bumper has to be repainted and re cleared and I was told 100% paint match)4. Run in the clear on the bottom corner of the passenger side door and passenger fender (Will be fixed)5. Very slight orange peel that I commented on and the guy who painted it said once he fixes everything he will block and color sand the car and buff it out to a mirror shine.Besides those small issues it looks FANTASTIC! They sprayed 4 coats of clear on the car and when you touch the paint it just feels amazing and overall looks dripping wet. So hopefully I get her back tomorrow or Tuesday.Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic... I don't own a fancy camera.The question that has been on many of your minds has been answered: will Omen have a back story? Yes, yes he will. The Herald of Gargos is here. Give it a read.
Omen is a blue-hued demon—an Astral being created by the Shadow Lord known as Gargos. Proclaiming proudly to all that he is the “Herald of Gargos,” he serves his master obsequiously. Omen was formed from the very thoughts of his maker, for in the Astral Plane certain powerful creatures like Gargos—a member of a race of demigods called Ichoriens—can force reality to bend to their imaginings; and through sheer force of will create “living” beings.
Dog-like, servile, and unquestioning, Omen gladly slays anyone who stands in the way of his master. He has no compassion for humans whom he sees as lesser beings. Omen was promised his own kingdom here on Earth once Gargos rules the planet. And Omen’s first slaves will be the Killer Instinct heroes, and anyone else who has the audacity to stand up to Gargos. Omen will torture them and inhabit their bodies…steal their thoughts and crush their souls.
When Omen was tasked with inhabiting the body of Jago (after Gargos had tricked the monk into opening his soul to him in the guise of the Tiger Spirit) he possessed the noble warrior and controlled him like a puppet. Omen forced the monk to traverse the globe, carrying out brutal attacks on anyone that Gargos believed would stand in his way; and with every victory he channeled vast amounts of shadow energy back to the Astral Plane for Gargos to wax in power.
For the first time in his existence, Omen was free of the Shadow Lord’s leash, and like a wild dog set loose in a rabbit hutch, Omen relished his opportunity to spread chaos in the name of his master. But then Jago started fighting back against Omen, usurping control |
charged atoms over extended periods of time - is world-wide unique to the GSI storage ring, and is opening up a range of scientific investigations into the fundamental properties of matter.
Source and top image of Professor Phil Walker: University of SurreyPresident Donald Trump (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
This week I watched a press conference with President Donald Trump and a room full of the international press corps, and as one who has been watching presidential press conferences for the better part of my 80 years, I'll have to say that I've never seen anything like it.
First of all, Trump totally controlled the event from start to finish, called out media outlets for
what he considered dishonest coverage, refuted stories, networks and reporters, admonishing them to be honest in their coverage and just report the news instead of coloring it.
It seems most politicians fear the media, or at the very least they are afraid of offending their sensibilities resulting in negative coverage. Not so with Trump, who spoke his mind, refused to let the reporters gain any kind of control or authority and limited their questions when he felt they had said enough.
The Washington press corps has become a kind of entity of its own over the years, unchecked, and unrivaled, wielding the power of the pen over politicians who spin, twist and flavor the truth in an effort to curry favor and spring occasional leaks to stay in their good graces.
In this age when social media has far more traffic than most news media sites the press corps is no longer the only game in town, and Trump has made an art form out of going around the press and straight to the people without his statements and intentions being filtered through the mill of partisan opinion so prevalent in the media these days.
There was an instance that caught my attention yesterday, and it’s a good example of media bias and the failure to report the whole truth.
Reporter April Ryan asked the president if he intended to include the Black Congressional Caucus in his plans to help the inner cities. He replied that he'd been trying to set up a meeting with Elijah Cummings and that Cummings wouldn't meet with him for political reasons, whereupon he said in tongue-in-cheek fashion "Would you like to set up a meeting?" It was an obvious facetious remark meaning, "I've tried, do you want to give it a shot?"
I watched ABC evening news last night, and they tried to make it sound as if the president was actually trying to use reporters to set up meetings with Congress. And the name of Elijah Cummings, the focal point of the whole conversation, was never even mentioned.
I, for one, liked the press conference conducted in the way it was done. The media likes to play "gotcha" with loaded questions and pulling at inconsequential threads that tend to take the attention off of important issues the public needs to be kept abreast of, trying to lose some scrap of sensationalism many times resulting in asking the same question over and over again.
I also like the fact that a president, or anyone else for that matter, can take their case straight to the people in concise, uncomplicated language as often as they see fit.
Another thing I like about this White House approach to media is that the crème de la crème is basically treated like everybody else, with reporters from smaller circulation, heartland publications being called on, and even a Skype capability being used so those who can't be there in person can participate.
Of course, big media – used to being treated like royalty – really don't like this, being treated like a part of the press corps rather than the privileged scions they consider themselves to be.
It’s a new day in news coverage, and it can no longer be controlled by the handful of networks and major city newspapers.
It's scattered all over the place from social media to a president who conducts his pressers in his own way and is not afraid of the Fourth Estate, not a bit.
What do you think?
Pray for our troops, our police and the peace of Jerusalem
God Bless America
Charlie Daniels
Charlie Daniels is a legendary American singer, song writer, guitarist, and fiddler famous for his contributions to country and southern rock music. Daniels has been active as a singer since the early 1950s. He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on January 24, 2008.
DONATEYuusen Shoujo - Plug-in Girl Completed 4.66
Author: kaya8
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From MangaHelpers: Six years ago, Tsukihiko was caught in an assassination attempt on a little girl, Sami, when he attempted to be her shield. This incident nearly killed him and the girl together,...more
From MangaHelpers: Six years ago, Tsukihiko was caught in an assassination attempt on a little girl, Sami, when he attempted to be her shield. This incident nearly killed him and the girl together, but the little girl was the daughter of an extremely powerful family. With its vast amount of resources, the family was able to keep both Tsukihiko and Sami alive by recreating both of their bodies with cyborg technology. This has forced Sami to permanently rely on wired connection to her life sustaining computer. On the other hand, Tsukihiko has become a cyborg “Knight,“ sworn to protect Sami from harms way. [DrCoke]
Read Now Add to LibraryRecently I received an email from a woman who wanted me to do something about chefs using nuts in desserts. Her husband has an acute life-threatening allergy to peanuts, and she was furious that so few sweet things were open to him. I replied politely that, while I was sympathetic to her husband’s condition, she had to be realistic. The condition affects around 1% of the population and expecting chefs to design their menus to cater to such a tiny minority was a victory of hope over expectation. Refreshingly, she admitted she hadn’t considered how few people were affected. Her husband would just have to reconcile himself to the default of vanilla ice cream, which may be dull but, all things considered, is better than dying of anaphylactic shock.
If only all the people who whinged at me about the perceived failings of restaurants were so reasonable, but they’re not. My inbox groans under the weight of “what about my needs?” fury. There are the ones who complain about chefs having the temerity to open restaurants full of hard surfaces into which they then pipe the crack and ricochet of noisy music, rendering conversation all but impossible. There are those who rant, with the boggled-eyed fury of the blasphemed-against pope, about the iniquity of seating that hasn’t been designed specifically with their arse in mind. How bloody dare they? There are those driven to distraction by small print and low lighting, by the lack of a serious beer menu, an unwillingness to cater to small children, or a refusal to install a basement torture garden for passing members of the BDSM community. I may have made one of these up.
As it happens, I hate loud music and hard surfaces. My late mother suffered from age-related hearing loss, which put certain much-loved restaurants out of bounds. I dislike uncomfortable chairs, given that I regard sitting down as a key part of my skill set, and get exasperated by having to power up my smartphone’s torch so I can read the damn menu.
But don’t worry. I have found a solution to all these problems. I don’t return to those restaurants. I withdraw my business and move on to somewhere else, where the chairs are upholstered, the surfaces soft and the menu printed in 24 point. And generally, do you know what happens? Absolutely nothing. Those places get on just fine without me. They have identified their customer base and are giving them exactly what they want. It just happens that the customer base doesn’t include me. Because here’s the thing: restaurants are not social services. Beyond the legal requirement for disability access, to comply with hygiene rules and post information on allergens, a restaurant does not have to give a damn about you and your needs.
There is no group that needs to hear this more than the non-meat eaters. You should read their emails, filled with self-righteous indignation. How dare these “so-called” chefs not cater more imaginatively to those who are foregoing meat? Why do they ignore us? I’ll tell you why: because they can. Restaurants are businesses. If they thought they were missing a commercial trick by not catering for all those lovely, wistful vegans, they’d be right there smearing aubergines with miso until the non-lactating cows come home. Sure, we could all do with more imaginative meat-free options, for a variety of reasons. But regarding them as a right is nuts. And if you’re allergic to the latter, you know what to do. Go read someone else’s column.Insider: Projecting the Colts' 2015 starting lineup
Buy Photo Former Texans WR Andre Johnson should slide right into the Colts' starting lineup. (Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)
Colts players are getting ready to return to Indianapolis for the official start of the team's offseason program next week.
We're a long way from opening day, but the team is already taking shape after an offseason full of comings and goings.
So, here's an interesting exercise: Let's take an early (premature?) look at how the starting lineup is shaping up. Where are the biggest strengths? The weaknesses?
This will almost certainly change, but it's a good starting point to build on as we continue toward the draft and the rest of the offseason. Be sure to read and note my comments before forming an opinion.
(* -- denotes new starter)
OFFENSE
Left tackle: Anthony Castonzo – As reliable a player as the Colts have on either side of the ball.
Left guard: Jack Mewhort – He was thrown into the fire as a rookie last season and more than held his own. Looks for steps forward in 2015.
Center: Khaled Holmes – I mean, I guess. Coach Chuck Pagano seems uncommitted about who will ultimately line up here. And after the revolving door of three starters last season, anything seems possible.
Right guard: Todd Herremans* – This is a pure projection. Herremans is 32 and the Eagles seemed ready to move on, so he'll have to earn it. We'll see whether Hugh Thornton, Joe Reitz or CFL signee Ben Heenan can make things interesting.
Right tackle: Gosder Cherilus – This might be an overreaction on my part, but I haven't heard a lot of straight answers about Cherilus' health. He's coming off multiple injuries and had his knee scoped in January. This bears watching.
Buy Photo T.Y. Hilton is in line for a nice pay raise. (Photo: Matt Detrich/The Star)
Receiver: T.Y. Hilton – The guy had 1,400-plus yards last season. So, yeah, he's a starter.
Receiver: Andre Johnson* – It will be interesting to watch how the Colts use Johnson. I expect he'll be something of a possession receiver, which he's perfectly capable of doing. He's a huge target, and that's a big part of the job description.
Running back: Frank Gore* – Another big offseason addition here. I suspect Gore will get the bulk of the carries but look for him to share the load with Boom Herron or, perhaps, a draft pick.
Tight end: Coby Fleener – He's coming off a breakout season in which he proved an increasingly difficult matchup for defenses. Look for coordinator Pep Hamilton to keep devising ways to take advantage.
Tight end: Dwayne Allen – We know what this guy's capable of, but this is a big year for him. He's got to stay healthy. Injuries have marred his last two seasons. Can he stay on the field?
Quarterback: Andrew Luck – The only suspense here is whether he returns from the offseason with or without a neck beard.
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DEFENSE
Defensive end: Kendall Langford* – The Colts basically supplanted Cory Redding with Langford, who has almost the same body type but is younger and still has a bit of upside (he's returning to the 3-4 defense for which he's a better fit).
Nose tackle: Josh Chapman – Last season, his first as a starter, was not his best work. This smells like a position that could be targeted in the draft. Stay tuned.
Defensive tackle: Art Jones – This guarantees nothing, but Jones was extremely disappointed about how 2014 went. A high ankle sprain robbed him of seven games and limited him in several others. He'll be looking to bounce back in a big way.
Rush linebacker: Trent Cole* – This is a position where I suspect we'll see multiple guys play. Cole is being paid like a guy expected to play lots of snaps, but Robert Mathis is lurking. He's not close to 100 percent though, so we'll make no assumptions. Jonathan Newsome is back, too.
Inside linebacker: D'Qwell Jackson – Last season wasn't Jackson's most consistent, but on the whole, it was solid. Jackson would certainly benefit from improvement on the defensive line.
Inside linebacker: Jerrell Freeman – Freeman took a backward step last season, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt because of injuries. He's got to rally this fall, especially after the signing of Broncos free agent Nate Irving.
Buy Photo Colts OLB Erik Walden had a bounce back season in 2014-15. (Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)
Strong-side linebacker: Erik Walden – He's coming off one of the best seasons of his career, so this shouldn't be a surprise. But I think it's time to start looking at Bjoern Werner as a strong-side player, because he's not a natural pass rusher. The Colts have had this conversation, so keep an eye out.
Right cornerback: Vontae Davis – He made his first Pro Bowl last season. The goal this season should be All-Pro.
Strong safety: Mike Adams – The Colts hit the lottery with this late-June signing last year. Whether they can get another Pro Bowl season out of a 34-year safety seems a long shot, but he's solid.
Free safety: Dwight Lowery* – There's not exactly a lot of competition for this former Atlanta Falcon, so look for safety to be a target of the Colts in the upcoming draft.
Left cornerback: Greg Toler -- He stayed healthy and battled back from some uneven performances to register what was, in my opinion, his finest season.
Special teams
Place kicker: Adam Vinatieri – It's season No. 20 and the old man is still knocking them through the uprights. In other news, water is wet, fire is hot.
Punter/kickoffs: Pat McAfee – He earned himself a few margaritas on the beach (see his Twitter timeline) with his 2014 Pro Bowl season.
Return specialist: Josh Cribbs – This is a spot I think we should watch. Cribbs' ball security late last season was a legitimate problem. For every inevitable impressive return, he seems to counter with a poor decision that hurts the team. Right now, options aren't abundant outside of maybe Jeff Demps.
Follow Star reporter Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.
Read or Share this story: http://indy.st/1yykKnaPhoto Gallery: Science Breakthroughs 2012 2012 was an exciting year of scientific breakthroughs. Editors of the journal Science have put together a top-ten list, featured here courtesy of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Share on Facebook
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Each year, editors at Science magazine compile a list of the year’s top achievements in science and technology.For 2012, their top pick was the long-anticipated confirmation of the existence of the so-called "God particle," which is believed to be a building block of the universe.The confirmation of the existence of a sub-atomic particle known as the Higgs boson was named breakthrough of the year by the prestigious Science magazine.The long-sought-after particle - believed to impart mass to all other matter in the universe - was made by researchers at the CERN particle physics lab near Geneva, using the $5.5 billion atom smasher called the Large Hadron Collider.In a podcast interview on the magazine’s website, Science deputy news editor Robert Coontz said the discovery fills an important gap in our understanding of the physical structure of the universe.“The Higgs boson is a fundamental particle that completes physicists’ standard model, which describes all the fundamental particles and the forces with which they interact.”Coontz said the discovery, first hypothesized by physicist Peter Higgs 40 years ago, may spark a new round of discoveries in particle physics.“That’s what the scientists at CERN are going to be looking for," he said, "that beyond the standard model lies this theory; one of them is called ‘super symmetry’ in which every particle in the standard model has another particle that hasn’t been discovered yet.”Another major breakthrough listed by Science was further proving the existence of so-called anti-matter particles which annihilate themselves.These elusive, short-lived particles may have practical applications in information technology, and the development of the so-called quantum computer.“Computers that are based on things called qubits instead of bits," Coontz said. "So, it could well be that these will turn out to be the key to these super-duper computers unlike anything else we have, and that will be a breakthrough of the year, if it happens. This year all they’ve got is quasi particles that have these properties.”Quantum computers would be vastly more efficient at storing and processing data than today’s silicon-chip computers, according to Coontz.An ancient finger bone found in a Siberian cave, believed to be from an extinct early human species known as Denisovan, made the Science list in 2011 and again this year.Last year, DNA was extracted from the fossilized bone. This year, researchers managed to sequence the complete genome using a new technique that revealed as much genetic detail as could be obtained from a living person.The genome allowed scientists to construct the profile of a three-year-old girl with brown hair, brown eyes and brown skin who lived about 80,000 years ago, who had a similar genetic makeup to people who today live in parts of Asia and the Pacific.“They find out that some of them have Denisovan genes in them and that means that our ancestors interbred with some of them,” Coonz said.The research team that previously showed how the mind could be used to move a cursor on a computer screen demonstrated an even greater feat in 2012.They showed that people paralyzed by injuries or disease could use their minds to move an electro-mechanical arm, with their thought-impulses conducted over wires surgically implanted in their brains.“The progress that took place in 2012 is very hopeful, and I’m sure that we’ll see a lot more," Coonz said. "Now that they’ve managed to make this technology work, it will just get cheaper and better and more graceful and more useful as time goes by.”Among the year’s other major advances recognized by the Science editors was the ingenious landing system that enabled NASA’s car-sized Curiosity rover to set down, flawlessly, on the surface of Mars.Also, there's a new instrument which gives scientists the ability to alter genes in fish, toads and other animals.Additionally, the list includes a laser that's one billion times brighter than conventional x-rays. The scanning technology was used to determine the structure of an enzyme required by the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness, raising hope for new treatments.Image caption Optical fibres implanted in a mouse's brain activated memory forming cells
False memories have been implanted into mice, scientists say.
A team was able to make the mice wrongly associate a benign environment with a previous unpleasant experience from different surroundings.
The researchers conditioned a network of neurons to respond to light, making the mice recall the unpleasant environment.
Reporting in Science, they say it could one day shed light into how false memories occur in humans.
The brains of genetically engineered mice were implanted with optic fibres in order to deliver pulses of light to their brain. Known as optogenetics, this technique is able to make individual neurons respond to light.
Unreliable memory
Our memory changes every single time it's being recorded. That's why we can incorporate new information into old memories and this is how a false memory can form... Dr Xu Liu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Just like in mice, our memories are stored in collections of cells, and when events are recalled we reconstruct parts of these cells - almost like re-assembling small pieces of a puzzle.
It has been well documented that human memory is highly unreliable, first highlighted by a study on eyewitness testimonies in the 70s. Simple changes in how a question was asked could influence the memory a witness had of an event such as a car crash.
When this was brought to public attention, eyewitness testimonies alone were no longer used as evidence in court. Many people wrongly convicted on memory statements were later exonerated by DNA evidence.
Xu Liu of the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics and one the lead authors of the study, said that when mice recalled a false memory, it was indistinguishable from the real memory in the way it drove a fear response in the memory forming cells of a mouse's brain.
How a memory was implanted in a mouse Image caption Then they put the animal in a different environment (illustrated as the red box) and delivered light into the brain to activate these labeled cells A mouse was put in one environment (blue box) and the brain cells encoding memory were labelled in this environment (white circles)
These cells were then made responsive to light
The animal was placed in a different environment (the red box) and light was delivered into the brain to activate these labelled cells
This induced the recall of the first environment - the blue box. While the animal was recalling the first environment, they also received mild foot shocks
Later when the mouse was put back into the first environment, it showed behavioural signs of fear, indicating it had formed a false fear memory for the first environment, where it was never shocked in reality
The mouse is the closest animal scientists can easily use to analyse the brain, as though simpler, its structure and basic circuitry is very similar to the human brain.
Studying neurons in a mouse's brain could therefore help scientists further understand how similar structures in the human brain work.
"In the English language there are only 26 letters, but the combinations of letters make unlimited words and sentences, this is also true for memories," Dr Liu told BBC News.
Evolving memories
"There are so many brain cells and for each individual memory, different combinations of small populations of cells are activated."
These differing combinations of cells could partly explain why memories are not static like a photograph, but constantly evolving, he added.
Erasing memories? Mice have previously been trained to believe they were somewhere else, "a bit like the feeling of deja-vu we sometimes get", said Rosamund Langston from Dundee University. A possibility in the future is erasing memories, she told BBC News. "Episodic memories - such as those for traumatic experiences - are distributed in neurons throughout the brain, and in order to make memory erasure a safe and useful tool, we must understand how the different components of each memory are put together. "You may want to erase someone's memory for a traumatic event that happened in their home, but you certainly do not want to erase their memory for how to find their way around their home."
"If you want to grab a specific memory you have to get down into the cell level. Every time we think we remember something, we could also be making changes to that memory - sometimes we realise sometimes we don't," Dr Liu explained.
"Our memory changes every single time it's being'recorded'. That's why we can incorporate new information into old memories and this is how a false memory can form without us realising it."
Susumu Tonegawa, also from RIKEN-MIT, said his teams' work provided the first animal model in which false and genuine memories could be investigated in the cells which store memories, called engram-bearing cells.
"Humans are highly imaginative animals. Just like our mice, an aversive or appetitive event could be associated with a past experience one may happen to have in mind at that moment, hence a false memory is formed."
Silencing fear
Neil Burgess from University College London, who was not involved with the work, told BBC News the study was an "impressive example" of creating a fearful response in an environment where nothing fearful happened.
"One day this type of knowledge may help scientists to understand how to remove or reduce the fearful associations experienced by people with conditions like post traumatic stress disorder."
But he added that it's only an advance in "basic neuroscience" and that these methods could not be directly applied to humans for many years.
"But basic science always helps in the end, and it may be possible, one day, to use similar techniques to silence neurons causing the association to fear."
'Diseases of thought'
Mark Mayford of the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, US, said: "The question is, how does the brain change with experience? That's the heart of everything the brain does.
He explained that work like this could one day further help us to understand the structure of our thoughts and the cells involved.
"Then one can begin to look at those brain circuits, see how they change, and hopefully find the areas or mechanisms that change with learning."
"The implications are potentially interventions for diseases of thought such as schizophrenia. You cannot approach schizophrenia unless you know how a perception is put together."Iran guided the CIA's "lost" stealth drone to an intact landing inside hostile territory by exploiting a navigational weakness long-known to the US military, according to an Iranian engineer now working on the captured drone's systems inside Iran.
Iranian electronic warfare specialists were able to cut off communications links of the American bat-wing RQ-170 Sentinel, says the engineer, who works for one of many Iranian military and civilian teams currently trying to unravel the drone’s stealth and intelligence secrets, and who could not be named for his safety.
Using knowledge gleaned from previous downed American drones and a technique proudly claimed by Iranian commanders in September, the Iranian specialists then reconfigured the drone's GPS coordinates to make it land in Iran at what the drone thought was its actual home base in Afghanistan.
IN PICTURES: America's Predator drones
"The GPS navigation is the weakest point," the Iranian engineer told the Monitor, giving the most detailed description yet published of Iran's "electronic ambush" of the highly classified US drone. "By putting noise [jamming] on the communications, you force the bird into autopilot. This is where the bird loses its brain."
The “spoofing” technique that the Iranians used – which took into account precise landing altitudes, as well as latitudinal and longitudinal data – made the drone “land on its own where we wanted it to, without having to crack the remote-control signals and communications” from the US control center, says the engineer.
The revelations about Iran's apparent electronic prowess come as the US, Israel, and some European nations appear to be engaged in an ever-widening covert war with Iran, which has seen assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, explosions at Iran's missile and industrial facilities, and the Stuxnet computer virus that set back Iran’s nuclear program.
Now this engineer’s account of how Iran took over one of America’s most sophisticated drones suggests Tehran has found a way to hit back. The techniques were developed from reverse-engineering several less sophisticated American drones captured or shot down in recent years, the engineer says, and by taking advantage of weak, easily manipulated GPS signals, which calculate location and speed from multiple satellites.
RECOMMENDED: Downed US drone: How Iran caught the 'beast'
Western military experts and a number of published papers on GPS spoofing indicate that the scenario described by the Iranian engineer is plausible.
"Even modern combat-grade GPS [is] very susceptible” to manipulation, says former US Navy electronic warfare specialist Robert Densmore, adding that it is “certainly possible” to recalibrate the GPS on a drone so that it flies on a different course. “I wouldn't say it's easy, but the technology is there.”
In 2009, Iran-backed Shiite militants in Iraq were found to have downloaded live, unencrypted video streams from American Predator drones with inexpensive, off-the-shelf software. But Iran’s apparent ability now to actually take control of a drone is far more significant.
Iran asserted its ability to do this in September, as pressure mounted over its nuclear program.
Gen. Moharam Gholizadeh, the deputy for electronic warfare at the air defense headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), described to Fars News how Iran could alter the path of a GPS-guided missile – a tactic more easily applied to a slower-moving drone.
“We have a project on hand that is one step ahead of jamming, meaning ‘deception’ of the aggressive systems,” said Gholizadeh, such that “we can define our own desired information for it so the path of the missile would change to our desired destination.”
Gholizadeh said that “all the movements of these [enemy drones]” were being watched, and “obstructing” their work was “always on our agenda.”
That interview has since been pulled from Fars’ Persian-language website. And last month, the relatively young Gholizadeh died of a heart attack, which some Iranian news sites called suspicious – suggesting the electronic warfare expert may have been a casualty in the covert war against Iran.
Iran's growing electronic capabilities
Iranian lawmakers say the drone capture is a "great epic" and claim to be "in the final steps of breaking into the aircraft's secret code."Donald Trump’s un-consultantized speech about political matters has had many positive results, most particularly honesty about immigration and borders. Also high on the list of accomplishments is his effective mauling of political correctness.
One measure: a late-August poll from Rasmussen found 71 percent of Americans believe political correctness is a problem. By comparison, a similar question posed 14 months ago in June 2014 resulted in 61 percent saying that the nation has become too politically correct.
Trump’s bluntness has been a welcome change from the leftist barrage of things we are not supposed to say because we might hurt the illegal aliens’ feelings. Limitation of speech is one step away from thought control. As George Orwell wrote in the book 1984, “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
From the August 6 Presidential debate:Alicia Hoover stood at a bus stop in Spokane’s Hillyard neighborhood and squinted at a street sign a block away.
“Two things certain in life,” the sign read on Tuesday afternoon. “1. Death. 2. If u sleep in a tank top when u wake up one (breast) will be out.”
Hoover, who was on her way to a doctor’s appointment nearby, was confused – and a little offended.
“I don’t know how that sells coffee,” she said, shaking her head. “There’s no reason for it.”
The sign is supposed to be an advertisement for 2nd Base Espresso, a “bikini barista” stand on the corner of East Sanson Avenue and North Haven Street. It greets drivers with a new provocative or vulgar message every few days.
The business, where scantily clad women serve jolts of caffeine out of a drive-thru window, has a reputation for pushing the limits. Earlier this week, it came under fire on social media for a racist sign reading, “Why can’t u play Uno with Mexicans? They take all the green cards.”
Approached by a Spokesman-Review reporter on Tuesday, a nearly naked woman pulling shots of espresso identified herself as the business owner. She said her name is Jeana and refused to give her last name.
Jeana said she’s responsible for the signs and offered no apologies for what she considers harmless humor. She declined to comment further.
On Monday, KXLY reporter Drew Reeves said the owner of 2nd Base Espresso called police when he arrived to ask about the signs.
“The owner filmed us while we did our story. She threatened to have our car towed and sue us,” Reeves wrote on Twitter. “Police informed us the coffee stand owner tried to file harassment charges against us. That did not happen as we did nothing illegal.”
A spokesman for the Spokane Police Department did not immediately respond to a message seeking to verify Reeves’ account.
2nd Base Espresso relocated to Hillyard more than two years ago. It previously operated on the corner of East Sprague Avenue and South Dollar Road in Spokane Valley. In both locations, residents decried the stand’s main billboard featuring a picture of a woman wearing only a G-string and angel wings.
The owner “loves to push the envelope,” said Dave Griswold, president of Hillyard Community Futures, a group that does long-term planning for the neighborhood. “She puts up signs that are right on the edge. She’s trying to run a business, and she runs it a little roughshod.”
City Councilman Mike Fagan, who represents northeast Spokane, said he occasionally receives complaints about bikini barista stands across the city, mostly from parents upset about the images exposed to their children.
Fagan, the most conservative member of the City Council, said he’s “a believer in the First Amendment,” but the signs at 2nd Base Espresso often cross the line. A year ago, for instance, a sign there featured the F-word, apparently in violation of city code.
“Some of the messages I’ve seen in the past couple of weeks have been absolutely obscene,” he said, noting that the Northeast Youth Center is within walking distance of the coffee stand. “You don’t even see that kind of messages on the XXX stores, or that kind of innuendo.”
In 2013 and 2015, Fagan proposed city ordinances that would keep businesses with naked or nearly naked workers away from schools, parks, places of worship, libraries and day care centers. Both of those proposals failed, as did a ballot measure with the same goal in 2015.
Not everyone minds the signs at 2nd Base Espresso, and some find them entertaining.
“I think it’s all just in good humor,” said Jim Solomon, who has owned United Hillyard Antique Mall with his wife, Deana, for 29 years. “It’s just comical to see what comes up next.”
Keith Esperum, who lives a block north of the business on East Rowan Avenue, said he doesn’t mind the bikini baristas, who can’t easily be seen from the road.
“But when they put vulgar signs up,” he said, “that’s when I have a problem with them.”
Esperum, 59, has 10 grandchildren and said he doesn’t want them exposed to the “light porn” on display at 2nd Base Espresso.
“I’m an old biker, you know, used to a rowdy lifestyle,” he said. But the signs at the coffee stand are “beyond risqué” and “just plain old raunchy.”Drupal 8 is a massive undertaking. It's already been 5 years in the making.
Why did it take so long? Partly because so many important contributed modules are now core features. Translation is a perfect example.
It used to take several contributed modules to make even a small multi-lingual Drupal 7 site. Now, you can translate everything using just the Drupal 8 core.
Here's our 5-step guide to building your first Drupal 8 multi-lingual site.
Step #1. Enable the translation modules You will need to enable these four core Drupal modules in order to translate your site:
Step #2. Translate the Drupal core First, let's translate of the core language inside the Drupal. In this example, I'm going to add Spanish as an option on my site: Go to Configuration > Languages
Click "Add language"
Choose your language and click "Add language".
Click on the percentage area, under "Interface Translation".
You'll be able to search for and manually translate all the language strings in here:
Step #3. Translate your own site set-up Go to Structure > Content types, you'll see a "Translate" option for your content types:
Inside the next screen, you'll see similar "Translate" links for all your fields:
Step #4. Add content Now we can add content to your Drupal site. Go to Configuration > Content language and translation.
Click the box next to "Content": Check the box, "Show language selector on create and edit pages". Now go and add content to your site. Thanks to the "Show language selector on create and edit pages" box, you'll able to choose the language you're writing in:
After saving content, you'll see a "Translate" tab available:
Click "Add" in order to create a new version of that content item:
Congratulations! You can now start translating your Drupal site. And you didn't use a single contributed module.
Step #5. Allow users to switch between languages Go to Structure > Blocks
Click "Place blocks"
Click "Place block" next to the "Language Switcher" block:
Click "Save block".
Go to the front of your site and the Language Switcher will be working:
One final nice touch is that the URLs were automatically configured. The URLs on my test site looked like this: /node/1
/es/node/1At their regular meeting on June 26, the City of Somerville’s Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a resolution urging individuals, colleges and universities, foundations, and governments to divest their funds from publicly-traded fossil fuel companies. The vote marks a major milestone for Fossil Free Somerville, the community group which organized a petition effort in support of an earlier version of the resolution, which directly addressed Somerville’s Retirement Board.
Although the petition garnered the signatures of 129 registered Somerville voters, prompting a public hearing which drew a large and supportive audience, as members of the city’s retirement system, the Aldermen were unable to vote on the matter due to a potential conflict of interest. Mark Niedergang (Ward 5) and Rebekah Gewirtz (Ward 6), in cooperation with members of Fossil Free Somerville, subsequently developed an amended resolution designed to express the Board’s general opinion in support of divestment from the fossil fuel industry. While the decision of whether or not to divest ultimately rests with the Retirement Board, the Board of Aldermen’s vote communicates democratic, grassroots support for the strategy and reinforces the City of Som |
Damonte Dodd and potentially Jon Graham. When it comes to Dodd, I’m all for him getting some experience. He is already more comfortable on the court than Shaq is, and he is only thing that even resembles a shot blocker. Coach has also said that he plans on giving a few more minutes to Varun Ram. When Varun isn’t perfecting his own version of the Kamasutra, he is at least trying to play defense. The rotation will be the number one thing to watch during the coming weeks.
Prediction:
Terps do what they do best and come up short in the finals against a very tough La Salle squad.
AdvertisementsGETTY The EU is fuming due to a Swiss plan to prioritise Swiss workers
While not even a member of the 28-country bloc, the European Union (EU) nonetheless demanded a meeting with the Swiss migration minister yesterday. Mario Gattiker said he was not in Brussels to defend the planned policy but “only to inform”. He was questioned by EU officials about the “local preference light” scheme, which would see employers prioritise Swiss residents over non-Swiss residents.
The employment proposal originated in an initiative put forward by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, which aimed to cut immigration. This was approved by Swiss voters in 2014 and will be implemented by February next year.
GETTY Switzerland is not in the EU but still has access to the single market
The vote was a hammer-blow to Brussels fat cats, as it violated the fragile agreement between the EU and non-member state Switzerland, which is balanced on the free movement of people. However, the party has blasted the final product as “the death of democracy”, as the new proposal purely focuses on employment preferences and does not include any quotas.
Migrant Crisis: Mass exodus from the migrant camp continues Tue, October 25, 2016 Hundreds of migrants are continuing to arrive in Europe as they flee the scenes of chaos and brutality of the Islamic State in the Middle East. Play slideshow 1 of 224
The Swiss climb-down may set alarm bells ringing for Prime Minister Theresa May and her Brexit officials, as it shows the EU appears unbudging in its mantra that access to the single market can only come with free movement. Even despite this, the Swiss scheme may not be approved due to concerns from the EU, which is Switzerland’s biggest trading partner. Switzerland is the EU’s fourth largest trading partner.
NC Mario Gattiker said the EU is "afraid" of Switzerland's proposal
GETTY Anti-immigration posters in SwitzerlandDespite the campaign’s sharp break in Obama’s direction in the last week of September, we need only remember the sharp break in McCain’s favor in the first two weeks of the month to know that elections can change quickly. That said, I’ve been thinking over the last few days that if John McCain loses this election he will have lost much more than the presidency. His reputation as an honest and honorable politician will be wrecked, I suspect, for good — particularly among centrist and independent voters and the centrist commentator class in New York and Washington.
In his current guise, McCain would likely say that what the folks along the Northeast corridor think of him doesn’t matter. But I don’t think anyone who knows him believes that for a second. The man has spent the last fifteen years of his life assiduously cultivating these people. This after all is what people mean when they used to say that the press was McCain’s ‘base’. It’s a big thing for his political viability and his ego.
Today at work I was flipping through a review copy of Elizabeth Drew’s Citizen McCain. I’m sure there are critical passages buried in there. And my point is not to criticize Drew. Though I was never a supporter, I once had a very different view of the man than I do today. But it came right out of the McCain maverick narrative that has so dominated elite political journalism back into the mid-1990s. That read of McCain just dripped off the page.
But little more than a week ago she shows up in the Politico with a sort of public recantation of her one time admiration, concluding, “McCain’s recent conduct of his campaign – his willingness to lie repeatedly (including in his acceptance speech) and to play Russian roulette with the vice-presidency, in order to fulfill his long-held ambition – has reinforced my earlier, and growing, sense that John McCain is not a principled man. In fact, it’s not clear who he is.”
Though not summed up in one neat essay, Joe Klein’s change of mind about McCain strikes me as similar. As do those of a slew of other marquee pundits who’ve either written as much publicly or told me as much privately.
Now, on the one hand, politics isn’t or shouldn’t be about catering to or pandering to the fancies of prestige pundits. But you might have told McCain that over the last ten years. And in any case, it’s been the key to his ascent in national politics over the last fifteen years. And you can see a similar drop off in voters’ assumptions about his character, honesty and decency in recent polls.
When Bob Dole lost to Bill Clinton in 1996, if anything it enhanced his reputation and popularity. His reputation, what people thought of him, wasn’t wrecked or even damaged by the campaign. The future seems quite different for McCain if he loses this election.
My verdict may be a severe one but I think a lot of people — a lot of former admirers — are coming around to agreeing with the general outlines. McCain has revealed himself as a liar well outside the permissive standards applied to politicians. He’s shown himself to be reckless to the point of instability, repeatedly putting the country at risk (exploiting the Georgia crisis, picking Palin, storming the bailout negotiations) for transparently self-serving reasons. And in too many ways to count, he’s conducted his campaign in disgraceful and dishonorable ways.
Perhaps the most telling thing is that McCain was willing flush that reputation down the drain, betray everything he pretended to stand for, all to be president. If he wins, it will all have been worth it. He was happy to sacrifice one for the other. And now he may end up with neither.The machines are finally rising up and attacking humans, and apparently they're kamikazes: A triathlete in Australia was reportedly taken down after a drone fell from the sky and crashed into her just as she was about to finish the race.
The drone was being piloted by a local photographer who was flying the drone 10 meters above the race, when the minimum height a drone must be is 30 meters away from people. The photographer says that someone in the crowd had taken control over the drone, and probably used a smartphone to hack into the controls. The photographer also says that the drone didn't crash into the runner, Raija Ogden, and instead crashed a few feet away from her, while others say it hit her directly.
"I have lacerations on my head from the drone and the ambulance crew took a piece of propeller from my head," she said.
"My hair was completely red with blood. I didn't hit the ground.
"I sat down because I just thought I was going to pass out."
Ogden ended up getting stitches to close up a wound on her head.
More as the story develops...
[via BBC]Additional Clarity on the Carter Page FISA
Parker O'Brien Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 13, 2017
The New York Times followed up the Washington Post’s report with some additional details about the FISA warrant for Carter Page. The Post’s story presented a fair amount of evidence that seemed to contradict Obama officials’ statements and in response their defenders rushed to the Times. In particular, James Clapper stated on NBC that there was no ‘wiretapping activity mounted against the president-elect at this time, or as a candidate, or his campaign staff.’ An ordered wiretap on a campaign member would seem to directly contradict his statement. The Times defends it, claiming their source, ‘was not aware of any instances in which an active member of Mr. Trump’s campaign was directly surveilled by American law-enforcement or spy agencies.’ Rather, they claim the FISA warrant was only sought ‘after investigators determined that Mr. Page was no longer part of the Trump campaign.’ Seems clear cut, no? Well, not exactly. While the campaign began distancing itself from him when Kellyanne Conway came on as campaign manager in August, he only officially announced he was stepping down in late September. It seems then that the determination of his was involvement was unilaterally decided by the investigators, since the warrant was requested in the summer, prior to his official statement.
The Times article clearly looks like it was written with an agenda. Beyond elastic interpretations in defense of Obama officials, it also adds in a fair amount of justification for the DOJ’s actions. Their source opines that ‘the Justice Department considered direct surveillance of anyone tied to a political campaign as a line it did not want to cross.’ Unless multiple reports about denied FISA warrants are false, this is not true. The DOJ sought FISA warrants of people tied to Trump’s campaign in June and July. Rather than a line ‘they did not want to cross,’ it looks more like a line they were not allowed to cross. The veracity of those reports is surprisingly strengthened by the New York Times when it goes on to cite HeatSt’s report of a denied warrant, though they never claim their source confirmed it. No matter how convincing the defenses are, Obama’s DOJ sought and received a FISA warrant on a Trump campaign member, albeit a minor one.
No matter what comes from the probe of Carter Page’s activities, it would be very surprising if a major revelation involving Trump were found. Even assuming there is solid evidence to launch the probe, Page was an insignificant presence with no authority in the campaign. Story after story after story, outlined a lack of any importance and his very minimal contributions to the campaign. He never had any influence, nor was he a principal adviser in any capacity. There could well be a case against him, but this could just as easily be a politicized attempt to smear him if the investigation turned up nothing. The paper makes a one point to call him ‘an idiot,’ so this looks like a reasonable interpretation. Regardless, it confirms that the Obama administration was closely monitoring Trump’s campaign. Investigators were able to determine a member had pulled away from the campaign prior to public statements and then quickly ordered a warrant to surveil his communications. Not just an ordinary warrant, but one that is ‘often thicker’ than the FBI Director’s wrists and requires extensive input to represent ‘all the work Justice Department attorneys and FBI agents have to do to convince a judge that such surveillance is appropriate.’ At the first opportunity allowed by the courts, the Obama admin jumped at the chance to surveil a member of Trump’s campaign.I attended some great courses recently by the Agile Coaching Institute and would highly encourage taking any of their workshops. During each of these we played a game called 35. I found it extremely valuable for reaching consensus of what all the members thought was important very quickly. After completing the game we were able to work from a prioritized list that resonated with the group. And it only took about 10 minutes!
Below is a facilitators guide to running it. These were posted originally on Lyssa Adkins blog with a link to a powerpoint. I took the contents of the presentation, modified them slightly and posted them here.
Facilitating 35:
Announce the topic (e.g. learning objective, vision, etc…) to the group
Each person writes their version of that topic idea on an index card and draws a small box in the corner. See the front of card picture below)
Each person flips the card over and writes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in a column on the left side. See the back of card picture below
Everyone walks around and mixes up the cards by handing them to a random person
When the facilitator says “stop” people pair up and apportion 7 points between the 2 cards, giving more points to the card that speaks to them the most (there is no 3.5 😏)
Do this for 4 more rounds
Each person sums up the scores on the card they are holding and writes it in the box on the front of the card
The card with the highest score “wins” and you can order the cards by their score to reflect priority
Notes
Fast way to get a group to come to one idea while building shared knowledge of all the contributions to that idea and hearing all voices
Works best with a group of 10 or more
For a big group you can have everyone go up to a white board and place their card in the appropriate rank order. This will create a nice histogram
When to do it: create mission/vision statements establish sprint goal statements learning objectives of workshop prioritize a product backlog
If you have had experience with 35, please post those in the comments. Thanks for reading.
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TweetGlobal greenhouse gas emissions on course to reach record high of over 40bn tonnes in 2014, study in Nature Geoscience says
Children born today will see the world committed to dangerous and irreversible levels of climate change by their young adulthood at current rates, as the world poured a record amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere this year.
Annual carbon dioxide emissions showed a strong rise of 2.5% on 2013 levels, putting the total emitted this year on track for 40bn tonnes. That means the global ‘carbon budget’, calculated as the total governments can afford to emit without pushing temperatures higher than 2C above pre-industrial levels, is likely to be used up within just one generation, or in thirty years from now.
Scientists think climate change is likely to have catastrophic and irreversible effects, including rising sea levels, polar melting, droughts, floods and increasingly extreme weather, if temperatures rise more than 2C. They have calculated that this threshold is likely to be breached if global emissions top 1,200 billion tonnes, giving a “carbon budget” to stick to in order to avoid dangerous warming.
Dave Reay, professor of carbon management at the University of Edinburgh, said: “If this were a bank statement it would say our credit is running out. We’ve already burned through two-thirds of our global carbon allowance and avoiding dangerous climate change now requires some very difficult choices. Not least of these is how a shrinking global carbon allowance can be shared equitably between more than 7bn people and where the differences between rich and poor are so immense.”
The study, by the Global Carbon Project, also found that China’s per capita emissions had surpassed those of Europe for the first time, between 2013 and 2014.
It comes ahead of a climate summit on Tuesday in New York, at which the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon will bring together heads of state and government from more than 120 countries to discuss climate change, and encourage them to make commitments on emissions reductions in the run-up to a crunch meeting in Paris late next year, at which a new global agreement on emissions is expected to be signed.
Emissions for 2014, according to the research, are set to rise to 40bn tonnes. That compares with emissions of 32bn tonnes in 2010, showing how fast the output is rising.
The rising trend has continued despite increasingly alarming warnings from scientists over the future of the climate, and commitments by developed countries to cut their carbon and from major developing economies to curb their emissions growth. There was a brief blip in global emissions growth at the time of the banking crisis, but this “breathing space” was quickly overtaken by an expansion in fossil fuel demand.
The growth in emissions also comes despite the much-vaunted contribution of shale gas to the world’s energy mix. Some supporters of the technology claim it will bring down emissions, because gas produces less carbon than coal when burned. But studies have shown that although this may dent the rate at which emissions rise, it is unlikely by itself to produce an absolute fall in carbon output levels. US emissions rose by nearly 3% in 2013, after falling in the previous five years, despite its shale gas boom.
As much as half of the world’s proven reserves of all fossil fuels will need to be left in the ground if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change, the research suggested.
The study, published as a paper in the peer-review journal Nature Geoscience, called “Persistent growth of CO2 emissions and implications for reaching climate targets”, is a collaboration of research groups around the world.
The overtaking of Europe by China in terms of emissions per person - about 7.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person per year, the study found, compared with Europe’s 6.8 tonnes per person - is politically significant.
China has long argued that it should take on far less of the burden of emissions cuts than developed nations, because it bore less responsibility for the stock of carbon poured into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution, and because its emissions per person were lower. China’s president, Xi Jinping, has indicated he will not attend Ban Ki-moon’s meeting next week, as has Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister.
The change in the make-up of emissions contributions will be a difficult topic at next year’s Paris conference on the climate.
China and India were the only two nations to hold out almost to the last minute in the talks in 2011 at which governments set the deadline of the Paris talks for the sign-off of a new pact on the climate, to replace current national emissions targets that expire in 2020. India’s per capita emissions are still low, at 1.9 tonnes, but the country’s total emissions are likely to overtake those of the EU by 2019.In the first part of the tutorial we've covered the basics of creating a digital Android Wear watchface. In this part we will see how one can add a settings panel for her watchface in the Android Wear mobile application. By the end of this article you will be able to control the background colour and the time and date colours of your watchface from inside the Android Wear application on your mobile device.
In order to establish a communication channel between the watch and the mobile device, you must use the Wearable Data Layer API which is part of Google Play services. As the official documentation states:
Because these APIs are designed for communication between handhelds and wearables, these are the only APIs you should use to set up communication between these devices. For instance, don't try to open low-level sockets to create a communication channel.
With the help of the Wearable Data Layer API you can send accross your devices multiple types of objects:
DataItems - provides data storage with automatic syncing
Messages - used mainly for remote procedure calls and one way requests
Assets - used for sending binary blobs of data
For our communication channel we will be using the DataApi to send DataItems from the mobile device to the data layer while the watchface will be listening for any modifications.
Creating the mobile settings activity
As we have seen above, the API we will be using is part of Google Play services, so you will have to specify a meta-data entry in your mobile/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml file under the <application> tag:
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.catinean.simpleandroidwatchface">... <application android:allowBackup="true" android:label="@string/app_name" android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher" android:theme="@style/AppTheme"> <meta-data android:name="com.google.android.gms.version" android:value="@integer/google_play_services_version" /> </application> </manifest>
Next, create an empty activity in mobile/src/main/java/your_package that will serve as the settings activity for your watchface. Let's call it SimpleWatchFaceConfigurationActivity. In order the activity to be perceived as a settings activity for your watch face, you will have to specify an <intent-filter> in your mobile AndroidManifest.xml:
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.catinean.simpleandroidwatchface">... <application android:allowBackup="true" android:label="@string/app_name" android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher" android:theme="@style/AppTheme"> <activity android:name="com.catinean.simpleandroidwatchface.SimpleWatchFaceConfigurationActivity" android:label="@string/app_name" android:theme="@style/AppTheme"> <intent-filter> <action android:name="com.catinean.simpleandroidwatchface.CONFIG_DIGITAL" /> <category android:name="com.google.android.wearable.watchface.category.COMPANION_CONFIGURATION" /> <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" /> </intent-filter> </activity> <meta-data android:name="com.google.android.gms.version" android:value="@integer/google_play_services_version" /> </application> </manifest>
As you can see, you have to specify a custom <action> for your intent filter alongside the categories. In our case, the action name is formed out of the package name and a config string: com.catinean.simpleandroidwatchface.CONFIG_DIGITAL.
On the wear module side, you will have to add an additional <meta-data> field to your previously created <service> entry in the AndroidManifest.xml file:
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.catinean.simpleandroidwatchface">... <application android:allowBackup="true" android:label="@string/app_name" android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.DeviceDefault"> <service android:name=".SimpleWatchFaceService" android:label="@string/app_name" android:permission="android.permission.BIND_WALLPAPER">... <meta-data android:name="com.google.android.wearable.watchface.companionConfigurationAction" android:value="com.catinean.simpleandroidwatchface.CONFIG_DIGITAL" /> <intent-filter> <action android:name="android.service.wallpaper.WallpaperService" /> <category android:name="com.google.android.wearable.watchface.category.WATCH_FACE" /> </intent-filter> </service> </application> </manifest>
See how the meta data value corresponds with the action name of our activity.
For now, our activity is empty. Let's populate it with two entries in order the user to be able to configure the watchface background colour and the date and time colours. It's layout will be simple, formed of a LinearLayout with two elements (one for the background colour and one for the date and time colours). The mobile/src/main/res/layout/activity_configuration.xml will look like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:layout_height="match_parent" android:layout_width="match_parent"> <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar android:id="@+id/toolbar" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize" style="@style/MyActionBarStyle" /> <LinearLayout android:layout_below="@+id/toolbar" android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" android:divider="@drawable/delimiter" android:showDividers="middle" android:paddingStart="16dp" android:paddingEnd="16dp"> <RelativeLayout android:id="@+id/configuration_background_colour" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:background="@drawable/selector_preference_background" android:paddingTop="16dp" android:paddingBottom="16dp"> <TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_alignParentStart="true" android:textColor="@android:color/black" android:textSize="18sp" android:text="@string/background_colour" /> <View android:id="@+id/configuration_background_colour_preview" android:layout_width="30dp" android:layout_height="30dp" android:layout_alignParentEnd="true" /> </RelativeLayout> <RelativeLayout android:id="@+id/configuration_time_colour" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:background="@drawable/selector_preference_background" android:paddingTop="16dp" android:paddingBottom="16dp"> <TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_alignParentStart="true" android:textSize="18sp" android:textColor="@android:color/black" android:text="@string/date_and_time_colour" /> <View android:id="@+id/configuration_date_and_time_colour_preview" android:layout_width="30dp" android:layout_height="30dp" android:layout_alignParentEnd="true" /> </RelativeLayout> </LinearLayout> </RelativeLayout>
The toolbar element will act as an action bar for our activity (here you can find more information about toolbar). Below the toolbar we have our vertical LinearLayout that contains two RelativeLayouts as the rows (each of them containing a TextView and a preview colour represented by a simple View ).
Going back to our activity, we would want to display a dialog with colour names for each of the elements. For this, we will create a simple ColourChooserDialog that will contain a simple list of colours and will be displayed whenever the user clicks on an element from the activity.
The ColourChooserDialog will look like this:
package com.catinean.simpleandroidwatchface; import android.app.Activity; import android.app.AlertDialog; import android.app.Dialog; import android.app.DialogFragment; import android.content.DialogInterface; import android.os.Bundle; public class ColourChooserDialog extends DialogFragment { private static final String ARG_TITLE = "ARG_TITLE"; private Listener colourSelectedListener; public static ColourChooserDialog newInstance(String dialogTitle) { Bundle arguments = new Bundle(); arguments.putString(ARG_TITLE, dialogTitle); ColourChooserDialog dialog = new ColourChooserDialog(); dialog.setArguments(arguments); return dialog; } @Override public void onAttach(Activity activity) { super.onAttach(activity); colourSelectedListener = (Listener) activity; } @Override public Dialog onCreateDialog(Bundle savedInstanceState) { String title = getArguments().getString(ARG_TITLE); AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(getActivity()); builder.setTitle(title).setItems(R.array.colors_array, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() { public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) { String[] colours = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.colors_array); colourSelectedListener.onColourSelected(colours[which], getTag()); } }); return builder.create(); } interface Listener { void onColourSelected(String colour, String tag); } }
You can see that it is a simple DialogFragment that displays a list AlertDialog backed by a string array R.array.colors_array (for more information about dialogs in general, you can read here the official documentation).
The string array is just a resource inside mobile/src/main/res/values/arrays.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <resources> <string-array name="colors_array"> <item name="black">Black</item> <item name="white">White</item> <item name="red">Red</item> <item name="green">Green</item> <item name="cyan">Cyan</item> <item name="magenta">Magenta</item> </string-array> </resources>
The dialog provides an interface in order to notify the activity of the chosen colour. Since we will have multiple dialogs created (one for the background colour and one for the date and time colours) we will have to differentiate them by their tag.
Our SimpleWatchFaceConfigurationActivity will look like this:
public class SimpleWatchFaceConfigurationActivity extends ActionBarActivity implements ColourChooserDialog.Listener { private static final String TAG_BACKGROUND_COLOUR_CHOOSER = "background_chooser"; private static final String TAG_DATE_AND_TIME_COLOUR_CHOOSER = "date_time_chooser"; private View backgroundColourImagePreview; private View dateAndTimeColourImagePreview; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_configuration); Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar); setSupportActionBar(toolbar); getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true); findViewById(R.id.configuration_background_colour).setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { ColourChooserDialog.newInstance(getString(R.string.pick_background_colour)).show(getFragmentManager(), TAG_BACKGROUND_COLOUR_CHOOSER); } }); findViewById(R.id.configuration_time_colour).setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { ColourChooserDialog.newInstance(getString(R.string.pick_date_time_colour)).show(getFragmentManager(), TAG_DATE_AND_TIME_COLOUR_CHOOSER); } }); backgroundColourImagePreview = findViewById(R.id.configuration_background_colour_preview); dateAndTimeColourImagePreview = findViewById(R.id.configuration_date_and_time_colour_preview); } @Override public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) { if (item.getItemId() == android.R.id.home) { finish(); return true; } return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item); } @Override public void onColourSelected(String colour, String tag) { if (TAG_BACKGROUND_COLOUR_CHOOSER.equals(tag)) { backgroundColourImagePreview.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor(colour)); } else { dateAndTimeColourImagePreview.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor(colour)); } } }
If now you run your wear module on your wear device and then the mobile module on the mobile device, navigate to the Android Wear application, you will be able to access the settings activity.
Sending data to the Data Layer API
Now that we are able to capture the chosen colour, it is time to see how we can send it to the Data Layer API. You will have to use the GoogleApiClient class in order to connect and to send the data. In onCreate() of our activity we create the object, in onStart() we connect to the data layer and in onStop() we disconnect. Our enhanced activity will look like this:
public class SimpleWatchFaceConfigurationActivity extends ActionBarActivity implements ColourChooserDialog.Listener, GoogleApiClient.ConnectionCallbacks, GoogleApiClient.OnConnectionFailedListener {... private static final String TAG = "SimpleWatchface"; private GoogleApiClient googleApiClient; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {... googleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(this).addConnectionCallbacks(this).addOnConnectionFailedListener(this).addApi(Wearable.API).build();... } @Override protected void onStart() { super.onStart(); googleApiClient.connect(); }... @Override public void onConnected(Bundle bundle) { Log.d(TAG, "onConnected"); } @Override public void onConnectionSuspended(int i) { Log.e(TAG, "onConnectionSuspended"); } @Override public void onConnectionFailed(ConnectionResult connectionResult) { Log.e(TAG, "onConnectionFailed"); } @Override protected void onStop() { if (googleApiClient!= null && googleApiClient.isConnected()) { googleApiClient.disconnect(); } super.onStop(); } }
In order to be sure that a connection is made, I added some logs in the corresponding callbacks.
A synchronization to the data layer consists of two elements:
a payload : the actual data to send
: the actual data to send a path : an unique identifier for the data item you want to send (the path must begin with a forward slash, e.g. "/simple_watch_face_config")
We will send the data with the help of the PutDataMapRequest that provides us a key-value alike behaviour. Our onColourSelected(String colour, String tag) method will look like this:
@Override public void onColourSelected(String colour, String tag) { PutDataMapRequest putDataMapReq = PutDataMapRequest.create("/simple_watch_face_config"); if (TAG_BACKGROUND_COLOUR_CHOOSER.equals(tag)) { backgroundColourImagePreview.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor(colour)); putDataMapReq.getDataMap().putString("KEY_BACKGROUND_COLOUR", colour); } else { dateAndTimeColourImagePreview.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor(colour)); putDataMapReq.getDataMap().putString("KEY_DATE_TIME_COLOUR", colour); } PutDataRequest putDataReq = putDataMapReq.asPutDataRequest(); Wearable.DataApi.putDataItem(googleApiClient, putDataReq); }
You can see how a PutDataRequest is created on the specific path and every time we receive a colour we populate the map with it at a specific key. In the end, we send the request with the help of Wearable.DataApi.putDataItem(googleApiClient, putDataReq) method.
Now that we are able to send the colours, we have to handle them into the wear module, specifically in the previously created SimpleWatchFaceService.
Handling the received configuration in the SimpleWatchFaceService
Back in the wear module, we have to handle the configuration sent by the previously created SimpleWatchFaceConfigurationActivity in the SimpleWatchFaceService.
As we did in the configuration activity, in order to synchronize with the data layer API, we have to firstly connect to it through a GoogleApiClient object. We'll start by connecting to the API when the watchface is visible and disconnecting when not. Your SimpleWatchFaceService will look like this:
public class SimpleWatchFaceService extends CanvasWatchFaceService {... private class SimpleEngine extends CanvasWatchFaceService.Engine implements GoogleApiClient.ConnectionCallbacks, GoogleApiClient.OnConnectionFailedListener {... private GoogleApiClient googleApiClient; @Override public void onCreate(SurfaceHolder holder) {... googleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(SimpleWatchFaceService.this).addApi(Wearable.API).addConnectionCallbacks(this).addOnConnectionFailedListener(this).build(); }... @Override public void onVisibilityChanged(boolean visible) { super.onVisibilityChanged(visible); if (visible) {... googleApiClient.connect(); } else {... releaseGoogleApiClient(); }... } private void releaseGoogleApiClient() { if (googleApiClient!= null && googleApiClient.isConnected()) { googleApiClient.disconnect(); } }... @Override public void onConnected(Bundle bundle) { Log.d(TAG, "connected GoogleAPI"); } @Override public void onConnectionSuspended(int i) { Log.e(TAG, "suspended GoogleAPI"); } @Override public void onConnectionFailed(ConnectionResult connectionResult) { Log.e(TAG, "connectionFailed GoogleAPI"); } @Override public void onDestroy() {... releaseGoogleApiClient(); super.onDestroy(); } } }
We create a GoogleApiClient object in onCreate() method of the SimpleEngine and connect when the watch face becomes visible and relase the client when the watch face is not visible anymore.
Next, we actually want to be notified when the background colour and the date and time colour values are changed in the mobile activity and every time the watch face connects to the data layer. In order to achieve this, we will have to use:
the DataApi.DataListener - this will get notified every time we change something in the data layer
- this will get notified every time we change something in the data layer a ResultCallback - this will notify us every time the googleApiClient connects
public class SimpleWatchFaceService extends CanvasWatchFaceService {... private class SimpleEngine extends CanvasWatchFaceService.Engine implements GoogleApiClient.ConnectionCallbacks, GoogleApiClient.OnConnectionFailedListener {... private GoogleApiClient googleApiClient; @Override public void onCreate(SurfaceHolder holder) {... googleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(SimpleWatchFaceService.this).addApi(Wearable.API).addConnectionCallbacks(this).addOnConnectionFailedListener(this).build(); }... @Override public void onVisibilityChanged(boolean visible) { super.onVisibilityChanged(visible); if (visible) {... googleApiClient.connect(); } else {... releaseGoogleApiClient(); }... } private void releaseGoogleApiClient() { if (googleApiClient!= null && googleApiClient.isConnected()) { Wearable.DataApi.removeListener(googleApiClient, onDataChangedListener); googleApiClient.disconnect(); } }... @Override public void onConnected(Bundle bundle) { Log.d(TAG, "connected GoogleAPI"); Wearable.DataApi.addListener(googleApiClient, onDataChangedListener); Wearable.DataApi.getDataItems(googleApiClient).setResultCallback(onConnectedResultCallback); } private final DataApi.DataListener onDataChangedListener = new DataApi.DataListener() { @Override public void onDataChanged(DataEventBuffer dataEvents) { for (DataEvent event : dataEvents) { if (event.getType() == DataEvent.TYPE_CHANGED) { DataItem item = event.getDataItem(); processConfigurationFor(item); } } dataEvents.release(); invalidateIfNecessary(); } }; private void processConfigurationFor(DataItem item) { if ("/simple_watch_face_config".equals(item.getUri().getPath())) { DataMap dataMap = DataMapItem.fromDataItem(item).getDataMap(); if (dataMap.containsKey("KEY_BACKGROUND_COLOUR")) { String backgroundColour = dataMap.getString("KEY_BACKGROUND_COLOUR"); watchFace.updateBackgroundColourTo(Color.parseColor(backgroundColour)); } if (dataMap.containsKey("KEY_DATE_TIME_COLOUR")) { String timeColour = dataMap.getString("KEY_DATE_TIME_COLOUR"); watchFace.updateDateAndTimeColourTo(Color.parseColor(timeColour)); } } } private final ResultCallback<DataItemBuffer> onConnectedResultCallback = new ResultCallback<DataItemBuffer>() { @Override public void onResult(DataItemBuffer dataItems) { for (DataItem item : dataItems) { processConfigurationFor(item); } dataItems.release(); invalidateIfNecessary(); } }; @Override public void onConnectionSuspended(int i) { Log.e(TAG, "suspended GoogleAPI"); } @Override public void onConnectionFailed(ConnectionResult connectionResult) { Log.e(TAG, "connectionFailed GoogleAPI"); } @Override public void onDestroy() {... releaseGoogleApiClient(); super.onDestroy(); } } }
We can see that every time the watch face is visible we connect to the data layer and once connected we add the two listeners. onDataChangedListener will get notified every time there is a change in the data layer and onConnectedResultCallback is only notified when the service is firstly connected. In both cases we want to process the received DataItem - processConfigurationFor(DataItem). While processing the itmes we use the path ( /simple_watch_face_config ) and the keys associated with every item (we defined the keys in the SimpleWatchFaceConfigurationActivity ) in order to get hold of the sent values. Once the items are identified, we pass them to the SimpleWatchFace to update the colours:
updateBackgroundColourTo(int colour) : responsible with updating the background colour
: responsible with updating the background colour updateDateAndTimeColourTo(int colour) : responsible with updating the data and time colour
public class SimpleWatchFace {... private static final int DATE_AND_TIME_DEFAULT_COLOUR = Color.WHITE; private static final int BACKGROUND_DEFAULT_COLOUR = Color.BLACK; private int backgroundColour = BACKGROUND_DEFAULT_COLOUR; private int dateAndTimeColour = DATE_AND_TIME_DEFAULT_COLOUR; public static SimpleWatchFace newInstance(Context context) { Paint timePaint = new Paint(); timePaint.setColor(DATE_AND_TIME_DEFAULT_COLOUR); timePaint.setTextSize(context.getResources().getDimension(R.dimen.time_size)); timePaint.setAntiAlias(true); Paint datePaint = new Paint(); datePaint.setColor(DATE_AND_TIME_DEFAULT_COLOUR); datePaint.setTextSize(context.getResources().getDimension(R.dimen.date_size)); datePaint.setAntiAlias(true); Paint backgroundPaint = new Paint(); backgroundPaint.setColor(BACKGROUND_DEFAULT_COLOUR); return new SimpleWatchFace(timePaint, datePaint, backgroundPaint, new Time()); } SimpleWatchFace(Paint timePaint, Paint datePaint, Paint backgroundPaint, Time time) { this.timePaint = timePaint; this.datePaint = datePaint; this.backgroundPaint = backgroundPaint; this.time = time; } public void draw(Canvas canvas, Rect bounds) { time.setToNow(); canvas.drawRect |
a rather cynical manner, but curiously and as was exemplified by the Iranian organisation, such men and women actually believe that their Islamist ideals are close to those that were upheld by Marxist ideologues of yore.
It is true that the 20th century saw the emergence of certain leftist and progressive thinkers and politicians in Muslim countries who did attempt to fuse ‘political Islam’ with socialist and secular ideals (‘Islamic Socialism’ ‘Arab Socialism,’ ‘Ba’ath Socialism’, etc.).
However, not only did their experiments in this regard meet with gradual political and economic failures, these thinkers and politicians were (rather ironically) opposed by exactly the forces who began adopting leftist rhetoric after the Cold War.
Take for example what happened soon after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. It is a fact that much of the groundwork for that revolution was done by various leftist and communist organisations in the 1960s and early 1970s.
The radical clergy only directly plunged into the movement after 1976, and that too after initially basing their revolutionary message on the thoughts of Ali Shariati – an Islamic revolutionary thinker who had heavily punctuated his thoughts on ‘political Islam’ with Marxist concepts and symbolism.
After the revolution in which the clergy managed to eventually overshadow other forces involved in the revolution against the autocratic Shah, the Islamists were able to enact an ‘Islamic regime’.
But the regime soon went into overdrive against the leftists, many of whom had actually fought in the streets alongside the Islamists during the uprising.
Between 1981 and 1988, Amnesty International claimed that over 10,000 leftist opponents of the regime were executed in Iran. 1988 was the worst year when in a matter of five months, the Islamic regime executed 4,482 political prisoners, most of them belonging to leftist outfits such as the Mujahideen-i-Khalq and the communist Tudeh Party.
Of course, the Islamic organisation at the Tehran University conveniently failed to mention this when it over-enthusiastically equated Che’s ways with those of the Islamists.
Almost all of the Islamist outfits across the Muslim world that have been adopting leftist revolutionary rhetoric ever since the 1990s, played a major role in assisting the United States in curbing leftist forces in their respective countries during the Cold War (1949-1989).
The Muslim Brotherhood, the largest Islamist outfit across the Arab world, was strategically aligned to the political interests of the United States (mainly through the Saudi regime) during much of the Cold War.
Between the 1950s and 1970s it actively resisted secular, quasi-socialist and pro-Soviet regimes in Arab countries and also dismissed the whole concept of Arab nationalism in Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Algeria and even in the otherwise pro-West (but secular) Tunisia.
Today, the Muslim Brotherhood has moulded itself into a democratic expression of ‘political Islam’ in Egypt and Tunisia, whereas its main benefactor and patrons, the Saudi Arabia, continues to be under the thumb of a decadent reactionary monarchy.
But the Muslim Brotherhood does not disown the role it played in the past against socialism and secular Arab nationalism on the behest of a jittery Saudi monarchy.
It explains it as being a ‘tactful’ (as opposed to being an ideological) partnership with the United States to eliminate ‘atheistic communism’ from society.
However, more interesting is the rhetoric of the overtly militant factions that emerged from the Brotherhood, especially after Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, officially recognised the state of Israel in1977.
Many of these organisations took part in the US and Saudi funded ‘Afghan jihad’ against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan (in the 1980s).
Though angry with the way Egypt had recognised Israel, the revolutionary Islamists’ main target remained to be leftists.
It was only after the end of the ‘Afghan jihad’ and the Cold War that many such organisations came together under the umbrella of Osama Bin Laden’s al Qaeda and began fusing puritanical and radical Islamist rhetoric and action with symbolism and imagery once associated with far-left Marxist and anarchist groups of the late 19th and early 20th century.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism, the Islamists who found themselves suddenly orphaned by their Western allies, filled the vacuum created by the receding forces of the left.
Three prominent developments followed such a scenario:
1: Whereas between the 1950s and 1970s many progressive Muslim thinkers and regimes had tried to reconcile secularism and socialism with ‘political Islam,’ after the Cold War, right-wing Islamists (both militant and mainstream) who had opposed such manoeuvres began colouring their puritanical and ultra-conservative line of thinking and action with populist leftist rhetoric. And/or the same rhetoric that was once used by radical leftists against the US and Arab monarchs but rejected by the Islamists as being ‘atheistic.’
2: After the collapse of the Soviet Union, most Cold War leftists shifted their ideological focus from aspiring to revolutionising societies and states on Marxist/Maoist models. They now moved to work towards achieving social democracy and respect for the post-modernist ideals of ethnic, sectarian, religious and social diversity and pluralism. They suggested that Muslim societies that had generated right-wing radicalism from within were threatened more by this tendency rather than by ‘western imperialism’. However, there were (and are) Cold War leftists who were only willing to reconcile with the idea of Communism’s collapse by actually romanticising Islamists as being a new expression of anti-US ‘liberation.’ Tariq Ali and George Galloway are stark examples in this context.
3: After the Cold War and then 9/11, though the US and Saudi patronage for their old protégées in the shape of anti-left Islamists began to dramatically recede, this did not mean that the patronage shifted towards the more progressive forces. For example, the US continued to engage with those who had helped it distribute funds to the Islamists during the Cold War (such as the Pakistani security forces); whereas, in spite of the fact that Saudi Arabia began to lessen the funds it was providing to militant Salafi outfits during the Cold War, it has still to completely withdraw from the proxy war it is fighting (through puritanical Sunni outfits) against the Shia Muslims. Also, mindful of the fact that its anti-Soviet Cold War policies in Muslim countries actually gave birth to radical Islamic outfits, the US is still looking past progressive forces and instead now trying to aid the so-called ‘moderate’ Islamists.
The case of the red muffler
One of the most interesting (and at times downright silly) battles being fought between rightists mouthing leftist rhetoric and the liberals is taking place in the mainstream political arena of Pakistan.
Take the example of how a simple thing like a red coloured muffler has become a symbol of revolutionary commitment in Pakistan, especially after cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan began wrapping his neck with one.
When journalist, publisher and TV personality par excellence, Najam Sethi, was asked last year whether he had begun to wear a red muffler after being inspired by Khan, Najam laughed off the question, suggesting he’d been wearing one ever since his student days in the 1960s.
Sethi, who today is considered to be one of leading liberal voices in Pakistan’s media, has had a history of being a Marxist as a college and university student.
And I doubt that a man of his intelligence would actually wear a red muffler to prove his leftist credentials. But yes, there are grown-up men in Pakistan who are using the red muffler (and in one case, a red cap), to actually advertise their revolutionary disposition.
The funny thing is all of them can quite easily be categorised as being entirely right-wing.
Though, one can convincingly argue that red caps in Pakistan (and then mufflers) were first adorned (as leftist revolutionary statements) by Bacha Khan’s Pushtun nationalists, it was one of the first popular Pakistani politician who turned the idea of wearing something red to reflect leftist orientation into a popular fad. He was late Z.A. Bhutto.
Chairing a progressive populist democratic party (and then regime), Bhutto was a staunch admirer of Chinese Marxist ideologue and leader, Mao Tse Tung.
When he emerged as the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1967, Bhutto began to adorn a red ‘Mao cap.’
As a reaction, Islamic parties began adorning the ‘Islamic green’ to counter Bhutto’s ‘leftist red.’
Red caps and mufflers remained a constant with progressive Pushtun nationalist groups, members of the PPP’s student-wing (PSF) and some small Communist parties across the 1980s. Beanzir Bhutto too, wore a red Maoist cap when she returned from exile in 1986 and held huge anti-Zia rallies.
After the end of the Cold War when the US withdrew its patronage and funds from Islamist groups, who were used by the US to restrict the influence of the leftists in Pakistan, Mian Nawaz Sharif and leader of the conservative Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), was perhaps the first mainstream politician in Pakistan to begin adorning a red muffler.
Though a protégée of military dictator Ziaul Haq and right-wing in his views, he (and his party) became more populist in orientation after being downed by a military coup in 1999.
PML-N became one of the first right-wing outfits in Pakistan to begin using leftist symbolism.
The trend was soon followed by the fundamentalist Jamat-i-Islami (JI). Though no JI leader could be seen wearing a red cap or muffler, many of them did begin to mimic the radical anti-US and populist lingo of (ironically) the same leftists whom the party had vehemently opposed during the Cold War.
Same is the case with men like former ISI chief, Hamid Gul, a staunch anti-Soviet and pro-US crusader in the 1980s.
These days, Gul too, can be found with a red muffler around his neck with jargon that mixes militaristic Islamist rhetoric with clichéd leftist sloganeering – even though ISI under him was busy torturing anti-US leftists in the 1980s.
What about Imran Khan then? He’s a classic example of those men who had found Z. A. Bhutto repulsive in the 1970s and 1980s, but have now suddenly found a liking of sorts for Bhutto.
It won’t be surprising to find a member of the JI or Imran Khan’s party today, who now believes that the man that they agitated against was actually closest to what they have been promising the masses these days: To make Pakistan an ‘Islamic welfare state.’
Of course, an Islamic welfare state is almost entirely a meaningless term. In theory, it simply means a welfare state in a Muslim majority country. But since all these new red muffler fans just cannot disengage from their faith-heavy interpretation of politics and the society, the ‘Islamic’ suffix is used.
But the fact remains, no amount of red mufflers and lefty rhetoric can change the reality that many of these men fought a concentrated war on the behest of the US with leftists throughout the Cold War and those who didn’t are simply mixing up their Maududi with Mao.After almost 30,000 hours of development, the Enderal mod is coming to Skyrim in July.
If you were into the Oblivion mod scene, you probably remember the total conversion mod Nehrim - At Fate?s Edge. Now the Sure AI mod team has returned with the sequel to Nehrim, titled Enderal.
Enderal is set in the world of Vyn, and the designers say that it will offer anywhere from 30 to 100 hours of gameplay, depending on your style of play. The world of Enderal is smaller than Skyrim's, but the team believes that the story makes up for it. "We believe that the depth of our story and the complexity of our characters both surpass those in recent Elder Scrolls games," says the official mod site.
The German version of the mod will release the first week of July, with the English version coming "some weeks later." Both versions of the mod are fully voiced. Enderal also includes a housing system, survival mechanics, and a diverse range of areas to explore.
You can check out all the info on the mod by visiting the Sure AI siteHUERFANO COUNTY — Mike Stetler is proud of his garden. It took him months to get the lush jungle just right.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he said.
A decade ago, the labor of planting would have been impossible for Stetler. Strung out on Demerol, OxyContin, morphine and oxycodone, the pain-addled Navy veteran was, he says, “a slobbering zombie, stupid and living in la-la land.”
Since 2002, though, when he started growing and smoking the medicinal marijuana he now tends so carefully, he hasn’t touched a pill.
“The pain isn’t all the way gone, but I can live again. I can get out of bed. The sun is shining on me again,” he said. “See what God does? He gives us something beautiful to use. This healing herb. And what happens?”
What happened is sheriff’s deputies landed a helicopter on his land, broke open two padlocked gates and ransacked his trailer, ripping a gaping hole in the roof. They seized 44 marijuana plants and more than eight state-issued medical-marijuana cards that indicate other medical-marijuana patients have told the state he is their designated caregiver. They left a search warrant hanging over Stetler’s medical-marijuana sign.
Almost eight years after Colorado voters approved Amendment 20, engraving in the Colorado Constitution the lawful use of doctor-recommended medical marijuana for those “suffering from debilitating medical conditions,” police and prosecutors zealously pursue medical-marijuana growers such as Stetler, citing everything from the fact that they just don’t like the law to concerns about public safety and confusion over what the law allows.
The law is “overly broad,” “a work in progress,” “vague” and “a mistake,” according to cops and prosecutors along the Front Range, home to more than three-quarters of the state’s 3,302 residents enrolled in the Colorado medical-marijuana registry program. There are 12 states in the U.S. that have medical-marijuana laws. Of the 10 with marijuana card systems, Colorado is the only state that does not issue caregivers like Stetler licenses that specifically allow for cultivation.
“Marijuana cultivation is a violation of federal and state law. Just because someone says ‘medical marijuana’ doesn’t mean we automatically back off and we don’t enforce the law,” said Larry Abrahamson, district attorney for Larimer County, where more than 45 percent of felony marijuana cases in the past decade have involved growers, many with state-issued cards. “Just because we have Amendment 20 does not mean we have free marijuana for everyone.”
Raid, but no charges
Tucked into a lonely corner of 7,755- resident Huerfano County, Stetler has nursed 33 new marijuana plants from the sandy soil. Good medicine, he says, squeezing sticky, stinky and crystallized buds atop listing 7-foot stalks.
His plants are growing on private land miles from a paved road in two sheds posted with 13 state-issued medical-marijuana certificates that designate Stetler is now a licensed care giver for 13 patients. His doctor has advised he needs 15 plants to alleviate his constant pain stemming from a 1990 car accident.
Since the raid more than a year ago, Huerfano County Sheriff Bruce Newman has not filed any charges or returned Stetler’s plants. No visits from police. Not even a ticket or a letter. Newman said he’s waiting.
“We want to see what happens with some of these other cases,” said Newman, who suspects not all of Stetler’s 44 plants were legal and has destroyed them. “There’s a lot of legal stuff up in the air, and it’s going to take judges making decisions to figure it out.”
The amendment seems to be functioning for people who use and distribute medical marijuana. Eleven storefront dispensaries operate openly in Colorado, some distributing medical marijuana to as many as 600 patients who need as much as an ounce of the weed a week. More than 500 doctors have recommended marijuana, and the number of patients on the state’s registry has almost doubled since January.
“I’d have to say it is working,” said Denver attorney Warren Edson, who represents half of the state’s dispensaries. “But the dispensaries are not cultivating, and there’s a huge need. The cultivation side is problematic.”
Indeed, for the green-thumbed suppliers of the statewide demand for thousands of pounds of medical marijuana, life is not good. While Amendment 20 outlines a host of protections for medical-marijuana patients and allows them to designate a caregiver, the law does nothing to address growers.
So though many medical-marijuana patients designate growers as caregivers, the marijuana farmers are subject to arrest-first, ask-if-it’s-medical-later SWAT raids. They face lengthy and costly legal battles, which, regardless of an acquittal, dismissal or conviction, end with dead marijuana plants.
“The police are supposed to be protecting me from thieves and such, but they are the thieves,” said Stetler, who is one of three designated caregivers in Colorado preparing a civil lawsuit demanding compensation for plants destroyed by police.
“It’s not right. They are making up their own laws and mocking the state’s laws they are supposed to be protecting. They are mocking the voters they serve.”
“Where do they think all the medical marijuana for more than 3,000 patients comes from?” said marijuana farmer Chris Crumbliss, who has been raided twice in Larimer County despite possessing dozens of state-issued medical-marijuana cards from patients listing him as their primary caregiver. “Do they want one person growing for 50 people, or do they want 50 people growing on their own?”
Law rubs wrong way
For police, Amendment 20 conflicts with federal laws and long-held state laws prohibiting cultivation of marijuana.
Even worse, say police, Amendment 20’s requirement that all property and plants seized in a medical-marijuana investigation “shall not be harmed, neglected, injured, or destroyed” is unworkable. (If a cop waters a marijuana plant, is she breaking the law?)
And the notion that marijuana — which the federal government considers a “Schedule I” substance alongside PCP and methamphetamine — can be legal at all dismisses decades of law enforcement culture and ingrained drug war doctrine.
Larimer County’s Jim Alderden is a folksy sheriff who refers to Amendment 20 as an “ill-conceived law” and aggressively pursues marijuana growers. They may call themselves licensed caregivers, but he calls them “dope dealers.”
“Wholesale drug dealers are hiding under the umbrella afforded them by the statute,” he says. “These people are nothing more than dope dealers, and they are hiding under this thing, and we are not going to back off. These people who say they are caregivers providing for 60 to 70 people are running the same sort of scam you see on the West Coast where people see a physician who is willing to prostitute themselves for money and say ‘here’s the dope.’ ”
Scott Carr, the regional director for Colorado’s THC Clinic in Wheat Ridge, disagrees with Alderden’s assessment of doctors who recommend marijuana. Carr says the doctors in his clinic care for their patients and advise the best treatment for their ailments.
“We do a pretty extensive screening of medical history. We get charts and copies of doctor notes,” Carr said.
Jeff Sweetin, head of Denver’s branch of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, regularly hears growers pleading their product is medical marijuana. When the operations “reach into hundreds of plants and millions of dollars, that argument that they are immune because of state medical-marijuana laws is absurd,” Sweetin said.
“I think it was a mistake. It’s bad public policy, and it put cops in a terrible spot,” Sweetin said of Amendment 20. “The very term ‘medical marijuana’ doesn’t hold much water. I mean really, what kind of medicine do you smoke?”
Sweetin fields calls “all the time” from Colorado cops begging his help when a court orders the return of marijuana or growing equipment.
“Ninety-nine times out of 100, our answer is, ‘This is not our problem to fix.’ I feel for these guys and they are my friends and they are partners, but it is not the position of the DEA to rescue everybody from their state’s legislation.”
A need for clarity
If there’s one thing cops, prosecutors, attorneys and growers agree on, it’s that more work is needed to lift the fog surrounding Amendment 20 and its implementation. How it’s going to get done is the big question.
Last month, Crumbliss stood trembling with his arms held high in his front yard at 4 a.m., his boxers pulled to his ankles, his head and face wrapped in a T-shirt, a laser-scoped assault rifle trained on his chest and his dogs howling from a shower of tear gas. He kept saying one thing over and over: “I have a license to grow medical marijuana.”
The armored men behind the guns were Larimer and Boulder county sheriff’s deputies in a multi-jurisdictional, predawn SWAT-team raid of three of Crumbliss’ homes. After months of investigation — which included no-subpoena-needed access to Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association electrical usage reports from Crumbliss’ and neighbors’ homes — the raid netted 200 marijuana plants and 25 pounds of cannabis. Crumbliss and his wife, Tiffany, were arrested and charged with a host of felonies that could land them in prison for almost a decade. It was the second time in two years Larimer County cops have raided the Crumblisses, who have never hidden their predilection toward medical marijuana.
“I thought I was going to be executed,” said Crumbliss, a father of two and a perpetually grinning marijuana farmer who holds more than 40 state medical-marijuana licenses from patients who list him as their primary caregiver. “I’ve never had a felony in my life. I preach love and compassion. I really believe what I’m doing is legal and I am following the letter of the law. And it’s an honor and a privilege to stand up for sick people who can’t stand up for themselves. It might earn me a spot in jail, and it might earn me a place in heaven.”
Sean McAllister, the attorney who represented Crumbliss against his previous and still-pending marijuana cultivation charges from 2007, called Larimer County’s “smash and grab” tactics “the worst abuse I’ve ever seen by police of the medical-marijuana law because they are arresting first and determining if it’s medical later.”
McAllister, the founder of Sensible Colorado, a nonprofit advocating for drug policy reform, said the writers of Amendment 20 made too many compromises and growers like Crumbliss are left in the law’s “gray areas.”
“You can smoke it. You can dispense it. But how are they supposed to grow it?” said McAllister, a Breckenridge attorney who specializes in medical-marijuana cases. “Unfortunately the Crumblisses are the guinea pigs who are going to have to test the legal status of Colorado’s medical-marijuana laws.”
Prosecutions increase
Larimer County, which medical-marijuana attorney Rob Corry calls “the worst” in its pursuit of medical-marijuana caregivers, is not alone in its hunt for marijuana farmers. Across the state, prosecutors in recent years have pursued more cases than ever against growers who argue they are within the bounds of Amendment 20. Last year, prosecutors in El Paso, Jefferson, Denver and Larimer counties — home to nearly half the state’s medical-marijuana patients — tried 72 felony cultivation cases, up from nine cases in 2000.
Part of the issue is public safety, said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey. She explained a litany of potential hazards involving the unregulated business of marijuana growing operations: fire danger from high electrical use and indoor grow lamps, price gouging, the safety of the product and the potential dangers facing future residents of a house where marijuana was grown.
“There is no mandate in our office to go out and aggressively prosecute caregivers or growers, but we are not going to look the other way,” Kimbrough said. “I think (district attorneys) would welcome some more attention to this because there is a sense that there is some work that still needs to be done to clarify the process and perhaps regulate the business aspect and ensure the safety of the people for whom this law was meant to help.”
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.comIn June, Mike LaHaye made peace with the horrible truth.
His childhood best friend – his next-door neighbor growing up, the kid who shared Friday-night sleepovers, marathon Mario Kart games and street hockey in their Cary subdivision – was a Facebook troll.
For many post-collegiate years, LaHaye kept up ties despite a thousand clashes over politics, religion, pop culture – everything. When he was a sophomore in college, LaHaye purged 700 of his 1,000 Facebook friends, but he held onto his old buddy from Cary.
Then in June, after the Orlando shooting, he snapped.
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I won’t tell you what this friend’s name is, what he posted or where he stands politically, because to me that’s not important. The crucial thing here is that the rhetoric online grew so intolerable in this historically volatile election year that a two-decade friendship could no longer endure – even electronically. So LaHaye clicked a button and hit the Internet’s equivalent of the nuclear option:
Unfriend.
“It was hard!” said LaHaye, 26. “The guy was my best friend when I was 7.”
Curiosity gives way to distaste
At last tally, Facebook membership totaled roughly 1.7 billion people worldwide – more than five times the population of the United States. On average, a smartphone user checks Facebook 14 times a day, according to a study sponsored by the social media giant.
The Pew Research Center shows that 63 percent of all Facebook users have unfriended at least one person
Most people joined Facebook giddy with curiosity over the fate of long-lost acquaintances: first-kiss givers and homecoming dates. But most people quickly discovered they didn’t want to read daily dispatches from people they hadn’t seen since ninth grade homeroom. So they cleaned online house. The Pew Research Center shows that 63 percent of all Facebook users have unfriended at least one person. A 2014 study by the University of Colorado-Denver showed that the unfriending boom gets lowered most often on high school friends: people we met through the accident of geography.
The Pew study also notes, I can’t resist mentioning, that people who identify as liberal are far more likely to unfriend.
But until now, family members got special leeway. You tolerated political tirades from your uncle. You put up with your cousin’s babbling. But as Facebook membership grew, and the content shifted from history quizzes and dog videos to Donald Trump memes and Hillary Clinton screeds, the average Facebook feed felt like one big Thanksgiving dinner fight.
I’ll offer a personal example. In the past year, I have hidden four family members with the “unfollow” function, which is Facebook’s equivalent of Unfriending Lite. My breaking point had no political bias. Two of my hidden relatives are liberals; two conservatives. I love them all. I just can’t stomach their unending political bile.
A few days ago, I mentioned this sad development to the woman who cuts my hair, and she told me casually that she had hidden most of her own family members and her in-laws. In 2016, her feed from the world’s most popular social media site consists of her sister’s baby pictures and updates from Bon Appetit.
In that way, I think that Facebook has started to backfire as an innovation. For me, the thing that has always made it so captivating is it allows us to figure out what became of forgotten friends without the trouble of sending them a letter or, worse, enduring a lunch hour’s worth of small talk. If you’ve watched “The Social Network” about Facebook’s beginnings, the appeal for Mark Zuckerberg’s character is finding out whether girls are single without having to ask and risk embarrassment.
Neither LaHaye, who moved to California, nor his friend live in North Carolina anymore. By the time they went to college, they had migrated to different ideological planets. Without Facebook, they probably wouldn’t have interacted at all.
“I’m into weird music and don’t have any idea what I’m doing with my life,” LaHaye said. “He makes a lot of money and goes duck hunting. But you want to retain some semblance of a relationship. Nobody here has known me more than nine months.”
But social media lends us a mouthpiece large enough to fit an alphorn and a voice that can carry across oceans, so you can’t have just a little sample of your old buddy from Cary. You can’t sift out who he’s voting for, where he goes to church or whether he thinks Black, Blue or All Lives Matter. Multiply that amount of political noise by 200, the average number of Facebook friends, and nobody is safe from the unfriending ax.
“God forgive me as I unfriend my Godmother,” said one tweet I found. “Her pro-Trump insanity is driving me bonkers.”
And another:
“Kinda wanna unfriend my uncle on Facebook because he keeps posting all this nonsense about how great Hillary Clinton is... Like ummm.”
Unfriending
In 2008, when I joined, Facebook felt more like a toy than a political tool. You took quizzes to find out which president, which “Star Wars” character and which wild animal best matched your character.
Unfriending on Facebook is a really big deal. It’s a personal spite when someone unfriends you. Cara Rousseau, manager for social and digital media strategy at Duke University
But somewhere along the line, it took on far more gravitas – a vital outlet for The New York Times, ESPN and yes, The News & Observer. And as it grew in importance, getting unfriended there felt like a bigger slap in the face.
“Unfriending on Facebook is a really big deal,” said Cara Rousseau, manager for social and digital media strategy at Duke University. “It’s a personal spite when someone unfriends you. And you don’t happen to know right away because you don’t get a notification. You’re missing something – not seeing something you’re used to seeing.”
As the former opinion editor for The Technician at N.C. State University, Ishan Raval is well-accustomed to unfriending. He keeps an eye on his friends total and notes that since late 2015, the unfriending has come at a faster clip – a trend he attributes to election-year politics. As a self-described left-of-Bernie-Sanders voter, he often got into spats with an active campus Democrat who backs Clinton. But it took a Facebook fight to set their disputes to boiling. In a book-length response, Raval began by calling his frequent foil’s post “a load of B.S.” The response: “Do you purposely write comments so long that no one cares enough to read it/argue with you? Because it’s working.”
Raval found himself unfriended. Cut off.
“The thing to be noted is that we were perfectly friendly whenever we saw each other at the bar/parties till then,” Raval, a twentysomething, told me in an e-mail. “As for my post, that was the final straw.”
Hold on to humanity
To illustrate how personal this has become, I’d like to introduce you to Steven Grumbine, my best friend from the sixth grade. We grew up in what was then a rural and conservative county in the otherwise liberal state of Maryland, and like LaHaye in Cary, we enjoyed the sort of friendship that’s harder to find in this era of magnet schools, traveling sports teams and helicopter parents.
We played football in the street until the score topped 100 and the sun went down. We played Atari until our eyeballs fell out. We played Army games in the woods, taking neighbor kids hostage. His father was my baseball coach, and though I haven’t seen her since 1987, his mom is still my Facebook friend.
Steve and I last saw each other when we shared the lead roles in “Oklahoma,” me as Curly and Steve as Jud, in high school. We happily migrated out of our hometown, me to North Carolina and Steve to Pennsylvania. We hadn’t spoken in any form at all until 2008, when I discovered that he had become a minor celebrity on Facebook as the leader of something called Grumbine’s Political Mosh Pit.
What fascinated me about him then and now is the dizzying change his political views have taken. In the past decade, his views have evolved from Republican to Democrat to Never-Hillary, Bernie-or-Bust. Earlier this year, now leading the Facebook page Real Progressives with roughly 70,000 likes, my old friend was interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor.
“Hillary is everything we stand against,” he told a reporter. “How could I vote for her?”
Echoing the Pew research, he took heaviest abuse from snubbed Democrats. He got called an entitled parasite. People created fake Facebook pages in his name. People photoshopped pictures of his family. But the worst of it came from a close member of his own family, whom I’ve promised to describe in vague terms. The rancor between the two of them over Steve’s political prominence on Facebook grew so bad that they nearly came to blows. In the end, Steve, who has 5,000 personal Facebook friends, had to block this member of his immediate family.
I don’t need this thing that’s going to make me angry three times a week. Mike LaHaye
But that’s not why I’m bringing him up. I’m bringing him up because I unfriended Steve myself.
It was around 2009 and Facebook was relatively new. I wasn’t used to the viciousness, the thoughtless memes that get passed around like poisonous candy or the trashy behavior that few would ever exhibit face-to-face. I won’t describe the post because I’d start another Facebook fight. Suffice it to say I just couldn’t scroll past it casually.
So I hit unfriend.
“I appreciate your candor,” Steve told me this week, when I explained.
I can’t remember the exact circumstances, but I got over my little huff. Maybe I only hid Steve rather than hit unfriend, but whatever the case, we’ve been re-friended Facebook pals for a long time.
LaHaye summed up what a lot of us feel about Facebook when he told me, “I don’t need this thing that’s going to make me angry three times a week.”
And while I agree, I think the whole point of social media is gaining easy access to the richness of our own lives. We’ve collected such a vastness of humanity along our way: liberals, conservatives, lovers, haters, geniuses and even some idiots. Whatever category they fall in, I want to hold on to as many as I can.Image copyright Michael Webb/Keystone/Getty Images Image caption Before the internet era governments needed creative ways of contacting their foreign agents
South Korean officials have criticised North Korea after it apparently resurrected a Cold War-era method of contacting spies.
In recent weeks, mysterious strings of numbers have twice been broadcast over the radio from the North.
A spokesman for the South's Unification Ministry said it couldn't be sure about North Korea's "hidden intentions".
But it urged the North to "desist from such outdated practices".
What do the broadcasts say?
The numbers were picked up on Radio Pyongyang last Friday, officials have said.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted government sources as saying the 12-minute broadcast began shortly after midnight, with a female voice saying: "I will give review work to No. 27 exploration agents."
The announcer then read: "On page 459 number 35, on page 913 number 55, on page 135 number 86, on page 257 number 2," and so on.
A similar two-minute broadcast took place on 24 June, the AP reported.
What do the numbers mean?
South Korean intelligence authorities are trying to work that out, but they are now on alert for "possible provocations".
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption North and South Korea are known to keep a close eye on each other's activities
Such broadcasts were used frequently during the Cold War as a way of getting coded messages to spies in the field or to activate sleeper agents.
Spies would use a hardcopy reference book to decode the numbers into instructions.
Yonhap reported that North Korea had not broadcast number codes since 2000 - it has recently preferred to use the internet for its communications.
Why is North Korea doing this now?
The broadcasts come after a spike in tensions between North Korea and South Korea over the North's nuclear and missile tests, and retaliatory international sanctions.
This month, South Korea and the US announced an agreement to deploy an advanced missile defence system, sparking an angry response from Pyongyang.
Image copyright AP Image caption North Korea's latest missile test was, as always, overseen by leader Kim Jong-un
On Monday, it fired three ballistic missiles into the sea, later saying it had tested nuclear detonators that could be used in a pre-emptive strike on the South.
Prof Remco E Breuker, a Korean expert at Leiden University in the Netherlands, told the BBC that while North Korea could genuinely be trying to contact "sleeper agents" in the South, it could also be an attempt to step up pressure "by ostentatiously signalling agents in South Korea who aren't there".
"In other words, it's a mock-up like some of the missiles shown in one of Pyongyang's military parades."
He says that in the modern era, "it is much easier to use the internet or mobile phones to communicate".
Alistair Coleman, North Korea media analyst at BBC Monitoring, says these messages will cause alarm in the South, but the there's every chance they are a bluff.
Stories like this are lapped up by South Korea's ever-hungry media scene, he says, and it is not unknown for Northern propagandists to allow the South to use this hunger against itself.
In the past, the North has spread the idea that its fleet of "stealth" biplanes could be used to attack Seoul's main airport, he adds.
Whether such an attack is possible is questionable, but the televised military exercises were duly spread throughout the world's media.On Wednesday morning we |
the Gospel. Nowhere does Jesus say, 'Hey, if somebody asks for your shirt, give your coat to the government and have the government give them a pair of slacks.' That's not what -- that's not what Jesus was saying." [The Glenn Beck Program, 3/11/10]
Beck's advice for when you see the words "social justice": "Run, and don't listen to anyone who is telling you differently." On his radio show, Beck stated:
BECK: [T]here are big forces within the faith of different churches that have joined hands with truly Marxist groups, and it's all under social justice. And this is why social justice started. It started in groups in Latin America that they knew they couldn't get into the government because the government -- what was really regulating people there was the church. And so the churches were so powerful, they knew they had to weasel their way in there and tie it to God. It's the same thing that progressives did in the early 20th century. They used God and the churches, and then they broke it apart. That's what's happening. And I'm going to share some evidence next week on different faiths that, known or unknown to many people in the faith, they are part of the social justice movement. And it is Marxist, and it is extraordinarily dangerous. These people have been laying eggs, and they have hatched a long time ago. They are in many, many organizations. You are doing exactly the right thing. You cannot take anything on its face value anymore. You've got to look at the layers and know what you're looking for. Whenever you see some thing that talks about a strong democratic movement or strengthening democracy, you're in trouble. If you see anything that talks about social or economic justice, you're in trouble. Those two things are the language of people like Hugo Chavez. We are a republic, not a democracy. [...] BECK: When you say, you know, I see "social justice" -- when you see those words, run. Because social justice is what Jeremiah Wright preaches. Run, and don't listen to anyone who is telling you differently. Look at the roots of social justice. See what radicals put it together. [The Glenn Beck Program, 10/8/09]
Beck: "What I would call socialist or communist, they'll call just social justice or progressive." On his radio show, Beck stated that "progressives don't speak the same kind of language that you and I do. Economic justice: That's Marxism, it's taking from the haves and giving to the have nots. Social Justice, what is that? Well let me quote Mark Lloyd, the guy I introduced you again to last night. 'Someone needs to step down so someone else can have a turn.' " He later added: "What I would call socialist or communist, they'll call just social justice or progressive." [The Glenn Beck Program, 1/5/10]
Beck warns of "Marxist code words" like "social justice" in "infiltrated" churches. On his radio show, Beck warned his listeners to "watch the messages in your own church. Because if you see the words'social justice,' you're in trouble." He continued:Here is a stat that should not be a reality in 21st century Tanzania. More than 90% of children in east Africa’s second largest economy have no birth certificates. This is despite a law mandating that new babies be registered.
For some rural families, however, bad roads make it prohibitive to travel the distance to government agencies to secure birth certificates. So a lot of families simply forgo the process. The mobile phone is about to change all that.
First launched in 2013, in a partnership with the mobile carrier Tigo and UNICEF, a mobile-based system by Tanzanian government now allows health workers to deliver birth certificates in a matter of days using SMS. The approach is now operational in 10 of the country’s 26 regions.
The way it works is health workers send a text that includes a baby’s name, sex, date of birth and family details to a central database managed by the Registration Insolvency & Trusteeship Agency (RITA), a government body. Once received, an automated response allows them to issue the document soon after. The government is now looking to expand the initiative into the rest of the country in the next five years.
Keeping better civil registration and vital statistics is seen by academics as an important step for African countries to provide better government services to their citizens.
“For us to continue dispensing services to Tanzanians, it is important for the government to have accurate statistics on the population including number of children being born,” Ummy Mwalimu, deputy minister for constitutional and legal affairs, said at the initiative’s launch.
It makes sense that the government is increasingly trying to leverage mobile technology to deliver services. Mobile penetration in Tanzania stands at 73% for the country’s 50 million people.
The aim now is to provide birth certificates to about a million children before the end of this year alone and register 90% of all babies born within the next five years. Without birth certificates it is difficult for children to get adequate healthcare, education and just any basic government service.(covers information from several alternate timelines Multiple realities
"They do nothing but consume food and breed. If you feed that thing more than the smallest morsel, in a few hours you'll have ten tribbles, then a hundred – then a thousand!"
Tribbles (Polygeminus grex) were small, non-intelligent lifeforms originating from Iota Geminorium IV. Known for their prodigious reproductive rate, these round, furry creatures emitted cooing sounds while touched, which had a tranquilizing effect on the Human nervous system.
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Biology Edit
On their own, tribbles are quite incapable of directly harming sentient beings - they do not even possess "teeth" as such. They are also fairly slow. Nonetheless, if their population growth is left unchecked they can rapidly multiply and devastate entire ecosystems on a planetary scale. (TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles"; DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
An entire half of a tribble's metabolism is solely devoted to reproduction. Born pregnant, a single tribble with sufficient food can quickly increase its number exponentially through asexual reproduction, bearing an average litter of ten every twelve hours. Tribbles are hermaphroditic, possessing both male and female reproductive organs, which makes them capable of self-fertilizing at will. Given sufficient food supply, a single tribble can give rise to progeny numbering up to 100,000 in two days.
On their homeworld, tribble populations were kept in check by a large number of reptilian predators. (DS9: "The Nagus"; TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles"; ENT: "The Breach")
History Edit
Tribbles were first encountered by Humans in the early 2150s when Denobulan doctor Phlox brought a small number aboard Enterprise NX-01 as an easily sustainable food source for his pets. (ENT: "The Breach")
By 2256, a book discussing tribbles existed, entitled The Trouble with Tribbles. (DIS: "The Vulcan Hello")
That same year, aboard the USS Discovery, Captain Gabriel Lorca had a pet tribble that he kept in his ready room. Lorca's laboratory had a dissected tribble as well. (DIS: "Context Is for Kings")
In 2257, Ensign Tilly told Michael Burnham that she was sad enough to cry like a baby tribble when she learned that Paul Stamets was transferring to the Vulcan Science Academy to be a teacher. (DIS: "Brother")
A few tribbles were brought aboard the Federation starbase Deep Space K-7 in 2268, when Cyrano Jones brought a small number aboard to trade. However, a single tribble brought aboard the USS Enterprise quickly multiplied. The tribbles were instrumental in foiling a Klingon plan to poison a shipment of quadrotriticale intended for Sherman's Planet, when those that had fed on the grain were found dead. (TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles")
At the same time, the crew of USS Defiant, transported through time by Arne Darvin, prevented him from using a tricobalt device hidden inside a tribble to kill James T. Kirk. (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
Tribbles were an ecological menace for the Klingons, to whom a tribble would react violently. The Klingons first attempted to breed a predator to eliminate the threat. The glommer was used only once, in 2269, aboard the USS Enterprise, and proved unable to deal with the large number of tribbles aboard. (TAS: "More Tribbles, More Troubles")
During this time, Cyrano Jones attempted to genetically engineer the tribbles so that they would not reproduce. As a result of his dabbling, he deemed them to be "safe" so as to be compatible with humanoid ecologies, making them "great pets and profitable, too." Unknown to Jones, at the time, and as was later discovered by Doctor Leonard McCoy, Jones' genetic engineering was described as being "very slipshod," as the resulting tribbles appeared to grow in immense size, instead of rapid breeding. McCoy later discovered that the so-called "giant tribbles" really were not as they appeared, but rather colonies of tribbles. McCoy was able to remedy the situation by giving them "a simple shot" of neoethylene, which caused the tribble colonies to break down into their individual units with a slower metabolic rate, and finally becoming "safe tribbles." (TAS: "More Tribbles, More Troubles")
The Café des Artistes included tribbles as an ingredient in one of their dishes. (TNG: "We'll Always Have Paris")
The Klingons' solution to the tribble menace was to wipe the species out entirely. Klingon warriors were sent to hunt them down throughout the galaxy, and the tribble homeworld was obliterated in the late 23rd century. When told of this, Odo dryly remarked, "Another glorious chapter in Klingon history. Tell me, do they still sing songs of the Great Tribble Hunt?" (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
In spite of the destruction of the tribble homeworld, many Humans continued to have the small creatures as pets from the late 23rd century, well into the late 24th century, as one child aboard the USS Enterprise-D appeared to have one as a pet in 2371. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock; Star Trek Generations)
Information about tribbles was displayed by the computer in Keiko O'Brien's schoolroom on Deep Space 9 in 2369. (DS9: "A Man Alone", "The Nagus") Tribbles were displayed in an LCARS graphic in one of the USS Enterprise-D's science laboratories when the ship crash-landed on Veridian III in 2371. (Star Trek Generations)
Tribbles were reintroduced into the 24th century when Captain Benjamin Sisko and his crew brought at least one of the creatures back to 2373, following a time-traveling visit to the tribble-infested space station K-7 of 2268. The Promenade and Quark's Bar on Deep Space 9 were subsequently overrun with the creatures. According to Captain Sisko, the Federation's Department of Temporal Investigations was not told about the reintroduction of the tribbles because "they didn't ask." (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
In the first draft script of "Trials and Tribble-ations", the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations did find out about the tribbles aboard DS9, at the end of the episode. Sisko suggested about the creatures, "Think of them as... souvenirs."
Miles O'Brien later recalled seeing the tribbles on the Enterprise with Julian Bashir when he was leaving Deep Space 9 at the end of the Dominion War. (DS9: "What You Leave Behind")
Alternate reality Edit
In the alternate reality, Montgomery Scott had a tribble at his station on the Delta Vega outpost in 2258. (Star Trek)
It is revealed in IDW's "The Truth About Tribbles, Part 2" that tribbles do not reproduce in cold temperatures, explaining the sole tribble in Scotty's station.
A year later, Dr. Leonard McCoy injected the blood of Khan into the necrotic tissue of a dead tribble, in order to test the regenerative properties of the blood. A little while later, shortly after the death of James T. Kirk, Khan's blood resurrected the tribble in front of a stunned McCoy. McCoy then ordered Khan captured alive so that his blood could be used to the same effect on Kirk. (Star Trek Into Darkness)
Appendices Edit
Appearances Edit
Background information Edit
The homeworld and scientific name of the tribbles appeared on the chart in Keiko O'Brien's classroom on Deep Space 9. The chart artwork, contributed by DS9 art department illustrator Doug Drexler, are the same component illustrations he had originally prepared for the fan-published Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual in 1976, then reprinted in 1978 as a licensed book by Ballantine.
The story "The Trouble with Tribbles" was intended to tell was writer David Gerrold's re-interpretation of the rabbit population explosion in Australia. The now-apocryphal Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual refers to this event too, connecting it with the k'nurt blight on Vulcan and the destruction caused by tribbles on Sherman's Planet, in the text "quoting" the data on "Parasites" from Volume 17 of the Star Fleet Guide To Alien Life.
In the audio commentary for "More Tribbles, More Troubles," David Gerrold explains that the idea for tribbles came from a fuzz-ball keychain owned by a college girlfriend of his, named Holly Sherman (for whom Sherman's Planet is named). He also mentions that Wah Chang hired a woman named Jacqueline Cumere to make five hundred tribbles for "The Trouble with Tribbles," and explains the procedure for making them. He had previously so explained in his autobiographical book The Trouble With Tribbles: The Birth, Sale, And Final Production Of One Episode. This book also described his fears of having plagiarized the Martian Flat Cat from The Rolling Stones, written by Robert A. Heinlein, and noted that Ande Richardson, operational producer Gene L. Coon's secretary, had both eased that worry and relayed Heinlein's request (which was granted) for a copy of the script.
Tribbles are made from a piece of "figure-eight shaped" fake fur, sewn up to make a ball about five inches in diameter. The ball is filled with foam rubber; some tribbles were made by sewing a decapitated walking toy dog inside the fur skin, and the toy activated to make the tribble crawl, as revealed in a DVD text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda for "The Trouble with Tribbles." Gerrold's afore-mentioned book, in the chapter "Tribble-Making," had previously described the procedure.
Sound Editor Douglas Grindstaff was involved in creating the noises made by the tribbles. Producer Gene Roddenberry first showed Grindstaff a tribble prop and they discussed how they should tackle the creation of the different sounds made by the creatures. There had to be sounds for their various moods, such as for a very comfortable tribble as well as a fearful or disapproving tribble, rearing up and away from someone it didn't like. There also had be sounds for different quantities of tribbles. "I found a dove 'coo,' I flipped the track over, and shaved off part of it with a razor blade," Grindstaff recollected. "I then made a loop out of it, put it on a variable speed machine, and changed the pitch of it to different frequencies. Then I chose those frequencies I liked the best and decided which ones I would use in each spot. I then went to a screech owl for the sound of the tribble rearing up, took the screech owl and played with it and got variations of it. Then I took a bunch of little balloon sounds, where you'd get a balloon and rub it, and we mixed that with other little squeaky sounds that we had in the library, playing with all these at variable speeds, mixing them and making new sounds out of them, and putting them all together until we came up with the various composite sounds used throughout the whole show." (The Star Trek Interview Book, p. 236)
Following the making of "The Trouble with Tribbles," tribble props were repeatedly found around the set of Star Trek's original series. Commented DeForest Kelley: "We'd had these tribbles everywhere. They had them in the prop room and they kept showing up here and there for weeks after we filmed the episode. A tribble might show up as an extra breast on Nichelle [Nichols] or something like that. I guess everybody was still kind of tribble happy and every time we got to work a tribble in somewhere, we were working them in. Instead of pulling out a communicator, somebody would pull out a tribble. They'd continually pop up somewhere. Pull out a drawer and somebody would reach for something and there'd be a tribble there [....] It took weeks to get all the tribbles off the set." Kelley also remembered that – in a scene of an episode that he reckoned was "probably" "Journey to Babel", where his character of Dr. McCoy was meant to be making a surgical incision in another character – he (as Dr. McCoy) apparently removed a tribble from the patient after making the incision, an action that provoked much laughter on the set. (The World of Star Trek, 3rd ed., p. 86)
Having appeared as Klingon captain Koloth in "The Trouble with Tribbles," actor William Campbell was made aware of how extremely popular the tribbles were with fans. "The actors weren't really the stars of the show, those little animals were," Campbell opined. "They really intrigued whoever watched it. One little girl even made a tribble and sent it to me." (The World of Star Trek, 3rd ed., p. 121)
Another homemade tribble was created for Terry Farrell by her grandmother, during her childhood, long before she portrayed Jadzia Dax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; a frequent viewer of TOS, Farrell kept her tribble toy in her bedroom, by a television set. (The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine issue 2, p. 56)
Director Joseph Pevney once speculated that, if tribbles had been proposed to make their debut appearance during the third season of the original series rather than the second, the idea would have been rejected, due to the regular cast becoming increasingly concerned about being seen as the heroes of the series. Pevney argued, "The hero of the show was a little fuzzy animal, and they don't want that. They want to constantly be the heroes." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 48)
In "More Tribbles, More Troubles," the tribbles appear pink in color. Unknown to the rest of the production staff, the director, Hal Sutherland, was color-blind, so to him, pink was light gray.
According to the audio commentary for "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth", David Wise mentions that for Kukulkan's zoo, "If you were to read the original script, we had animals, various life forms from earlier episodes of the live action Star Trek. There was a tribble, a couple of tribbles in one cage, there was a Horta from "Devil in the Dark" [sic] in another cage, they were supposed to be reference, the various menagerie of characters who had appeared in earlier Star Treks."
Harve Bennett once characterized the tribbles in Star Trek III as "Christmas stocking presents to the fans" and went on to say, "That's, 'Hey, kids, you came to see the movie, here's a treat, it's our joke.'" (The Star Trek Interview Book, p. 271)
In the first draft script of TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", "Oh, tribbles" was an exclamation uttered by Wesley Crusher. (Creating the Next Generation: The Conception and Creation of a Phenomenon, p. 69)
An edible tribble was designed to be ripped open as a snack by one of the Klingon guards on Rura Penthe in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, filled with gummy worms and tapioca "guts," but it was not seen in the movie, as it was thought to be too disgusting. A scepter that Rura Penthe's commandant carries has fur that was scripted to be from a tribble. (The Making of the Trek Films, 3rd ed., p. 129)
Some of the most memorable ways in which tribbles are featured in "Trials and Tribble-ations" were devised by DS9 writing staffer Ronald D. Moore. These ideas included tribbles being tossed out of the storage compartment bin from "The Trouble with Tribbles" by one of the DS9 crew – hitting Kirk on the head with them – and another tribble actually being what is more-or-less a disguised bomb. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 384)
In the first draft script of "Trials and Tribble-ations", a hypothetical evolutionary link was made between tribbles and Trill symbionts, as some xenobiologists had apparently theorized that tribbles were "distant evolutionary cousins to Trill symbionts."
The tribble props for "Trials and Tribble-ations" were obtained from Lincoln Enterprises before it became the "Store" section of Roddenberry.com. Prop master Joe Longo later recalled, "We bought 1,400..... [They] only had about 600 there and had to make up some more – it took two weeks. And then we had to make up some in Drapery; we didn't have enough of the large ones." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 110, p. 55)
DS9 special effects supervisor Gary Monak and his team of live effects artists at Paramount were tasked with matching the actions of operable tribble props in "Trials and Tribble-ations" with the equivalent props of thirty years beforehand. This was despite the fact that the DS9 episode features more moving tribbles than there are in "The Trouble with Tribbles". Reported Monak, "We're having about 50 different moving ones made up; they're all pretty much like crawlers or wigglers, the one that's supposed to jump when it sees Klingons is a remote control one we've made." The workings inside the latter prop consisted of a variable-speed wheel with an off-center gearing. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 110, p. 58)
Worf actor Michael Dorn hated tribbles, much like how his own Klingon character felt about the species. "It's just this whole cute thing," Dorn expressed in disgust. "It just drives me up a wall." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 32, Nos. 4/5, p. 93)
Tribbles were mentioned in a 2004 treatment in which J. Michael Straczynski and Bryce Zabel outlined their plans for a reboot Star Trek TV series that ultimately went undeveloped. In the document, the tribbles were once again depicted as encountering the Enterprise, Captain Kirk, and the rest of the ship's crew, though in a new story. The treatment also pondered about the creatures, "What if they came equipped with an agenda, an attitude...and teeth?" [1]
Writer/producer Roberto Orci once claimed that, at least to Humans, tribbles are "potentially poisonous, like blow fish (a common reference to the fishes properly called "puffers," some species of which are toxic)." [2]
The tribble in the film Star Trek was operated by remote control, used by a production staffer standing just out of the camera's line of sight. (Star Trek Special Edition/Three disc Blu-ray documentary featurette "To Boldly Go") Similarly, the tribble in Star Trek Into Darkness was a puppet operated by Director J.J. Abrams, from under a table which the tribble sat on. (enhanced commentary, Star Trek Into Darkness & Star Trek: The Compendium DVD special features)
A tribble was included in Star Trek: Discovery at the request of Akiva Goldsman. [3]
Two tribble fur balls were sold together in the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction for US$4,800. The lot had been estimated to bring in only between US$800 and US$1,200. These tribbles were made for the DS9 outing "Trials and Tribble-ations" and were also used in the bazaar scene in ENT: "Rajiin".
The condition of being born pregnant occurs in some existing Earth species through the phenomenon of Telescoping generations.
Apocrypha Edit
According to the Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual, the mutual dislike between Klingons and tribbles has to do with the fact that both species have keen senses of smell, and apparently, each found the "stench" of the other extremely unpleasant. Tribbles also found food using their sense of smell.
A promotion for the photonovel The Trouble with Tribbles in the back of the previous book, Where No Man Has Gone Before, describes tribbles as being between three and seven inches long.
According to FASA's The Federation sourcebook, tribbles are native to the planet Jorindas, which is the fourth planet in the Beta Vertis system.
In the novelization of The Wrath Of Khan, when McCoy gives Kirk a birthday present, Kirk (under the influence of Romulan ale) asks, "...is it a tribble?!"
In the TNG novel Q-in-Law, Q taunts Worf by offering him a tribble as a present. Worf shares most Klingons' instinctive loathing of the creatures, a fact later confirmed in "Trials and Tribble-ations".
In the DS9 novel The Big Game, Odo does not allow a tribble to be brought onto Deep Space 9 until it is confirmed to be sterile.
In Star Trek Online, the tribbles' tranquilizing effect on the nervous system is used as a healing factor during gameplay. They can also be bred by introducing them to various foodstuffs, giving the player access to different subspecies of tribbles that bestow different benefits. They also seem to spontaneously breed if there is at least one in the player's inventory and a food source is available. Special tribbles have become a common reward for either testing major updates (called seasons) or, more recently, logging onto the game near the beginning of a season. These tribbles typically give buffs against a major enemy of the season. The game's test server is named Tribble.
The virtual collectible card battle game Star Trek: Rivals has a tribble from Iota Geminorium IV as card #1.
In the 2013 video game Star Trek, tribbles are found in various places that Kirk and Spock travel. Scotty also recounts a story in his commentary about an outbreak of tribbles at Starfleet Academy.As the number of connected mobile gadgets — from smartphones and watches to cars — continues to grow, the market is heating up for accurate location data to serve those of us who use these devices.
That fact is being played most expensively at the moment with the sale of Here, the mapping and location services division of Nokia. The companies in the running to buy it include Uber, Baidu, a variety of car manufacturers, Chinese mapping company Navinfo and several private equity firms. The deadline for bids is today, June 18, TechCrunch has heard from two sources.
While Here was last valued at around $2 billion, offers might come in significantly higher than that: Nokia’s trove of driving directions and maps, as well as related location technology and patents, is one of the biggest and more valuable mapping assets to come to the market in years.
How valuable? One former longtime senior employee of Here estimates there are around 300 different location attributes, with corresponding historical databases, that can be tracked using Here’s technology. They include more obvious mapping and location-based applications such as driving directions and street maps, but also spatial data technology used in video and gaming applications.
“It’s incredibly difficult to get the type of mapping data that Here has. Base geometry and 20-40 road attributes are relatively easy to collect. However, to collect the 250+ attributes needed for the best navigation experience requires a combination of field teams and user-generated content,” notes entrepreneur Kurt Uhlir.
“Here has proprietary collection hardware and software that is unmatched, even by Google. Plus, they have the most extensive patent portfolio covering collecting and creating spatial content for current generation of maps and dynamic data. Here also has the foundational patents covering usage of spatial data for creating video games, movie content and the upcoming ADAS vehicle applications.”
Nokia’s trove of driving directions and maps, as well as related location technology and patents, is one of the biggest and more valuable mapping assets to come to the market in years.
There are other reasons for Here’s value. The growth of mobile technology — and the corresponding proliferation of smartphones, watches, cars and other connected devices — has led to the creation of a lot of apps that are underpinned by location and mapping in one way or another, be it for navigation services, social networking, local information and transport apps, delivery services and even games. This means a lot of demand for this kind of data.
Using third-party services is not ideal in every situation: apart from the fact that the data belongs to someone else, in cases of some applications it doesn’t give a company the ability to customize and query the data as it may need to do.
Putting to one side the private equity groups that have been named in connection with the acquisition — Hellman & Friedman, Silver Lake Management and Thoma Bravo — there are at least three strategic groups we’ve heard in connection with the Here acquisition.
Car consortium
A group of European car companies — namely Audi, BMW and Daimler — would be the most obvious and likely buyers for Here, multiple sources tell TechCrunch, a position bolstered by a report yesterday in Bloomberg that noted that this group was Nokia’s preferred buyer.
Our sources see the auto companies’ interest as a kind of locked-in necessity: Nokia already has a very large part of the automotive industry committed to using its maps, upwards of 80 percent by some estimates, so changing that could be a huge pain. “If you’re an auto company, it just doesn’t get much simpler,” a source said. (Ironically, a day after this article came out, Nokia put out a press release confirming this 80 percent figure.)
Early on, the car companies hoped to come together as a consortium to get the asset and somehow make it open for all of their use. They first approached Nokia, represented by Ernst & Young, even before the sale process was made public, but they originally could not collectively commit to paying more than $3 billion and that stalled discussions.
If the car makers don’t manage to get Here, this could also have some interesting ramifications. One source mentioned that the European automakers have, in the event of a sale to an international group, even suggested that they will appeal to European regulators to potentially halt the sale, because it would affect such a large number of big European companies. Separately, there one report in the German press floats the suggestion that TomTom may even come into play if the car companies fail to win Here.
Here has also been growing its business in a very car-friendly way in recent times. Its HD product produces pictures in 10-centimeter detail, ideal for dashboard systems. “They are targeting cars and self-driving cars,” a source said. “They know that is really expensive data to process and so that’s where they have put all their investment in the last two years. It hasn’t been on the consumer side but in the highly detailed maps space for the car companies.”
But if the car companies are focused on certain aspects of the Here business, it also brings into question where the other parts of the bigger group of assets — such as for applications for smartphones, or the technology for gaming services — would go.
Uber and Baidu
Chinese search engine Baidu and transport juggernaut Uber are also bidding together. “Baidu is still very much in the running and remains in a consortium with Uber,” one person close to the story notes to us. A joint bid could also include a third party like Apax Partners. The companies are already linked in another way: Baidu invested in Uber last year. The fact that Uber is reportedly raising yet another $1.5 billion also could be in aid of this. (Some believe this could change, and in fact Daimler is already working with Baidu in China)
The interest for Uber is a pretty obvious one: the company is building a global transportation network, and despite some early hiccups, it seems intent to use that as a backbone for a wider distribution and delivery business. As it continues to staff up its R&D efforts to work out what forms transportation of the future will take, getting the mapping component right will be key. Uber’s existing network of drivers would also give it a clear way of keeping Here’s database up to date and growing.
Uber is building a global transportation network and seems intent to use that as a backbone for a wider distribution and delivery business.
Before Uber’s name first came up in a rumor that it was bidding for Here with Baidu, we’d been hearing for months that Uber was going to start making some big moves to sort out its location data. It’s also been making its own investments in this area, such as with the acquisition of deCarta earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Baidu, like its U.S. counterpart Google, has been slowly building out an ambitious business that expands well beyond its biggest, earliest web search product. And as with Google, that has extended to maps. Baidu has been somewhat quiet on its global ambitions outside of its home market in China, but becoming a shareholder in the Here maps business could be one way of building out its own location services and mapping services to new markets.
Navinfo and Tencent
To date, Navinfo has been the only company that has publicly confirmed that it is interested in acquiring Nokia Here. It’s likely to go in on its bid with Tencent, which is an investor in Navinfo, and private equity firm EQT Partners. Navinfo strangely published an item on its own media pages detailing a $4 billion bid for the assets, although it was then quickly taken down.
Navinfo is in some ways a very obvious buyer for the Nokia assets. It’s a large mapping company in its own right, although its focus to date has been on the Chinese market. Here would give it a trove of data covering the rest of the world, usable as Navinfo looks to grow its business internationally.
Tencent, meanwhile, already has a long list of investments that happens to include a lot of other businesses whose technology is complementary or could be helped by Here’s assets. They include Uber competitor Didi Kuaidi, delivery service Renren Kuaidi, Satellogic, Skymind and many more.
Navinfo and Nokia have a history, too. The two partnered on a joint venture for maps in China — partly to get around regulatory blocks that prevented Nokia, as a foreign company, from developing these on its own — which was called Nav2. Then, in 2013, when Here was already needing to shore up funds, Nokia quietly sold its stake in Nav2 to Navinfo, for RMB79 million ($12.6 million).
Alibaba, Amazon
E-commerce giants Alibaba and Amazon have not recently come up as potential bidders for Here, which is in a way a surprise. Both companies are logistics and distribution powerhouses, using their networks as a key way of expanding and (literally) delivering on their e-commerce might. Alibaba in particular has made investments into expanding its logistics business internationally; and Amazon has been working on what the next generation of delivery services might look like in its drone operations.
On the other side of Amazon’s business, it’s been building out a huge B2B operation in the form of AWS, providing cloud-based services to developers and enterprises.
Taking all of that together, you can see where Here could be useful to the companies. As with Uber, the advantage of having maps that you can customise to your needs could not only improve the logistics of the business today, but could help them plan for what they would like to deliver tomorrow.
Although they are not being named by anyone right now, it doesn’t mean they are not interested. One source close to Nokia tells us that as recently as last year, Alibaba had talks with Nokia and Here about making a significant investment in the operation.
Facebook
As we reported in May, Facebook quietly started to use Here maps in some of its mobile apps. This could be a precursor to Facebook using those maps elsewhere (such as on desktop or for new apps), but so far it seems unlikely to be a prelude to a bigger deal like Facebook buying Here outright.
Facebook is no stranger to the location conundrum, trying out different apps that can provide its users with their own location-based local listings. Facebook has also been positioning itself as a platform for developers to add a social layer to their apps, and for businesses to interface with their customers.
Facebook has been positioning itself as a platform for developers to add a social layer to their apps.
Samsung, Apple
In that context, having its own maps and location services would be an obvious way of growing those operations. It also opens up the company to new markets like automotive as it continues to transform its business to be more than just the social network that has been at its core from the start.
Two other names that have not come up much are Apple and Samsung. The iPhone maker’s bold move in 2012 to ditch Google for its own in-house map technology for iOS ended up becoming one of the few missteps that Apple has made in the last several years. The company has been working hard to build up that business, hiring people (including senior people from Here) and making acquisitions. As one of the richest companies in the world, Apple has the funds, and with clear interests in all the areas where Here is doing business, it seems like a no-brainer.
On the other hand, Here currently has around 6,000 employees, a size that does not sound like an Apple acquisition. Apple has also recently extended its mapping deal with TomTom for maps and related information, along with OpenStreetMaps and other sources. Apple reportedly has plans to build out its mapping business in-house — no surprise given how many people it appears to be recruiting right now (nearly 200 only on the keyword search |
government.
Northern Ireland's main parties have been unable to make a deal since power-sharing collapsed in January.
Earlier on Sunday, speaking to BBC's Sunday Politics Show, Mr Brokenshire said he would legislate for a Northern Ireland budget if an executive is not formed in October.
At the party conference, he said that his message to parties is "now is the time to reach agreement".
Image caption Northern Ireland has been without a devolved government since Stormont collapsed in January
"Now is the time to look beyond the issues that divide you. Show the resolve you have demonstrated in the past."
He warned that if a deal was not agreed he would bring legislation to Westminster.
"If the parties remain unable to find a way through we risk heading down a different path, where the UK government will need to provide the necessary political stability and governance... starting with the setting of a budget for Northern Ireland later this month.
"This isn't what I want to see."
DUP due at conference
James Brokenshire also made reference to his party's arrangement at Westminster with the DUP.
After the general election last summer, the Conservative Party agreed a confidence and supply arrangement in the House of Commons in which the DUP support the Conservatives in key votes.
The Secretary of State told the hall: "We are and will remain two separate parties with our distinctive identities and values.
"On some issues, we will disagree. But as two parties we are working together at Westminster in the national interest."
DUP leader Arlene Foster and a number of DUP MPs are expected in Manchester in the days ahead and the party will host an event at conference on Tuesday.
Sinn Féin's Stormont leader Michelle O'Neill will also attend a breakfast event with Arlene Foster.RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said he doesn't believe that voters care about seeing Donald Trump's tax returns. | AP Photo Priebus: Trump as own spokesman 'a little bit odd'
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday dismissed reports that Donald Trump had once posed as his own spokesman as a “little bit odd,” and not something that’s going to change voters’ minds.
“It’s a little bit odd, but I’ll tell you that I think of all the things facing our nation right now … and that particular issue isn’t going to move the electorate,” he told John Dickerson on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Story Continued Below
The Washington Post reported last week that Trump may have gone by the names "John Miller" and "John Barron" while speaking to reporters in decades past. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has denied those claims, despite admitting in past interviews that a call from "John Miller" was a "joke gone awry."
“There’s going to be lots of stories,” said Priebus, who went on to say that he believes voters are more concerned about someone who can bring change to Washington.
Dickerson pressed Priebus on Trump’s unreleased tax returns. Trump remarked last week that his tax rate is no one’s business, seemingly shutting the door on the possibility that voters could see those records before November, if at all.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if people don’t care,” Priebus said about the returns. “I don’t think that’s something that’s going to move the electorate.”
With regard to the longstanding history of candidates releasing tax returns, Priebus did say that presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton — who has sharpened her attack on Trump as she has pivoted toward the general election — should be “careful” not to throw stones in glass houses.
“She’s not going anywhere in that regard,” he said.Los Angeles rapper Busdriver has been making weird, thoughtful rap delivered at a million miles for hour consistently for years (and inspiring a few like-minded souls to rap alongside him as part of Hellfyre Club in the process), so it's only logical that those things combined would, at some point, accelerate him into outer space. "Colonize the Moon" starts out as kind of a neo-soul ballad about, well, colonizing the moon, but, as soon as Busdriver's voice lands like an anvil, or, uh, a meteorite, it's clear that this is not just any layman's moon colony: "If you were here for the last song about world leaders and street fashion/we bent the truth quite a bit and would like to announce the following redactions," he explains.
In rapid-fire succession, he then cycles through topics as diverese as Diet Shasta and the Mars rover, in a free-wheeling set of ideas that suggest that Busdriver's space exploration plans involve getting hype as fuck while also probably reading some books in the space shuttle on the way. The video, directed by Mattia Fiumani, offers the space trip, complete with an astronaut helmet spewing tape like a Busdriver cassette gone crazy, to match.
"Colonize the Moon" is off of Busdriver's album Perfect Hair, which is out September 9 (preorder it) and will feature a cast of artists including Aesop Rock, Danny Brown, Open Mike Eagle and Pegasus. Check out the video above and get ready to have your expectations literally skyrocket.VS2017 is officially out and with it, the new version of the.NET Core build system: MSBuild!
What? They’ve gone BACK? Yes. project.json was basically reimplementing everything already present in MSBuild so they changed back. Don’t worry, they upgraded MSBuild to be much lighter and less XML verbose. One of my test project has only 65 lines of XML and that includes some whitespace.
So migrating was a little bit of work since the migration tool works well for a vanilla project.json, but I had a few customizations for StyleCop and others. Here’s a quick recap of all the steps I had to go through and some caveats to keep in mind.
Migrate from project.json to csproj
After installing the.NET Core SDK 1.0.1, the first step is migrating to csproj.
First, I had to upgrade the sdk property of global.json, otherwise it couldn’t find the migrate command.
{ "projects" : [ "src", "test" ], "sdk" : { "version" : "1.1.1" } }
Then, in the root folder of your solution:
dotnet migrate
This will take care of transforming all your project.json files to csproj. I had to delete my.sln file and create it anew in VS2017, but that might be my fault.
That’s the easy part! After that, a simple dotnet build worked.
StyleCop.Analyzers
I use StyleCop.Analyzers to lint my code and make sure everyone uses the same style. In each project.json, I had the following to link to shared settings in the root directory:
"buildOptions" : { "debugType" : "portable", "additionalArguments" : [ "/ruleset:../../stylecop.ruleset", "/additionalfile:../../stylecop.json" ], "warningsAsErrors" : false }
The migrate command did not take care of that. I had to open each csproj file and add the following:
<PropertyGroup> <CodeAnalysisRuleSet>..\..\stylecop.ruleset </CodeAnalysisRuleSet> </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> <AdditionalFiles Include= "..\..\stylecop.json" /> </ItemGroup>
Depending on when you migrate, you might have an issue where the JSON file is not loaded properly and StyleCop reports hundreds of errors.
The issue is resolved and waiting for merge here.
dotnet test and Shippable
I had to upgrade the three following dependencies from NuGet to their latest version.
Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk : 15.0.0
: 15.0.0 xunit : 2.2.0
: 2.2.0 xunit.runner.visualstudio : 2.2.0
dotnet test does not have the same xUnit runner anymore. The test results are output in TRX format, which is not compatible with xUnit or jUnit by default.
I had to hunt the Internet for an XSLT file that transformed TRX to jUnit format so Shippable could understand the test results. Here is the result on GitHub Gist.
Shippable.yml
A few changes were needed to shippable.yml for everything to work. You can see my original post explaining the basics of Shippable.
language : none build : pre_ci_boot : image_name : microsoft/dotnet image_tag : 1.1.1-sdk # Changed from 1.1.0-sdk-projectjson pull : true options : " -e HOME=/root" ci : - apt-get --assume-yes install xsltproc # Removed the sed to treat warnings as errors - dotnet restore # Re-enable this when StyleCop.Analyzers is updated with the fix. - dotnet build # /p:TreatWarningsAsErrors=true - cd test/Akinox.Backend.Test.Unit # Changed this to output TRX format - dotnet test --logger "trx;LogFileName=../../../output.xml" on_success : - cd../.. # Uses new XLST file. - xsltproc -o shippable/testresults/result.xml scripts/trx-to-junit.xslt output.xml on_failure : - cd../.. # Uses new XLST file. - xsltproc -o shippable/testresults/result.xml scripts/trx-to-junit.xslt output.xml
Conclusion
And with that, I’m at the same point I was before, except in VS2017. Now on to trying to load the solution with VS For Mac!
If you’ve migrated and had problems, please mention them in the comments!
A few links I found useful while going through the migration.We’ve already seen it played on the toilet, to say nothing of park benches, beds, airports, party vans, e-sports arenas and ad hoc nighttime games of underpass hoops. And you’ll soon be able to play Nintendo’s imminent $299 hybrid TV/mobile Switch game console, due March 3, in even stranger locales.
“Imagine driving in the middle of the desert and seeing a couch, TV and video game system in the middle of nowhere,” writes Nintendo in a press blurb, “or skiing down the side of a mountain and seeing another one of these surprising setups sitting there in the snow, ready for a round of gaming.”
That’s right, the desert, into which Nintendo says it’ll deposit a living room on February 23. Blue Cloud Movie Ranch in Santa Clarita, California, to be geo-spatially precise, a place that’s been everything from an Afghan village in American Sniper to an Iraqi village in an episode of Arrested Development. Weird, right?
Add professional wrestler John Cena to the mix and “invited guests” (Nintendo also mentions “YouTube influencers”) will get to square off with the WWE star in games of 1-2-Switch, a next-gen Wii-ish party game that challenges players to perform virtual tasks like munch on sub sandwiches (yes, with your mouth), rock a baby to sleep or sashay like a runway model.
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While the desert shindig is invite-only, Nintendo says the subsequent two events—one staged at Snowmass ski resort in Aspen, Colorado, another in Madison Square Park, New York City—will be open to the public.
The event lineup specifics:
The Desert – Invite only
Feb. 23, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. PT
Blue Cloud Movie Ranch
20019 Blue Cloud Rd.
Santa Clarita, CA 91390
Aspen – Open to the public
Feb. 27, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. MT
Snowmass Village
45 Village Square
Snowmass Village, CO 81615
New York – Open to the public
March 3, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. ET
Flatiron Plaza
Broadway between 23rd and 24th St.
New York, NY 10010
Write to Matt Peckham at matt.peckham@time.com.Franceska Mann (or Franciszka Mann in Polish, a.k.a. Rosenberg-Manheimer, also: Franciszka Mannówna, or Man; February 4, 1917 – October 23, 1943) was a Polish-Jewish dancer mentioned by Jewish Holocaust survivors in the context of her actions in the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust in occupied Poland. Along with a group of new arrivals, Mann was meant to be taken to the gas chamber for immediate death. During the incident, which was either at the selection ramp, a work area or at the gas chamber, depending on the telling, she managed to shoot and fatally wound roll call officer Josef Schillinger and injure Work Service Leader Sergeant Wilhelm Emmerich, before her own subsequent death.
Life [ edit ]
Franciszka Mann was a young dancer residing in Warsaw before the Second World War. She studied dance in the dance school of Irena Prusicka. Her friends at that time included Wiera Gran and Stefania Grodzieńska. In 1939 she was placed 4th during the international dance competition in Brussels among 125 other young ballet dancers.[1][2] She was considered one of the most beautiful and promising dancers of her generation in Poland[3][4][5] both in classical and modern repertoire.
At the beginning of the Second World War she was a performer at the Melody Palace nightclub in Warsaw. She was a prisoner in the Warsaw Ghetto. In several publications she is mentioned as a German collaborator.[6][7][8][9] Her name is associated with the "Hotel Polski affair".
She is mentioned in Filip Mueller's eyewitness account Eyewitness Auschwitz as well as in the account of Jerzey Tabau, a former Birkenau prisoner. Tabau's report was filed for the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg as Document L-022.
On October 23, 1943, a transport of around 1,700 Polish Jews arrived on passenger trains at the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, although they had been told that they were being taken to a transfer camp called Bergau near Dresden, from where they would continue on to Switzerland to be exchanged for German POWs. One of the passengers was Franceska Mann. She had probably obtained her foreign passport from the Hotel Polski on the Aryan side. In July 1943, the Germans arrested the 600 Jewish inhabitants of the hotel and some of them were sent to Bergen-Belsen as exchange Jews. Others were sent to Vittel in France to await transfer to South America.
According to some versions, the new arrivals were not registered but were told that they had to be disinfected before crossing the border into Switzerland. They were taken into the undressing room next to the gas chamber and ordered to undress. Other versions of the story mention the events that follow taking place at either the selection ramp or a labor area of the camp. Regardless of location, what is confirmed is that she fatally wounded the roll call officer Josef Schillinger,[10] using a pistol (many accounts say his own) and fired two shots, wounding him in the stomach. Then she fired a third shot which wounded another SS Sergeant named Emmerich.
According to Tabau, the shots served as a signal for the other women to attack the SS men; one SS man had his nose torn off, and another was scalped. However, accounts vary: in some Schillinger and Emmerich are the only casualties. Reinforcements were summoned and the camp commander, Rudolf Höss, came with other SS men carrying machine guns and grenades. According to Filip Mueller, all people not yet inside the gas chamber were mowed down by machine guns. Other mentioned outcomes are the Jewish women being herded into the gas chamber, taken outside and executed, or Franceska taking her own life with the stolen pistol. Due to various conflicting accounts, it is unclear what truly happened next; the only things that are certain are on that day Schillinger died, Emmerich was wounded, and all the Jewish women were killed.
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]It was love at first visit to Holy Mountain Brewing in Seattle. Let me count the ways:
1. The tap room: sheltered and unassuming in a industrial area off a main road, it was a hidden gem that exceeded my first impression. The concrete floors, stark white walls, tall ceilings, wooden booths, white subway tile, minimalist aesthetic meets a thoughtful design that was so damn good. I loved everything about it.
2. The beers, oh the beers: this really should be number 1 because they are really what matters the most ultimately, but I can’t help but swoon over the concrete floating tables. Either way, Holy Mountain is killing it. They have some of the most interesting and well done beers I have ever had in Seattle, and I have been to quite a few breweries in Seattle. They are focusing on seasonal, hop-forward and yeast-driven beers, including saisons/farmhouse ales as well as some lagers, but most importantly is they were all extremely drinkable and clean. I tried several of the beers and here is what I thought:
The OX – Farmhouse Ale 6% – Was light and fruity, had a lovely citrus quality that finished dry. Reminded me of a fruity chardonnay, very approachable. I need more of this in my life.
Kiln and Cone – Pale Ale 5.2% – Hoppy but very well balanced. Had some notes of citrus and pine, so drinkable it made me believe I could fall back in love with the IPA.
King’s Head – Brown Ale 7.9% – Falls between a porter and brown in my opinion. Had great flavors but wasn’t overly sweet, mostly tasted of brownie and marshmallow with a slight bitter backbone.
3. The people: I met one of the co-owners Mike Murphy when I went to the taproom and he was as nice and forthcoming as one could possibly get. He answered all my questions, dug-up a shirt from the back, let me get behind the bar to get the shot I wanted of the tap handles, all while being the only person behind the bar and handling all the other patrons. He never seemed flustered or annoyed, he just was so mellow and easy to talk to. He was so happy to hear how much I loved his beers it seemed to mean a lot to him.
Believe it or not the brewery name isn’t from a religious nod, but yet is from a song and album name from a band called Sleep. It’s also a reference to Mt. Rainier, but mainly from the band. I am not sure about you guys but I like to keep religion and beer separate like good ol’ church and state, so it was a relief to learn it had no religious affiliations tied to the name.
A brief search around the web confirmed that I wasn’t alone in my admiration for this brewery.
“Holy Mountain is a true blessing upon Seattle’s beer scene.”
“The space is open, clean, and feels comforting in that minimalist-this-place-looks-like-it-just-came-out-of-a-magazine way.”
“the most Highly Anticipated new Seattle Brewery Opening of the year.”
The Holy Mountain taproom is located at 1421 Elliott Ave W in Seattle. They have a 60-seat taproom and 12 tap handles, and are 21+ and no dogs allowed. If there was one bummer about Holy Mountain is they don’t allow dogs like many other Seattle breweries, but I understand why they choose to have those rules. It’s meant to be a heaven away from reality, and for those who want to get away and those who have allergies, it’s should be fun for them too. Hope to see y’all there next time I visit!A fan's guide to identifying pitches
I'm a baseball fan. I've watched my share of televised games and attended a few handful. After all this, I was still in the dark about the difference between pitches. I knew a curveball broke downwards, but what exactly was a circle changeup?
The diagrams below are the results of skimming through baseball books and doing online research. This is not a complete guide. I've picked twelve of the more common pitches:
Fastballs : Four-seam, Two-seam, Cutter, Splitter, and Forkball
: Four-seam, Two-seam, Cutter, Splitter, and Forkball Breaking Balls : Curveball, Slider, Slurve, and Screwball
: Curveball, Slider, Slurve, and Screwball Changeups: Changeup, Palmball, Circle Changeup
Learning to identify pitches
The list of pitches might seem like a lot to keep track of, but remember that each pitcher utilizes only a selection of these pitches. For example, Pedro Martinez throws a curveball, circle-changeup, an occasional slider, and a fastball. Do a little research on the pitcher before the game.
Things to watch for that will help you identify a pitch:
Speed
Movement - the general direction the ball is moving
- the general direction the ball is moving Break - a sudden shift in direction
There are a few other things that can help you identify a pitch: ball rotation, point of release, and grip. For a casual fan though, it might be a bit much and I don't illustrate or discuss any of the latter three items.
Reading the diagrams
Take note of the speed, movement, and break of the ball. Don't worry about where the baseball is shown in the the strike zone. You can throw a fastball in the middle of the strike-zone like the one illustrated, or you can throw one high and away from the batter. It's still a fastball. Location doesn't determine the pitch.
Four-seam Fastball 85-100 mph Fastest, straightest pitch. Little to no movement.
Two-seam Fastball 80-90 mph Also known as a Sinker. Moves downward, and depending on the release, will sometimes run in on a right handed hitter (RHH).
Cutter 85-95 mph Breaks away from a right handed hitter (RHH) as it reaches the plate. Mix of a slider and a fastball. Faster than a slider but with more movement than a fastball.
Splitter 80-90 mph Breaks down suddenly before reaching plate.
Forkball 75-85 mph Like a splitter, but with a less dramatic, more gradual downward movement.
Curveball 70-80 mph Commonly called a 12-6 curveball. The 12-6 refers to the top to bottom movement (picture a clock with hands at 12 and 6).
Slider 80-90 mph Breaks down and away from a RHH. Between a fastball and a curve.
Slurve 70-80 mph 11-5 movement. Similar to a curve but with more lateral movement.
Screwball 65-75 mph 1-7 movement. Opposite of the slurve.
Changeup 70-85 mph Slower than a fastball, but thrown with the same arm motion.
Palmball 65-75 mph Ball is gripped tightly in palm. Just like a changeup, this pitch is slower than a fastball, but thrown with the same arm motion.
Circle Changeup 70-80 mph A changeup with 1-7 moment like the screwball.
PDF Download
All twelve pitch diagrams, minus the text notes, are collected onto a single page PDF.Rare 'Doctor Who' synthesiser, EMS Synthi 100, restored in Melbourne after decades in storage
Updated
When Leslie Craythorn retires as the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music's senior technical officer this year he will leave behind a rare instrument.
On request of the university, Mr Craythorn has spent some of his last months on the job meticulously restoring a rare Electronic Music Studios (EMS) Synthi 100 modular synthesiser.
With its rows of coloured knobs and primitive displays the large grey cabinet looks like something from an old science fiction TV show and, in a way, it is.
Mr Craythorn said the instrument is identical to the one used by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the 1970s to create sound effects and incidental music for Doctor Who.
He first encountered the Synthi in 1975 when he was employed as a technician in the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music's electronic music laboratory.
"When I walked in and saw the size and the immensity of the machine... it's overwhelming," he said.
He worked with the machine nearly every day for the next 12 years, supporting students using it to create bold experimental music.
My count is we're down to maybe three Synthi 100s which are actually working and in original condition, of which this is one Leslie Craythorn, University of Melbourne
Delivered to the university from London in March 1973, the Synthi 100 became the centrepiece of the Conservatorium's electronic music studio.
It was used to create Electronic Music, a vinyl LP released by the university in 1975, which was edited by Mr Craythorn.
The record includes ground-breaking work by Peter Tahourdin, Three Mobiles, featuring ocean-like wave noises, rapid-fire beeps and UFO sounds.
"It demonstrates that the composers in that 70s decade were very much focussed on pitchless, beatless music," Mr Craythorn said.
"In Three Mobiles you won't find a single chord in the western structure."
It was this sort of music for which the Synthi 100 was created and Mr Craythorn explained that a traditional piano-style keyboard was sold separately by EMS as an optional extra.
He said EMS co-founder Tristram Cary, who built his early synthesisers while working as a radar technician for the Royal Navy, was particularly interested in pushing the boundaries of music.
"He was looking at creating instruments which could create new sounds," Mr Craythorn said.
With its powerful sound-shaping tools and computerised sequencer, which could be used to compose and play back electronic musical "scores", the Synthi was state-of-the-art in 1971.
It was superseded by digital synthesisers in the early 1980s.
"Digital [synthesisers] became very popular very fast," Mr Craythorn said.
"I think it's a tragedy because the nature of analogue music got left behind and it hadn't run its time yet, there was still more that we needed to do."
Restoration prompted by analog modular revival
In a regular keyboard-style synthesiser, the signal flow through the instrument is fixed, with musicians altering the sound by changing certain controls at each stage.
A modular synthesiser is different in that the signal can be routed through the instrument in many different ways, from module to module, allowing almost limitless sonic possibilities.
Interest in modular synthesisers has increased in recent years, with boutique companies offering individual modules for enthusiasts to build their own systems.
When you're operating this instrument, nudging the joystick or tuning an oscillator, it's very tactile, you're very much in touch with the instrument Leslie Craythorn, University of Melbourne
Recently it was announced that Moog's 1970s modulars, which were the main competition to the Synthi 100, would be rereleased for prices of up to $US150,000.
It was this resurgence of interest which saw the Synthi pulled out of retirement, with students studying Interactive Composition at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) expressing interest in learning more about the old and rare instrument.
And rare it is - EMS made 30 of the Synthi 100s before the company went into liquidation in 1979.
Mr Craythorn has been able to track down sixteen of these, half of which are on display while some of the remaining Synthis have been modified.
"My count is we're down to maybe three Synthi 100s which are actually working and in original condition, of which this is one," Mr Craythorn said.
Melbourne University kept the instrument in storage for 20 years before investing much time bringing the instrument back to working condition.
Mr Craythorn individually removed each of the Synthi's 84 circuit cards and 185 dials, cleaning them using specialty lubricants and an ultrasonic bath.
With help from EMS technician Robin Wood, he tracked down replacement components from across the globe.
He said the instrument is now more than 90 per cent operational, and he is on track to have it fully operational in time for a planned concert in late March.
Describing the process of restoring the synthesiser as "a rollercoaster ride", having the chance to play the Synthi again has brought him the most joy.
"When you're operating this instrument, nudging the joystick or tuning an oscillator, it's very tactile, you're very much in touch with the instrument," Mr Craythorn said.
Topics: electronic, science-and-technology, music, music-education, university-of-melbourne-3010
First posted[Updated]
What does it mean when one of the people you have sex with, apropos of nothing, suggests you write about your battle with sex addiction?
Okay, yes, I have a sex blog. I’ve definitely exceeded the average number of sexual partners. Going a week without a fix is an anomaly.
But I don’t think I’m a sex addict. I just like to fuck. And think about fucking. And write about fucking.
I realize that “I’m not a sex addict, I just like to fuck” kinda sounds like “I’m not an alcoholic, I just like to drink.”
Addiction, properly defined, probably exists. And with it, denial.
I like to get fucked and fucked up. And, yes, that likely colors my view.
So between my self-serving need to justify my behavior and my liberal white guilt need to end the drug war, I’ve looked further into the science of addiction than your average girl. I’m also a huge nerd.
After poking around, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s likely that a lot of what we think we know about addiction is mostly superstition.
Starting with how we define addiction.
One definition of addiction posits that someone is addicted to something when they lose control over their choices in pursuit of it. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, aka the scientific arm of the drug war, claims drugs cause “brain changes” that “challenge an addicted person’s self-control and hamper his or her ability to resist intense impulses to take drugs.”
Meh. Recent experiments don’t support the view that addicts have less self-control or are less rational than non-addicts. This view of addicts as sub-human also has disturbing unintended consequences. And let’s not forget that the case for free will period is pretty weak.
Okay so what is addiction? It’s probably more when people do something even though it interferes with their life. The dad who gets fired for his drinking. The daughter who steals from her mom for money for meth.
But then, taken literally, everything I do “interferes with my life.” Where, exactly, is the line between “interference” and “my life?” If my life is having group sex while I shoot heroin it cannot really be said that drugs and sex are interfering with my life.
So what do we really mean when we say someone “can’t stop” or that some habit is “ruining their lives?” We’re saying the “addict” is making choices we wouldn’t ourselves make. We’re saying they’re running their lives wrong.
And here’s where it gets really interesting.
There’s a famous study used to illustrate the point that addicts can’t control themselves. It showed that drug-addicted rats would push a button for drugs until they literally starved themselves to death.
But Dr. Hart, who studies addiction at Columbia University, found that though all the rats were given unlimited cocaine (where do I sign up for that study?), only some of the rats became addicted. Only the rats who were raised in solitary conditions and given no other options got hooked. Give the rats access to sweets and let them play with other rats, and they stop pressing the lever.
People judged the rats as making a stupid choice. In actuality, from what I know about solitary confinement, the rats were making a perfectly rational choice. I’d wager that it’s basically a coin toss between a coke binge til death and a lifetime of torture.
Non-addicts judge addicts as making irrational choices because they literally can’t imagine the horror of the options addicts see available to them.
Anyway, we’ve come pretty far afield of the central question. Am I a sex addict? I mean, no. I, like the rats, just don’t have a better option. I’d actually love nothing more than to stop whoring around and settle down with one person. It’s a fucking slog, dating. And the sex is definitely lower quality. But I don’t know how to get from here to there. Who knows, maybe it’s right around the corner. I should text that guy who asked me to write this.
[Editor’s note: My BFF has submitted that “not knowing how” to get settled down is in fact a cop-out and that in fact I remain single because I’ve rationally calculated the work cost of whoring around to be less than meeting someone else’s emotional needs. This seems plausible, but I maintain that my continued whoring around as opposed to settling down results from my standards exceeding my market value.]CSS Grid has just been uplifted to Firefox 52 Developer Edition (download it here!). With Chrome (and hopefully Safari and Edge) implementations coming shortly, using grid to build websites will soon be possible in release browsers across the board.
Grid allows users to decouple HTML from layout concerns, expressing those concerns exclusively in CSS. It adapts to media queries and different contexts, making it a viable alternative to frameworks such as Twitter’s Bootstrap or Skeleton which rely on precise and tightly coupled class structure to define a content grid.
Reducing the risks of fragility, code bloat, and high maintenance costs inherent in how we currently build on the web, grid really does have the potential to change the way we do layouts. Jen Simmons calls it Real Art Direction for the Web and Rachel Andrew has built Grid by Example to inform, share, and evangelize it. If you’re new to grid, be sure to have a look.
As you can see in the video, the grid highlighter tool will help get you started illustrating the grid in-page as you’re working. Additional tooling is planned for the near future to continually improve working with grid.
To access this tool, make sure you’re running an up-to-date version of DevEdition. Next, open a page that is known to have grid code—we recommend one of these demos for this. Open the Inspector via Developer → Inspector. Select an element with the property display: grid;. To toggle grid lines, click the icon next to “grid” which will persist the lines permanently.
The Firefox Developer Tools team have planned a series of improvements to make working with grid easier in the future. You can follow our progress through these bugs:
Making the Inspect Page button automatically turn on grid highlighters when applicable (bug 1297100)
button automatically turn on grid highlighters when applicable (bug 1297100) Extending the grid highlighters to our new responsive design mode and adding custom options to make displaying grids in responsive design mode easier, and
Creating a new panel to make working with grid more customizable.
The metabug for tracking this work is bug 1181227.Naturally, everyone assumes that Kim Jong-Un’s aggression targets the United States. What we have missed is that the other real target of Kim’s aggression is China.
Less than two weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson praised Kim Jong-Un for having “demonstrated some level of restraint that we’ve not seen in the past.” As if determined to prove Tillerson wrong, Pyongyang first fired an intercontinental ballistic missile over Japan. Then on Sunday, September 3, Kim gave the order to detonate what he claimed to be a hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) that could be attached to a missile capable of reaching the mainland United States.
Whether North Korea successfully tested an H-bomb is yet to be verified. But early indicators show the nuclear device that Pyongyang tested was much more powerful than anything it tested before. Chinese media reported that the test “triggered a 6.3-magnitude quake followed by a 4.6-magnitude tremor, and was felt throughout northeastern China.”
Sunday’s was North Korea’s sixth nuclear test, but the first since Trump became president. Naturally, everyone assumes that Kim Jong-Un’s aggression targets the United States, so everyone is asking what the U.S. response should be. What we have missed is that the other real target of Kim’s aggression is China.
How China Fueled North Korea’s Nuclearization
After each North Korean missile and nuclear weapon test, China always condemns Pyongyang and states all nations should work towards denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. Yet if not for China, Pyongyang probably wouldn’t have made such speedy progress in its nuclear weapon development.
On October 16, 1964, China successfully tested its first nuclear weapon, a 16-kiloton bomb, at a site in Inner Mongolia. It came as a shock to the United States because U.S. intelligence initially doubted China had enough weapons-grade uranium to make a nuclear bomb. Even after China’s successful test, the U.S. military arrogantly declared that “the acquisition by Communist China of nuclear weapons will not, for the indefinite future, alter the real relations of power among the major states, or the balance of military power in Asia.” History has proved they couldn’t have been more wrong.
The political situation in Southeast Asia soon got complicated. China and India’s relationship went sour after two border wars in 1962 and 1967. After India successfully tested its first nuclear device in 1972, China’s leader, Mao Zedong, decided to prop up Pakistan’s military capacity to create a counterweight to India. Mao and Pakistani President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto reached an agreement in 1976, stating that China would provide support to Pakistan’s nuclear weapon development.
In his book, “The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom,” John Pomfret, a long time Asia correspondent to The Washington Post, wrote that “In 1982, Deng Xiaoping authorized the transfer to Pakistan of a blue-print for one of China’s early nuclear bombs along with 110 pounds of weapons-grade uranium, enough for two nuclear devices.” China proliferated nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and such action has led to grave consequences. A group led by Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan sold China’s blueprint to Libya, Iran, and North Korea. As they say, the rest is history.
China’s nuclear proliferation to Pakistan supplied North Korea the nuclear technology it needed. Meanwhile, Chinese trade and aid helped sustain North Korea economically and provided Pyongyang the means to become a nuclear power. Thus, China can’t claim it’s an innocent bystander of North Korea’s nuclearization today. Yet, despite China’s support, North Korea had little appreciation |
then arises from understanding oneself in relation to the world at large—that is, the sense of how one’s life fits in relationship with the universe. And third, meaning grows from authentic relations with others, which allow expression for the first and a context for the second. It is through our personal relations that we can express ourselves as the unique individuals we are and how we can understand our practical grounding within the universe.
Since, ultimately, you will be the one who has to give your life meaning, what meaning do you give your life? Here are some suggestions that might help you begin the process:
If you were to write a “last lecture”—a speech that you would give if you knew you would die tomorrow—what would you say? Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch (2008), dying at age 47, did just that.
What have you learned thus far about the meaning of life that you could share with others?
Recall and locate five works of art—stories, poems, music, paintings, and/or other forms of art that have had meaning for you. Share these with a friend or a family member. In what ways have they helped you find meaning?
Describe what you see as your greatest accomplishment. Does it relate to the goals you set for yourself? To your purpose in life?
Remember that great ideas and accomplishments, including yours, may not be valued or recognized until long after your life has ended.
“What can you do now in your life so that one year or five years from now, you won’t look back and have…dismay about the new regrets you’ve accumulated? In other words, can you find a way to live without continuing to accumulate regrets?” (Yalom, 2008, p. 101).
Conclusion
A conclusion about existential issues and existential depression is impossible because they are like a möbius strip that continues seamlessly and endlessly. Yet we do need to help ourselves and our bright youngsters cope with these difficult existential questions. We cannot do anything about death; our existence is finite. However, we can learn to accept those aspects of existence that we cannot change. We can also feel understood and not so alone, and we can discover ways to manage freedom and our sense of isolation so that they will give our lives purpose. We can keep creating and developing ourselves, we can keep working for positive and healthy relationships, and we can keep trying to make a difference in the world, thereby creating meaning for ourselves. Although we cannot eradicate the basic underlying bricks of the existential wall, we can learn from Dabrowski that growth through the discovery of authenticity within ourselves and the expression of our authentic selves through authentic relationships may serve as a salve to soothe these realities of our existence.
In coping with existential depression, we must realize that existential concerns are not issues that can be dealt with only once, but will probably need frequent revisiting and reconsideration. We can support others and help them understand that disintegration is a necessary step toward new growth and meaning—it can eventually be positive. And finally, we can encourage these individuals to give meaning to their own lives in whatever ways they can by adopting the message of hope as expressed by the African-American poet Langston Hughes in his poem Dreams.
Dreams
Hold fast to dreams,
for if dreams die,
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams.
For if dreams go,
Life is a barren field
Covered with snow.
About the Author
James T. Webb, Ph.D., ABPP-CL, has been recognized as one of the 25 most influential psychologists nationally on gifted education, and he consults with schools, pro grams and individuals about social and emotional needs of gifted and talented children. In 1981, Dr. Webb established SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted Children, Inc.), a national nonprofit organization that provides information, training, conferences, and work shops, and he remains as Chair of SENG’s Professional Advisory
Committee.
Dr. Webb was President of the Ohio Psychological Association and a member of its Board of Trustees for seven years. He has been in private practice as well as in various consulting positions with clinics and hospitals. Dr. Webb was one of the founders of the School of Professional Psychology at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, where he was a Professor and Associate Dean. Earlier in his career, Dr. Webb was a member of the graduate faculty in psychology at Ohio University, and subsequently directed the Department of Psychology at the Children’s Med i cal Center in Dayton, Ohio where he also was Associate Clinical Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the Wright State University School of Medicine.
Dr. Webb is the lead author of five books and several DVDs about gifted children. Four of his books have won “Best Book” awards.
Guiding the Gifted Child: A Practical Source for Parents and Teachers
Grandparents’ Guide to Gifted Children
Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults: ADHD, Bi polar, OCD, Asperger’s, Depression, and Other Disorders
Gifted Parent Groups: The SENG Model, 2nd Edition
A Parent’s Guide to Gifted ChildrenCHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - Two men were killed and at least 26 other people have been wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday afternoon.
The latest killing happened Sunday evening when a man was found dead with gunshot wounds to his head and back in the West Side Austin neighborhood, according to Chicago Police. He was found about 8:34 p.m. in the 1000 block of North Lavergne. The man, whose exact age wasn’t immediately known, was unresponsive and had multiple gunshot wounds to the head and back. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Area North detectives were conducting a homicide investigation.
More than 24 hours earlier, a man was shot dead at 5:54 p.m. Saturday in the South Chicago neighborhood. The 25-year-old man was standing in front of a home in the 7900 block of South Manistee when someone came out of a gangway and fired shots, according to police. The man was struck in the chest and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office didn’t immediately confirm either death.
Most recently, a man was shot by an armed robber Sunday evening in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side. The 49-year-old was walking about 10 p.m. when someone with a gun walked up to him in the 4800 block of West Chicago and announced a robbery, police said. When the man told the robber he had no money, the suspect fired shots at him. He was struck in the right hand and grazed in the head. His condition was stabilized at Mount Sinai Hospital.
In the afternoon, a man was wounded in a Roseland neighborhood shooting on the Far South Side. The 23-year-old was standing on a porch about 3:15 p.m. when a gold-colored truck drove up to the home in the 11000 block of South Emerald and someone inside the truck opened fire, according to police. He was struck in the right arm and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. He was listed in good condition.
Earlier in the afternoon, two men were shot at 1:18 p.m. in the Morgan Park neighborhood on the Far South Side. The men, ages 20 and 34, were walking in the 11100 block of South Halsted when they heard shots coming from an alley and felt pain, police said. The younger man was shot in his right leg and left arm, and the older man suffered a gunshot wound to his right leg. They were taken to Roseland Community Hospital, where their conditions were stabilized.
Just more than two hours earlier, a 55-year-old man was grazed by a bullet in the West Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side. The man was standing on the sidewalk in the 400 block of East 63rd when he heard shots and felt pain, police said. He showed up at University of Chicago Medical Center with a graze wound to his head before being taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.
About 5:35 a.m. Sunday, a 27-year-old man was wounded in a Brighton Park neighborhood shooting on the Southwest Side. He was shot in the right thigh in the 4700 block of South Western, police said. He later showed up at Mercy Hospital, where his condition stabilized. He was then transferred to Stroger Hospital.
Before that, the city went more than six hours without a shooting incident. A 27-year-old man was shot in the buttocks about 11 p.m. Saturday while he was standing in the alley in the 9800 block of South Carpenter in the Longwood Manor neighborhood on the South Side, police said. He walked into Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, where his condition was stabilized.
At least 19 other people were wounded in shootings across Chicago between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.
Last weekend, eight people were killed and 11 others were wounded in shootings across the city.No matter what happens on Election Day, a New Yorker will become the most powerful person in Washington, and it may not be Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
Either Clinton or Trump will live in the White House, but when it comes to getting an agenda passed into law, they’ll need Senate Democrats’ votes to do it. And to get those votes, they’re going to need Sen. Chuck Schumer, the rising Senate Democratic leader and the man poised to be a Clinton consiglieri or Trump’s not-so-loyal opposition.
But after one of the ugliest presidential elections in history, Capitol Hill veterans point to Schumer as the glimmer of hope that Congress may finally be entering an era of accomplishment instead of gridlock after years of partisan paralysis.
[Opinion: Gingrich, Gephardt and the Day They Exchanged Power]
The Brooklyn exterminator’s son, who finished Harvard and Harvard Law by 23, may seem like an unlikely vessel for hope in the post-Obama era, but Schumer’s existing relationships, caucus loyalty and prejudice toward action may make him the man for this moment.
As a New Yorker, Schumer has known both Clinton and Trump for years, a background that will give him an immediate leg up over past leaders in their first years of power. Schumer will also have the benefit of near total loyalty from his fellow Democratic senators. While Speaker Paul Ryan will spend much of his time managing his own caucus, Schumer is not expected to have any such distractions. He oversaw the Senate Democrats’ combined 14-seat pickup in the 2006 and 2008 elections, and helped many of the Democrats serving today get their seats in the first place. More than that, Democrats describe Schumer as an old-school legislator who looks for the minutiae in policy to deliver for individual members.
“He calls them all the time. He checks in all the time. I know people who are not in the Senate whom he calls, just to check on things, but in a very tactical way,” said Scott Mulhauser, a Senate veteran and former staffer to Vice President Joe Biden. “It’s a caucus with ideologies from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin and he has the trust of conservatives and liberals as the guy who gets things done.”
[Schumer Says Immigration, Tax Overhaul on Potential Agenda]
It is Schumer’s preference for action over ideology that most people point to as the reason he may be the cure for Washington’s gridlock in the future. If you’ve seen him on Capitol Hill, you know know he is constantly in motion and usually on the phone. Unlike Harry Reid, who styles himself as a gut-punch brawler, Schumer’s inclination is toward doing a deal. All those Sunday press conferences weren’t only about getting Schumer in the news, which they did. They were about showing a legislator in action.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich pointed to Schumer as a reason to believe bipartisanship may get new life next year, even in a divided Washington.
“I think Chuck Schumer becoming the Senate Democratic leader will make it much more possible for a Republican president to have a genuine bipartisan moment,” Gingrich said. “I think Schumer is inherently more practical and more realistic than Harry Reid, and is inherently more likely to try to find a way to work together.”
Charlie Cook predicted something similar, no matter who wins the White House. “I would say Schumer is going to come out of this as the leader of the party,” Cook said at the Washington Economic Club. “I think the Senate will be more functional with a Mitch McConnell/ Chuck Schumer relationship, as opposed to with Harry Reid.”
For a clue about the issues Schumer is likely to favor, look at what he has already done, especially with Paul Ryan. The two worked on a major tax overhaul and infrastructure package in 2015. Schumer and Ryan also both worked on comprehensive immigration reform in 2014.
[Chuck Schumer’s Dream: A Democratic Nightmare]
If there’s a serious vulnerability in Schumer’s portfolio, it’s the skepticism of progressives, who see him as too close to Wall Street and too ready to make a deal with Republicans. When I reached out to activists to talk about what they expect in a potential Schumer-led Senate, I was met with a lot of thanks-but-no-thanks responses.
So far, that skepticism is not openly shared by Democratic senators themselves. Schumer will likely be elected unanimously to lead his caucus in a Senate with a razor-thin majority. Whether it’s a Democratic or Republican majority, no one can say. But there’s one sure thing in a Schumer era — members of the House and Senate should put extra minutes on their cell phone plans. Chuck Schumer won’t be on hold much longer.
Roll Call columnist Patricia Murphy covers national politics for The Daily Beast. Previously, she was the Capitol Hill bureau chief for Politics Daily and founder and editor of Citizen Jane Politics. Follow her on Twitter @1PatriciaMurphy.KERALA
Best state
WHY NO.1
Kerala topped three categories-law and order, health and environment.
It found place among top five states in five out of 10 categories.
Life in Kerala reflects its Overall Best Big State crown: it's the safest, healthiest, most environment-friendly and only second-best in education and agriculture. The state has shown improvements in all categories except inclusive development, in which it slipped three ranks. Infant mortality in Kerala was the lowest (12 per thousand live births) in 2013 against the all-India average of 30. It reported 99.7 per cent births assisted by trained personnel in 2013-14, the highest in the country. Violent crime in the state is one of the lowest: 4 per cent. Spending on education increased by 25 per cent from 2013-14 to 2014-15, 4 percentage points higher than the all-India mark. In Kerala, you breathe easy, literally. Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter concentrations were the lowest in 2013; tree cover (outside forest area) increased from 7.09 per cent in 2013 to 7.59 per cent in 2015. "Our government is committed to improving the quality of life through best practices of governance," says Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The focus now, he says, is on tackling corruption, reviving traditional industries, and honing entrepreneurship. "I am confident Kerala will emerge as major start-up destination in the future," adds Vijayan.
TAMIL NADU
Most improved state
WHY NO.1
Tamil Nadu showed improvement in eight out of 10 catergories.
It ranked among the top 10 states in nine categories.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa
Tamil Nadu has emerged as a major building block in the national economy. It was ranked the second economically most competitive state in 2016, on the basis of macroeconomic stability, financial, business and manpower conditions, quality of life, infrastructure development and governance. It is one of the three most-preferred states for investment and one of the eight states where poverty dropped at a higher rate than the all-India average. Its per capita income is the third highest among the big states. Health, education and safety of women are other areas the state made strides in. Tamil Nadu has the lowest infant mortality after Kerala. At 42 per cent, the gross enrolment ratio in higher education is the highest. Eighty per cent of the 72 million population is literate. The state has developed into an innovation-based economy with a strong performance in manufacturing and services. Largely free of communal, left-wing extremist and religious fundamentalist violence, Tamil Nadu pioneered all-women police stations, which now operate in every police subdivision.With somewhat better photo quality and slightly better performance, the Nikon D3300 delivers a modest improvement over its predecessor the D3200 -- enough to bump up its rating and improve its status relative to some competitors, but no so much that it's definitively worth the extra money over the D3200 for buyers on tight budgets. The rest of the updates, such as 1080/60p video, a redesigned beginner's Guide Mode, plus a slightly smaller, lighter body, barely move the needle. It retains the same 11-point autofocus system of its predecessor, and lacks built-in Wi-Fi; you still have to go dongle for that.
Image quality
Photos are the camera's strongest suit. The D3300 improves on the image quality of the D3200, with most images appearing somewhat sharper as you'd expect from the new 24-megapixel antialiasing-filter-free sensor, and the camera fares pretty compared to competitors. Also, for example, ISO 3200 JPEGs look a lot less noisy than their counterparts from the D3200, but the raw files seem to clean up about the same, pointing mostly to the inevitable improvements in Nikon's image processing over the past two years. JPEGs look very clean through ISO 400 and display only minimal artifacts through ISO 1600. Depending upon scene content the photos are usable through ISO 6400, but above that the less-bright colors become too desaturated and the tonal ranges compress unattractively.
Click to download ISO 100
http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2014/03/14/PA0900306.JPG ISO 1600
http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2014/03/14/DSC_0048.JPG ISO 6400
http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim2/2014/03/14/DSC_0113.JPG
Colors look quite accurate, and there's a reasonable amount of recoverable highlight and shadow detail in raw files given the camera's price class. Its video looks good, even in low light.
Performance
Overall, the D3300 tests faster than the D3200 and many of its competitors, but it still feels pretty slow to shoot with -- possibly because of the relatively sluggish new kit lens. It takes half a second to power on, focus, and shoot; that's not bad. Time to focus and shoot in good light runs about 0.4 second, rising to 0.6 second in dim light. It does perform quite fast when shooting two consecutive photos, 0.2 second regardless whether you're using raw or JPEG, since it doesn't attempt to refocus, rising to 0.9 second with flash enabled.
Live View performance remains terrible, taking almost 2 seconds to focus and shoot thanks to slow everything -- slow autofocus, slow mirror movement -- and two consecutive JPEG shots takes 3.7 seconds.
The camera delivers an excellent 5.1fps burst when equipped with a 95MB/sec SD card (almost 4.4fps for raw) with autofocus and with no significant slowing -- it just gets a little more variable -- for more than 30 frames. However, the autofocus can't really keep up with the frame rate so there are a lot of misses.
The annoying small, dim viewfinder hasn't changed, unsurprising since that's typical for these entry-level models. I really dislike the tiny focus points which only illuminate (and briefly) when you half-press the shutter. They're impossible to see in moderate to dim light, so if you shoot on anything other than full auto you first have to press the shutter to find the appropriate focus point (in my case, center) before you can even begin to frame the scene. The LCD hasn't changed, but it's a good size, bright and reasonably visible in bright sunlight.
Design and features
The body looks almost identical to the D3200 (which had barely changed from the D3100 before that) except for a few tweaks. It's light and a bit plasticky with a deep, comfortable grip. On top of the grip sits the power switch and shutter button, and behind that a trio of buttons: a somewhat hard-to-feel record button, plus exposure compensation and info display. The crowded mode dial serves up the the typical assortment of manual, semi-manual and automatic modes, plus a Guide mode and Effects mode (with the usual suspects).
View full gallery Sarah Tew/CNET
Nikon has redesigned the Guide Mode a bit. Guide offers Easy operation, which, like Auto, provides access to a limited number of options, as well as an Advanced mode, which describes the appropriate settings for the chosen scenario and then allows you to change the settings yourself. For instance, in Easy Operation/Distant Subjects it puts you into the Sports scene mode -- the camera tells you what it's doing, which is really nice -- then asks if you want to use the viewfinder, Live View or shoot a movie. From there, it optionally allows you to adjust flash, release (drive) mode, and ISO sensitivity. The options are still not specific to the scenarios, however, which would be useful.Man's gun discharges while attending Easter service at Gladeville church Copyright by WKRN - All rights reserved (Photo: WKRN) [ + - ] Video
GLADEVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) - A gun accidentally discharged in a Wilson County church on Easter Sunday. It happened between sermons at The Glade Church in Gladeville.
Thankfully, nobody was injured, but the incident is now under investigation.
Authorities told News 2 a man, who has a carry permit, was attending an Easter service at the Gladeville Baptist church when the gun in his pocket accidentally went off.
The gun was a 9mm glock, and the bullet tore a hole through his pants and shot into the floor.
Pastor Mark Marshall heard the gun shot when it happened around 9 a.m.
"The big picture is nobody was hurt. It was completely an accident on this guy's part," Marshall said.
"There are people in the vicinity, so we do believe god protected everyone yesterday," the pastor added.
According to investigators, there were about 40 to 50 people around when the gun discharged.
While there is a notice prohibiting firearms in the church, Pastor Marshall says several members of the congregation, including law enforcement officers, do carry guns on their person.
Copyright by WKRN - All rights reserved (Photo: WKRN)
Marshall told News 2 the notice is posted for the large number of people who use the church for various reasons all week long.
And while no one was injured, the Wilson County Sheriff's Department takes the accidental discharge seriously.
"You are legally and ethically responsible for every bullet that comes out of that gun," said. Lt. Scott Moore.
Sheriff's officials say the bullet hit the carpet leaving a small mark, but the bullet could have gone anywhere.
"It could happen whenever you discharge a firearm. In this case, accidentally, it could go through his leg, off the floor; it could do anything. You have no control of a bullet once it is fired," explained Lt. Moore.
The sheriff's office says how the gun went off in the man's pocket is unknown.
"Something has to trigger the bullet to be fired out. In a situation like this, not sure if something was in his pocket, but something has to pull the trigger," the lieutenant told News 2.
The district attorney plans to review the case once the investigation is over. The man could be facing charges or lose his carry permit, but that remains unknown at this time.
His weapon and ammunition were placed into evidence pending the outcome of the case.Victory is not assured for the regime, but trends are moving in its favor.
It has become commonplace to say that "there is no military solution" to the conflict in Syria. That claim, invoked by Western officials including the U.S. secretary of state, is used to justify an emphasis on diplomacy (the Geneva II process) and limitations on assistance to the armed opposition.
The war could indeed have a military outcome, and in light of current trends, that outcome could be a regime victory. The outlines of a regime strategy for winning the war are visible. This strategy hinges on the staying power of the regime and its allies, the generation of adequate forces, operational success, and continued divisions within rebel forces. It is subject to serious constraints, especially limitations on the size and effectiveness of regime and associated forces, and "game changers" could alter its course. But a regime victory is possible -- and that is what the regime is counting on.
Strategic Principles
The regime fights its war under three broad strategic principles. The first entails using whatever level of violence it believes is necessary to defeat the armed opposition and break the will of its civilian supporters. No doubt, this process has involved incremental but continuous escalation to higher levels of violence in the face of increasing armed opposition. This principle, in effect since the beginning of the armed uprising, accounts for the regime's steady escalation in weapons used, including chemical weapons, and in attacks on the civilian population. In line with its targeting of armed rebels and their civilian supporters alike, the regime -- after seizing an area formerly under rebel control -- kills armed rebels and also engages in what are essentially reprisal attacks on area civilians: executions, looting, the burning of homes and businesses. Each town taken by the regime serves as an example for the next town.
The regime's second principle is to exploit diplomacy to prevent effective support for the rebels while also avoiding political isolation. With the assistance of its allies, especially Russia and its UN Security Council veto, the regime has successfully fended off every diplomatic threat from the West and other opponents of the regime. It has played along with various ceasefire initiatives as long as they did not impede its military operations, and when cornered on its chemical weapons use, it defused the threat of U.S. military action without relinquishing the heft of its ability to wage war as it wishes. Syrian officials may well travel to Geneva, but, as their spokesmen have declared, they will not be there to surrender the keys to Damascus -- but rather both to keep the rebels' backers entangled in fruitless negotiations and to deepen divisions among the rebels.
The third regime principle is to keep telling its story. In the regime's narrative, its forces are winning a war against "terrorists" and the regime remains strong and cohesive. Using all available media, domestic and foreign, to further this narrative, the regime has increasingly succeeded in advancing perceptions of a growing terrorist threat in Syria and focusing attention on its own battlefield victories.
Regime Objectives
The regime's goals are to reduce armed opposition to a manageable terrorism problem, eliminate serious political opposition inside Syria, and ultimately restore regime control throughout the country. Although never indicating a willingness to settle for less, the regime may be compelled to do so, given the scope of the rebellion and its own resource limitations. Still, the regime is fighting to maintain at least a hold or influence in all provinces. This is quite different from fighting for a rump state, although the regime's strategy and operations certainly could support that objective as well. In the collective mind of regime members, Syria should be one and indivisible -- and theirs.
Preconditions
Whatever overconfidence the regime may project, certain political and military conditions are necessary for it to triumph. Political conditions include continued diplomatic support from its allies, continued divisions among the rebels, and the continued absence of a consensus among Western and allied states on forcefully dealing with the regime. Military conditions for regime success include maintenance of the military alliance with its partners Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah; growth in the size and effectiveness of the regime's irregular forces (the National Defense Forces, or NDF); the continued ability of regime regular forces to provide critical firepower for operations; and the avoidance of direct foreign intervention or significant foreign military support to the rebels. While there are no guarantees, most if not all of these conditions seem likely to be met for the foreseeable future.
Constraints
In implementing its strategy for the war, the regime faces serious constraints, beginning with the limited size of its forces relative to the rebel forces and the geographic scope of the rebellion. It must pick its battles, fighting aggressively in some places and just holding on in others. A second, related concern has been the loss of regular forces through attrition and defection, resulting in an increased reliance, even dependence, on irregular and allied forces. Related to the regular forces' decline is a third constraint: that on the amount of air, ground, and missile firepower that the regime can employ in a given period. Here, the regime's decision to eliminate its chemical weapons stockpiles has effectively capped its escalation of force. Fourth, the regime appears to have problems sustaining offensive operations. Even in successful efforts such as in Homs in spring 2013 and al-Safira in Aleppo province in the fall, regime forces seem to have failed to fully wrap up operations. The fifth major constraint is the need to avoid antagonizing its allies, whose critical support means the regime must listen to them on the conduct of the war. This was one of the major reasons the regime accepted the deal to eliminate its chemical weapons.
Operational Implementation
Within its constraints, the regime can conduct effective, if not yet decisive, operations that advance its strategic goals. It has combined battle and wide-ranging maneuver to achieve important victories and has been willing to engage in narrowly focused attrition-type operations, grinding down the rebels. Regime forces have developed tactical methods involving the heavy use of firepower, siege, joint air, ground, and missile forces, and combined operations with allied forces to overcome stubborn rebel resistance. Indeed, force limitations compel the regime to sequence operations. Key units of regime regulars (Fourth Division of the Republican Guard) and allied forces (Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiites) are probably shifted from one operation or battlefield to another. Regime decisions over which battles to focus on, as discussed earlier, help account for its successes and failures -- and correspondingly the successes and failures of the rebels.
Progress
Battlefield trends favor the regime, even if the outcome of every battle does not. In particular, four important operations in which the regime has invested considerable effort and resources have yielded a measure of success: in Homs in spring 2013, in southern Aleppo province in the fall, in the southern Damascus suburbs also in the fall, and in the Qalamoun region north and northeast of Damascus beginning in late November. In each of these operations, the regime has effectively applied its warfighting concepts, even while sustaining casualties against often stubborn rebel resistance. The rebels have yet to find a successful formula for responding to these kinds of operations. Relatedly, the slow pace of regime operations can probably be attributed at least as much to the limitations of regime forces as to rebel effectiveness.
Game Changers
Despite present trends, a regime victory is not certain, and a number of game changers could halt or reverse its progress. First, the rebels could achieve effective coordination between their political and military components, allowing for an integrated approach to the war and development of a national strategy for fighting it. Second, and relatedly, the rebels could establish effective command and control that would allow for integration and coordination of forces and their logistics, helping them confront the regime's operations. Third, the rebels could receive enhanced military assistance: weapons, ammunition, training, intelligence, and advice. And fourth, some form of direct foreign intervention could reduce the regime's advantages and effectiveness.
The prospect for each of these options, however, appears dim at the moment. An improvement in the rebels' capability would thus likely have to emerge largely from their own political and military resources. And probably the most important achievement for the rebels would be unity of effort, which under current circumstances would most likely be under an Islamist banner.
Conclusions
For all the reasons outlined here, assertions that "there is no military solution" to the Syrian conflict should be viewed with caution. While the regime is not certain to win the kind of victory it seeks, and may have to settle for less, the war is now moving in its favor and prospects for a reversal do not look good.
Barring a sudden collapse of the armed resistance, which for the Islamist core seems unlikely, the regime will only slowly defeat rebel forces and recover territory. But the regime is implacable and its allies are steadfast.
Regarding Geneva, the regime's approach to the war suggests that it will not negotiate seriously with the rebels. And given its increasing success on the battlefield, the continued support of its allies, and a divided and feckless opposition, there is no reason why it should.
Jeffrey White is a Defense Fellow at The Washington Institute and a former senior defense intelligence officer.We’d like to suggest there hasn’t been this much anticipation around an Alouettes’ quarterback in what seems like an eternity — except it wasn’t that long ago that Troy Smith signed with Montreal.
Almost as quickly, he crashed and burned his way off the Als and out of the Canadian Football League.
Nobody is ready to anoint the Als’ Vernon Adams as the next superstar quarterback in the CFL — especially after just one game — but executives around the league are watching, taking notes and predicting great things in the future of the 23-year-old.
On the other hand, most people around the CFL agree general manager Jim Popp overpaid greatly when he relinquished a first-round draft choice in 2017 to British Columbia to secure the player’s rights. The Lions didn’t appear in any hurry to sign the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder — a guy who failed to get drafted in the NFL despite producing impressive statistics at both Eastern Washington and Oregon.
“The most important thing you want to see from your quarterback is the ability to make plays. He does have that ability,” said John Hufnagel, Calgary’s general manager. “Honestly, I think he should have a bright future in the CFL.
“It helps if you have a good team and a strong defence that keeps you in the game. Then he just has to go out and manage the game and make some plays.”
Adams did precisely that last weekend at Regina in his first CFL start. He only completed 11 of 24 passes for 177 yards and one touchdown, but the Als won for only the fifth time this season.
Things figure to get more difficult Sunday afternoon (1 p.m., TSN, RDS, TSN Radio-690), when the Als host the Stampeders at Molson Stadium. It’s Montreal’s final home game this season.
“He’s a playmaker. He does a lot of things and buys time with his feet,” said Devone Claybrooks, the Stamps’ defensive co-ordinator. “He moves around the pocket and has good pocket presence. He’s got some zip on the ball and he has scrambling ability.
“He was making guys miss in a phone booth in that Riders game. You need a good rush plan. That’s the X-factor of this game. Any quarterback can change that with his feet. But he also made some nice throws. He’s a CFL starting quarterback that can make all the throws.”
Interim head coach Jacques Chapdelaine is another interested party, for obvious reasons. He wants to see how Adams progresses from one game to another. Chapdelaine said Adams should be more comfortable with the speed of the game this week.
“This week has helped to secure — I’m not going to say galvanize, because that process takes time — with more confidence how his reads are working, how his chemistry has been building with the receivers,” Chapdelaine said. “I still expect him to make plays with his legs, with his creativity, when things break down.”
As for Rakeem Cato, who has been the Als’ starting quarterback — off and on — the last two seasons, it remains to be determined what his future holds with the organization. But with only two games remaining, don’t expect to see him behind centre unless Adams sustains an injury.
“Rakeem has been nothing but a pro. He has been exceptional,” Chapdelaine said. “I think Rakeem understands, within the scope of a football team, only one quarterback can get on the field.
“All things being equal, we want to make sure Vernon gets as many snaps as possible. We’ve seen Rakeem over the last couple of years. I think we want to see Vernon continue growing.” …
Perhaps this was a glimpse into the future.
Montreal offensive-tackle Jacob Ruby, who struggled last week against the Riders, was expected to be benched against Calgary, replaced by Philip Blake. More interesting was the fact Ryan White, who has never played guard, replaced Blake at left guard.
Although White was originally selected in the sixth round (42nd overall) in 2012 and has started only one previous game, the organization is believed to be bullish on the former Bishop’s Gaiter.
“It starts to nag at me a bit because I’ve been here since 2012,” said White, who spent the first two seasons on the practice roster and missed all of 2015 after tearing his triceps on the opening day of training camp. “I’m kind of antsy. I want to show what I can do.”
White was a two-year starter for the Gaiters in 2009 and ’10. And he certainly has decent size at 6-foot-4 and 290 pounds. It remains to be determined how much he has developed since being drafted.
“I accepted a challenge and we’ll see how I do,” he said. …
Although former Concordia Stingers linebacker Max Caron is in his third season with the Stamps, he didn’t make his CFL debut until last week, against Toronto.
Caron, who spent four productive seasons with the Stingers, was Calgary’s second-round (16th overall) draft pick in 2014. The hard-luck linebacker tore his left Achilles tendon in his first exhibition game as a rookie, and was sidelined for the season.
Caron, a native of Kingston, Ont., ripped the other Achilles on the opening-day of training camp in 2015. He was done for the year again.
But the Stamps stuck with him and he made his debut against the Argonauts on special teams.
“It’s been a long journey,” said the personable 6-foot-2, 222 pounder. “They saw I was a good player who had some really tough luck. This is my dream to play in the CFL. I want to try and give this another go. That led me to come back and just try to make the team this year.”
Caron understandably said he hit the lowest of lows having to rehabilitate two season-ending injuries.
“Tearing one, you have high hopes and expectations that you’ll come back and the team still holds those hopes,” he said. “Tearing two, there |
physical altercations at all, … which is a pleasant surprise, regarding the controversy of topics such as abortion and Planned Parenthood. But I’ve been very impressed by the civility here today. There have been a lot of good conversations.”
Follow Stephanie Dickrell on Twitter @SctimesSteph, like her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sctimessteph, call her at 255-8749 or find more stories at www.sctimes.com/sdickrell.
For more
For Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, visit www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-minnesota-north-dakota-south-dakota.For #Protest PP group, visit http://protestpp.com/about.To learn more, participate or donate to groups involved:
Read or Share this story: http://www.sctimes.com/story/life/wellness/2017/02/11/supporters-detractors-rally-planned-parenthood/97788574/In a way, it’s not their fault.
Robby Soave, writing in Reason magazine, put it well, when commenting on a mental health facility for millennials charging $28,000 a month to try and help them cope with things like Hillary Clinton’s loss of the presidential election:
What’s most interesting about this scam, though, is the phenomenon that made it possible: the emotionally fragile college-aged millennial. No, not all young people are delicate snowflakes, not all college students are obsessed with their own oppression, not all millennials are suffering from weak or imagined cases of PTSD—but some of them are. Indeed, we hear stories about them all the time: from campus newspapers, from professors, and from the students themselves. We hear it from university mental health professionals who can’t keep up with the rising demand for counselling.
This isn’t really millennials’ faults, mind you. A wave of infantilizing trends in education and parenting, coupled with government policies driven by extreme safety paranoia, have convinced young people that everything is dangerous and traumatizing—everything that’s wrong with them can be traced back to some instance of marginalization.
Here’s the problem. Increasingly, young people are taught they’re entitled to at least as much happiness as their parents. It’s the American way, and it’s a beautiful thing. In America, unlike any other civilization in history, each generation does better than the last — materially, emotionally, and psychologically.
Yet in cruel contradiction, we don’t give these young people the tools to do it. We don’t teach them how to reason or think. We don’t teach them self-responsibility. We don’t tell them things like, “Sure, I have the money to buy this stuff for you. But I’m not going to. You have to earn the nice stuff yourself.”
In a strange way, both parents and their twenty-something (even thirty-something) children who won’t grow up, are the victims of capitalism’s success. Yes, capitalism — the thing most of them despise, and the whole reason they turned out in droves for socialist Bernie Sanders. True, capitalism as we know it is crippled by regulations, subsidies, behind-the-scenes pull, and all the other things which are not the product of genuine free enterprise. But even when badly hampered, capitalism has managed to make most parents rich enough (compared to earlier generations) that they don’t have to throw their children out at a certain age. Most parents won’t, and most parents don’t. And unless their children somehow absorb the values and virtues of autonomy, independence and self-responsibility that their schools, parents and political officials fail to teach them, they’re in deep trouble.
There are different ways not to throw your children out. One is the obvious, where your grown kids continue living at home into their 20s and 30s. Another is less obvious, but just as real, where you advance tens of thousands of dollars (much of it debt) to preserve the illusion they’re doing something when (especially at most colleges) they simply get more indoctrination that they’re perpetual victims who should have chips on their shoulders.
It’s like a mean trick. We show young people a land of plenty. We tell them, “This too can be yours.” But instead of telling (and showing) them, “This is how I got this far. You’ll have to apply the same principles of hard work and self-responsibility if you want to do the same,” we tell them things like, “There, there. You can’t be expected to get by if people bully you. Society is full of racists and mean-spirited people. Life is so awful. But we still expect you to grow up, somehow.” It’s not that most parents necessarily teach their kids these things. But the indoctrination of hard-core leftist public school programs, or Hollywood or sports celebrities spouting their P.C. entitlement garbage every day, are things a lot of parents are afraid to challenge, or don’t know how to challenge. Most of the young people end up buying it, and as a result find themselves literally or metaphorically living in their parents’ basements well into their 20s and beyond.
The missing ingredients are reason, self-initiative and self-responsibility. How many of these young people crippled with PTSD because Donald Trump managed to win the presidency will ever be told, “It’s time to make your own way in life, and we’re not going to help you any longer”? Granted, it’s cruel to raise young people with little or no sense of reasoning and self-responsibility, on the one hand, and then throw them to the wolves. But these are the causes of the problem we’re seeing.
Can you imagine the young people being “treated” by a $20,000 per month facility called Yellowbrick fighting World War II and freeing America from the Nazis and Japanese? I’m not saying I want those “good old days” back. But I am saying that without the proper mental and intellectual tools for survival, you can’t expect young people to rise to the occasion as if by magic. What’s done is done, but it’s never too late to appeal to the best in people. You could tell them, for example, “I think it’s time for you to go. While it’s true I have a comfortable place to live, you haven’t yet had the opportunity to make your own way in life. I’m putting the house up for sale and you’ll have to come up with a plan for yourself. I’m holding off on the $50,000 per year tuition at college until you first show me that you can take care of yourself more than you do.”
Snowflakery comes from a sense of emotional fragility. The rage expressed by young people who feel entitled to a socialist President to take care of their woes flows directly from (1) a profound sense of anxiety, and (2) a crippling sense of feeling lost that most of these young people’s parents cannot begin to understand. Why not? Because most of these parents were expected to fend for themselves, at least to some degree, in a way that the vast majority of people in the latest generation have not been expected to do, in part due to the successes of economic growth and prosperity that largely continued in America until the last decade or so. I’m not blaming the problem on capitalism, either. I’m blaming it on most parents’ inability to cope with their own material success along with the deliberate destruction of individualism and self-reliance as perpetuated by our toxic P.C. establishment of public schools, rotten socialist universities, and stupid politicians and media celebrities.
While it might seem mean to tell young people, “It’s time to go out on your own,” there’s nothing mean about saying (or implying), “You can do it. You have the mental tools to think. You can figure these things out.” It’s the kindest thing in the world. And it’s a hell of a lot kinder than allowing them to become (and remain) emotionally fragile snowflakes.
Follow Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Rehoboth Beach DE). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on Twitter at @MichaelJHurd1
Dr. Hurd’s writings read on the air by Rush Limbaugh! Read more HERE.He knew immediately what that meant: heroin.
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Gerardo Alfonso Vargas had traveled more than 2,000 miles to Dayton from Tijuana, Mexico, after ingesting 71 latex-covered heroin pellets worth as much as $100,000 or more. Had he been searched at the border, or any other point along the way, the heroin would have gone undetected.
But before U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration task force officers arrived, Vargas rid his body of all but a single pellet, bagged the drugs and hid the bag in the motel room’s toilet tank. If not for the knock on the door, the next stop for this shipment would have been the streets of Dayton or Springfield or Middletown.
Welcome to the heroin pipeline.
Heroin may first enter the country through underground tunnels or make a border crossing in secret compartments hollowed out of car panels or welded into semi-trailer truck frames. At times, a dealer simply schedules a pickup with FedEx and plays the odds that a shipment will make it through.
Sometimes it comes, as it did with Vargas, through a drug courier’s bowels.
Regardless how it‘s delivered, authorities say most of the heroin purchased in the Dayton region — and in America today — is trafficked by violent criminal organizations based in one country: Mexico.
“If I’m an addict I have a very small view of what heroin is or where it comes from. I know it comes from my dealer, or if I’m in a suburb I know it’s not in my neighborhood, it’s on some other street corner,” said Montgomery County Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Brem, commander of the Regional Agencies Narcotics and Gun Enforcement Task Force. “But the fact of the matter is we deal with cartel-level distribution in the Miami Valley on a daily basis.”
Mexican ‘mules’
Vargas’ story, told in court documents, sheds light on the clandestine path heroin takes before it enters the arm of an addict in the Miami Valley.
On Aug. 3, 2014, the DEA task force — which included members from local police departments — acted on a tip and knocked on the door of the motel room where the then 22-year-old Vargas was staying. His answers were evasive and there was the matter of the trash can.
Officers searched the room and found almost all the heroin pellets Vargas had previously swallowed bagged and stashed. Vargas, who’s now serving a two-year federal prison term, passed the 71st pellet in police custody at Grandview Medical Center.
Vargas, federal court documents show, crossed the border on foot two days earlier at San Ysidro, Calif., caught a flight from California to Indianapolis and then took a taxi to Dayton.
He told investigators he was paid $6 a gram to transport the drugs that totaled 1,111.1 grams — more than a kilogram — when put on a scale at the DEA’s Dayton Resident Office in Miamisburg.
“To get a kilo of heroin in the Dayton area five years ago, that was a lot of heroin. Nowadays it’s not, said Tim Plancon, assistant special agent in charge of DEA’s Ohio Columbus District Office.”
Though Vargas told authorities he was a U.S. citizen, he’d lived in Mexico for 10 years and had resided in the Mexican state of Michoacan, a common source of the “mules” who transport the heroin to the Miami Valley as well as the mid-level dealers who distribute it here.
The August 2014 trip wasn’t Vargas’ first to Dayton. He’d been here six or seven times before, he told investigators, but had never carried that many pellets in his body.
He also told investigators the entire trip was coordinated by phone with people in Mexico.
It’s increasingly common for informants and captured drug couriers to single out higher-ups associated with Mexican cartels for calling the shots when it comes to the distribution of heroin flooding the Miami Valley, area law enforcement officials say.
Growing demand
Heroin is processed from the milky sap scraped from the seedpod of an opium poppy. The red or purple flower that blossoms into so much misery for so many is grown primarily in four geographic regions of the world: Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, South America and Mexico.
While Afghanistan is attributed with producing as much as 80 percent of the world’s heroin supply, the source of the heroin feeding the U.S. market has shifted away from that part of the world, authorities say.
“Twenty years ago it all came from Turkey, Afghanistan, Southwest Asia and Southeast Asia, so there has been a significant change,” said Chris Melink, resident agent in charge of the DEA’s Dayton office. Once on a Dayton street, a kilo of heroin in Dayton can net $70,000 or more, he said.
In 1995, most of the wholesale heroin seized in the U.S. originated in Asia, according to the DEA’s Heroin Signature Program. By 2012, most all the bulk heroin seized — 96 percent — originated in Mexico or South America.
It’s all going to feed a growing U.S. demand.
Heroin use in the U.S. nearly doubled between 2007 and 2013, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The administration estimated about 300,000 Americans were using heroin at any given time in 2013.
Ironically, some of the demand resulted from federal and state crackdowns on the abuse and diversion of prescription pain medications. The 2014 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary outlines how addiction to pain pills like OxyContin and Vicodin led addicts straight to heroin, with some seeking out the much stronger and deadlier synthesized analog, fentanyl.
A recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health study showed that four out of five heroin users had previously abused pain medication.
“Some of the heroin problem around here is because we pushed people off prescription pain pills. We closed down pill mills and made it harder for people to doctor shop,” said Michael Norris, associate professor of sociology, director, Crime and Justice Studies at Wright State University.
“We made it harder for people with legitimate pain to get the medication they need. So if the street price of OxyContin goes up to $30 a pill, then a $5 bag of heroin starts looking pretty good.” Norris said. “But then you wind up with people overdosing and even dying.”
‘I was so dependent’
Drug overdose deaths involving heroin in the U.S. nearly quadrupled from 2000 to 2013 to 2.7 deaths per 100,000. Most of the increase came after 2010, according to National Vital Statistics System data.
What’s more frightening, is that the heroin — and now fentanyl — that enters the country through Mexico is cheaper and more potent. Current and recovering addicts report dealers often hand out free samples to get people hooked on heroin, knowing they’ll later sell the shirt off their back for a bag.
Johnny Baxter of Dayton remembers well the sickness that took hold when his system was deprived of the drug.
“Somebody could have sold me shavings of soap, I was so dependent on that allowing me to feel better,” he said.
He’s now helping others beat heroin addictions, but he said it’s even tougher now than when he got clean. Three years ago he got out of prison and enrolled at Sinclair Community College. It seemed everyone he passed on his way to school offered him the drug he’d sworn off, Baxter said.
“It was so rampant by then they would literally give you $10 caps. Everybody out there was a freaking drug dealer.”
Money ‘unbelievable’
Americans drop about $65 billion a year on illegal drugs, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The U.S. Department of State estimated in 2013 that up to $29 billion goes right back to Mexico. All the federal agencies combined seize approximately just $1 billion a year, leaving the remaining billions for the drug traffickers.
“The amount of money generated here is unbelievable,” Melink said. “That bulk currency has to be returned to the sources. And that generates interest and directions from that side as well.”
Melink said over the past four or five years, the cartels have locked down the supply chain of heroin and illicit fentanyl to Dayton. Heroin may pass through San Diego, Los Angeles, Atlanta or Indianapolis, he said, but it’s mainly controlled from Mexico.
“What we’re seeing is these large cartels are evolved into a group of like-minded entrepreneurs who use each other’s talents, skills and services to facilitate the trafficking,” Melink said. “Folks from the Mexican side control the mid-level distribution and where certain things go and how it’s to be delivered. For Dayton that is a significant change.”
It’s hard to determine which cartel at any given time might be the source of drugs here, Melink said.
“The Sinaloa and La Familia are two cartels that have directly affected Dayton and the Columbus area,” he said, but it’s difficult to determine at any time the ultimate source of heroin as rampant corruption and violence in Mexico continually reshapes the distribution networks.
In the city of Uruapan — the Michaocan town linked to some Dayton traffickers — seven men were found executed in March 2013, their bodies arranged in a line of chairs. They had each been shot in the head and threat messages were driven into their chests with ice picks.
“There’s no way you can trump the cartels for brutality,” Wright State’s Norris said.
Sad situation
It’s unclear how Gerardo Alfonso Vargas was recruited to deliver heroin to Dayton, but some cartel leaders don’t give mules much choice in the matter, Brem said.
“The people we talk to may not be here legally but many times they are not here willingly, either,” Brem said. “Their families are held captive. Sometimes they are working off a charge in Mexico. So there’s a lot of distribution efforts that are done by illegal aliens but also not always willingly by them. So it’s a sad situation.”
The arrest of Vargas and 17 others last year was the culmination of a multi-agency DEA Miami Valley Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force investigation.
The investigation, which used intercepted phone conversations, led to the seizures of 12 kilograms of heroin, four kilograms of methamphetamine, over one kilogram of cocaine, about 10 pounds of marijuana, and approximately $993,000 in drug proceeds and property. The trafficking organization targeted by the task force used internal body couriers like Vargas and hidden compartments in vehicles to move the large quantities of drugs into Ohio — specifically to the Dayton metropolitan area — and money remitters, sometimes called “smurfs” to move illicit proceeds back to Mexico.
It had direct ties to the city of Uruapan, the DEA’s Plancon said.
Melink said investigators were able to hone in on the command and control operation of the network.
“Based on flight patterns, based on observations on their method of operation, we were able to understand that this organization was moving a number of couriers through California and then into Dayton,” Melink said. “One courier in itself isn’t significant, but when you start bringing in a number of couriers a month you can push out a lot of heroin from them.”
Melink said the cartels know every mule won’t make it through so they will sometimes send multiple couriers — even aboard the same flight. Most of the heroin coming to the Miami Valley, though, arrives concealed in vehicles, Melink said.
The U.S Attorney’s Southern District of Ohio office in Dayton prosecuted 78 federal drug trafficking cases last year and has already approved charges on 56 cases this year. Andrew Hunt, an assistant prosecuting attorney for the office, estimated that 70-80 percent of the cases handled over the last four years involve heroin.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Dayton takes cases from Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, Preble, and Shelby counties.
“We see heroin being transported to the United States in general terms through the use of certain traps in vehicles,” Hunt said. “We’ve seen it transported in large commercial semis, hidden in loads with other legitimate produce or something along those lines. Different groups operate with tentacles in the Dayton area, but one of the popular ones is Michoacan.”
‘It’s very heart wrenching’
The DEA’s Melink estimates that 75-100 end-use retail dealers in the region sell 200 caps a day to a base of five to 10 customers. Another 25-30 mid-level suppliers service those dealers.
The highest-end dealers locally — perhaps no more than 10 — supply those lower in the chain and are directly connected to the cartels, he said. It’s made Dayton a hub for the region.
“We know the heroin/fentanyl mix is being distributed to Miami County, Bellefontaine, and to other outlying counties for sure,” he said.
The cartels go to great lengths to ensure secrecy and some who keep the organizations greased never encounter the drugs.
“There’s a whole network of people who don’t directly touch the product but help facilitate the drug trade,” Melink said. “Every organization is different. They develop a relationship with certain entities who … try to protect the identity of the folks who are directly handling the product.”
The poppies are grown by poor farmers trying to eke out a living on hillsides in Colombia or Mexico. They sell to those who process the opium further, usually in tin shacks. The couriers who ferry the drugs are often poor as well — sometimes minors.
“It’s very heart wrenching, too, when you see or hear about kids being involved. Our intelligence tells us that whether it’s body smuggling or any other kind of smuggling (drug cartels) use kids a lot,” Brem said. “Remember it’s all about one thing: money, it’s not about anything else but that.”
Behind the curtain
The United States Congress has appropriated $2.3 billion since 2008 in a partnership with Mexico to help stem the tide of drugs to the U.S and provide training to Mexican police and judicial authorities. The Meridia Initiative is cited by the U.S. Department of State as contributing to the capture last year of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa cartel and two other powerful Mexican cartel leaders.
But the heroin is still flowing to the Miami Valley even as other would-be kingpins battle in Mexico to consolidate power within the fractured cartels.
Stopping that flow may not be possible, but law enforcement officials point to efforts that they hope can put a crimp in a pipeline that sends drug couriers from Michoacan, Mexico, to places like West Carrollton, Ohio.
That’s where Jose Guadalupe Molina Valenzuela picked up a package in December 2013 from a pickup driver who was being tracked by DEA task force members through a court-approved GPS device. After Valenzuela made a number of traffic violations in his Cadillac Escalade, he was pulled over by Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers who were coordinating with the task force.
A search turned up two yellow cylinders of heroin bound in green plastic wrap — a total of 1,021 grams with a street value of anywhere between $70,000 and $120,000. He was sentenced last June to 42 months in federal prison.
Brem said tracking heroin to the source is difficult when so many different people — often juveniles — are delivering the product to doorsteps in the Miami Valley. Even those moving large quantities often have little idea who’s behind the curtain.
“Your typical dealer is somebody who is just trying to make an extra dollar to get whatever toy, but the big guys, I couldn’t even begin to tell you,” said Baxter, the recovering addict who described the people he dealt with as “bottom of the barrel guys. They’re just looking to make a fast buck with no concern of the lives at risk.
“Anybody who’s really into it is not going to want their hands dirty with that.”“Why drink alone?”
That’s the motto of Apollo Peak, a Denver-based company making wine for cats.
Now, before you have a hissy fit, bear in mind that the “wine” is non-alcoholic.
“Cat’s don’t really have a positive taste for alcohol, mainly because they tend to make bad decisions and do things they don’t necessarily remember the next morning,” the company joked on their website.
The company claims the products, which are actually made with beets, have health benefits.
“All of our cat wine products have a proprietary blend that includes all-natural organically grown catnip, fresh beets and natural preservatives to help hold the taste and color,” the company said on its website. “We believe in natural ingredients for our particularly classy feline friends.”
The product comes in punny flavors like Pinot Meow and Moscato. Single-serving bottles cost about $5 and 8-ounce bottles are about $12.Two-time Olympian Ksenia Afanasyeva is retiring from competition because of a kidney disease, Russian media reported Thursday. Two-time Olympian Ksenia Afanasyeva is retiring from competition after suffering from a kidney disease, Russian media reported Thursday. The world and European champion is hospitalized with kidney stones and is facing weeks of recovery, said team coach Valentina Rodionenko, ruining any chances of Afanasyeva competing in a third Olympic Games. As late as Wednesday, the 24 year old had been listed as an alternate for this summer's Olympic Games, with a chronic ankle injury still a question. Known for her exceptional grace and power, Afanasyeva was a member of Russia's fourth-place team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where she qualified to the final on balance beam. She helped lead Russia to its first world team title two years later in Rotterdam, and in 2011 became world champion on floor exercise. She was the captain of Russia's team that won the silver at the 2012 Olympics in London. She won floor exercise at both the 2013 and 2015 European championships, and won vault and floor at the 2013 University Games. Afanasyeva was plagued the past several years by an ankle injury, missing the 2013 and 2014 world championships, and underwent multiple surgeries. She returned to the world championships in 2015 and won a silver medal on floor exercise. She competed on vault only at this spring's European championships in Bern, where she helped Russia win the team title and captured the individual bronze medal on vault. Afanasyeva, who turns 25 in September, traveled to Germany in June to have scar tissue removed. She and Russia's coaches had hoped she would be able to return in time to compete at the Olympic Games, which begin August 5. The Russian delegation plans to depart on Sunday for Brazil. Yevgenia Shelgunova has moved into the alternate position for Russia in place of Afanasyeva, with Natalia Kapitanova the second alternate. External Link: Russian Gymnastics Federation Subscribe to this comment's feedPedro Salinas,El ojo de Mordorpsalinas@peru21.com
No pensaba volver a ocuparme del tema por un buen rato, pero la verdad es que los ensotanados te regalan las columnas. Es así. Te las obsequian hasta con papel de regalo. En serio. Y les digo por qué.
Ni bien estaba terminando de leer el articulazo que escribió Mario Vargas Llosa el domingo pasado sobre el caso del joven chileno Daniel Zamudio, quien murió tras haber sido torturado durante seis horas por ser gay, cuando al primer sorbo de café mis ojos saltaron curiosos a la computadora, como quien aguaita qué hay en Twitter, y en eso, qué creen, aparece el avatar de Arturo Pérez-Reverte, quien invita a sus followers a zamparse la homilía del obispo de Alcalá de Henares, Juan Antonio Reig. Eso sí, para no agotar al personal, sugiere hacerlo a partir del minuto treinta y tres, y zuácate, linquea el video.
Y claro. Me puse a verlo. Se trataba de una de esas homilías carcas de los tiempos en que Torquemada soñaba con fósforos, solamente que proferidas en pleno siglo XXI. El mentado obispo asoció durante su plática enrevesada la homosexualidad con la prostitución y con determinadas ideologías que "corrompen a las personas", y a todos aquellos que no sabían "orientar su sexualidad" les aseguró que las puertas del infierno estaban abiertas, esperándoles. Y en ese plan. En el mismo combo, se imaginarán, condenó el aborto y hasta los malos pensamientos.
Y después me vienen con que por qué tantos cuestionamientos a la iglesia católica. Pues por eso. Porque la violencia homofóbica que se llevó la vida de Zamudio en Chile y la de 249 peruanos en el lapso de un lustro, como dijo nuestro Nobel, "se enseña en las escuelas, se contagia en el seno de las familias y se predica en los púlpitos". Porque estos talibanes con alzacuellos, como tuiteó Pérez-Reverte, "creen tener a dios sentado en el hombro, como el loro del pirata", y se sienten con derecho a pontificar a través de los medios de comunicación y a estigmatizar a los homosexuales como apestados, enfermos y pervertidos sexuales, orquestando crueles campañas de escarnio y de desprecio que, como vemos, terminan en feroces golpizas y ensañamientos, y hasta en linchamientos. Porque los dogmas de la religión católica pueden ser peligrosos cuando pretenden imponerse al estilo de los islamistas radicales. Porque el catolicismo intolerante y reaccionario mantiene todavía una vigencia temible que lo único que hace es alejarnos de la verdadera civilización.
No sé ustedes, pero a mí me tiene sin cuidado lo que piense ese obispete español, o Cipriani, o la fanaticada del Sodalitium, o el mismísimo papa Palpatine, siempre y cuando no pretendan que el resto debe adherirse obligadamente a sus supersticiones y credos represivos y arranques homofóbicos, que, encima, encierran una hipocresía del tamaño de la cúpula de San Pedro. Porque, vamos, no me digan ahora que ellos encarnan lo que sermonean con tanto brío. ¿O acaso no existen millares de curas homosexuales que se amanceban entre sí en el interior de sus claustros? ¿Y los casos de pederastia, que se han denunciado por miles en los últimos años, qué son? ¿Pecadillos menores que se limpian con tres padrenuestros y cinco avemarías?
La descalificación, la ignorancia, la excomunión y la pira han sido las armas de la iglesia durante siglos. Pues siguen siéndolas, les cuento. Para que no bajemos la guardia en defensa de la libertad.Almost a year and half ago, we faithfully documented the douchiest drinking establishments in Gotham. While we'd like to report that shining a light on these sub-par drinking dens forced their offending patrons to return to the suburbs of New Jersey where they came from, that's not the case.
The douche goes on in our fair metropolis, and we've even discovered that some of our old favorite bars have been usurped by unsavory characters in every denomination of bro, yuppy, and frat boy imaginable. Some bars from the original list have remained, while others were pushed out by even-douchier newcomers.
Here's to drinking better, New York: The 25 Douchiest Bars in NYC Right Now.
RELATED: The 25 Douchiest Bars in New Orleans, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Austin, and Washington D.C.
RELATED: A Field Guide to NYC Douchebags
RELATED: First We Feast - Best Bars in NYC
RELATED: Best Car Service in NYCPhoto: iStockphoto
Robotic cars are great at monitoring other cars, and they’re getting better at noticing pedestrians, squirrels, and birds. The main challenge, though, is posed by the lightest, quietest, swerviest vehicles on the road.
“Bicycles are probably the most difficult detection problem that autonomous vehicle systems face,” says UC Berkeley research engineer Steven Shladover.
Nuno Vasconcelos, a visual computing expert at the University of California, San Diego, says bikes pose a complex detection problem because they are relatively small, fast and heterogenous. “A car is basically a big block of stuff. A bicycle has much less mass and also there can be more variation in appearance — there are more shapes and colors and people hang stuff on them.”
That’s why the detection rate for cars has outstripped that for bicycles in recent years. Most of the improvement has come from techniques whereby systems train themselves by studying thousands of images in which known objects are labeled. One reason for this is that most of the training has concentrated on images featuring cars, with far fewer bikes.
Consider the Deep3DBox algorithm presented recently by researchers at George Mason University and stealth-mode robotic taxi developer Zoox, based in Menlo Park, Calif. On an industry-recognized benchmark test, which challenges vision systems with 2D road images, Deep3DBox identifies 89 percent of cars. Sub-70-percent car-spotting scores prevailed just a few years ago.
Deep3DBox further excels at a tougher task: predicting which way vehicles are facing and inferring a 3D box around each object spotted on a 2D image. “Deep learning is typically used for just detecting pixel patterns. We figured out an effective way to use the same techniques to estimate geometrical quantities,” explains Deep3DBox contributor Jana Košecká, a computer scientist at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
However, when it comes to spotting and orienting bikes and bicyclists, performance drops significantly. Deep3DBox is among the best, yet it spots only 74 percent of bikes in the benchmarking test. And though it can orient over 88 percent of the cars in the test images, it scores just 59 percent for the bikes.
Košecká says commercial systems are delivering better results as developers gather massive proprietary datasets of road images with which to train their systems. And she says most demonstration vehicles augment their visual processing with laser-scanning (ie lidar) imagery and radar sensing, which help recognize bikes and their relative position even if they can’t help determine their orientation.
Further strides, meanwhile, are coming via high-definition maps such as Israel-based Mobileye’s Road Experience Management system. These maps offer computer vision algorithms a head start in identifying bikes, which stand out as anomalies from pre-recorded street views. Ford Motor says “highly detailed 3D maps” are at the core of the 70 self-driving test cars that it plans to have driving on roads this year.
Put all of these elements together, and one can observe some pretty impressive results, such as the bike spotting demonstrated last year by Google’s vehicles. Waymo, Google’s autonomous vehicle spinoff, unveiled proprietary sensor technology with further upgraded bike-recognition capabilities at this month’s Detroit Auto Show.
Vasconcelos doubts that today’s sensing and automation technology is good enough to replace human drivers, but he believes they can already help human drivers avoid accidents. Automated cyclist detection is seeing its first commercial applications in automated emergency braking systems (AEB) for conventional vehicles, which are expanding to respond to pedestrians and cyclists in addition to cars.
Volvo began offering the first cyclist-aware AEB in 2013, crunching camera and radar data to predict potential collisions; it is rolling out similar tech for European buses this year. More automakers are expected to follow suit as European auto safety regulators begin scoring AEB systems for cyclist detection next year.
That said, AEB systems still suffer from a severe limitation that points to the next grand challenge that AV developers are struggling with: predicting where moving objects will go. Squeezing more value from cyclist-AEB systems will be an especially tall order, says Olaf Op den Camp, a senior consultant at the Dutch Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). Op den Camp, who led the design of Europe's cyclist-AEB benchmarking test, says that it’s because cyclists movements are especially hard to predict.
Košecká agrees: “Bicycles are much less predictable than cars because it’s easier for them to make sudden turns or jump out of nowhere.”
That means it may be a while before cyclists escape the threat of human error, which contributes to 94 percent of traffic fatalities, according to U.S. regulators. “Everybody who bikes is excited about the promise of eliminating that,” says Brian Wiedenmeier, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. But he says it is right to wait for automation technology to mature.
In December, Wiedenmeier warned that self-driving taxis deployed by Uber Technologies were violating California driving rules designed to protect cyclists from cars and trucks crossing designated bike lanes. He applauded when California officials pulled the vehicles’ registrations, citing the ridesharing firm's refusal to secure state permits for them. (Uber is still testing its self-driving cars in Arizona and Pittsburgh, and it recently got permission to put some back on San Francisco streets strictly as mapping machines, provided that human drivers are at the wheel.)
Wiedenmeier says Uber's “rush to market” is the wrong way to go. As he puts it: “Like any new technology this needs to be tested very carefully.”A naturalised Aussie tutor at a Sydney University is under investigation over comments he made on social media slamming his Chinese students as "international pigs" of sub-par intelligence.
The Sydney University Business Society has started a petition condemning Wu Wei, a Chinese-born Australian who teaches corporate finance classes, after he allegedly took to Weibo and WeChat to decry his students as "low IQ chinks".
"One of those international student pigs told me that, on behalf of the Australian-Chinese international student community, I have brought shame upon them all," Wu allegedly wrote.
"USyd's finance course |
5pm
Send your answer, along with your name and where you found it to: Askalibrarian@wblibrary.org
April 28: Re-Use Inventions
May - Clean Up
May 5 – Bubble Fun – Use household objects to make your own bubble blowers!
May 12 - Penny Cleaning – Got dirty coins? Bring them to wacky science, where we’ll use different products to make your money shine like new!
May 19 – Stain Science – Test different cleaning products to see which ones clean stains the best!
May 26 – Toothpaste Testing – Which toothpastes really make teeth whiter?
Arts and Crafts Wednesdays at 6pm
April 28: Recyclable Creatures
May 5- Mother’s day cards- Make a card for your favorite mom, grandmother, aunt, or other special woman in your life.
May 12- Bug Box - Make a bug box to collect your favorite friends.
May 19-Spring bugs from chenille stems - Learn to make grasshoppers, lady bugs, bees and more from stems and beads.
May 26- Painted pots - Paint clay pots for springtime plants and seeds.
Chess for Everyone- Tuesday, May 4th: 5pm
Bring your friends, your family, and your chessboard (if you have one) and learn from a master. Already know a strategy or two? Challenge someone.
Computer Classes for Adults- Saturday Mornings
Advance registration required
May 1st: 10:30am-noon Using Craigslist
May 15th: 10:30am-noon Internet Safety
Find us on facebook. Become a fan for up to date information about new programs, special events, items added to the collection, and more!Photo: Michael Graham Richard
The aluminum frame of the Tesla Model S electric sedan. More about it here. Photo: Michael Graham Richard
Tesla Motors has announced that the 1,500+ electric Roadsters that it has sold in 31 countries have collectively driven more than 10 million miles to date. They claim it is the "greatest collective distance covered by any electric vehicle maker to date" and that it has saved 500,000 gallons of fuel and over 5.3 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions." But even that probably under-states Tesla's impact...Tesla has probably has made a bigger difference indirectly (so far) by helping make electric cars more desirable to the average person and spurring EV development at other car-makers. It is also helping make things happen faster by partnering with companies like Daimler and Toyota. So while it's still a very small company and its EVs are a drop in the ocean of gas-burners, it does seem like it had an impact in getting the ball rolling.
Photo: Michael Graham Richard
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had this to say about the 10-million miles milestone: "We owe this achievement to Roadster drivers around the world and their pioneering adoption of electric vehicles. The Roadster has proven to the world that electric cars can be incredibly fun, and practical. Most importantly, these vehicles have provided Tesla with a real-world test fleet that allows us to stay on the cutting edge of electric powertrain engineering and technology."
You can see a map of the world with an "electric miles" counter on Tesla's site.
Via Tesla Motors, Reuters
More on Electric Cars
Electric Mazda2 Coming to Japan in 2012
Tesla Model S 'Alpha Build' Hits the Road (Video)
Video Autopsy of a Tesla Model S Electric Car
Every Chevy Volt is Road-Tested Before Delivery
Tesla Motors Will Make $60 Million From Toyota's Electric RAV4
BYD Stops Production of F3e Electric Car (At Least for Now)
Honda Unveils the Fit EV Concept and a Plug-In Hybrid PlatformSeveral high-dollar donors to the Clinton Foundation were given access to Hillary Clinton during her time as secretary of state, according to a new batch of emails released Monday.
The documents, provided by the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch, are the latest evidence of overlap between Clinton's work at the State Department and that of the Clinton Foundation.
In one instance, Clinton Foundation top executive Doug Band attempted to secure a meeting between Clinton and Crown Prince Salman of Bahrain, who had donated millions to Clinton charitable efforts.
"Good friend of ours," Band said in the email.
Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin, later replied by saying that a meeting had been set up. In the emails, Abedin served as a go-between for several other Clinton Foundation donors who sought to meet with Clinton.
Hillary Clinton was U.S. secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. She says she kept her work at the State Department separate from that of the Clinton Foundation, which does philanthropic work around the globe.
Her Republican presidential rival, Donald Trump, has used the issue to paint Clinton as corrupt, saying she was engaging in "pay-to-play" practices with donors.
On Monday, Trump renewed his call for the Clinton Foundation to be shut down, repeating his accusation that the charity group represents a conflict of interest for Clinton.
"It is now clear that the Clinton Foundation is the most corrupt political enterprise in history," Trump said Monday. "What they were doing during Crooked Hillary's time as secretary of state was wrong then, and it is wrong now. It must be shut down immediately."
Pressure
The foundation last week announced it would stop accepting foreign and corporate donations if Hillary Clinton were elected president. It also said her husband, former President Bill Clinton, would step down from the group's board.
That hasn't been enough to satisfy many critics. This week, the left-leaning Huffington Post became the latest media outlet to call for the Clinton Foundation to be shut down, joining the editorial boards of the Boston Globe and the New York Post.
"It's pretty obvious the Clinton Foundation has presented loads of problems and conflicts of interests for Hillary Clinton so far," said Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "They would be far better off just shutting it down. But they're not willing."
No smoking gun?
Earlier email releases suggested State Department aides to Clinton looked into doing favors for Clinton Foundation donors or those linked to donors. But nothing has shown that the favors were actually granted.
Most of the accusations have focused on two separate instances.
Shortly after Clinton stepped down as secretary of state in 2013, the State Department expressed interest in, but didn't follow through with, buying real estate from a Nigerian company run by a man whose brother donated at least $1 million to the Clinton Foundation.
In another instance, Clinton Foundation official Band asked a top Clinton aide at the State Department about getting a job for an individual whom he said it was "important to take care of." The individual, whose name was redacted in the email, was subsequently sent "options," according to a reply by Abedin, the State Department aide. The outcome of the apparent job placement effort is not clear.
Clinton herself has not been implicated in any of the emails.
Clinton hits back
Clinton campaign officials have firmly denied any wrongdoing, saying any decisions by Clinton were made without considering the influence of donors. More recently, they also have begun to use the issue as a way to launch counterattacks on Trump's business dealings.
"The Clinton Foundation is a charity that helps people around the world. It's already announced major steps it'll take if Clinton wins," Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said on Twitter. "Trump's businesses exist to enrich himself, involve a web of shady connections, and he still hasn't committed to divesting his holdings."
The billionaire Trump has said that, if elected president, he would hand over control of the Trump Organization to his three oldest children, who also are involved with their father's presidential campaign.I often think of a man I saw dead 30 years ago in Srinagar on the road outside the Silk Factory. The man had died after being hit by a truck; he lay face down, and the pieces of meat he was carrying in a newspaper sheet lay strewn all over him. The bus from which I saw him stopped for a moment and I remember trying to read the crumpled and stained newspaper. I wanted to read the printed matter so that it could serve as a prop to remember the dead man.
I always needed a prop to remember things by. Six years after I saw that dead man, I was in a taxi, huddled with my parents, who like every Kashmiri Pandit at that time were desperate to see the light on the other end of the Jawahar tunnel. While crossing south Kashmir, we came across a man pushing a wheelbarrow on the road; he looked at us in disgust, pumped his fist in the air, and shouted: “Maryu, Batav, maryu! (Die, you Pandits, die!).” The man’s wheelbarrow and his raised fist are among the many props reminding me of my exile.
Anniversaries are also like props. January 19 this year, for example, will mark 25 years of our exodus from the Kashmir Valley. I don’t know whether this date means something to my father. I don’t think he will even remember it. His day will be the same: he will wake up, worry about what we will cook for lunch, ask me with remarkable sangfroid if I have plans to get married, recite mantras in front of a picture of our ancestral goddess. Later, he will ring up the grocer to order something, beginning with: “Hello, Mintuji, mein Uncle bol raha hun!” and then place his order. Earlier, I’d find it funny, since I thought Mintu must be dealing with 50 uncles like Father. But then I paid attention and realised Mintu never asks: “Which uncle?” The system worked perfectly for Father, the groceries always got delivered on time. That is how he operated back home in Kashmir; that is how it works for him in Gurgaon.
But I know Father misses home. We never talk about it. Not even when he is watching DD Kashmir, when he is humming along with Tibet Bakal singing a Krishan Joo Razdan Leela, an ode to Shiva. Father has never returned to Kashmir since April 4, 1990. I don’t think he wants to. The Kashmir he left 25 years ago has changed. And he remembers every moment of the time that change occurred. So January 19, in his mind, is no different from all those days of fear and trauma in 1989-90. As Robert Frank writes in La memoire des Francais, “That which is sadly memorable is not co-memorable.”
Somehow, in my head—and perhaps that is the way it is with every son and daughter—Father has always been ‘old’. But how old was he when we left home? He was 44. Forty-four! At that age, like thousands of other Kashmiri Pandit parents, he had to provide for the family in so uncertain times. At that age, he lost everything he had so lovingly built along with my mother: a home, its red-cemented corridor, its lawn, its kitchen garden, its windows with stained glass, its wardrobes, its false ceiling, its book-shelves. Everything my parents earned for years was diligently put into our home. And, suddenly, one day, your neighbours, your colleagues, your friends, your grocer and your milkman decide that you cannot live in a home that you built with your sweat and blood. They also decide that it is time for you to leave not only your home, but also the land where your ancestors lived for thousands of years. So they burst out on the streets on the night of January 19, 1990, and shout on loudspeakers from the mosques all over the Valley that they want Kashmir to become Pakistan, where only Pandit women (and no men) will be allowed.
Oh, that night! How can I forget it! How can any Kashmiri Pandit forget it! But I am still searching for more and more props to remember that night. I want it to be like shrapnel pain. Here is one prop I acquired recently: on that night Doordarshan was playing a V. Shantaram film, Teen Batti, Chaar Raasta. Also, that night, along with frenzied cries for our annihilation, they played a song used in Afghanistan to inspire the anti-Soviet militia: Khoon-e-shahidan rang laaya, fatah ka parcham lehraya, jaago jaago subah hui (The blood of the martyrs has come true, the flag of victory has been unfurled, wake up, wake up, he dawn has appeared). It is now available on YouTube and, sometimes, when a few friends get silly drunk, we play it on and laugh as we imitate the singer’s nasal drone. This is what I believe Michael Taussig called the “normality of the abnormal” in Nervous System, when he referred to the notion of “despair and macabre humour”.
But I cannot play the song when Father is around. I cannot play it to a man who spent that entire night standing at his window, offering the solace of his presence to an old woman who was alone in the neighbouring house, as mobs outside were calling for the death of Pandits. I cannot play it to a woman, then a child, whose mouth was stuffed with Parle-G biscuits by her mother to prevent her from crying and attracting the attention of the mob outside her home. I cannot play it to the widow of Naveen Sapru, who at the age of 37 was waylaid by a mob outside a mosque and then shot. “Bus, be moodus wanye (Okay, I have died now),” he told his murderers, after which he was shot again and silenced forever. Naveen was on his way to collect his coat from a tailor. But he was killed before that. Two years ago, while in the US, I bought a coat from Macy’s and it reminded me of him.
Did anyone collect his coat later?
Twenty-five years is a long time. For a refugee, it indicates a sense of permanent exile. In exile, most of us are doing well for ourselves. But beneath our tiepins, our PowerPoint presentations, our single malts, our Harvard ‘five-foot shelf’ classics, we suffer from an acute sense of homelessness. In exile, our achievements are like pieces of meat over that man’s dead body. In exile, we are like Orwell’s Unhappy Bella, waiting for unknown fishermen to sing the sad song of our betrayal.
We wait for the spring. But on January 19, twenty-five years later, the exile is winter. A mind of winter, as Wallace Stevens would have preferred to call it.
(Rahul Pandita is the author of Our Moon Has Blood Clots (2013), a memoir of exile from Kashmir.)The New York Jets kick off their four game 2017 preseason this Saturday night at home against the Tennessee Titans. What matters this preseason? Let’s break it down…
20% OFF ALL GEAR USING THE CODE “GAMEONE20”
It’s The Quarterback, Stupid – The most important thing this preseason is the performance of Christian Hackenberg, the only quarterback on this roster with a theoretical chance of being “the guy” long term. Josh McCown is a glorified Game of Thrones Maester, Bryce Petty is a career third stringer who has already been knocked out of the “quarterback competition” in practice.
The discouraging thing to date is at best, Hackenberg has played even to McCown, a below average journeyman. The encouraging thing is that practice doesn’t matter all that much and if Hackenberg plays well in the preseason, nobody cares about what happens in camp. It still remains more than likely McCown will start week 1 but Hackenberg can put pressure on those plans and shorten his already tiny rope with a strong preseason.
What is a strong preseason? Complete somewhere around 60% of your passes. Throw more touchdowns than interceptions. Do not take unnecessary sacks and protect the football when you are sacked. Attack down the field and show signs of making a weak supporting cast better.
Who Caught That? – Do not expect to see much, if any, of Matt Forte and Bilal Powell this preseason. It will be the Elijah McGuire, Jordan Todman and Romar Morris show at running back. A few big games from Todman or Morris could help push Forte off the roster for a conditional 7th round pick to a running back desperate team (YOU NEED A BACK, JERRY!).
At receiver, expect a wide ranging rotation and wide open battle for targets behind Robby Anderson. Charone Peake, ArDarius Stewart and Jalin Marshall will get the first cracks but Chris Harper, Chad Hansen and Marquess Wilson are not far behind. Austin Seferian-Jenkins has been the star of the Jets offseason, now we need to see if it translates into games. Rookie tight end Jordan Leggett has also had a strong summer and should be in position for a higher than expected amount of targets due to Quincy Enunwa’s injury.
The battle for reps and targets at the skill positions is wide open. Whoever can string together a few good games will be looking at a large role in the early parts of the season.
Line Woes – The Jets offensive line has been beat to a pulp so far in training camp. Is that because Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson are taking football seriously again and Leonard Williams is half man, half machine or is it just because they stink? Right tackle is an open battle between Brent Qvale (KWELI) and Brandon Shell. The left tackle will likely be Kelvin Beachum, who the Jets are praying finds his Pittsburgh form. The depth is fairly shaky outside of Ben Ijalana so happy feet for Hackenberg and Petty will have ugly consequences this August.
New Jack City – The shiny new safety duo finally will get to show out in a real game. Will Marcus Maye keep being a ball hawk? Can Jamal Adams live up to the excessive amounts of hype? These two will play more than most starters so they are comfortable as possible come week 1 against the now Sammy Watkins-less Buffalo Bills. Elsewhere in the secondary, Juston Burris will have the first chance to grab a starting role on the outside in the Jets nickel, with Daryl Roberts and Marcus Williams also in the mix.
Oh, The Linebackers – Outside of Darron Lee (who needs to show signs of life), the position is wide open. Lorenzo Mauldin has been hurt and quiet so far in camp, opening the door for reps for Dylan Donahue, Frank Beltre and Freddie Bishop. This feels like a position where there will not really be “starters” but rather just a large rotation of different situational players, maybe outside of Jordan Jenkins who is looking to build on a promising rookie year.
Can We Get A Return? – Lucky Whitehead. Frankie Hammond. Romar Morris. Will somebody break one? The Jets special teams have been a mess for years. Lachlan Edwards still needs to prove he was worth a draft pick. Chandler Catanzaro is barely holding off Ross Martin. This unit needs to show signs of life.
–
Photo Credit: NewYorkJets.com
RelatedDifferent types of rice, many imported from the U.S., are seen in Mexico City's largest market, in this March 15, 2007 file photo. REUTERS/Jennifer Szymaszek
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Trace amounts of genetically modified varieties of rice that were found commingled in the U.S. rice supply in 2006 caused more than $1.2 billion in damages and additional costs, the environmental group Greenpeace International said on Monday.
U.S. rice exports fell sharply after Bayer CropScience, a division of Bayer, reported in 2006 that trace amounts of its biotech LibertyLink rice variety LLRICE601 were found in a widely grown variety of U.S. rice called Cheniere. Later, a second variety called Clearfield 131 was found to be contaminated with LLRICE604.
“Until we’ve seen the report, we really can’t comment,” said Bayer spokesman Greg Coffey.
The discovery of GMO-tainted rice triggered the largest financial and marketing disaster in the history of the U.S. rice industry, according to Greenpeace. At least 30 countries were affected by the contamination and many closed their markets to U.S. rice, including major importers such as the European Union and the Philippines.
The overall cost to the industry, estimated at $1.2 billion, included losses of up to $253 million from food-product recalls in Europe, U.S. export losses of $254 million in the 2006/07 crop year and future export losses of $445 million, Greenpeace said.
“It’s impossible to know what the cost is,” said David Coia of trade group USA Rice Federation. “It’s certainly the most significant event in the history of the U.S. rice industry. The current rice crop is in pretty good shape. We’ve been able to eliminate most of the genetically engineered material.”
Hundreds of U.S. farmers and European businesses have filed lawsuits against Bayer in attempts to recoup their losses, said the environmental group.
Greenpeace is urging India not to go ahead with field trials of GMO varieties because it could risk suffering a similar contamination and loss of exports.
A lengthy U.S. investigation failed to pinpoint how the biotech rice entered the U.S. supply. However, all three varieties of rice were grown at a research station in Louisiana from 1999 to 2001.Angela Merkel is worried.
She's worried about Donald Trump, who isn't like his predecessor.
Merkel loved Barack Obama. And as Obama would always say, "Hey, I love you back!" Sometimes, they'd take a long walk in a field of flowers.
But Merkel doesn't love President Trump. Whereas Obama was always ready to abdicate the role of leader of the free world and put global interests before America's, Trump simply is not.
And that has Angela worried.
Running for re-election and out on the road to gather up votes, Merkel -- speaking at a campaign event held in a Bavarian beer tent -- said “We Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands.”
"The times in which we can fully count on others are somewhat over, as I have experienced in the past few days," she said ominously.
Noting that Britain has bailed on the European Union experiment, she said that while Germany and Europe would strive to remain on good terms with America and the UK, "we have to fight for our own destiny."
Huh. Weird. That sounds like Merkel wants to put Europe -- and Germany -- first. Maybe she'll go with a new campaign slogan: MGGA -- Make Germany Great Again.
Unlike Obama, Trump wasn't a pushover on his first trip abroad. He chastised NATO nations for not putting in their fair share of cash to run the organization, appears ready to bail on the costly Paris Agreement on global warming, and even criticized Germany in Brussels, saying its trade practices are "bad, very bad." Before that, he pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, moved forward with the Keystone pipeline, and made clear that he'll put American interests first when dealing with foreign powers.
The U.S. liberal media is ecstatic that -- in their eyes -- America is being taken down a peg by Trump.
"How a single sentence from Angela Merkel showed what Trump means to the world," wrote CNN's Chris Cillizza. "On Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel uttered a single sentence that speaks to how fundamentally President Donald Trump has reshaped -- and will continue to reshape -- the world, and America's place in it," he wrote.
Said a Washington Post "analysis": "Thanks to Trump, Germany says it can’t rely on the United States." "Merkel’s comment about what she has experienced in the past few days is a clear reference to President Trump’s disastrous European tour. Her belief that the United States is no longer a reliable partner is a direct result of Trump’s words and actions," the paper said.
But Trump is forging his own path -- and forcing European leaders to do so as well.
Said Merkel in a bid for votes: "We Europeans must really take our fate into our own hands. We have to know that we must fight for our future, on our own, for our destiny as Europeans — and that's what I want to do together with you," she said.
Sounds like a line straight out of the Trump campaign book.Three boys. One boat. Fifty-one days at sea. A harrowing story of unlikely survival.
A crewman on a commercial tuna-fishing boat was the first to spot it: something shiny and metallic in the water off the ship's bow. The crewman alerted the navigator, and the 280-foot San Nikunau slightly altered course to avoid a collision. As the ship came closer, the object revealed itself to be a small boat, an aluminum dinghy. It was late in the afternoon on November 24 of last year. The New Zealand–based San Nikunau was in open water, a couple of days out of Fiji, amid the vastness of the southern Pacific—an expanse the size of a dozen Saharas in which there are only scattered specks of land.
The dinghy, fourteen feet long and low to the water, was designed for traveling on lakes or hugging a shoreline. There was no way it should've been in this part of the Pacific. If the San Nikunau had passed a quarter mile to either side, likely no one would have noticed it. Anyway, it appeared empty, another bit of the ocean's mysterious flotsam. But then, as the big ship was approaching the dinghy, something startling happened. From the bottom of the tiny boat, emerging slowly and unsteadily, rose an arm—a single human arm, skinny and sun-fried and waving for help.
There were, as it turned out, three people on the boat. Three boys. Two were 15 years old and the third was 14. They were naked and emaciated. Their skin was covered with blisters. Their tongues were swollen. They had no food, no water, no clothing, no fishing gear, no life vests, and no first-aid kit. They were close to death. They had been missing for fifty-one days.
It began, in the grand tradition of ill-considered ideas, with a group of boys and a bottle of booze—the most common of circumstances in the least common of places. The boys were gathered in their clubhouse—broken sofas, graffitied walls—near the end of the only road in the only village on the Pacific island of Atafu. Atafu is one of three atolls that make up the nation of Tokelau (which is not, technically, a nation but a territory of New Zealand). The total amount of land on Atafu is 1.4 square miles. Population: 524.
The nearest atoll, equally tiny, is fifty-seven miles to the south, well beyond the range of visibility. The closest significant land mass is Samoa, a twenty-eight-hour ferry ride away. There is no landing strip on Tokelau. There are also no dogs, prisons, lawyers, pavement, or soil—the land is mostly bits of broken coral. The highest elevation is fifteen feet. Coconuts and fish are the traditional diet, though the ferry, which comes once every two weeks, brings so much junk food these days that obesity and diabetes have become significant problems. From any point on Atafu's shoreline, nothing can be seen but water, all the way to the horizon.
One of the boys in the clubhouse—by most accounts, the unofficial leader—was named Filo Filo. (It's not uncommon in Tokelau to have the same first and last names.) Filo was tall and strong and exceptionally athletic. His dream was to play for the New Zealand All Blacks. Though his parents were both Tokelauan, Filo had lived his entire life away from the islands, mostly in Sydney, Australia, where his mother had moved after she'd separated from Filo's father. But in 2007, Filo's mother grew concerned about his poor grades and growing reputation as a troublemaker. As a sort of reform school, she sent him to Atafu to live with his dad, who in addition to being a fisherman—the profession of nearly every Tokelauan man—was also the local rugby coach. Filo became a star athlete on Atafu, but some people still thought of him, to use the Tokelauan word, as a palagi—a foreigner. One classmate called him a "wanna-be gangster." He was, in truth, a city kid who had been exiled to one of the tiniest and most remote places on the planet.
Filo had become best friends with a boy named Samu Tonuia. They were both 15 and in the same class at school—a class of seven students. Samu, like Filo, was tall and muscular for his age and also an excellent rugby player. Otherwise, the two boys could not have been more different. Samu had never once in his life left Tokelau. It is customary in Tokelau to assign one child to care for elderly relatives, and while the rest of his family had moved to Australia, Samu lived on Atafu with his grandmother. He'd never been in an airplane or a restaurant or a movie theater. According to one classmate, Samu had been a decent student—until Filo arrived.
So there they were, Filo and Samu, the permanent foreigner and the ultimate local, a gang of two, sitting in their clubhouse along with a handful of other boys. It was October 3, 2010. They were drinking vodka, smoking cigarettes, telling stories. It was getting late.
Then someone brought up the tale of the teenagers. Five or six years previous, three teens had taken a boat without permission and broken one of the cardinal rules of Tokelauan society: They'd ventured into the open ocean without the escort of a tautai, a master fisherman. Atafu's forty-two small islands encircle a gorgeous turquoise lagoon in which anyone can boat or swim. It's the kiddie pool. The ocean is an unpredictable and occasionally violent place, and the title of tautai, bestowed by the island's elders, is equivalent to a driver's license. Even tautais do not venture far offshore.
But to teenage boys, in Atafu as in every pocket of the planet, rules are made to be broken. And the isolation of Atafu can at times be difficult to bear. There's now satellite Internet service on the island, which only emphasizes how much fun everyone else is having. Filo told me that Atafu "felt like a prison." The desire to escape can become overwhelming.
Which is what those teenagers did five or six years ago. They escaped, trying to reach some other place. Any other place. They didn't make it. They were rescued after five days by the Tokelau ferry. They'd run out of gas but had plenty of food. Though they were severely punished by the elders, in Filo and Samu's clubhouse they were heroes. And as a plastic jug of vodka was passed around, the old story soon morphed into a new idea. By the time the jug was finished, the idea had become a plan.
Etueni Nasau was also in the clubhouse. He'd listened intently to the story but had passed on the vodka. He wasn't much of a drinker. Etueni (his name is pronounced ed-ween-aye) was, at 14, a year younger than Samu and Filo and a grade lower in school. He was also much smaller and not nearly as athletic. When I asked all three boys what they wanted to be when they grew up, Filo said "rugby player" and Samu said "rugby player" and Etueni said "surgeon." Etueni was neither an outsider, like Filo, nor an insider, like Samu, but somewhere in between. He was born in New Zealand, spent his early childhood in Atafu, went to school in American Samoa, and then moved full-time to Atafu in 2008.
Hearing the story of the teens sparked something in Etueni. He'd always been a good student, a well-behaved boy. But he, too, was often frustrated with the truncated boundaries of life on a tiny atoll, his one square mile of world. "Its freekin hell" he once posted on Facebook. He also yearned to be more popular, to be thought of by the others in the clubhouse as a hero rather than a nerd. To have a grand adventure. And so almost on a whim, when the plans became serious—when Samu announced he'd be willing to steal his uncle's new boat—and most everyone in the clubhouse began backpedaling from their bluster, Etueni finally spoke up. He said he was in.
It was now past midnight. The rest of the boys headed home. Filo, Samu, and Etueni fanned out across the village. Their first mission was to find gasoline, and they soon collected about twenty gallons in five plastic jerry cans. They stashed the stolen gas in Samu's uncle's boat, a silver-colored Frewza, made in New Zealand, with a fifteen-horsepower Yamaha engine. There was nothing fancy about it—a couple of unpainted wooden benches, a tiny storage space in the bow that could keep a few things dry. The only items inside were a small machete and a wooden mallet, used to club fish. Its freeboard—the distance between the water and the top of the boat's sides—was just sixteen inches, enough to repel only the smallest of waves. The boat's best feature was not visible: Inside the hull were three large air-filled aluminum cylinders, pontoons that made the craft exceptionally stable.
After loading the gas, the boys again separated, dashing the short distance from the dock to the village. Filo sneaked into his house and grabbed a green tarpaulin, a large plastic sack containing twenty coconuts, a white ceramic teacup, two packs of Pall Mall cigarettes, and another jug of vodka, still sealed. From his refrigerator, he took two bottles of milk and a Kraft mayonnaise jar filled with water. Samu, meanwhile, climbed a tree and knocked down nine more coconuts. Etueni had been instructed to find fishing equipment, but he was concerned that he'd wake someone up and get caught. So there was no fishing gear.
The boys boarded the boat. To steel their resolve, they opened the vodka, poured it in the teacup, added a bit of water, and passed it around. This time, Etueni joined in. Samu started the engine. It was the final chance to run home, to sleep in a bed. Etueni later admitted to me that as he sat in the boat, he'd thought that this was a dangerous and stupid idea. "I almost jumped off," he says. But then Filo began yelling, and Samu and Etueni joined in—a rebel yell, a primal scream. A howl that tried to both express and eclipse their nervous, excited joy. They soon began shouting people's names, those they'd stolen from. They teased Samu's uncle. "Ha-ha! We're leaving! We stole your boat!" And they motored through the gap in the reef surrounding Atafu. It was the first time any of the boys had been on the ocean side of Tokelau without a master fisherman. Their plan, they later told me, was to reach the next atoll. They figured it would take three or four days. They had only the clothes they wore: shorts and T-shirts and sandals. No one wore a cap. No one had remembered to bring sunglasses.
They continued drinking. Etueni was bartender—water and vodka, in their one tea cup. Filo was the first to tire out; he curled up on the bottom of the boat. Samu and Etueni stayed up, still drinking. Somehow, in his insobriety, Etueni took off his shirt and lost it overboard. Samu controlled the engine. "We just had an idea of following one star," says Etueni. "But we didn't know what star it was." Then Samu, too, grew sleepy. So Etueni drove for a while. Eventually he switched off the engine. And soon all three boys were passed out on the flat metal bottom of the boat.
They were cold in the night. Cold and wet. Waves and spray continually spilled into the boat. The puddle in the bottom was soon up to their ears. Etueni woke first, to the noise of a couple of dozen seagulls flying around. He could no longer see land. The bright sun, he realized, eliminated the idea of following one star. Filo was next up. He immediately vomited over the side. Then Samu awoke, and he, too, threw up.
Samu revved the engine. "We just started going," says Filo. Where? "Just anywhere." They were not worried. "We thought we were going to be fine," Etueni says. "The other boys were found in five days."
They began cracking coconuts, banging them against the rail of the boat, drinking the liquid, and chucking them away. They didn't even bother scraping out the coconut meat. Then they finished both bottles of milk. They broke out the cigarettes. Only six were dry. They smoked them.
They ran the engine intermittently. It was a warm and overcast day. Their new idea was to follow the seagulls; in the evening, they figured, the birds would naturally head back to land. But the birds seemed to be flying randomly, maybe in big circles.
As the afternoon wore on, they grew a little hungry. They wondered what people were saying about them back on Atafu. Eventually the sun set. "We were still in a good mood," says Filo. "Not that hungry." They slept again in a puddle on the bottom of the boat.
The next day, they saw an airplane. It was flying low, and they figured it was looking for them. Etueni waved, and the other two boys immediately teased him for wanting to be rescued so soon. "You're a girl," they said. So he stopped waving. Filo and Samu didn't think two days was enough to seem heroic. They figured, as the plane flew away, that it would eventually be back.
When there's an emergency on Atafu, the secretary of the men's group walks the coral-gravel road blowing on a brass bugle, strolling past the small, brightly painted homes made of concrete with corrugated-steel roofs. He did this on the morning after the boys left, summoning everyone to Atafu's meeting hall.
The leader of all of Tokelau is called the ulu; the position rotates every year among the heads of |
Tim Novak, Chris Fusco and Mick Dumke are Sun-Times reporters. Brett Chase is a Better Government Association investigator.
Contributing: Data Reporting Lab editor Darnell LittleWhen it comes to design language, Samsung likes to be consistent across most of the devices in its repertoire. Often, it'll choose a specific style and use that in multiple devices over the course of several months (last year's faux leather and skeuomorphic stitching; the "inspired by nature" design of two years ago) before changing its focus. Starting with the Galaxy Alpha and now continuing on with the Note 4, it appears that Samsung recently began a new and improved style that features aluminum sides, chamfered edges and the company's signature "leather-like" back. Yes, the Note 4's frame is made of actual, honest-to-goodness aluminum, not the usual faux-chrome plastic that's supposed to look like it's metal (but ends up appearing a bit cheap in the end). It's something I've hounded Samsung about for years, and I'll give the company credit for finally finding a way to make it work. The Note 4 looks -- and feels -- like an elegant, premium phone as a result.
I shouldn't sing so much praise over just one aspect of the phone's design. After all, it's entirely possible to make a phone with metal sides look ugly and/or cheap, right? Fortunately, Samsung kept that in mind, because in my first impressions, it's hard to find fault with any aspect of the Note 4's hardware. The sides use chamfered edges to meet the front and back (similar to the iPhone 5s or HTC One M7); the removable back is still made of the same "leather-like" polycarbonate build as the last Note, but Samsung got rid of the distracting stitches that went around the perimeter of the phone. The glass is 2.5D, which means it's not entirely flat -- like many Nokia Lumias (and even the Galaxy S3), there's a very subtle bend along the edges of the screen.
Compared to the previous model, the Note 4 uses the same screen size and is about as thin (8.3mm), but it's 2.3mm taller, 0.6mm wider and eight grams heavier. It seems odd because the first two Note sequels were smaller than their predecessors, despite coming with a larger display. I don't think Samsung needed to make the screen any larger this time, as it's done in the past, but I would've preferred to see the chassis trimmed down, at least. That said, this additional width may simply be taking into account the fact that the sides bulge out slightly at the top and bottom, because I didn't immediately feel any noticeable difference in comfort level.
Just as you'd expect in any incremental device in a given phone series, the new phone comes with plenty of improvements over the last. The Super AMOLED screen got a bump from 1080p resolution to Quad HD (2,560 x 1,440); the rear-facing camera is now 16MP (up from 13); and the battery gets a marginal increase from 3,200mAh to 3,220mAh. The Note 4 also marks the first time in a long time that Samsung has improved the front-facing camera: It's blessed with a 3.7MP sensor and an aperture of f/1.9 for theoretically better low-light selfies. The Korean Note 4 will feature an octa-core Exynos 5433 chipset, which is split up into a 1.9GHz quad-core processor for bigger activities and a 1.3GHz quad-core for the menial tasks; everywhere else, the Note 4 will boast a 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 with a 600MHz Adreno 420 GPU. Both versions will feature 3GB of RAM, the same amount as the Note 3. For internal memory, you can choose between 32 and 64GB, and you can add up to a 64GB microSD card (not 128GB, oddly). Lastly, just like the Galaxy S5, you'll get a fingerprint scanner on the front and a heart rate monitor on the back underneath the camera and next to the flash; Samsung's added a UV light sensor to the back as well.
If you recall, the Note 3 came with an unsightly USB 3.0 connector port, which Samsung added for the sake of faster data speeds. This year, the phone maker went back to USB 2.0; the product managers said that not many people were using the 3.0 port for data transfers, so they didn't see the point in taking up room inside the phone for that purpose. The charger at least comes with fast-charging capability and the phone maker claims that the battery will charge 30 percent faster when you use the charger that comes in the box. I clarified with Samsung that it chose a proprietary solution instead of licensing Qualcomm's QuickCharge tech, but it insisted that you could still use QuickCharge 2.0-compatible chargers to achieve the same results.
As I mentioned earlier, the front-facing camera is supposed to be better in low-light scenarios, thanks to its f/1.9 aperture, and Samsung has added a "Smart Optical Image Stabilization" feature to the rear camera to minimize shaking and allow more light in dark situations. It feels as though there's more of a focus on the front cam, however, since so much attention is being put on the selfie experience; on the Note 4, it comes with a 90-degree shooting angle by default that can be extended to 120 degrees through a special "wide selfie" mode that takes three photos and stitches them together -- just like a panorama shot. The Note also comes equipped with three mics to help with directional noise cancellation. This has been featured on other phones (some devices even have four mics, in fact), but Samsung has given the device the ability to automatically adjust the recording volume depending on how much noise is around you; the voice recorder also comes with the opportunity to tag and select up to eight directions you want to pick up voices from -- if you only want to pick up the interviewer's voice, for instance, you can do so.
The Note 4 uses Android 4.4 KitKat and keeps to the same overall UI as the Galaxy S5. But since this is a Note product, there are plenty of enhancements to the S Pen experience, both in hardware and software. First, Samsung has doubled the pen's pressure sensitivity. It was already pretty good, but making it even more sensitive allows the pen to detect when you're drawing and writing at an angle, so you can have the same experience as a regular pen. As a bonus, there's also a new pen mode specifically for calligraphy that takes advantage of the extra sensitivity as well; Samsung reps were proud of the fact that all of the lines still look incredibly smooth when you zoom in on them.
As for software improvements, there are a few features worth pointing out. Snap Note is the most impressive: You can take a picture of any analog note (a regular notepad, signs, pieces of paper) and within a couple minutes, the Note 4 can convert it into digital, which means you can erase and edit that information to your heart's content. There's also a new Smart Select mode, which lets you select multiple images in a gallery with your pen, or multiple lines of text without having to long-press the screen and highlight it manually. Samsung's added a new way to float apps and web pages by dragging your finger toward the center of the screen from the top-right corner; you can then resize the app, as well as minimize or maximize it. You can even convert it into a multi-window screen by dragging it to the top or bottom of the display.
Samsung says the Note 4 will be available starting in October and will come in four color options: white, black, gold and pink. Some of the colors, like black and gold, feature different color accents on the metal sides, which go well with the rest of the device. No price has been set yet, but this will largely depend on the region and carrier; I'd expect the price to remain about the same as last year's Note. (The Note Edge, which I discuss here, will come out later in the fall and at a higher cost.) I'm excited to spend more time with the phone as we get closer to launch.
Update: AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and US Cellular have all confirmed that they'll carry the Note 4 when it launches.
Zach Honig contributed to this report.A gun protest at the University of Texas involves students strapping sex toys to their backs on campus.
In what is oddly the second time this month we're hearing about dildos being used to make a point about guns, students at the University of Texas plan to strap sex toys their backs as part of an upcoming protest.
Some students at the university apparently aren't too pleased with a new law allowing people to carry concealed handguns everywhere on campus.
According to a Facebook page titled Campus (DILDO) Carry:
"The State of Texas has decided that it is not at all obnoxious to allow deadly concealed weapons in classrooms, however it DOES have strict rules about free sexual expression, to protect your innocence. You would receive a citation for taking a DILDO to class before you would get in trouble for taking a gun to class. Heaven forbid the penis."
Thus the #CocksNotGlocks movement was born.
The protest, which is scheduled for the day that the law goes into effect, has more than 2,000 people who have RSVP'd as "going" in reply to the Facebook invite.
The page says the protest will involve "strapping gigantic swinging dildos to our backpacks in protest of campus carry."
"You're carrying a gun to class? Yeah well I'm carrying a HUGE DILDO."
[Via The Independent]
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More from ComplexwikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 35 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has also been viewed 107,130 times. Learn more...
The revolutionary iPad has become a family treasure––both parents and kids alike love to spend time playing games, watching movies, reading books and surfing the Internet on this handy device. While mom or dad may have purchased the iPad for themselves, quite a few have made the “irreparable mistake” of showing it to their children, a mistake because the extremely intuitive nature of the iPad is child's play and play is definitely the reason for which a child will want to keep hold of the iPad.
From compelling games and puzzles to books and movies, kids love the iPad just as much as (and sometimes even more than) adults do. If your child has started an intense love affair with your iPad and starts hoarding it in his or her room or simply growls every time you try to literally pull it out of their fingers, it’s time to throw down some rules and take back your iPad, thereby restoring some family sanity.Toyota Motor Corp (tm) said late on Tuesday it is recalling 1.43 million hybrid Prius and Lexus CT200h cars worldwide because of a possible airbag inflator defect.
The recall covers 2010-2012 vehicles with air bag inflators that could have a small crack that could grow over time, which could lead to the air bags inflating. If a passenger is in the car at the time, it could increase the risk of injury, Toyota said.
The recall covers 482,000 U.S. vehicles. The air bag inflators involved in this recall were not produced by Takata Corp, Toyota spokesman Victor Vanov said. Toyota said it was not aware of any injuries or deaths related to the current recall.
The Takata airbags have been blamed for 11 deaths and some 150 injuries, with more cases under review; most of the deaths have occurred in Honda. The recall of Takata airbags also has covered far more vehicles, with nearly 70 million vehicles in the U.S., and 100 million worldwide. Of the 70 million recalled, only about 8 million have been replaced. U.S. regulators have estimated that the fixes could take two years to complete.
The Takata Airbag Recall Is Now a Full-Blown Crisis
Toyota said it will notify owners by mail and will install retention brackets, which would prevent the air bags from entering the vehicle interior, at no cost to customers.
Customers can check Toyota’s website to see if their car has been affected.
Fortune staff contributed to this report.The Seattle Seahawks plan to have Thomas Rawls back in the lineup this week.
Pete Carroll told 710 ESPN Radio on Monday that Rawls will practice to play against the Philadelphia Eagles.
"Thomas is ready to go," Carroll said, via ESPN.com's Sheil Kapadia. "He's going to practice to play this week."
Carroll spoke optimistically of Rawls returning for Week 11 at the end of last week, saying the running back looked "fast and confident" in limited practice reps.
The Seahawks' power run game has slumped the past few weeks with Christine Michael seeing fewer and fewer totes. In Sunday's win over the New England Patriots, shifty rookie C.J. Prosise took the majority of snaps, leading the team with 17 carries for 66 yards rushing and adding seven receptions for 87 yards.
Prior to Rawls missing the last seven games with a fibula injury, Carroll continually talked up increasing the bruising rusher's snaps. Rawls' imminent return should immediately boost the Seahawks power rushing attack.
We could see Rawls take most of Michael's snaps while Prosise continues to earn the majority of reps as a dual threat.Quasicrystals have teased and intrigued scientists for three decades. Now, this already strange group of materials has a bizarre new member: a two-dimensional quasicrystal made from self-assembling organic molecules.
This odd quasicrystal is flat, made from a single layer of molecules with five-sided rings. The molecules form groups within the layer as weak hydrogen bonds link them together. These molecular groups are assembled in a way that forces other molecules in the layer into shapes including pentagons, stars, boats, and rhombi. If this were a regular old crystal, you'd expect to see these groups and shapes repeated over and over throughout the layer in a predictable way. But in this quasicrystal, you'll see the same shapes over and over in the layer, but not in any organized pattern.
The things that set these quasicrystals apart from all the others, scientists say, are its organic materials and self-assembling parts.
“They’re markedly different from just about everything else out there,” said physical chemist Alex Kandel, whose lab at the University of Notre Dame described the material today in Nature. Previously known quasicrystals are mostly metallic, and tied together by strong ionic bonds rather than the weaker hydrogen bonds that can be found in complex organic molecules like DNA.
As their name suggests, quasicrystals have a structure that’s part crystalline, part disorganized. In other words, they are something in between a structure with repeating, symmetric units, and one with completely random building blocks. Their atomic units are locally symmetric, but are not regularly repeated over longer distances. Because of these arrangements, quasicrystals are slippery and have been used in things like non-stick frying pans.
The first quasicrystal of any sort was also accidentally made in the lab, in 1982, by materials scientist Daniel Schechtman who won a Nobel Prize for the discovery in 2011. Up until that point, scientists thought the semi-organized structure of quasicrystals was an impossibility. Now, we know that’s not true. Not only can quasicrystals be grown in the lab, they can also grow in nature. In 2012, Princeton University physicist Paul Steinhardt showed that quasicrystals found in eastern Russia had fallen to Earth in a meteorite.
Kandel’s group discovered the organic quasicrystal accidentally. Instead of trying to make the thing, they were actually hoping to study how electrons are distributed in ferrocenecarboxylic acid, the molecule the quasicrystal is built from. To do that, the team needed to build a stable, linear group of molecules. But when the scientists tried, they produced a two-dimensional quasicrystal instead.
“The first images were quite a shock,” Kandel said. “Certainly, 2-D quasicrystals aren’t easy to make, which is why we’re only seeing very recent reports of them now, some 30-odd years after the first quasicrystalline materials were discovered.”
Wolf Widdra of Germany's Martin Luther University, who made the first 2-D quasicrystal, reported in October 2013, is a bit skeptical of the new research. He doesn't think there's enough evidence yet to prove quasicrystal structure over a large enough area.
There is also disagreement among scientists about what it means to be self-assembling. Widdra thinks the term could be applied to all quasicrystal structures, not just this new one. Kandel argues that structures assembled by way of strong chemical bonds – like the other quasicrystals – aren't actually self-assembled. Those strong chemical bonds, he says, overwhelm the forces holding individual building blocks together and leave the material no choice but to form. In this new quasicrystal, those building blocks are joined by weak hydrogen bonds.
"Self-assembly is interesting precisely because the forces that drive organization are weaker than the forces responsible for the individual structure," Kandel said.Antonov signs collaboration agreements with TAI, Aselsan and Havelsan
Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov – a firm of Ukraine’s state-owned enterprise Ukroboronprom – signed memoranda-of-understanding (MoUs) with Havelsan, Aselsan and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) at the 2017 International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF), which concluded last week in May.
Antonov’s MoU with Aselsan pushes for bilateral collaboration on sourcing an integrated avionics suite for the An-148 family, which comprises of the An-158 airliner and An-178 military transport aircraft. The MoU calls upon Antonov and Aselsan to meet regularly and to establish working groups.
TAI and Antonov signed an MoU to jointly develop UAVs.
Antonov, Havelsan and Saudi Arabia’s Taqnia Aeronautics Company signed an MoU to jointly design, fit and manufacture a maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) based on the An-132D, which is being co-produced by Antonov and Taqnia Aeronautics Company.
Notes & Comments:
The MoUs come following Ukroboronprom’s decision to open a representative office in Turkey. Analysts speculated that the Ukrainian industry was aiming to benefit from Turkey’s defence electronics vendors, such Aselsan and Havelsan. This is now apparent with Antonov’s agreements with Aselsan and Havelsan concerning the An-158/178 and An-132MP, respectively.
There is also the reality that several of the Ukrainian defence industry’s leading customers, most notably Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, also maintain ties with the Turkish industry.
Specifically, the synergy of binding Ukrainian platforms, such as aircraft, to Turkish electronics, sensors and munitions could be beneficial for all sides involved: Ukraine could draw on modern technologies that strengthen the qualitative attributes of its platforms. End-users would acquire solutions that are tailored to their needs using familiar industry suppliers. Turkey will see sales of its systems through Ukraine.
Ukraine hopes that the qualitative attributes will strengthen the competitiveness of its products in certain markets, namely those accustomed to operating Western equipment. The An-132D (i.e. the base platform of the An-132MP), which is powered by two Pratt and Whitney PW150A turboprop engines and equipped with Western onboard systems, such as a Honeywell avionics suite, is reflective of this effort.Book of Tyrael Interview with Micky Neilson and Matt Burns
by JR Cook - 5 years ago
We were afforded the opportunity to sit down with Blizzard Entertainment’s publishing lead Micky Neilson and the author of the Book of Tyrael Matt Burns.
Check out our full review of the book here if you want to learn more about it and why it’s a must buy for any Diablo fan.
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Audio
Transcript
Twizz: Ladies and gentlemen, in this very special episode we’re going to be speaking with some of the most creative minds behind Diablo lore. We’re also going to be exploring one of the most fascinating relics that Blizzard has ever released, the Book of Tyrael. Welcome to BlizzPro’s TwizzCast.
Welcome everyone to a very special episode of TwizzCast. This episode is going to be quite a bit different than the ones that you are used to hearing. A lot of the Blizzard interviews that take place on this show are geared towards game development and what we can expect from some of our favorite titles. But we are switching up gears this time around and we are going to discuss one of the most fascinating relics that Blizzard has ever released. First off please, please allow me to make a few introductions just to kick this off. Co-hosting this episode with me is BlizzPro’s lead Diablo III editor and expert, Neinball. Welcome to the show sir.
Neinball: Guten Tag!
Twizz: I didn’t know you were German today!
Neinball: Just today.
Twizz: Also with me on the line would you please help me welcome to the show for the very first time as well, Blizzard Entertainments Publishing Lead, Mr. Micky Neilson. Welcome to TwizzCast sir.
Micky: Hey everybody, thank you very much.
Twizz: It’s good to have you here. And last but certainly not least, I’d like to welcome to the show Associate Story Developer, and the author of the Book of Tyrael, Mr Matt Burns. It is an honor and privilege to have you on the show as well sir.
Matt: Hey, how’s it going? Thanks so much for having us on.
Twizz: Oh our privilege, trust me on that. Gentlemen, your time is exceptionally valuable and we really want to dig into this as much as we can. So let’s start covering some ground if you don’t mind. I’d like to start with Micky real quick. I visited your website. which is http://www.mickyneilson.com and the about section that talks about your past is unbelievably impressive. You’re the Publishing Lead at Blizzard Entertainment and you’ve been there for about two decades now. The Book of Tyrael obviously isn’t your first foray into the realm of Diablo. What other works have you done to explore the world of Sanctuary.
Micky: Let’s see, the most recent I believe was the Hatred and Discipline short story. So that was the story about the demon hunter, Bala. And that was released on the website around the launch of Diablo III. And then that was also published as part of an anthology of short stories that’s available now through Amazon. It is called Heroes Rise, Darkness Falls. That was the last thing I did for Diablo as far as writing goes. Then I also, I actually, I was a voice director for awhile. The first thing that I did as a voice director was back I think it was on, D2. It was either D2 or D2X, and that was kind of my first foray into voice directing. So I did a little bit of that. At different times I did a little bit of writing for the game journals and things like that. But that’s mainly it. I think. I might be forgetting something.
Twizz: Kind of a jack of all trades, that’s unbelievable.
Micky: And overseeing the books. The Order was the first thing that I really kind of oversaw as a novel for Diablo.
Twizz: Very cool
Neinball: By overseeing, you can make sure that everything fits well and that the writer doesn’t go too far off track in terms of how you want to keep the lore?
Micky: Yeah, it’s interesting, for our process the way we develop novels and really all our fiction is we have Story Developers. Like Matt for instance is a Story Developer. What we’ll do is we’ll bring in an author and we’ll have an outline in mind for them usually. We’ll hand off the outline to them and they’ll go through and they’ll add to it and bring their own voice and their own ideas to the project. Then they’ll go through and they’ll do their first draft and the Story Developer will then take a look at that and they’ll make sure all kinds of things. They’ll make sure that it’s telling the story that we want to tell. They’ll make sure that it’s tying in the way that we want the story to tie in to game content. And they’ll just look at things like characterization and flow and pacing and all the kinds of things that a really really good story teller is going to look for and that people are going to look for in a good story. That was kind of my role for The Order and also for the upcoming book Storm of Light, also by Nate Kenyon who did the The Order. Then we have the lore folks, the historians who will go through and they’re the ones who really really get into the details and fact check everything.
Neinball: That’s Evelyn and her team right?
Micky: Yep, exactly. Evelyn Frederickson.
Neinball: For the overseeing the novels and such, in the Book of Tyrael, you’re credited with additional writings. Is that how you approached the Book of Tyrael, were their little parts that you wrote or were you also in charge of going through and keeping all the sections together and making it coherent. Or is that something more that Matt was involved with.
Micky: Yeah, for Book of Tyrael I was pretty much just at the top level. Just making sure that everything was running smoothly. For Book of Cain I did some actual writing. Me, Flint Dille, Matt Burns, we all jumped in on Book of Cain at various parts. It was mainly Flint. For Book of Tyrael it was really Matt’s show as far as the writing goes. He was just a one man wrecking ball on this thing. He went through and, you know he’s awesome. He did a great job and the credit absolutely goes to Matt for the writing on this book.
Matt: Just to add to that, in a lot of ways Micky was kind of like my editor on Book of Tyrael. That’s a good way to look at it too. I would be writing and we would meet up and he would read over it and we’d talk about it, we’d make changes and stuff like that.
Twizz: Awesome
Micky: That was really noticeable, because it had a much more coherent vibe going from cover to cover. Instead of being a collection of notes like Book of Cain was.
Neinball: Very cool
Twizz: Speaking of Book of Cain being a loose collection of stories about the creation of the universe and a timeline of Sanctuary. Along with the detailed notes on the major players involved in the backstory. But the Book of Tyrael is written with a much more concise goal in mind. Was this something that you just set out to do? Or was this change in narrative spurred by something that you learned by putting together the Book of Cain.
Micky: It was a little bit of both. Something else I should mention too is, Chris Metzen and his involvement in all of this. Especially for Book of Cain, because that was really a source book and so much about the origins and everything else. A lot of that was really just inside Chris’ head. There were lots of meetings and everything else and figuring out the best way to convey all of that information. So it was a little bit looser, it was exploratory and trying to figure out, what are these different origins and what are the different stories we’re gonna tell. Even just figuring out the structure of the book and what should come first. Should we talk about the high heavens first? Or the hells and different demons and everything else? And figuring out what made the most sense. So it was a different process for Book of Tyrael, where we sat down and we had a much clearer idea of what the direction was going to be, pretty much from the outset.
Matt: Yeah, and I think that kind of worked in our favor too. Because Deckard Cain as a character, I can see him writing and it being a little more scattered because he’s gathering information from all of these different places and he’s just laying it out there. Whereas Tyrael, he’s a little more orderly, maybe because of his angelic background. I could see him being much more concise and clear if he’s going to, if he would layout a book. You know what I mean?
Twizz: Oh sure!
Matt: So there’s some cool character differences there as well between the two books.
Micky: Law and Order
Matt: Justice
Twizz: Absolutely fascinating guys. Well, this obviously wouldn’t be a lore type book interview without some lore questions. I’m certain that you guys will have some fun answering these. In the Book of Tyrael, Leah’s Journal references in game dates along with months such as Ratham and Ostara. These months along with others have been referenced in other works as well. Are these names that are just thrown together for convenience or have you made an actual calendar for Sanctuary.
Matt: We haven’t made a calendar that we’ve published publicly. Micky mentioned the historians earlier. They kind of keep track of all these months and dates. They have their calendar for the world that we can draw on and use. So yeah I guess to answer the question we do have a calendar for Sanctuary. We haven’t really released that whole thing yet.
Twizz: I’ll tell you what, day one when it launches I’m buying it. Don’t be scared of that.
Neinball: It would be an interesting touch to add to the yearly Diablo calendars that you guys release.
Matt: Yeah that would be cool.
Neinball: Moving on to the next question. The Book of Tyrael has some sections where Tyrael was lamenting the fact that he wasn’t able to participate in the light song, the birthing of new angels. During this event are only new angels formed, or is this a point when dead ones resurrect, like when Tyrael was able to reform 20 years after the destruction of Mount Arreat. Do these angels just reform themselves at any particular point and time or are they only re-birthed during the light song as well?
Micky: My understanding, and Matt you can correct me if I’m wrong on this, but my understanding is that it’s.. The situation with Tyrael was a very unique situation. Where typically if an angel is destroyed, that’s it, they’re gone. Then new angels are formed. So with Tyrael it’s really really kind of interesting that he was able to reform and it’s kind of a momentous thing that you don’t see. And that doesn’t happen, I think, very often at all in the high heavens, if ever. I don’t think we’ve talked about it happening with anybody else. And I think that makes Tyrael even more special which I think is really cool. That whole concept is touched on a little bit more in Storm of Light as well.
Neinball: Okay, Really looking forward to it.
Micky: Something to really keep and eye out for there.
Neinball: So, I guess that’s one of the things that further separates the demons and the angels. Because we obviously seen through the short story Wrath, that you guys did prior to the launch of Diablo III, that the Prime Evils just will eventually come back over time. But that obviously doesn’t go for the Angiris Council as well.
Micky: Yeah and the Prime Evils, they’re destroyed on Sanctuary but their essence will go back to the burning hells and they’ll just kind of hang out there till they get a chance to pop back over to Sanctuary. Unless you destroy, what’s the name of the forge?
Matt: Oh the Anvil of Annihilation right?
Micky: Yeah, if you destroy the soulstone at the Anvil of Annihilation then supposedly they’re gone forever.
Matt: You never know!
Twizz: Weirder things have happened!
Neinball: The appendix, kind of the like the miscellaneous section for the Book of Tyrael, takes up almost half the entire book. And it was really surprising to see the sheer list and amount of the NPC’s and other minor characters through the series that appeared there. Though some of them kind of seem somewhat at random. Such as you had a Norrec Vizharan being listed but not Kara Nightshade from the Legacy of Blood, the first Diablo novel. You also included some other minor NPC’s like Pindleskin from Lord of Destruction. Was there a specific motive behind the ones that were included and the ones that weren’t? Or was it more or less just you kind of picked pieces and NPC’s that were important that you thought you wanted to touch on.
Matt: So during the development process… Well let me say first; For Book of Cain, when we were working on that we had lot of content and ultimately we had to cut some of it out. Just due to space constraints. We ended up putting a little bit of that in Book of Tyrael. But basically the same thing happened with Book of Tyrael. During the meetings we had, the development meetings, I remember having this huge list of all of these different characters that we can put in the back, in that Persons of Interest section. And you know, ultimately it just came down to, we didn’t have room for all of them. We kind of had to go through, whittle them down, cut some of them out. So that’s probably the biggest reason why some characters are in there and some aren’t. Another thing though is that there were certain characters that I noticed the fans wanted to know a little bit more about. Kind of like fan favorites and stuff like that. So we wanted to include some of those in there. Like Pindleskin is one example. I know a lot of people liked Pindleskin.
Neinball: Everyone knows Pindle Run
Twizz: Well, speaking of characters, I don’t know what kind of answer I’m going to get out of this. But who are Ardleon and Morbed? I don’t ever recall coming across them before in any of the other prior lore books
Micky: So I can speak to Morbed. Morbed is one to keep an eye out for. I can’t say too much other than he’s a really interesting character. There’s going to be a story associated with him and he has very unique abilities and kind of a character kit that I think is really awesome. I’m a little bit biased because I’m doing a lot of the writing for that. But definitely something to look out for. Morbed is an awesome character.
Matt: For Ardleon, one of the cool things about D3 was that there’s all the little side conversations where they mention a character from the past lore. Or even some of the legendary items they’ve had some flavor text that mentions certain characters. So Ardleon, I think if I remember correctly, he was mentioned in a conversation you could have with Tyrael. As just an angel that he had known in the past and had fought alongside.
Twizz: Okay
Neinball: So bringing them to the forefront and touching on any of the newly created characters in D3
Matt: Yeah, definitely
Neinball: Of course one of the big draws for coming up in the Reaper of Souls is the new class, the Crusaders. What exactly has been driving the Crusaders all these years? We know that their mission was to try and purge corruption from the Zakarum faith, but it seems that most of the order was sent out into the wilds beyond Kehjistan, outside of the influence of the church. Without any actual formal structure to their leadership, they’re all just kind of acting on their own. What was it that was driving them? What motivations did they have to continue this quest?
Matt: I think a big part of it was just that original, I think his name was Akkhan, the guy who basically created the order. When he sent them out I think part of it was probably that he chose the right guys, the right men and women, that really believe what he did. That there was this corruption at the heart of the Zakarum faith, that needed to be healed. Having chosen those paragon individuals he basically made it so that they would carry on that tradition to all their apprentices. That’s a big part, I think it’s just that you can see, we saw it in D2 that there is corruption in the church. Seeing that manifest on the world I think has really driven the Crusaders to continue that quest to search for a cure for it basically.
Neinball: So this was the original quest given by my masters masters master, 100 or 200 years ago and they just continued that on the entire time.
Matt: Yeah
Micky: They’re really kind of looking for the holy grail that’s going to purge the corruption. They don’t necessarily know what that’s going to be. It’s one of those things, they know they need to find it and they’re going to scour all of Sanctuary until they find whatever that thing is. Or it might be multiple things. But that’s really the goal. With the Crusaders we’re gonna keep exploring those concepts in the fiction.
Neinball: And that’s why they started headed East.
Micky: Right
Matt: Yeah
Twizz: Speaking of which, why is, I’m throwing this out there, why is East the most evilest of directions? Everyone seeking evil seems to head that direction. What did I miss, did I miss something here?
Matt: I don’t know. That’s a good question.
Twizz: Then there’s the change of pace. The Crusaders are now doing the unthinkable and they’re headed West. What’s pulling them back to the Western Kingdoms? Or did they just travel so far East that they ended up going West?
Matt: Well I think part of the reason they went East originally, it was a few things. One was there was some legends, I think, that Akarat, the guy who had basically created the Zakarum religion; there were some legends that he had last been seen going East. Maybe they thought in following in his path they would find something important. Another reason was, at the same time the Crusaders were founded, Rakkis was bringing his army West. So I think there was a little bit of, |
are often seen in combat sports like MMA and boxing. Treatment and recovery time vary depending on severity. According to Rhee, Jung is expected to visit specialists for both his shoulder and eye by the end of the week, and should have more information about his expected prognosis then.
The health issues were the latest in an unfortunate string for Jung, who was coming off surgery on his left shoulder and a 15-month layoff. Within the last few years, he’s also had surgery on his nose and suffered a hand injury.
Meanwhile, Aldo also had a second health scare on Tuesday, after he was taken to a hospital in Rio de Janeiro and diagnosed with kidney stones. The problem was not considered to be serious, and Aldo was released by Tuesday night.
The 26-year-old champion stretched his winning streak to 16 consecutive bouts with the win, and could possibly return as a lightweight when he next appears in the octagon.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
FLORISSANT, MO — Hillary Clinton will argue Tuesday at an event near St. Louis that the groundswell of support in favor of removing the Confederate flag from statehouses and stores is an important step for the United States, but not the solution to addressing racial tensions.
Clinton will give remarks and participate in a roundtable at Christ the King Church in Florissant, Missouri, a community just miles from Ferguson, where the shooting of a black male by a police officer in 2014 sparked protests and started ongoing conversation about race and policing.
Clinton will “urge that in addition to the renewed conversation about the Confederate flag we can have, we must confront deeper, substantive issues around the racial divide that persists in America,” an aide said ahead of the event.
Hillary Clinton arrives at community discussion north STL County pic.twitter.com/eDPNsrMnUK — Betsey Bruce (@betseybruce) June 23, 2015
Clinton’s comments about the Confederate flag come days after Dylann Roof, a white supremacist killed nine men and women at a historic African American church in Charleston, South Carolina last week. The shooting has sparked a conversation about the Confederate flag, particularly the fact that the flag still flies in front of the South Carolina statehouse.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for the flag to be removed from the grounds earlier this week as pressure mounted.
In 2007, Hillary Clinton said she believed the Confederate flag should be “removed from the Statehouse grounds” in part because “we should have one flag that we all pay honor to, as I know that most people in South Carolina do every single day.”
On Saturday, as the conversation swirled, Brian Fallon, the Clinton campaign’s press secretary, said the former presidential candidate’s “position is unchanged from 2007.”
After Haley announced her decision, Clinton tweeted: “.@nikkihaley is right 2 call for removal of a symbol of hate in SC. As I’ve said for years, taking down Confederate flag is long overdue. –H”
Other 2016 Democrats – like former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders – have called for the flag to be removed. And a handful of Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, supported Haley’s decision to call for the flag removal.
Some of the nation’s biggest retailers – Walmart, Sears, and eBay – also announced this week that they are prohibiting any Confederate flag merchandise for being sold in their stores.
“We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer,” Walmart spokesman Brian Nick said.
In addition to addressing the Confederate flag conversation, Clinton will “talk about how we turn grief, anger and despair into purpose and action that will address the persistent problems facing communities like Florissant,” the aide said.
The event will be hosted by Reverend Karen Anderson of Ward Chapel AME and Pastor Traci Blackmon of Christ the King, United Church of Christ. Both women have been involved involved in the post-Ferguson protests and conversation, including ministering to the protestors and preaching about the impact of Michael Brown’s shooting in 2014.
Clinton’s campaign announced she would be visiting Missouri last month, particularly for a fundraiser hosted by Trudy Busch Valentine, the heir to the well-known St. Louis brewing family.
But in light of the shooting in Charleston and the unrest in Ferguson, the Clinton aide said the candidate instructed her staff to find a church where she could meet with community leaders and talk about their work on race issues.
Clinton has run head first into issues of race since announcing her campaign in April, a departure from her failed 2008 bid.
On Saturday, Clinton told an audience in San Francisco that the United States’ struggle with race is not over, arguing that as “tempting” as it is to isolate the Charleston shooting as a random event, “America’s long struggle with race is far from finished.”
“I know this is a difficult topic to talk about,” she said. “I know that so many of us hoped by electing our first black President we had turned the page on this chapter in our history. I know there are truths we don’t like to say out loud in discussions with our children, but we have to. That is the only way we can possibly move forward together.”
Earlier in the week, Clinton called for a “candid national conversation about race and about discrimination, prejudice, hatred” in an interview, and said it was time for the United states to “face hard truths” about race in a speech before a host of Latino elected officials in Las Vegas.
By Dan Merica— Asked by Anonymous
Hmm. As a general rule, you want to avoid labeling people because sexuality is a subjective experience, but he does sound like he could be on the asexual spectrum. Has he expressed concern about how he behaves? Like does he WANT to be more comfortable with having sex or otherwise change the situation? I think if he’s happy and doesn’t seem to be too confused or anything, I wouldn’t bring it up and just accept him as he is, but if he’s trying to work through his sexuality and actively trying to have sex more or something, you might want to present it as a possibility (“Have you heard of asexuality? I was reading about it today…”) so he can explore it further. A really great post to refer to is How To Have Sex With An Asexual Person. I’m also just one person, so if you want other perspectives, check out the AVEN forums. Good luck!If you have $400 and a serious case of nostalgic yearning, may we then suggest you spend the money on a wonderful USBTypewriter? Described as a "groundbreaking innovation in the field of obsolescence," the typewriter can hook up to any machine with a USB port and lets you clickety-clack your way through your latest novel, e-mail or even spreadsheet.
The Typewriter Dock, seen in the video above, is an even better version. It holds an iPad in its carriage whilst simultaneously inputting typed letters. All it needs is a Bluetooth component to replace the cable, and a writing app that can use the accelerometer to detect a carriage return and move you to a new line. Ding!
UPDATE: Creator Jack Zylkin emailed to say that the USBTypewriter can detect carriage returns all by itself using a magnetic sensor.
Inside there is a sensor strip under the keyboard which detects the key-presses that hit it, and this pulse of electricity is then passed on to an Arduino circuit-board, whereupon it is translated into a standard USB key-down event. All you need to do is plug it in and type.
$400 buys you a pre-modded typewriter, but Jack Zylkin, the man behind the USBTypewriter, will sell you the electronics to make your own for just $75, or you can send him your typewriter and have him fix it up for you. For true geeks, the design can be had for free under a Creative Commons license, and you can roll your own from scratch.
For those who really love typing on a typewriter, this seems to actually be better than paper: you no longer have to retype whole pages, and white-out will be a thing of the past. For everyone else, using one of these for a few minutes will be a reminder of just why books used to be so much shorter than the word-processed novels of today.
USBTypewriter product page
[USBTypewriter via Etsy]
See Also:Getty Images
The Packers are headed to Atlanta for the NFC Championship Game next Sunday thanks to some last-second heroics by tight end Jared Cook and quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Facing third-and-20 with the score tied and 12 seconds left in regulation, Rodgers rolled to his left and fired a strike to Cook down the sideline. Cook made a remarkable sliding catch that one official initially ruled out incomplete, but another correctly ruled as a catch with Cook getting both feet in while controlling the ball.
Mason Crosby hit a 51-yard field goal on the next play for a 34-31 win. Cook undersold things by answering “probably not” when asked if he’s ever made a more important catch as it is hard to beat his play when it comes to the difficulty of the catch matched with the magnitude of the moment. Cook threw some light on the other end of the connection after the game.
“I knew it was good,” Cook said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. “It was a perfect throw by Aaron.”
Rodgers made more than one perfect throw on Sunday and Matt Ryan did the same in Saturday’s Falcons win, which suggests we’ll be seeing a lot of offense next Sunday.Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., questions top Obama administration officials about the National Security Agency's surveillance programs for the first time since the House narrowly rejected a proposal last week to effectively shut down the NSA's secret collection of hundreds of millions of Americans' phone records, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 31, 2013. After NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked documents revealing the NSA's monitoring of American's telephone records, Leahy introduced legislation that would increase congressional oversight of the program. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said Sunday that Democratic aides in the Senate are drafting new language for an authorization of military force in Syria, Politico reports.
Speaking after some members of Congress returned early from recess to attend closed-door briefings on the situation in Syria, Leahy said the draft legislation offered by President Barack Obama on Saturday was too broad.
“I know it’s going to be amended in the Senate,” Leahy said, according to Politico.
On Saturday, Obama submitted to Congress a draft resolution authorizing the use of military force in response to Syrian President Bashar Assad's suspected use of chemical weapons on innocent civilians. The measure would allow the president to use force in a “necessary and appropriate” way.
"While I believe I have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization, I know that the country will be stronger if we take this course, and our actions will be even more effective," Obama said during a Saturday statement.
According to the Washington Post, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) also expressed hesitation over the draft's language.
“I think the biggest question I heard is that the president’s request is open-ended,” Roberts said. “That has to be rectified, and they simply said in answer to that that they would work with the Congress and try to come back with a more prescribed resolution. But I’m not too sure that the people who answered that are the people that have that decision to make.”This video is no longer available
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Video title:
Is Lesbian Author's Kids Book Too Provocative?
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September 9 2017
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Author Gayle E. Pitman discusses her children's book "This Day in June" about a LGBT Pride parade. Gayle explains why she depicts gay men "clad in leather" and addresses people who object to this material being shared with children. At http://gaylepitman.com/ you can buy the book. 👍 Please subscribe to the Diversity Dialogues channel for more great interviews. 💖 If you enjoy this channel, here's some options of how you can show some love: • Please upvote this video • Please click the follow button • Please share this video on your social media pages • Please click on the bell to get notified of our new videos 🔔 🎥 For best quality, on the bottom right-hand side, click on the gear icon ⚙️ and then select the biggest number available. All contents of this video were created by Diversity Dialogues including the footage and video thumbnail image. Attribution occurs in video or video descriptions, whenever any exceptions occur. Thank you for your support. #gay #lgbt #lgbtq #bisexual #gayrights #lgbtrights #lgbtfriendly #lgbtsupport #homosexual #transgender #lgbtcommunity
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236Sliders. Knobs. Checkboxes. Such is the spread-sheet roots of strategy games. Let's fix that.
Going back 15 years to Galactic Civilizations I for Windows, players managed their economy like this:
GalCiv I: Sliders.
In Galactic Civilizations I, you would set your tax rate. Your tax rate affected the approval rate on your planets. You could then decide how much of your GDP the government would take control of with the spending slider. From there, players would direct their civilization's output between Military, Social, and Research.
In Galactic Civilizations III, we had changed it to the Production Wheel: Manufacturing, Wealth Generation, Research.
I actually don't have a problem with sliders to be honest. But they have a serious user interface limitation: The more sliders you have, the more confusing the screen and the more difficult it is to communicate the results.
Let's talk about economics
Our economies are a lot more complicated than Money making, Research and Planet manufacturing and Fleet construction. Obvious real-world examples would include food production, consumer goods, social programs and international affairs. In a space game, there are even priorities you might have: Mining, espionage, soldiers, Precursor archeology, and so on. Imagine all that as sliders. Oye.
What are Galactic Citizens?
Across your entire civilization, an individual of great potential will rise up and join your government. When this happens you decide an area for he or she to specialize in.
A new citizen has joined you. What will you do with them?
Now, there are some...provisos here that will make each game play a bit differently.
How often you get a free citizen is not dependent on the size of your civilization. It is, by default, one citizen every 10 turns. So each citizen is pretty important. A 200 turn game will leave you with 20 natural citizens. Use them wisely. The areas of specialization are based on what technology you have. At the start of the game, if you are playing as the Terran Alliance, your options are a Leader or a Commander. You can choose to keep them safe in your capital providing a global bonus (great for large empires) or you can send them to a specific planet to really boost that planet's production in a given area (great for small empires) but also makes them vulnerable if they are assassinated or the planet is invaded (once they settle, they're not leaving). They level up over time. Thus, the order in which you specialize them matters.
The govern screen with some citizens there. Leaders act as wild cards and can be placed in any category.
Citizens can also be sent to planets to greatly boost it in a specific area.
Citizens can't teleport. When sent to a planet, a VIP transport takes them from your capital world to the planet in question.
Worried about micro-management? Don't. We also include easy ways to move citizens from your capital to your empire if necessary.
Not just icons. Each citizen has a name and where they're from and a picture (and yea, we do this for all 12 races, Drengin females...you do not want to attend their march).
Citizen Specialties (so far)
Specialization Strategic Benefit Tactical Benefit Special Leader Provides 3% boost to target civilization priority. Cannot leave the capital. Can be moved around to any priority category. Administrator Reduces all colony maint by 3% Reduces target planet’s maintenance by 25%. Increases administration resource by 1 plus 10%. General Improves global planetary resistance by 3%. Provides 5 legions to target planet for defense. Can be converted into an invasion transport holding the General and his legions. Commander Improves global starship HP by 3% Increases planetary defense of orbiting ships by 25%. Can be converted to a Flag Ship that is added to a target fleet to give it a combat boost. Spy Improves global security by 3% Can be sent to eliminate a spy on a planet. Can be assigned missions targeting foreign powers. Worker Increases global manufacturing by 3% Can settle on a planet to boost its manufacturing by 25% Scientist Increases global research by 3% Can settle on a planet to boost its research by 25% Farmer Increase global food production by 3% Can settle on a planet boosting its food production by 25% Engineer Increases global fleet production by 3% Can settle on a planet boosting its fleet production by 25% Entrepreneur Increases global wealth production by 3% Can settle on a planet boosting its wealth production by 25% Celebrity Provides a global 3% bonus to planetary goods and services. Can settle on a planet providing a 25% boost to planetary goods and services. Diplomat Provides a global 3% boost to influence. Can settle on a planet and boost that planet’s influence by 25%. Can be converted into an Emissary and sent to a target civilization boosting your relations.
A living civilization
If you're a Galactic Civilizations player you might be thinking "This is going to require a lot of changes to existing balance." And you would be right. Take a very close look at the screenshot below.
Still early game and lots of new resources to play with
Look at the top of the previous screenshot. Notice how many resources there are? Your citizens are your principle lever for deciding what matters (and what doesn't) in your civilization. But how you will likely use your citizens will change from game to game because of the new resource system and their connection to what improvements you can build, what planets you can colonize, what your starbases can and can't do. Resources accumulate (unlike in GalCiv III) and they result in a vibrant galaxy for your citizens to play in.
Next week: Resources!Staff and former students from Archbishop Wood High School in Philadelphia are suspects in a brutal hate crime that occurred last week.
Reports indicate that an assistant coach, along with several other former students from Archbishop Wood High School, ambushed a gay couple last week while they were walking, and violently beat them.
Investigators say the victims, a 28-year-old man and a 27-year-old man, were approached by a group of “unknown males and females.” The group of 10-12 people approached and, according to police, “made disparaging remarks about their sexual orientation.”
That led to an attack, police say, with some of the suspects holding the victims while others punched them in the face, head and chest.
One of the victims was left with a broken eye socket and a wired jaw after three days in the hospital, while his partner had bruises and a black eye.
Many of the attackers were apparently graduates of the class of 2007 at Archbishop Wood High School, and had enjoyed a dinner out before assaulting the gay men.
The assistant coach allegedly involved in the assault, identified as Fran McGlinn, has been terminated. Kenneth Gavin, the spokesman for the local archdiocese, told Philly.com:
“He (McGlinn) was terminated this evening and will not be permitted to coach in any archdiocesan school. We expect all those who work with students in our school to model appropriate Christian behavior at all times.”
“Earlier today, Archbishop Wood High School became aware that some of its former students were allegedly involved in the assault of two men in Center City last week,” the statement read. “This afternoon, administrators communicated with the entire Archbishop Wood school community to make it emphatically clear that the school does not, under any circumstances, tolerate or condone the violent and hateful behavior displayed by those who took part in this senseless attack.”
The archdiocese issued a statement Wednesday on behalf of the school denouncing the assault:
Significant progress was made in the case after activists on social media used police reports and area surveillance footage to identify the suspects.
The Advocate reports no charges have been filed by law enforcement yet. When charges are brought against the assailants, the attack will not be prosecuted as a hate crime; Pennsylvania’s legislature failed to pass a hate crime law that included protections for LGBT people in 2002 and 2009.© Getty Images Enlarge Darren Fletcher says Ander Herrera's attitude is rubbing off on his Manchester United team-mates
Louis van Gaal is not the only new face to have captivated Manchester United's players this summer; Ander Herrera has had an "infectious" influence on his new team-mates, according to Darren Fletcher.
Herrera completed his "dream" move to United from Athletic Bilbao in June and, having already warmed himself to the Old Trafford fans by paying his own buy-out clause, he appears to have had a similar effect on his new team-mates.
"His enthusiasm's infectious. It's rubbed off on a few of us already," Fletcher told ManUtd.com.
"He has great enthusiasm and great energy in midfield. He always wants the ball and is always looking to make things happen.
"He's a really talented footballer. He works hard for the team. He wants to learn and listen, he takes on instructions well and off the pitch he's a good lad.
"He's settled in really well and not only with the other Spanish-speaking lads. I think he's going to be a key player for Manchester United."
Herrera shone on his United debut in the recent 7-0 thrashing of LA Galaxy, which earned glowing praise from countryman Juan Mata.
However, despite claiming Herrera has the ability to become one of the top players at United, club legend and coach Nicky Butt said the midfielder was not at the same level as Paul Pogba or Toni Kroos.
Nevertheless, the 24-year-old's adjustment to life at United has impressed the squad much like Van Gaal's arrival; the Dutchman earned the approval of his players, most notably Mata and Wilfried Zaha, for reviving the club's winning mentality as well as impressing the club's hierarchy with his no-nonsense approach.
© ESPN Sports Media LtdWired.com's survey of iPhone 3G users suggests that widespread data speed problems have more to do with carriers' networks than with Apple's handsets.
Recently Wired.com asked iPhone 3G users all around the world to participate in a study, which involved testing their 3G speeds and entering their data on an interactive map. The purpose? To gain a general idea of how 3G was performing – where it's best and where it's worst – in light of widespread complaints about the handset's network performance. More than 2,600 people participated (wow!) and we've diligently cleaned up the data to present it to you here.
In the map above, each colored bar indicates the relative 3G download speed for an individual respondent. Purple dots represent several respondents clustered together geographically. (If you don't see many colored bars, zoom in on an area until the purple dots disappear and are replaced by colored bars.) To speak very generally, the data overall shows that 3G is performing faster than EDGE (which is expected). In the best scenarios, 3G is up to seven times faster than EDGE; in worse scenarios, 3G performed just as slowly as EDGE; at worst, some users couldn't connect to 3G at all – which isn't surprising since 3G towers are not yet ubiquitous.
__Detailed observations from the survey follow.
__
By country: Participants in Australia reported the slowest average 3G download speeds of about 759 Kbps. The most " 0 " results for 3G download speeds came from U.S. participants – presumably those dropped from the 3G network. In the United States, 63 participants reported "0" Altogether there were 80 "0" figures reported. Users in Germany and the Netherlands reported the fastest average 3G download speeds – about 2,000 Kbps.
In some major metropolitan areas that are supposedly 3G-rich, 3G performance can be very slow. For example, zooming in on San Francisco, you'll see that 10 out of 30 participants reported very slow 3G speeds – barely surpassing EDGE. This pattern is linear with femtocell developer Dave Nowicki's explanation that in major metropolitan cities where the most iPhone users reside,
3G towers are getting overloaded, resulting in slowdowns or delivering
EDGE-like performance as a result.
By carrier : European T-Mobile users reported the fastest 3G Download Speeds: 1,822 Kbps on average. Factoid: Europe has some of the most mature 3G networks, which have been in development since 2001. (AT&T introduced its 3G network in the United States in 2004.) Canadian carriers Rogers and Fido tied for second fastest with an average download speed of about 1,330 Kbps on average. U.S. carrier AT&T tied for third with Telstra, Telia and Softbank, where users reported average download speeds of roughly 990 Kbps. Australian carriers Optus and Virgin users reported the slowest speeds of about 390 Kbps on average.
Other figures:
Overall, 2,636 iPhone 3G owners participated in the study (that doesn't count more than a thousand entries which were completely blank or so incomplete as to be unusable). 1,638 were in the__ United States__ 233 were in Australia 152 were in Canada The majority of the remaining participants reported results from European countries
iPhone 3G owners participated in the study (that doesn't count more than a thousand entries which were completely blank or so incomplete as to be unusable).
Assess what you will, Gadget Lab readers. In our view, this data is a strong indicator that performance of the mobile carrier's network is affecting the iPhone 3G more than the handset itself. Correlating with our study's findings, Teknik & Trender reported that iPhone 3G's reception performed roughly the same as other handsets when run through a test chamber. Altogether, this furthers our thesis that it's highly unlikely that Apple is going to wave a magic wand and say, "3G problems, be gone," with a software update. Before Apple can make such a claim, it needs to wait for all of its carriers to optimize 3G network behavior – in terms of number of towers, how they're positioned and how much bandwidth each tower can handle.
Want to see the raw data from which we drew the above map? We're providing a Google spreadsheet at this link: All the data from Wired.com's iPhone 3G study. That spreadsheet includes data on 3G download and upload speeds as well as
EDGE download and upload speeds (where available), and we've taken the trouble of making all the data more or less consistent (in Kbps) and fairly accessible. If you use this data to do your own charts, maps, or other analyses, we'd love to hear about them, so please put a link to your own analyses in the comments.
With all that said, Wired.com would like to extend a thank you to each of the 2,636 who participated in the study (4,200 if you include those who insufficiently participated). We'd also like to thank TestMyiPhone.com and Zeemaps for providing their services – and especially for buying new servers just to handle the large amount of traffic our study has driven to their sites.
I'd also like to recognize the Wired.com staff members who helped put together this study:
Dylan Tweney for his arduous efforts in cleaning up this massive amount of data
for his arduous efforts in cleaning up this massive amount of data Kent Carter for making the Zeemap easily digestible by assigning those wonderful color-bar markers
for making the Zeemap easily digestible by assigning those wonderful color-bar markers Holl Liou for designing the custom color-bar markers
for designing the custom color-bar markers Alexis Madrigal for lending his expertise on Zeemaps.
And last but not least, all the blogs that linked to our study, to help us gather so much data: Gizmodo, MacRumors, ArsTechnica, TUAW, The iPhone Blog, T4 Show, iPhone Wiki, Setteb.IT, iFones and Swik. We owe each of you a big one.
*Updated 1 p.m. PDT, replacing the ZeeMap with a screenshot to mitigate server overload. Click on the screenshot to visit the interactive map directly.
*
Updated 9:40 a.m. PDT with a link to Teknik & Trender's iPhone 3G reception study.
Also see:
**The Asian Film Festival of Dallas (AFFD) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and supporting emerging and established Asian and Asian-American filmmakers and sharing the rich diversity of Asian culture through the medium of cinema.
Since its creation in 2002, the annual film festival has grown to become the South’s largest showcase of Asian and Asian American cinema. Over the last eight years, the festival has provided opportunities for nearly 300 Asian and Asian American filmmakers and documentarians to share their vision, often providing the only venue for their films to be shown in Dallas. The films have also allowed festival goers a chance to experience other lives and cultures without leaving their seats.
This year, AFFD will continue to showcase amazing work from Asian and Asian American artists at its 10th Annual Film Festival, July 14-21, 2011 at Landmark’s Magnolia Theatre.
About Our Team
ERIC HANES
Creative Director
Eric first started using Photoshop out of necessity when he was a teenager designing flyer’s for his band and his friends bands. He has always had been interested in many aspects of entertainment (films, art, comics, music, etc) and how all that ties together in one way or the other. He has worked on inking and coloring comic books and even took a stab at art for a video game. But the original need to have some really sharp and outstanding advertising for his band many years ago still drives his passion for the festival.
As the Creative Director for AFFD, Eric’s responsibilities include the overall responsibility of the look and feel of the festival. Over the last ten years the overall branding of the festival has matured along side the overall quality of the festival. The goal is to make something different while still being accessible and delivering the best product possible. Sometimes a flyer is all a person will see before making a decision to attend or not attend. You have the grab the casual observer and pull them in.
When Eric is not working on program guides, posters, t-shirts and the websites for AFFD, he is working his day job as an Information Architect for RBA Consulting designing large enterprise business solutions for Fortune 500 companies.
CRYSTAL DECKER
Artistic Director
Crystal is a film-school grad with a background of film criticism (a Met critic for 3 years), promotion and advertising (with a local PR agency), and festival planning in the DFW market. Film has always been her first love, but she found
her passion for Asian film at the very first year of AFFD. She sat in one theatre seat for 9 straight hours, then went to the registration table and said, “I want to do this. Tell me how I can help.” 10 years later, she is now a proud
member of the AFFD Board of Directors, and a fan for life.
As AFFD’s Artistic Director, Crystal works with the other members of the board to set the creative direction for the year’s events. Whether this means recommending films and series during festival week, or partnering with studios
and other festivals to co-present films all year long, Crystal helps determine which opportunities and films fit best with AFFD’s goals and mission, while delivering maximum impact (and entertainment) for fans.
Crystal works directly with festivals, filmmakers, and distributors all over the world, spreading the word about AFFD and building strategic relationships to promote this amazing medium of expression. Crystal believes in the power of film to unite viewers and communities through the experience of watching a movie. When a film is truly special, it’s a gift – something you carry with you forever, becoming part of a shared cultural heritage.
Crystal’s dream job is to work full-time for a film festival or distributor, attending markets across the world, and bringing the best in film to US audiences. Until that magical day, she works for Panasonic Avionics, the global leader of
in-flight entertainment systems. If you’ve ever watched a movie on an airplane, it’s likely that Panasonic made that happen. You’re welcome.
JENNY SKINNER
Development Director
Jenny has always loved film and how it can connect people from all backgrounds. She has always had a fondness for foreign/cultural films and how they can educate and resonate with peoples’ perceptions about each other. Her passion for sharing the many aspects of the film industry evolved when she was in college serving on the executive board for the Texas Film Festival, the largest student-run independent film festival in the U.S.
Jenny is very excited to be part of the 10th anniversary of AFFD. She hopes to use her passion and energy for film to continue building the foundation of the organization and bringing people together. A Dallas local, she hopes to help
develop AFFD into a long standing community icon.
STEVE NORWOOD
Programming Director
A poet, writer and film reviewer, Steve has been consuming cinema in its many forms for decades, from impressionable-aged childhood viewings of LATITUDE ZERO, ROLLERBALL and THE MAD ADVENTURES OF RABBI JACOB, to a modest adult obsession with all things Johnnie To, Paul Thomas Anderson and Nicolas Winding Refn. When he stumbled across the AFFD in their inaugural year, he was just looking for something fun to do over a weekend. Ten years later, his involvement has grown from program content provider to Director of Programming. Steve would tell you that Asian Cinema is not his only film interest, but if you randomly ask him at any time during the year what he’s working on, chances are the answer will be “AFFD.”
As the Director of Programming, Steve’s responsibilities include researching, locating and obtaining all the fine films you’ll be watching during festival week, and in the process maintaining a mix of origin countries, genres, audience appeal and overall festival balance. For every SHAOLIN, he tries to find a DANCE TOWN. And for every LITTLE BIG SOLDIER, he tries to find a DISORDER. Steve’s goal is to find the sufficient cinematic goods to alternately entertain, challenge, stun and affect the audience. Sometimes, all four.
Steve’s day-job entails working as a coordinator in a telecom repair shop. He wishes there were a way to make a living as a programmer. If you have the answer to this puzzle, Steve can be reached at…
SARA RHODES
Director of Events and Secretary
Sara Rhodes graduated from the University of Tulsa in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Arts Management and Music (Vocal). She has gained substantial experience working in the nonprofit world through positions with Texas Ballet Theater and the Texas Neurofibromatosis Foundation. She also worked in programming for another DFW-area festival, which lead to her invitation to join the AFFD Board of Directors in Spring 2010.
Sara is the Festival’s Director of Events. Whether it’s an intimate reception for a filmmaker or the Festival’s hugely popular Kick-Off and Closing Night parties, Sara plays a big role in making sure every event goes off without a hitch.
She also serves as Secretary. She takes meeting minutes and ensures that all Board activities stay true to the Festival’s bylaws. Always one to follow the rules, being the Board’s Secretary is a perfect fit for Sara.
Sara’s “other” job is with the Mary Collins Agency, where she gets to work with some of the best actors in the Metroplex. When she’s not working, look for her at the theater supporting a client’s latest play, or, naturally, at the movies.Copyright by WNCN - All rights reserved Source: WECT
By WECT Staff - WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission voted on different proposed changes to rules regarding the state's game land, inland fishing regulations, and wildlife management.
The commission voted Thursday to disapprove the proposed alligator hunting season because of, "an abundance of caution and desire for additional biological information," according to the commission.
Landon Zimmer, a N.C. Wildlife Commissioner, said the goal was to preserve the state's resources. He said once the biologists return with more information on the alligators and their birthrates and nesting habits, then they will be able to make a decision on the proposed hunting season.
One man in wildlife removal services is worried allowing people to hunt for alligators would wipe out the population.
He feared people don't know enough about how to properly capture and kill an alligator.
"It's a problem, and I don't know just how they would do it, unless they get supervised hunts. In other words, a man gets a permit, and a wildlife official goes with him," James English said.
The commission did state in a release that they would, "examine options that would utilize the skills and expertise of North Carolina sportsmen and women to provide assistance in removal of alligators under nuisance or depredation circumstances."
English said he only sees a reason to kill if it is posing a threat to a human being.
"A ten foot gator could be terribly dangerous, so could a nine foot one. I mean he could grab a man and just swim off with him easy. So, if he's hanging out in a park or a public area. Why wait until he grabs somebody before you do anything?," English asked.
Although English agreed there are some benefits to killing the larger gators, he worries people will accidentally shoot the smaller ones.
English added that he thinks people will just throw the smaller alligators out and try again, meaning more lose their lives.
He said killing the smaller gators will eventually wipe out the population.It was a dark and chilly night as I stepped out of my warm vehicle. Almost shivering out of my shoes, I grabbed my purse and pulled my jacket tighter around myself attempting to keep warm. As I walked to the front door of my house, something felt different about the cold, stale night breeze. I knew I was about to walk into a...well, I just didn't know. And there it laid, a box. I picked up the box delivered by the Ex |
SDF fighters yesterday. The incident occurred in the village of Al-Azawi, south of Al-Shaddadi.
Idlib:
As the tensions continue to rise between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s and Ahrar al-Sham’s camps, assassination attempts of rival military figures are rapidly increasing. Faylaq al-Sham’s commander of Idlib sector, captain Yousef al-Daghim, was wounded by an explosion which targeted his vehicle in Maarat al-Numaan. Two Ahrar al-Sham’s commanders survived two separate assassination attempts in Saraqib and Maarat al-Numaan.
Hama:
Syrian Arab Army launched an offensive against Islamic State in Hama governorate, east of Al-Salamiyah. SAA advanced around Aqarib and captured eight checkpoints, on the second axis, south of Sheikh Hilal village, SAA captured Rasm al-Tinah. SAA lost a tank as it advanced southeast of Sheikh Hilal, the tank was destroyed by an anti-tank guided missile. Amaq’s statement reported death of three SAA ‘s soldiers due to clashes with IS in the village of Umm al-Balaya, east of Al-Salamiyah.
Islamic State launched another attack on SAA ‘s position in Wadi al-Adhib area, the attack caused the closure of Al-Salamiyah – Ithriya road. SAA eventually repelled the attack and subsequently reopened the road. IS’ attack included shelling of Ithriya as well as destruction of two SAA ‘s “rocket launchers”.
Homs:
Faylaq al-Sham’s commander, Omar Kanju, was wounded by an improvised explosive device which targeted the group’s HQ in Al-Ghantu, Northern Homs rebel pocket.
Syrian Arab Army backed by allies captured several localities around Al-Ulainiyah, localities captured today are located in the vast uninhabited area. These advances occurred south of Palmyra and the captured localities include Tarat al-Alab, Sharat Duhlawn and Bir Dawlah.
Islamic State destroyed a BMP and damaged a tank belonging to SAA during the encounter between the two parties north of Palmyra silos.
Situation in eastern Homs governorate. Source: loomis
Deir al-Zour:
Situation is still a bit unclear in Deir al-Zour, pro-government sources reported that Islamic State, after all did capture the driving school. The same sources continue to dispute Islamic State’s capture of Panorama roundabout, which means that the area should be considered as contested with clashes still ongoing.
Damascus:
Syrian Arab Army reportedly launched at least eight attacks against Jaysh al-Islam-held Hawsh al-Dawahirah. Jaysh al-Islam repelled all of today’s attacks.
Syrian Arab Air Force’s MiG-23 crashed in desertous Al-Dakwa area, east of Damascus. Free Syrian Army group, Jaysh Usud al-Sharqiya claimed to have downed the MiG-23 and found pilot of the warplane dead. It is unclear at the moment if rebels actually downed the warplane or if it crashed due to technical failure.
Technical failure seems like a more likely explanation, since Syrian MiG-23 warplanes are quite outdated and used very frequently with little maintenance. Even though the rebels in the southeastern desertous Syrian territory are military backed by the Western powers, their main role is to fight against Islamic State, which means that the delivery of advanced anti-air weapons isn’t in the equation because IS’ doesn’t have an air force.
Daraa:
According to several sources, Syrian Arab Army launched an attack on Daraa camp and captured some areas inside of it.
Rebel “Daraa Martyrs Documentation Office” reported death of two Free Syrian Army’s fighters in clashes with SAA, confirmed rebel death toll is now 13 fighters. The same office reported death of nine civilians due to the recent Syrian and Russian airstrikes across Darra governorate. One more civilian was killed by SAA ‘ s shelling on the city of Daraa.
Islamic State’s affiliate, Jaysh Khalid ibn al-Walid claimed death of 13 rebel fighters and injury of another 14 as the two clashed at the outskirts of Jallin.
Iraq
Nineveh:
Islamic State is being accused of using chemical agent chlorine against the Iraqi forces and potentially civilians in Al-Zanjili and Al-Saha districts, west Mosul.
Clashes between Iraqi forces and IS in west Mosul resulted in the destruction of three bulldozers and a Humvee belonging to the former in Al-Zanjili district. Another statement from Amaq claimed IS’ sniper killed four Iraqi soldiers, including an officer in Al-Zanjili district and Bab Jadid neighborhood, Old Mosul.
Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) continued to secure areas around Baaj from Islamic State by capturing Toman, Hamd al-Madlol, Aliya, Baar Asabey, Tala al-Markab, Sharji al-Rawi and Rekba al-Faras
Latest map of west Mosul. Source: Nineveh Media Center
Salah al-Deen:
Islamic State’s improvised explosive device reportedly destroyed a vehicle carrying Peshmerga soldiers near the Zarka bridge, west of Tuz Khurmatu. The other IS’ act in the governorate includes IS’ sniper killing two Al-Hashd al-Shaabi’s fighters in the villages of Al-Kahf and Al-Khanouka, around Al-Shirqat.
Diyala:
Islamic State’s suicide bomber detonated himself at a checkpoint in Balad Ruz. Casualties were reported from the explosion, but their number is unknown for now.
CJTF-OIR :
On the 4th of June 2017 CJTF-OIR has conducted 20 strikes in Syria. CJTF-OIR ‘s main focus in Syria at the moment is Tabqa-Raqqa-Deir al-Zour region where they did 17 strikes supporting SDF ‘s operations against IS destroying 90 IS oil barrels, 10 IS oil refinery stills, 10 vehicles, four IS oil separation tanks, three IS well heads, and four fighting positions.
Other areas where three strikes occurred are Abu Kamal (Al-Bukamal) and Al-Tanf destroying an IS well head, an IS oil manifold, two tactical vehicles and two IS vehicles. Full report on CJTF-OIR strikes conducted in both Syria & Iraq can be found here.
Intellectual credited property used may vary from an edition to edition.
Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments section below, constructive criticism is welcomed.
For those of you interested, you can follow us on an official Twitter account @SyrianWarDaily, or me personally on my biased twitter @joskobaric where I occasionally tweet some things.
AdvertisementsMozilla has been releasing new versions of its Firefox web browser at a more rapid pace over the past year and it sounds like the organization will be adding even more features to future versions of Firefox. In a blog post this week, written by Mozilla Technical Evangelist Robert Nyman, he not only goes over what new features have been added to Firefox in 2011 but also details plans for new features in 2012.
One thing that will change, at least for Firefox users, is the importance of version numbers. Nyman writes:
Version numbers will play a lesser and lesser role for users, but they will still matter to web developers, IT administrators and similar. The reason for having major version number bumps (e.g. version 6 to 7, 7 to 8, etc) is that new versions have had cases of non-backward compatible APIs, and the version number have been there to signal that it is not a minor release or maintenance update. From a branding perspective, it will likely more go into being just Firefox, and that versioning will be more transparent.
The plans for additional features in 2012 include some that have already been put into Firefox 11, such as add-on sync. One big upcoming feature is for silent updates to the browser. This feature is slated to begin with Firefox 13 and will basically download updates to the browser in the background.
As far as Firefox web platform updates, 2012 will add features such as WebRTC, which will let two web browsers exchange full audio, video and data communication. Nyman states, "The implications of this are huge and it will enable a lot of interesting real-time communication solutions, richer web games and overall take the web to the next level!" Other changes in the works include improving Web App support and allowing the PC mouse to be used as a controller.Jake Carlisle is more likely than not to leave the Bombers
• Now that it's over, what will Essendon do next?
• ANALYSIS: Hird's dreams of more glory turn into darkness
• Who's on the move? Check out the status of 2015's free agents
ESSENDON had already committed to a full review of its football program and its playing list before James Hird departed his post as the club's senior coach.
But with Hird now gone, what impact will that have on the futures of the 20 out-of-contract players at the club? And will any players who are in contract seek a move elsewhere or be told to pack their bags because of Hird's exit?
Here is a rundown of the 20 Essendon players AFL.com.au understands to be out of contract at the end of this season.
Kurt Aylett: Aylett joined the Bombers via GWS and played two games in 2014, but was pushed onto the rookie list at the end of the season. A hamstring injury put the brakes on his hopes for an early elevation back to the senior group and the rookie hasn't featured at the top level in 2015.
Should he stay or go: Hasn't been able to get going in his time at the club so would be hard to see him staying.
Mark Baguley: Has been in negotiations with the club for a new two- or three-year deal for months. Talks are likely to resume soon, with the 28-year-old a consistent performer across this season in Essendon's backline. He will finish high in the club's best and fairest.
Should he stay or go: Needs to stay for the Bombers. Has become an important player in the backline.
Tom Bellchambers: The restricted free agent wanted to wait until he hit form before really delving into contract talks, but that never happened after a difficult start to the year and then a season-ending foot injury. Bellchambers knocked back a lucrative offer from GWS last time he was out of contract. Essendon would receive a compensatory draft pick if he joined another club through free agency.
Should he stay or go: Essendon's dearth of ruck options means he is a necessary signature, but he might attract an solid compensation pick if he takes a rival offer.
Alex Browne: Browne is one of a number of players around his age in limbo about his future. Discussions about 2016 aren't likely to come until after the season and football department review. Browne played well in round 17 but Hird dropped him after a quiet game in round 18.
Should he stay or go: Browne should be given another year and a full run at it.
Jake Carlisle: Appears more unlikely than likely to be at Essendon next year after struggling for form for the past two seasons predominantly as a forward. Hird persisted with him in attack this year and it never came off. The Bombers have been trying to get negotiations going for more than a year now but they have not progressed very far.
Should he stay or go: If he wants to stay, Essendon must sign him and will find a way. If he wants out, they must let him go and trade in another first-round pick.
Paul Chapman: The veteran forward looks set to retire at the end of this year, having had a run of niggling injuries this season. He played 20 games last year in his first season for the club but has managed just eight this year.
Should he stay or go: Go. Chapman has reached the end of a glittering career.
Lauchlan Dalgleish: Dalgleish joined the club via the rookie list and was elevated off it, but injuries have ruined his past two seasons and he has struggled to get a run at it. He impressed in the NAB Challenge but hasn't played a senior game since 2013.
Should he stay or go: Looks more likely to go, having been on the list for four seasons for a total of three games.
Courtenay Dempsey: It is hard to see Dempsey remaining at the club, having fallen out of favour this year. The half-back is an unrestricted free agent. He said recently he wanted to stay at the club, but it was up to the Bombers to make a decision if they wanted to keep him.
Should he stay or go: Dempsey's last few seasons have been disappointing, and his best seems behind him.
Dustin Fletcher: The 400-gamer is expected to retire at the end of the season, his 23rd in the AFL. Fletcher hasn't played since he reached the milestone in round nine, missing nearly three months with abdominal tendinitis. With three rounds to go, the 40-year-old is fighting against time to get out on the field for a farewell game.
Should he stay or go: Fletcher looks set to bow out of the game after a champion career in defence.
James Gwilt: Essendon picked up the free agent last year to add some depth to its key defensive group, and he has done a serviceable job. Hird preferred to use Gwilt in defence to switching Carlisle into that role, but with Hird gone the club's focus might turn to a more structured rebuild with youth.
Should he stay or go: With Fletcher set to depart, Essendon's tall defensive stocks would look very slim if Gwilt and Carlisle left too, which may sway the Bombers to keep him on.
Will Hams: Hams had to prove his fitness last year to win another year on Essendon's list, but again has had problems with his body this season. He played three games earlier this season and is well liked at the club, but has not been able to get senior exposure in the second half of the year as Essendon assesses its out-of-contract players.
Should he stay or go: The club might be willing to give Hams one more season to prove himself.
Elliott Kavanagh: The first-round draft pick requested a trade last year but there was little interest from rival clubs. He went back to work at Essendon but has played just four games this year. He seems likely to be cut at the end of the year having managed just 11 games in four years.
Should he stay or go: Kavanagh hasn't been able to cut it at AFL level so far, so looks on his way out of Essendon.
Jake Long: Essendon picked Long knowing he was going to take some time, but the club was pleased with his early signs in the NAB Challenge and at VFL level. The rookie should get at least another contract to develop given he was recruited quite raw and has shown glimpses of his talent.
Should he stay or go: The son of club champion Michael Long was viewed as a long-term player, so should stay for an extended stint.
Shaun McKernan: The former Adelaide forward was given a career reprieve when the Bombers picked him in last year's rookie draft. He was elevated into the side line-up and played in the ruck, but struggled when thrown the challenging role full-time.
Should he stay or go: The ruck role was not for him on a permanent basis, but it would be good to see him play as a forward who pinch-hits in the middle. Keep him on.
Mark Baguley and Jake Melksham are among the 20 Dons out of contract this season. Picture: AFL Media
Jake Melksham: Melksham was one of Hird's favourites, and the midfielder had his best season in 2013 when Hird moved him into a tagging role. He struggled for continuity last year under stand-in coach Mark Thompson, and this year he has spent some time in the VFL. Negotiations have been slow between the club and the top-10 draft pick.
Should he stay or go: Melksham has appeared unable to find his niche in the team this year, but has talent and ability. Some other clubs would be interested in him, but if he wants to stay then he should.
Nick O'Brien: O'Brien had to wait until Essendon's season was all but over before getting his opportunity this year following a strong run of VFL form. In a seven-game stretch before being dropped last week, O'Brien showed his ability to find the ball in the midfield.
Should he stay or go: Works hard and can find the footy, but a lack of speed works against him as Essendon acknowledges its need for pace.
Tayte Pears: An unrestricted free agent, Pears can leave and join a rival club with Essendon having no say. The rival would need to have a thorough medical check, though, given Pears has endured a shocking run of injuries in the past four years. He made his return to Essendon's senior side last week against Adelaide.
Should he stay or go: Pears' unlucky run with injury means it's hard to make a case to keep him on the list, but it might depend what happens with fellow talls Gwilt, Carlisle and Fletcher.
Brent Stanton: Hird and Stanton were particularly close, with Hird praising his former teammate at his resignation press conference on Tuesday. Stanton might win the club's best and fairest this year but nothing is set in stone for his future. He is another unrestricted free agent.
Should he stay or go: Is in contract negotiations and should remain at the Bombers next year.
Ariel Steinberg: Hird gave Steinberg some important roles in the past seven weeks, using him as a third tall in defence. Steinberg's intercept marking at VFL level saw him come into the team but he has spent three years on the rookie list.
Should he stay or go: Has been given a chance at senior level this year, and been outplayed on several occasions.
Jason Winderlich: Winderlich's decision to change his mind about retiring and choose to play on in 2015 hasn't worked out. The speedy forward has battled injury again, limiting him to one game for the season, and he is expected to retire at the end of the year.
Should he stay or go: Go. It's a shame Winderlich's season was ruined by injury.An Egyptian mummy’s head and face have been reconstructed with forensic science and 3D printing, offering scientists a tantalizing glimpse of the individual’s life and death.
The mummified head was discovered by accident in the collections of the University of Melbourne in Australia. A museum curator happened upon the remains during an audit and, concerned about the state of the specimen, sent it for a computed tomography (CT) scan.
“Turns out, [the skull] is actually quite intact; it has got bandages and looks well on the inside,” said Varsha Pilbrow, a biological anthropologist in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience. “Of course, that then allowed us to think what to do next.” [In Photos: Egypt’s Oldest Mummy Wrappings]
With the help of an imaging specialist, Pilbrow and her team used the scans to create a 3D-printed replica of the mummy’s skull. Then, the scientists studied the specimen’s facial-bone features, such as the size and angle of the jaw and characteristics of the eye sockets, to determine that the head belonged to a female. The researchers are calling the specimen Meritamun. They say she was probably not more than 25 years old at the time of her death and was important enough to be mummified.
“It is quite fascinating that we did all of this without destroying the specimen in any way, and that is important from a museum curatorial point of view,” Pilbrow said.
The true origins of the mummified head are still unknown, though. Scientists think it belonged in the collections of Frederic Wood Jones, a professor who conducted archeological work in Egypt before joining as the head of anatomy at the University of Melbourne in 1930. From the distinctive style of the linen bandaging and embalming of the specimen, the researchers think Meritamun was mummified in Egypt and that she may have lived at least 2,000 years ago. They will now use radiocarbon dating to date the specimen more precisely, the scientists said.
Meanwhile, the CT scans and 3D-printed replica of the skull are revealing other details about Meritamun, including her dental abnormalities and diseases she might have had.
“We noticed that the top of her skull is very thin. It is extremely porous,” Pilbrow told Live Science. “It suggests that she would have suffered from severe anemia.”
A deficiency of hemoglobin and oxygen would have led to the swelling of bone marrow — as it tried to produce more red blood cells — and thinning of the skull bone, Pilbrow said.
“Anemia and dental pathologies were quite prevalent among Egyptian populations,” Pilbrow said.This provides just one possible clue about how Meritamun died, but Pilbrow and her co-workers are continuing to dig into other factors that may have cost the young woman her life.
The research has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Original article on Live Science.Top Republicans, such as Mitt Romney, used to maintain that a comprehensive rewrite of the tax code shouldn’t add to the federal debt.
Not anymore.
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Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a 2016 GOP contender often compared to Romney, released a tax plan last week that would cost anywhere between $1.2 trillion and $3.7 trillion over a decade. Conservative analysts praised the plan, even as some said that others in the Republican field had crafted more exciting proposals.
And while campaign tax plans are often seen more as political posturing than serious policy proposals, GOP lawmakers insist that negotiations ought to start with the premise that tax reform should end up being a tax cut.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a central player in any tax reform deal, said Bush’s plan was giving Republicans reason “to be exhilarated again.”
“When we win the presidency and enough seats, we can do that,” Hatch, who has endorsed Bush for president, told reporters.
As Hatch noted, Republicans would likely need to run the table in 2016 to enact the sort of tax proposal championed by Bush or other conservative policies the GOP wants after eight years of President Obama. Top officials in the two parties are currently discussing a smaller deal that would revamp international tax rules and pay for highway projects.
But the proposal marks a pronounced shift from the last presidential campaign, when Romney insisted his tax plan wouldn’t add to the deficit or shift the tax burden to the middle class. (Outside analysts, such as the Tax Policy Center, found otherwise.)
Just over 18 months ago, then-House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) also rolled out a plan that didn’t increase the federal deficit.
Democrats have piled on GOP tax-cutting proposals for decades and have already started to brand the plans from presidential candidates as fiscally irresponsible and handouts
to the rich.
Still, GOP officials both on and off Capitol Hill say it’s time for Republicans to follow their tax-cutting predecessors, including Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. They’re aided by the fact that the yearly deficit has dropped from well over $1 trillion early in Obama’s presidency to $426 billion this year.
Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio), a senior House tax writer, noted that Republicans didn’t used to “go around saying you have to raise taxes on somebody else to cut taxes for another set of people.”
“We’re going back to our roots,” added Tiberi, a close ally of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
On its own, Bush’s tax plan would add in the neighborhood of $3.5 trillion to the federal debt when scored using traditional methods, according to two separate estimates. Bush’s campaign says that deficits would fall under his watch, with a tax plan, regulatory reforms and spending cuts that will help spur 4 percent annual economic growth.
The two estimates of Bush’s plan — one from the free-market Tax Foundation and the other from four prominent conservative economists — found that the plan would lose between $1.2 trillion and $1.6 trillion over a decade when accounting for economic growth.
Elsewhere in the GOP presidential field, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) has proposed the sort of flat tax that has long appealed to conservative supply-siders, while Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) has a plan aimed more at helping families but that also eliminates capital gains taxes. Analysts have found that all three plans would give bigger tax cuts to the wealthy than to the middle and lower class.
Paul’s plan would cost around $3 trillion over a decade using traditional scoring methods, the Tax Foundation found, while Rubio’s adds up to more than $4 trillion. Both plans would lose much less — Paul’s $960 billion and Rubio’s $1.7 trillion —under more “dynamic” scores that some analysts consider far too generous.
The plans could also fall flat with voters, given the success Donald Trump has had with a more populist message this year and the issues Romney faced as the GOP nominee
in 2012.
Some conservative analysts contend that Republicans are opening themselves up for attacks by cutting taxes so aggressively when polls still show that voters favor tax increases on
the rich.
But Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said GOP contenders would be “quite cognizant of the fact that they’re going to be dinged by Democrats and not looking good on distributional grounds.”
“I’m guessing they’re thinking: ‘Fine. You’ve got stuff that’s failed for seven years now,’ ” added Holtz-Eakin, now the head of the conservative American Action Forum. “Republicans who are serious about policy are taking a longer view, and that’s that the best way to help the people who are really pissed off is to grow
the economy.”
Tiberi said House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) also had encouraged Republicans to take a fresh look at their tax ideas after the problems Camp faced with his plan last year.
Camp’s proposal got low marks from many Republicans, who questioned the framework’s 35 percent top individual tax rate and proposals that would tax the largest banks and force businesses to write off expenses over a longer period. Democrats praised Camp for producing a plan but not his actual policy prescriptions.
Camp, Tiberi said, “had a belief system that he convinced us all to
buy into.”
“At the end of the day, it didn’t work, he got no credit for it and I think Chairman Ryan has done a good job reminding us that this is what we believe as Republicans,” Tiberi said.
Sage Eastman, a former top aide to Camp, said the former chairman was partly trying to show lawmakers what a revenue-neutral tax plan would look like under traditional scoring
methods.
Republicans are less likely to say now that tax cuts pay for themselves but still believe that overhauling the tax code can spark economic growth. Camp’s plan also found offsets for tax breaks that are routinely restored but score as revenue losers.
“Camp was implicitly and explicitly questioning how do you define revenue neutrality,” said Eastman, now a lobbyist at Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas.
He added that Republicans could be bolder on tax cuts now because of falling deficits but would still be vigilant in other areas to keep the debt from exploding.
“We’re a party built on lower taxes for economic growth,” Eastman said. “I think there’s a danger for Republicans who don’t embrace that and double down on it.”A trip to the Creation Museum seems like harmless fun until you see the eager schoolchildren streaming through its doors
I've talked to a number of theoretical physicists during my tour of America, and often the subject of parallel universes has come up. This week I actually got to visit one, when I spent a disorientating afternoon in Petersburg, Kentucky, at the Creation Museum.
The Creation Museum bills itself as a natural history museum, but it's one from a world in which we are certain that God created the Earth and everything in it, roughly 6,000 years ago, and all in six days. Anything that looks older – fossilised dinosaur bones, multiple strata of sedimentary rock, signs of ancient water erosion and the moving of the continents – were all caused by one catastrophic event, the flood that Noah and his family so adroitly survived by building a massive floating menagerie.
This is nothing you wouldn't see or hear in your average fundamentalist church, but what makes the Creation Museum different, and controversial, is that it promotes the idea that not only is everything stated in Genesis chapters 1-11 true, but it can be proved … with science. And the museum has teams of qualified palaeontologists, geologists, biologists and historians working on this. Oh, and baraminologists too. You haven't heard of them? Neither had I.
For anyone not familiar with the early parts of the Bible, these be the facts: God created everything in six 24-hour days; Adam and Eve were the first humans; all the bad stuff in the world, from murder to animals eating other animals, is a result of Eve's choice of afternoon snack; Noah built an ark to house two of every kind of land-dwelling animal (including dinosaurs) and his extended family, while God wiped everything clean with a worldwide flood; then God linguistically confused Noah's descendants and dispersed them around the world with the Tower of Babel incident.
The Creation Museum was founded by the organisation Answers in Genesis, led by the Australian fundamentalist Ken Ham. It first opened in May 2007, and on the day I was visiting it was celebrating its 5th anniversary. In those five years over a million people have been through its doors, many, if my visit was anything to go by, on school trips. The site is huge, housing both the museum and the headquarters of Answers in Genesis, and provides employment for over 300 people. The museum is entirely privately funded.
Despite the erroneous claim to be a natural history museum, the displays of fossils, including casts of many famous examples such as an archaeopteryx and Lucy the Australopithecine soon give way to expensively mounted dioramas telling the biblical story of creation. There's also a section where a world that has abandoned God is depicted – picture a Disneyfied crack den where vulnerable teenagers watch porn and consider abortions.
Any actual attempts to present "science" inevitably have a creationist slant. A display on evolution suggests that "Although often viewed as an icon of evolution, Darwin's finches serve as a perfect model of variation within a created kind [because in] Genesis 1:21 we learn that God created 'every winged bird according to its kind'." Those baraminologists interpret "kind" to mean "species".
While at the museum I spent some time talking to geologist Andrew Snelling. Another Australian, Snelling has a PhD in geology from the University of Sydney and worked in various capacities for the Australian mining industry before getting into "creation science" full time, first for the Texas-based Institute for Creation Research, and then since 2007 for Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum.
I mention to Andrew that I'm surprised to see animatronic models and fossils of dinosaurs around the museum. "They were real, we have their bones … in fact the Bible even potentially describes creatures that were dinosaurs. We don't have to be afraid of the real evidence," he says. "We're looking at the fossil record – instead of being the order of creatures living and dying and evolving over millions of years – as the burial order during the flood. In other words, dinosaurs were alive during the pre-flood Earth. So were trilobites, so were people."
When I ask him how his background in geology is being used here, he tells me of his fieldwork at the Grand Canyon. "In my research I've been involved in sampling rocks, sending them to laboratories, where analysis is done on radio isotopes," he says. "What we always emphasise is this: we all have the same rocks, the same fossils, the same evidence … We all have the same geological maps … As we emphasise in the museum it's your starting point."
This is a point that's made over and over, to the extent that it begins to sound reasonable. Their mantra is, "Hey, we're all doing science here, there's just a disagreement about the age."
Creation science has a big problem with orthodox radiometric dating and carbon dating. They also use the example of the 1980 Mount St Helens eruption and subsequent pyroclastic flow to show how both the formation of the Grand Canyon and the tectonic shift of the continents could have happened in seconds during the flood, rather than over millions of years.
As I head for the exit I have mixed feelings about the place. Sure, I think, it's wacky, but each to their own delusion, and at least the government isn't funding this. Then another party of wide-eyed, eager-to-learn schoolchildren is ushered past.
Listen to the full interview with Andrew Snelling, in which we talk about where dinosaur fossils came from, how the Grand Canyon and continents formed, and how there came to be kangaroos on Noah's Ark.
Next week: The people who fight the creationists
Neil Denny is the producer and presenter of the Little Atoms radio show and podcast, which is broadcast every Friday evening at 7pm BST on Resonance 104.4fm
You can find the feed for his US road trip here or search for Little Atoms Road Trip on iTunes, and follow his progress on Twitter @littleatoms. The trip was made possible by a 2012 travelling fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial TrustThis post will also be revealed in the next V-JUMP magazine.
Card Kingdom Tokushima Local Tournament, 10/15/2016, 6 Players
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1st Place: Kozmo
2nd Charity Meeting, Domestic Tournament, 10/15/2016, 51 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: Juunishishi—————————————————————-2nd Place: Speedroid Madolche—————————————————————-3rd Place: Froggeozoic—————————————————————-4th Place: Masked HERO—————————————————————-5th Place: Blue-Eyes—————————————————————-6th Place: Darklord—————————————————————-7th Place: Juunishishi—————————————————————-8th Place: Speedroid FrogCard Kingdom Tokushima Local Tournament, 10/10/2016, 16 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: YosenjuSaisai Shop, Local Tournament, 10/12/2016, 12 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: Metalfoes3rd Yuuvic Cup, Domestic Tournament, 10/15/2016, 51 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: Juunishishi Kozmo—————————————————————-2nd Place: Juunishishi—————————————————————-3rd Place: Juunishishi—————————————————————-4th Place: Juunishishi—————————————————————-5th Place: Metalfoes—————————————————————-6th place: D/D—————————————————————-7th Place: Kozmo Fire King—————————————————————-8th Place: Speedroid Phantom Juunishishi14th Alann Cup, Domestic Tournament, 10/15/2016, 32 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: Juunishishi Kaiju Yosenju—————————————————————-2nd Place: ABC—————————————————————-3rd Place: InfernoidYu-Gi-Oh in Koudaisai (Second Day), Local Tournament, 10/9/2016, 19 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: Masked HEROLaccus Kashihara Shop, Local Tournament, 10/10/2016, 8 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: FroggeozoicLaccus Kashihara Shop, Local Tournament, 10/09/2016, 9 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: Snow Lightsworn5th Nasuka Cup, Domestic Tournament, 10/09/2016, 44 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: Juunishishi—————————————————————-2nd Place: ABC—————————————————————-3rd Place: Atlantean Mermail Frog—————————————————————-4th Place: Metalfoes—————————————————————-5th Place: Darklord—————————————————————-6th Place: ABC—————————————————————-7th Place: Juunishishi—————————————————————-8th Place: Darklord—————————————————————-9th Place: ABC—————————————————————-10th Place: ABC—————————————————————-11th Place: Kaiju—————————————————————-12th Place: Juunishishi—————————————————————-13th Place: Masked HERO—————————————————————-14th Place: ABC—————————————————————-15th Place: Masked HERO—————————————————————-16th Place: ABCYu-Gi-Oh in Koudaisai (First Day), Local Tournament, 10/08/2016, 10 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: Atlantean Mermail FrogBaya CS, Domestic Tournament, 10/08/2016, 135 Players (45 Teams)—————————————————————-1st Place, Player A: ABC—————————————————————-1st Place, Player B: Blue-Eyes—————————————————————-1st Place, Player C: Metalfoes—————————————————————-2nd Place, Player B: Frog—————————————————————-2nd Place, Player C: ABC—————————————————————-3rd Place, Player A: Froggeozoic—————————————————————-3rd Place, Player B: D/DTakana Cup, Local Tournament, 10/09/2016, 42 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: DarklordCard Strike, Local Tournament, 10/10/2016, 18 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: DarklordLaccus Kashihara Shop, Local Tournament, 10/10/2016, 11 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: JuunishishiLaccus Kashihara Shop, Local Tournament, 10/08/2016, 10 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: ABCLaccus Kashihara Shop, Local Tournament, 10/08/2016, 14 Players—————————————————————-1st Place: KozmoLaccus Kashihara Shop, Local Tournament, 10/06/2016, 12 Players—————————————————————-1st Place |
gov reinstates protections for LGBT state employees Next Kansas governor to reinstate LGBT protections for state workers MORE said the new data will help fill a major "gap" in patients' knowledge. Wednesday's report is part of a larger federal initiative to encourage healthcare price transparency.
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"Currently, consumers don’t know what a hospital is charging them or their insurance company for a given procedure, like a knee replacement, or how much of a price difference there is at different hospitals, even within the same city," Sebelius said in a statement.
HHS announced Wednesday that it will give $87 million to states to encourage the study of healthcare price variation.
The U.S. healthcare system is notoriously opaque when it comes to pricing. Critics charge that the status quo allows medical providers to demand what they want without pushback from consumers.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published data from 3,300 hospitals covering the costs of their 100 most common treatments and procedures in 2011.
In Dallas, CMS found, Las Colinas Medical Center billed Medicare an average of $160,832 for a lower joint replacement. The price was $42,632 five miles away, at Baylor Medical Center.
The report is full of similar examples. To treat heart failure, hospitals in Denver, Colo., charged from $21,000 to $46,000, while hospitals in Jackson, Miss., charged $9,000 to $51,000.
Medicare does not reimburse hospital bills in full — the program's payments are determined by standardized formulas. But the new CMS data suggests how little consumers know about the medical costs they incur.
Advocates praised the report as an important step in curbing healthcare cost growth.
Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, called hospital pricing "the craziest of crazy quilts" and expressed concerns for the uninsured, who bear the full cost of their care.
"It is absurd — and, indeed, unconscionable — that the people least capable of paying for their hospital care bear the largest, and often unaffordable, cost burdens," Pollack said in a statement.
—This post was updated at 9:48 a.m."Ultimate Doom" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Ultimate Comics: Doomsday
Doom (typeset as DOOM in official documents and stylized as DooM in other media)[1] is a 1993 first-person shooter (FPS) video game by id Software. It is considered one of the most significant and influential titles in video game history, for having helped to pioneer the now-ubiquitous first-person shooter and has been frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. The original game was divided into three nine-level episodes and was distributed via shareware and mail order. The Ultimate Doom, an updated release of the original game featuring a fourth episode, was released in 1995 and sold at retail.
In Doom, players assume the role of an unnamed space marine, who became popularly known as "Doomguy",[2] fighting his way through hordes of invading demons from Hell.[3] With one-third of the game (nine levels) distributed as shareware, Doom was played by an estimated 15–20 million people[4] within two years of its release, popularizing both the business model of online distribution[5] and the mode of gameplay, and spawning a gaming subculture. In addition to popularizing the first-person shooter genre, it pioneered immersive 3D graphics, networked multiplayer gaming, and support for customized additions and modifications via packaged files in a data archive known as "WADs". As a sign of its effect on the industry, first-person shooter games from the genre's boom in the 1990s, helped in no small part by the game's release, became known simply as "Doom clones". Its graphic violence, as well as satanic imagery, made Doom the subject of considerable controversy.
The Doom franchise was later continued with the follow-up Doom II: Hell on Earth (1994) and numerous expansion packs, including Master Levels for Doom II (1995), and Final Doom (1996). Originally released for MS-DOS, the games have been ported to numerous other platforms. Once the game's source code was released in 1997, it spawned even more adaptations, as fans further ported the code to countless devices, even on machines that were not designed to run games. The series started to lose mainstream appeal as the technology of the Doom game engine was surpassed in the mid-1990s, although fans have continued making WADs, speedruns, and modifications to the original. The franchise again received popular attention in 2004 with the release of Doom 3, a retelling of the original game using id Tech 4, with an associated 2005 Doom motion picture. A reboot of the series, simply titled Doom and powered by id Tech 6, was released in 2016 and focused on returning to the fast paced action of the first two games.
Gameplay [ edit ]
The player armed with a chainsaw confronts an undead marine on a bridge over a chemical waste storage in "Knee-Deep in the Dead"
Doom is a first-person shooter presented with early 3D graphics. The player controls an unnamed space marine—later termed the Doomguy—through a series of levels set in military bases on the moons of Mars and in Hell. To finish a level, the player must traverse through the area to reach a marked exit room. Levels are grouped together into named episodes, with the final level focusing on a boss fight with a particularly difficult enemy. While the levels are presented in a 3D perspective, the enemies and objects are instead 2D sprites presented from several set viewing angles, a technique sometimes referred to as 2.5D graphics. Levels are often labyrinthine, and a full screen automap is available which shows the areas explored to that point.
While traversing the levels, the player must fight variety of enemies, including demons and possessed undead humans, while managing supplies of ammunition, health, and armor. Enemies often appear in large groups, and the game features five difficulty levels which increase the quantity and damage done by enemies, with enemies respawning upon death and moving faster than normal on the hardest difficulty setting. The monsters have very simple behavior, consisting of either moving toward their opponent, or attacking by throwing fireballs, biting, and scratching. They will fight each other if one monster is accidentally harmed by another, though most monsters are not harmed by other monsters of the same kind. Levels can also include pits of toxic waste, ceilings that lower and crush anything below them, and locked doors which require a keycard, skull-shaped key device, or a remote switch to be opened. The player can find weapons and ammunition placed in the levels or can collect them from dead enemies; weapons include a pistol, a chainsaw, a plasma rifle, and the BFG 9000, among others. The levels also feature power-ups such as items that give health or armor points, increase the player character's maximum ammunition or health, fill out the automap, give partial invisibility, or allow the player to survive in toxic waste. There are also items which apply time-limited effects such as invulnerability or a berserker status.
In addition to the main single-player game mode, Doom features two multiplayer modes playable over a local network: "cooperative", in which two to four players team up to play through the main game, and "deathmatch", in which two to four players play against each other. Online multiplayer was later made available a year after launch through the DWANGO service.[6] Doom also contains cheat codes that allow the player to be invulnerable, obtain every weapon, be able to instantly kill every monster in a particular level, and several other abilities.[7][8][9][10]
Plot [ edit ]
Doom series as he appears in The Ultimate Doom The unnamed protagonist of theseries as he appears in
Doom is divided into three episodes: "Knee-Deep in the Dead", "The Shores of Hell", and "Inferno". A fourth episode, "Thy Flesh Consumed", was added in an expanded version of the game, The Ultimate Doom. The game itself contains very few plot elements, with the minimal story instead given in the instruction manual and short text segues between episodes.
In the year 2019, an unnamed space marine has been punitively posted to Mars after assaulting a superior officer, who ordered his unit to fire on civilians. The space marines act as security for the Union Aerospace Corporation's radioactive waste facilities, which are used by the military to perform secret experiments with teleportation by creating gateways between the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. In 2022, Deimos disappears entirely and "something fraggin' evil" starts pouring out of the teleporter gateways, killing or possessing all personnel. The Martian marine unit is dispatched to investigate, with the player character left to guard the perimeter with only a pistol while the rest of the group proceeds inside the base and is killed.
As the last man standing, the player character fights through the onslaught of demonic enemies to keep them from attacking Earth. In "Knee-Deep in the Dead", he fights through the high-tech military bases, power plants, computer centers and geological anomalies on Phobos. It ends with the player character entering the teleporter leading to Deimos, only to be overwhelmed by monsters. In "The Shores of Hell" he fights through installations on Deimos, similar to those on Phobos, but warped and distorted from the demon invasion and interwoven with beastly architecture. After defeating the titanic Cyberdemon, the marine discovers the vanished moon is floating above Hell. "Inferno" begins after the marine climbs off Deimos to the surface. The marine fights his way through Hell and defeats the Spider Mastermind that planned the invasion. A hidden doorway back to Earth opens for the hero, who has "proven too tough for Hell to contain". However, a burning city and a rabbit's head impaled on a stake (named in The Ultimate Doom as the marine's pet rabbit, Daisy) show that the demons have invaded Earth, setting the stage for Doom II: Hell on Earth. In "Thy Flesh Consumed", the marine fights the demons on Earth through a variety of disconnected high-tech bases and demonic temples, though ultimately the forces of Hell prevail in the invasion of Earth.
Development [ edit ]
Concept [ edit ]
In May 1992, id Software released Wolfenstein 3D, later called the "grandfather of 3D shooters",[11][12] specifically first-person shooters, because it established the fast-paced action and technical prowess commonly expected in the genre and greatly increased the genre's popularity.[11][13][14][15] Immediately following its release most of the id Software team began work on a set of episodes for the game, titled Spear of Destiny, while id co-founder and lead programmer John Carmack instead focused on technology research for the company's next game. Following the release of Spear of Destiny in September 1992, the team began to plan their next title. They wanted to create another 3D game using a new engine Carmack was developing, but were largely tired of Wolfenstein. They initially considered making another game in the Commander Keen series, as proposed by co-founder and lead designer Tom Hall, but decided that the platforming gameplay of the series was a poor fit for Carmack's fast-paced 3D engines. Additionally, the other two co-founders of id, designer John Romero and lead artist Adrian Carmack, wanted to create something in a darker style than the Keen games. John Carmack then came up with his own concept: a game about using technology to fight demons, inspired by the Dungeons & Dragons campaigns the team played, combining the styles of Evil Dead II and Aliens.[16][17] The concept originally had a working title of "Green and Pissed", but Carmack soon named the proposed game after a line in the film The Color of Money: "'What's in the case?' / 'In here? Doom.'"[16][18]
The team agreed to pursue the Doom concept, and development began in November 1992.[17] The initial development team was composed of five people: programmers John Carmack and Romero, artists Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud, and designer Hall.[19] They moved offices to a dark office building, which they named "Suite 666", and drew inspiration from the noises coming from the dentist's office next door. They also decided to cut ties with Apogee Software, their previous publisher, and to instead self-publish Doom.[20]
Development [ edit ]
Early in development, rifts in the team began to appear. At the end of November Hall delivered a design document, which he named the Doom Bible, that described the plot, backstory, and design goals for the project.[17] His design was a science fiction horror concept wherein scientists on the Moon open a portal that aliens emerge from. Over a series of levels the player discovers that the aliens are demons while hell steadily infects the level design over the course of the game.[21] John Carmack not only disliked the idea but dismissed the idea of having a story at all: "Story in a game is like story in a porn movie; it's expected to be there, but it's not that important." Rather than a deep story, he wanted to focus on the technological innovations of the game, dropping the levels and episodes of Wolfenstein in favor of a fast, continuous world. Tom disliked the idea, but the rest of the team sided with Carmack.[21] Hall spent the next few weeks reworking the Doom Bible to work with Carmack's technological ideas.[17] Hall was forced to rework it again in December, however, after the team decided that they were unable to create a single, seamless world with the hardware limitations of the time, which contradicted much of the document.[17]
At the start of 1993, id put out a press release, touting Hall's story about fighting off demons while "knee-deep in the dead". The press release proclaimed the new game features that John Carmack had created, as well as other features, including multiplayer gaming features, that had not yet even been designed.[21] Early versions of the game were built to match the Doom Bible; a "pre-alpha" version of the first level included Hall's introductory base scene.[22] Initial versions of the game also retained "arcade" elements present in Wolfenstein 3D, like score points and score items, but those were removed early in development as they felt not in keeping with the tone of the game.[19] Other elements, such as a complex user interface, an inventory system, a secondary shield protection, and lives were modified and slowly removed over the course of development.[17][23]
Soon, however, the Doom Bible as a whole was rejected: Romero wanted a game even "more brutal and fast" than Wolfenstein, which did not leave room for the character-driven plot Hall had created. Additionally, the team felt it emphasized realism over entertaining gameplay, and they did not see the need for a design document at all.[21] Some ideas were retained, but the story was dropped and most of the game design was removed.[24] By spring of 1993 levels were being created for the game and a demo was produced. John Carmack and Romero, however, disliked Hall's military base-inspired level design. Romero especially felt that the boxy, flat level designs were uninspiring, too similar to Wolfenstein, and did not show off everything the engine could do. He began to create his own, more abstract levels for the game, which the rest of the team felt were much better.[21][25]
Hall was upset with the reception to his designs and how little impact he was having as the lead designer.[21][22] He was also upset with how much he was having to fight with John Carmack in order to get what he saw as obvious gameplay improvements, such as flying enemies, and began to spend less time at work.[17] In July the other founders of id fired Hall, who went to work for Apogee.[21] He was replaced in September, ten weeks before the game was released, by game designer Sandy Petersen.[26][27] The team also added a third programmer, Dave Taylor.[28] Petersen and Romero designed the rest of the levels for Doom, with different aims: the team felt that Petersen's designs were more technically interesting and varied, while Romero's were more aesthetically interesting.[27] In the fall, after the multiplayer component was coded, the development team began playing four-player multiplayer games matches, which Romero termed "deathmatch".[29] According to Romero, the game's deathmatch mode was inspired by fighting games such as Street Fighter II, Fatal Fury, and Art of Fighting.[30]
Engine [ edit ]
Doom was programmed largely in the ANSI C programming language, with a few elements done in assembly language. Development was done on NeXT computers running the NeXTSTEP operating system.[31] The data used by the game engine, including both level designs and graphics files, are all stored in WAD files, short for "Where's All the Data". This allows for any part of the game's design to be easily changed without needing to adjust the engine code. Carmack designed this system specifically to enable fans to be able to easily modify the game; he had been impressed by the modifications made by fans of Wolfenstein 3D, and wanted to support that with an easily swappable file structure along with releasing the map editor online.[32]
Unlike Wolfenstein, which had flat levels with walls at right angles, the Doom engine allows for walls and floors at any angle or height, though two traversable areas can not be on top of each other. The lighting system was based on adjusting the color palette of surfaces directly: rather than calculating how light traveled from light sources to surfaces using ray tracing, the game calculates the "light level" of a small section of a level based on its distance from light sources. It then modifies the color palette of that section's surface textures to mimic how dark it would look.[31] This same system is used to cause far away surfaces to look darker than close ones.[21] Romero came up with new ways to use Carmack's lighting engine such as strobe lights.[21] He also programmed engine features such as switches and movable stairs and platforms.[17][19] After Romero's level designs started to cause problems with the engine, Carmack began to use binary space partitioning to quickly select the portion of a level that the player could see at an given time.[17][27] Taylor, along with programming other features into the game, added cheat codes; some, such as 'idspispopd', were based on ideas their fans had come up with while eagerly awaiting the game.[19]
Model of the Spider Mastermind
Adrian Carmack was the lead artist for Doom, with Kevin Cloud as an additional artist. They designed the monsters to be "nightmarish"; their intent was to have graphics that were realistic and dark as opposed to staged or rendered, so a mixed media approach was taken to the artwork.[33] The artists sculpted models of some the enemies, and took pictures of them in stop motion from five to eight different angles so that they could be rotated realistically in-game; the images were then digitized and converted to 2D characters with a program written by John Carmack.[21] Adrian Carmack made clay models for a few demons, and had Gregor Punchatz build latex and metal sculptures of the others.[17][19] The weapons were toys, with parts combined from different toys to make more guns.[17] They scanned themselves as well, using Cloud's arm as the model for the player character's arm holding a gun, and Adrian's snakeskin boots and wounded knee for in-game textures.[21]
Like they had for Wolfenstein 3D, id hired Bobby Prince to create the music and sound effects. Romero directed Prince to make the music in techno and metal styles; many of the songs were directly inspired by songs from popular metal bands such as Alice in Chains and Pantera.[27][34] Prince himself felt that more ambient music would work better for the game and produced numerous tracks in both styles in the hopes of convincing the team; Romero, however, still liked the metal tracks and put both styles in the game.[35] Prince did not make music for specific levels, as they were composed before the levels were completed; instead, Romero assigned each track to each level late in development. Unlike the music, the sound effects for the enemies and weapons were created by Prince for specific purposes; Prince designed them based on short descriptions or concept art of a monster or weapon, and then adjusted the sound effects to match the completed animations.[36] The sound effects for the monsters were created from animal noises, and Prince designed all the sound effects to be distinct on the limited sound hardware of the time, even when many sound effects were playing at once.[27][35]
Release [ edit ]
Because id planned to self-publish the game, as the game neared completion they had to set up the systems to sell the game. Jay Wilbur, who had been brought on as CEO and sole member of the business team, planned the marketing and distribution of Doom. He felt that the mainstream press was uninterested in the game, and as id would make the most money off of copies they sold directly to customers—up to 85 percent of the planned US$40 price—he decided to leverage the shareware market as much as possible, buying only a single ad in any gaming magazine. Instead, he reached out directly to software retailers, offering them copies of the first Doom episode for free, allowing them to charge any price for it, in order to spur customer interest in buying the full game directly from id.[27]
Doom's original release date was the third quarter of 1993, which the team did not meet. By December 1993, the team was working non-stop on the game, with several employees sleeping at the office; programmer Dave Taylor claimed that working on the game gave him such a rush that he would pass out from the intensity. Id began receiving calls from people interested in the game or angry that it had missed its planned release date, as hype for the game had been building online. At midnight on December 10, 1993, after working for 30 straight hours, the development team at id uploaded the first episode of the game to the internet, letting interested players distribute it for them. So many users were connected to the first network that they planned to upload the game to—the University of Wisconsin–Parkside FTP network—that even after the network administrator increased the number of connections while on the phone with Wilbur, id was unable to connect, forcing them to kick all other users off to allow id to upload the game. When the upload finished thirty minutes later, 10,000 people attempted to download the game at once, crashing the university's network.[29]
Expansions and ports [ edit ]
The popularity of Doom led to the development of an expanded version, The Ultimate Doom (1995), which includes a fourth episode.[37] Additionally, numerous ports of the game have been released by other companies. An unofficial port of Doom to Linux was released by id programmer Dave Taylor in 1994; it was hosted by id but not supported or made official.[38] Official ports of Doom were released for AmigaOS in 1993, Sega 32X, Atari Jaguar, and Mac OS in 1994, SNES and PlayStation in 1995, 3DO in 1996, Sega Saturn in 1997, Game Boy Advance in 2001, Xbox 360 in 2006, and iOS in 2009.[39][40][41] Some of these were bestsellers even many years after the initial release.[42] Doom has additionally been ported unofficially to numerous platforms; so many ports exist, including esotera such as smart thermostats and oscilloscopes, that variations on "It runs Doom" or "Can it run Doom?" are long-running phrases.[43][44][45]
Mods [ edit ]
The ability for others to create custom levels and otherwise modify the game using WAD files turned out to be a popular aspect of Doom. Gaining the first large mod-making community, Doom affected the culture surrounding first-person shooters, and also the industry. Several future professional game designers started their careers making Doom WADs as a hobby, among them Tim Willits, who later became the lead designer at id Software.
The first level editors appeared in early 1994, and additional tools have been created that allow most aspects of the game to be edited. Although the majority of WADs contain one or several custom levels mostly in the style of the original game, others implement new monsters and other resources, and heavily alter the gameplay; several popular movies, television series, other video games and other brands from popular culture have been turned into Doom WADs by fans, including Aliens, Star Wars, The Simpsons, South Park, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon, Beavis and Butt-head, Batman, and Sonic the Hedgehog.[46] Some works, like the Theme Doom Patch, combined enemies from several films, such as Aliens, Predator, and The Terminator. Some add-on files were also made that changed the sounds made by the various characters and weapons.
Around 1994 and 1995, WADs were primarily distributed online over bulletin board systems or sold in collections on compact discs in computer shops, sometimes bundled with editing guide books. FTP servers became the primary method in later years. A few WADs have been released commercially, including the Master Levels for Doom II, which was released in 1995 along with Maximum Doom, a CD containing 1,830 WADs that had been downloaded from the Internet. Several thousand WADs have been created in total: the idgames FTP archive contains over 18,000 files,[47] and this represents only a fraction of the complete output of Doom fans. Third party programs were also written to handle the loading of various WADs, since the game is a DOS game and all commands had to be entered on the command line to run. A typical launcher would allow the player to select which files to load from a menu, making it much easier to start. In 1995, WizardWorks released the D!Zone pack featuring hundreds of levels for Doom and Doom II.[48] D!Zone was reviewed in Dragon by Jay & Dee; Jay gave the pack 1 out of 5 stars, while Dee gave the pack 1½ stars.[48]
Reception [ edit ]
Within hours of Doom's release, university networks were banning Doom multiplayer games, as a rush of players overwhelmed their systems.[29] After being alerted by network administrators the morning after release that the game's deathmatch network connection setup was crippling some computer networks, John Carmack quickly released a patch to change it, though many administrators had to implement Doom-specific rules to keep their networks from crashing due to the overwhelming traffic.[76] The game became a major problem at workplaces, both occupying the time of employees and clogging computer networks. Intel,[77] Lotus Development, and Carnegie Mellon University were among many organizations reported to form policies specifically disallowing Doom-playing during work hours. At the Microsoft campus, Doom was by one account equal to a "religious phenomenon".[6] Doom was #1 on Computer Gaming World's "Playing Lately?" survey for February 1994. One reader said that "No other game even compares to the addictiveness of NetDoom with four devious players!... The only game I've stayed up 72+ straight hours to play", while another reported that "Linking four people together for a game of Doom is the quickest way to destroy a productive, boring evening of work".[78]
Doom To promote Windows 95 Bill Gates, aware of the video game's popularity, showcased a video presentation while digitally superimposed into
In late 1995, Doom was estimated to be installed on more computers worldwide than Microsoft's new operating system Windows 95, despite million-dollar advertising campaigns for Windows 95.[79] The game's popularity caused Microsoft to hire id Software to port Doom to Windows with the WinG API,[80] and Bill Gates briefly consider buying the company.[6] Microsoft developed a Windows 95 port of Doom to promote the operating system as a gaming platform. The development team in this effort was led by then-employee Gabe Newell.[79] One Windows 95 promotional video had Bill Gates digitally superimposed into the game.[81]
Although Petersen said that it was "nothing more than the computer equivalent of Whack-A-Mole",[82] Doom received critical acclaim and was widely praised in the gaming press, broadly considered to be one of the most important and influential titles in gaming history. Upon release, GamesMaster gave it a 90% rating.[60] Dragon gave it five stars, praising the improvements over Wolfenstein 3D, the "fast-moving arcade shoot 'em up" gameplay, and network play.[58] A common criticism of Doom was that it was not a true 3D game, since the game engine did not allow corridors and rooms to be stacked on top of one another (room-over-room), and instead relied on graphical trickery to make it appear that the player character and enemies were moving along differing elevations.[83]
Computer Gaming World stated in February 1994 that Wolfenstein 3D fans should "look forward to a delight of insomnia", and "Since networking is supported, bring along a friend to share in the visceral delights".[84] A longer review in March 1994 said that Doom "was worth the wait... a wonderfully involved and engaging game", and its technology "a new benchmark" for the gaming industry. The reviewer praised the "simply dazzling" graphics", and reported that "DeathMatches may be the most intense gaming experience available today". While criticizing the "ho-hum endgame" with a too-easy end boss, he concluded that "DOOM is a virtuoso performance".[85] Edge gave it a 7/10 rating, criticizing the "fairly simple 3D perspective maze adventure/shoot 'em up" gameplay but praising the graphics and levels.[59]
In 1994, PC Gamer UK named Doom the third best computer game of all time. The editors wrote, "Although it's only been around for a couple of months, Doom has already done more to establish the PC's arcade clout than any other title in gaming history."[75] In 1994 Computer Gaming World named Doom Game of the Year.[63]
In 1995, Next Generation said it was "The most talked about PC game ever – and with good reason. Running on a 486 machine (essential for maximum effect), Doom took PC graphics to a totally new level of speed, detail, and realism, and provided a genuinely scary degree of immersion in the gameworld."[86]
In 1996 Computer Gaming World ranked it as the fifth best video game of all time,[64] and the third most-innovative game.[65]
In 1998, PC Gamer declared it the 34th-best computer game ever released, and the editors called it "Probably the most imitated game of all time, Doom continued what Wolfenstein 3D began and elevated the fledgling 3D-shooter genre to blockbuster status".[87]
In 2001, Doom was voted the number one game of all time in a poll among over 100 game developers and journalists conducted by GameSpy.[66]
In 2003, IGN ranked it as the 44th top video game of all time and also called it "the breakthrough game of 1993", adding: "Its arsenal of powerful guns (namely the shotgun and BFG), intense level of gore and perfect balance of adrenaline-soaked action and exploration kept this gamer riveted for years."[67] PC Gamer proclaimed Doom the most influential game of all time in its ten-year anniversary issue in April 2004.
In 2004, readers of Retro Gamer voted Doom as the ninth top retro game, with the editors commenting: "Only a handful of games can claim that they've changed the gaming world, and Doom is perhaps the most qualified of them all."[88] In 2005, IGN ranked it as the 39th top game.[68]
On March 12, 2007, The New York Times reported that Doom was named to a list of the ten most important video games of all time, the so called game canon.[89] The Library of Congress took up this video game preservation proposal and began with the games from this list.[70][90]
In 2009, GameTrailers ranked Doom as number one "breakthrough PC game".[71] That year Game Informer put Doom sixth on the magazine's list of the games of all time, stating that it gave "the genre the kick start it needed to rule the gaming landscape two decades later."[72] Game Informer staff also put it sixth on their 2001 list of the 100 best games ever.[91] IGN included Doom at 2nd place in the Top 100 Video Game Shooters of all Time, just behind Half-Life, citing the game's "feel of running and gunning", memorable weapons and enemies, pure and simple fun and its spreading on nearly every gaming platform in existence.[69]
In 2012, Time named it one of the 100 greatest video games of all time as "it established the look and feel of later shooters as surely as Xerox PARC established the rules of the virtual desktop," adding that "its impact also owes a lot to the gonzo horror sensibility of its designers, including John Romero, who showed a bracing lack of restraint in their deployment of gore and Satanic iconography."[73] Including Doom on the list of the greatest games of all time, GameSpot wrote that "despite its numerous appearances in other formats and on other media, longtime fans will forever remember the original 1993 release of Doom as the beginning of a true revolution in action gaming."[74]
The game was ported to numerous console gaming platforms both domestically and abroad where it maintained its popularity, receiving generally favorable critical reception.[92][50][51]
Commercial and spreading performance [ edit ]
With the release of Doom, id Software, quickly found itself making $100,000 daily.[93] Sandy Petersen later remarked that the game "sold a couple of hundred thousand copies during its first year or so", as piracy kept its initial sales from rising higher.[94] Experts estimate that the game sold approximately 2-3 million physical copies from its release through 1999.[4][93] According to PC Data, which tracked sales in the United States, the Doom shareware edition sold 1.15 million copies by September 1999. The Ultimate Doom SKU reached sales of 787,397 units by that date. At the time, PC Data ranked them as the country's eighth- and 20th-best-selling computer games since January 1993.[95] In addition to its sales, the game's status as shareware dramatically increased its market penetration. PC Zone's David McCandless wrote that the game was played by "an estimated six million people across the globe",[94] while other sources estimate that 10–20 million people played Doom within 24 months of its launch.[96]
Controversies [ edit ]
Doom's high level of graphic violence made the game highly controversial. This screenshot shows the effects of a rocket hitting a group of enemies. high level of graphic violence made the game highly controversial. This screenshot shows the effects of a rocket hitting a group of enemies.
Doom was notorious for its high levels of graphic violence[97] and satanic imagery, which generated controversy from a broad range of groups. Doom for the Genesis 32X was among one of the first video games to be given an M for Mature rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board due to its violent gore and nature.[98] Yahoo! Games listed it as one of the top ten most controversial games of all time.[99] It was criticized by religious organizations for its diabolic undertones and was dubbed a "mass murder simulator" by critic and Killology Research Group founder David Grossman.[100] Doom prompted fears that the then-emerging virtual reality technology could be used to simulate extremely realistic killing.
The game again sparked controversy throughout a period of school shootings in the United States when it was found that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who committed the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999, were avid players of the game. While planning for the massacre, Harris said in his journal that the killing would be "like playing Doom", and "it'll be like the LA riots, the Oklahoma bombing, World War II, Vietnam, Duke Nukem and Doom all mixed together", and that his shotgun was "straight out of the game".[101] A rumor spread afterwards that Harris had designed a Doom level that looked like the high school, populated with representations of Harris's classmates and teachers, and that Harris practiced for his role in the shootings by playing the level over and over. Although Harris did design Doom levels, which later became known as the 'Harris levels', none have been found to be based on Columbine High School.
In the release versions before 1.2-1.4, the game has been banned in Germany due to a swastika in E1M4. The ban was lifted after id Software changed the Swastika, and said that "it was the homage of Wolfenstein 3D".[citation needed]
Legacy [ edit ]
Doom franchise [ edit ]
Doom has appeared in several forms in addition to video games, including a Doom comic book, four novels by Dafydd Ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver (loosely based on events and locations in the games), a Doom board game and a live-action film starring Karl Urban and The Rock released in 2005. The game's development and impact on popular culture is also the subject of the book Masters of Doom by David Kushner.
The Doom series remained dormant between 1997 and 2000, when Doom 3 would finally be announced. A retelling of the original Doom using entirely new graphics technology and a slower pace survival horror approach, Doom 3 was hyped to provide as large a leap in realism and interactivity as the original game and helped renew interest in the franchise when it was released in 2004, under the id Tech 4 game engine.
The series would again remain dormant for 10 years until a remake, simply titled Doom and running on the new id Tech 6, was announced with a beta access to players that had pre-ordered Wolfenstein: The New Order. The game held its closed alpha multiplayer testing in October 2015, as closed and open beta access ran during March to April 2016. Returning to the series' roots in fast paced action and minimal storytelling, the full game eventually released worldwide on May 13, 2016. The project initially started as Doom 4 in May 2008, set to be a remake of Doom II: Hell on Earth and ditching the survival horror aspect of Doom 3. Development completely restarted as id's Tim Willits remarked that Doom 4 was "lacking the personality of the long-running shooter franchise".[102]
Cl |
" Instagram account to be flagged and said he "hopes to return" next season:
@drayblatche I need everyone to flag that page I love bk hope to return next year — andray blatche (@drayblatche) June 29, 2014
Was that you behind this, Masai Ujiri?The Westminster sexual harassment scandal will not inflict as much damage as the expenses scandal because fewer people will be caught up in it, John Bercow has predicted.
The Speaker of the House of Commons said he did not think the “sheer numbers” would be anywhere near as great as in the 2009 scandal.
It follows a tumultuous eight days in Westminster in which Defence Secretary Michael Fallon resigned over his past behaviour.
Several of Mrs May's Tory colleagues are currently under investigation over allegations of improper behaviour, including Cabinet ally Damian Green and Trade minister Mark Garnier.
Another Tory MP, Chris Pincher, stepped down as a government whip and referred himself to the police over claims in a newspaper that he made a pass at a party activist in 2001.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is also under pressure over why Kelvin Hopkins was promoted to the front bench despite being reprimanded by party whips over claims he acted inappropriately towards an activist.
And the party is investigating activist Bex Bailey's allegation that she was raped at a party event in 2011 and then discouraged from reporting the attack by a party official.
Following these allegations, Mrs May and other political party leaders have agreed a new grievance procedure, along with new face-to-face human resources support for parliamentary staff - an upgrade on the phone service that is currently available.
Mr Bercow said last night he believes the handling of the crisis "might and probably will limit, not remove, not render insignificant, but limit the damage".
He told an audience at Queen Mary University: "I think that we will get to grips with it by acting speedily and effectively, both to ensure that people who are suspected of wrongdoing are investigated and, in particular, to ensure that a complaints mechanism is established which is characterised above all by independence."
He added: "I am not diminishing the significance of this. It is a real and big challenge, but I think almost learning from past scandals will help us react to and deal with it better.
Small business minister Margot James said recently the growing list of allegations against MPs were on a par with the expenses scandal.
The former whip said: “I think that some of the behaviour that is reported, that I have no reason to disbelieve, is as bad.This page includes various chemicals, herbs, salves, balms, oils, and other substances which require special preparation before use (such as use of a Craft (alchemy) skill check.)
Alchemical Concoctions
Some alchemical creations are less stable than others. Concoctions are notorious for their side effects and for their dangerous unpredictability when mixed together. See the concoctions here!
Tinctures
Tinctures are alchemical remedies consisting of reagents dissolved in an alcoholic solution. These mixtures produce potent effects beyond those of an ordinary alchemical concoction, but the increased benefits are not without cost. In addition to requiring more expensive components, tinctures tend to cause harmful effects upon being imbibed. See the tinctures here!
Alchemical Power Components
Source PZO9410
An alchemical power component is an alchemical item used as a material component or focus for a spell in order to alter or augment the spell’s normal effects. What follows is a sample of these effects using this item as a component; your GM may allow other combinations.
Spells followed by an (M) expend the alchemical item as a material component
expend the alchemical item as a material component Spells followed by an (F) use the item as a focus and do not expend it
In both cases, the alchemical item does not have its normal effect and does not affect any other parameters of the spell. You cannot use the same item as both a focus and a material component at the same time.
Alchemical Reagents as Alchemical Power Components
Source PZO9445
Alchemical reagents may also be used as an alchemical power component, augmenting the effects of certain spells when used as an additional material component. Using a reagent as an alchemical power component requires a number of doses of the reagent, affects only spells that meet the listed criteria, and augments only an effect the spell already produces (for example, you can use black powder as an alchemical power component only for a spell that deals energy damage). Reagents do not stack with either themselves or one another, and are expended after use.
Splash Weapons
Many alchemical items are often thrown or hurled and then break to make “splash” attacks.
To Make a ranged attack against an unoccupied grid intersection (AC 5 plus range penalties.)
You Hit: Creatures in all adjacent squares are dealt splash damage. No creatures take direct hit damage.
You Miss: First, roll 1d8 to determine the misdirection of the throw.
1 – Falls short (straight line towards the thrower.) 2 through 8 – Count around the target creature or grid intersection in a clockwise direction.
Then, count a number of squares in the indicated direction equal to the number of range increments thrown. The thrown object lands that number of spaces away from the target.
Finally, the item deals splash damage (if any) to all creatures in the square it lands in and in all adjacent squares.
Alchemical Items
Characters with skill ranks in Craft (alchemy) can create some of these items, and they are usually available in the same places where you can buy alchemical items. Items with a DC listed in the Craft DC column use the Craft (alchemy) skill to create.
Oils and Flammables
Essence of Night
Source PRG:TWoVHD
Price 150 gp; Weight —
Drinking the cold, oily draught in this vial suppresses the effects of the light sensitivity racial trait for 10 minutes. Additionally, 1 sunlight syndrome point is removed, if the drinker has any. Essence of night can remove only 1 sunlight syndrome point per day, no matter how many flasks a character might drink.
Essence of night is an alchemical item with a Craft DC of 25.
Oil, Alchemist’s Fire
Source PZO1110
You can throw a flask of alchemist’s fire as a splash weapon with a range increment of 10 feet.
A direct hit deals 1d6 points of fire damage. Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the flask hits takes 1 point of fire damage from the splash. On the round following a direct hit, the target takes an additional 1d6 points of damage. If desired, the target can use a full-round action to attempt to extinguish the flames before taking this additional damage. Extinguishing the flames requires a DC 15 Reflex save. Rolling on the ground provides the target a +2 bonus on the save. Leaping into a lake or magically extinguishing the flames automatically smothers the fire.
Craft(alchemy) DC: 20
Alchemical Power Component
Source PZO9410
This dwarven favorite can make fire spells last longer.
Oil, Anointing
Source PZO1121
This sacred oil, infused with aromatic spices and distilled holy water, may be applied to a creature while casting a harmless divine spell with a range of touch, increasing the casting time to a full-round action but also increasing the caster’s effective caster level by +1 for that spell.
Oil, Kerosine
Source PZO9410
Also known as firebreather’s oil, this bitter liquid is harder to ignite than common oil but burns quickly at a low temperature, making it ideal for exotic performers. You may spit a mouthful of kerosine past an open flame (such as a candle, tindertwig, or torch) to ignite it, creating a brief burst of fire. If you use it to attack, the attack is a ranged touch attack with a maximum range of 5 feet that deals 1d3 points of fire damage. If you roll a 1 on your attack roll, you accidentally inhale or swallow some of the burning fuel; you take 1d6 points of fire damage and are nauseated for 1 round. A bottle of kerosine holds enough for 10 mouthfuls; taking a mouthful from the bottle is a standard action (the Rapid Reload feat reduces this to a move action).
Create: Craft (alchemy) DC 15
Oil, Quick Freeze
Source PZO9430
Price 50 gp; Weight 1 lb.
This bottle of viscous blue oil sublimates slightly when exposed to air. When poured over water, the oil pools on the surface and takes 1 round to spread out from the point of origin in a 20-foot radius. At the end of this round, the oil flash-freezes the surface of the water, creating an ice sheet over the affected area. Any 5-foot square of this ice can support up to 200 pounds of weight. Weight in excess of this amount causes the entire sheet to crack and quickly break up. This ice sheet becomes unstable and breaks up on its own after 1 hour, or 20 minutes in a hot climate. Any creature whose bare skin comes in contact with this oil takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage each round because of the chemical’s volatile nature, but the oil is ineffective as a splash weapon.
Oil, Lamp
Source PZO1110
A pint of lamp oil burns for 6 hours in a common lantern or lamp. You can also use a flask of lamp oil as a splash weapon. Use the rules for alchemist’s fire, except that it takes a full-round action to prepare a flask with a fuse. Once it is thrown, there is a 50% chance of the flask igniting successfully.
You can pour a pint of oil on the ground to cover an area 5 feet square, provided that the surface is smooth. If lit, the oil burns for 2 rounds and deals 1d3 points of fire damage to each creature in the area.
Oil, Stalkers
Source PZO9487E
Price 50 gp; Weight —
This is a clear, viscous liquid that is typically kept in a frosted glass vial with an unassuming label and cork. The oil is used to reduce the sound armor and weapons make while moving.
Applying this oil to a single piece of equipment takes 1 minute and grants the wearer a +2 circumstance bonus on Stealth checks for 30 minutes. A vial of this oil is enough to coat one Medium piece of equipment, while a Large piece of equipment requires 4 vials. Two pieces of Small equipment can be covered with a single vial of oil. Exposure to or submersion in large amounts of water, such as swimming, immediately ends the effect of the oil.
Oil, Stink
Source PPZO9410
Price 15 gp; Weight 1 lb.
This glass container of foul-smelling oil shatters easily upon impact. You can throw a vial of stink oil as a splash weapon with a range increment of 10 feet. If a creature with the scent ability is standing in the square of impact, it must succeed at a DC 14 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1d4+1 rounds. Any creature with scent in an adjacent square must succeed at a DC 12 Fortitude save or be sickened for 1 round. Creatures without the scent ability are not affected by stink oil.
Oil, Wing
Source PZO1121
Tengus mix special salves to protect their feathers from the elements. This one-ounce vial of wing oil gives a feathered creature a +1 bonus on all saving throws to resist the effects of cold weather. Its effects last 24 hours.
Tools, Devices and Kits
Alchemist’s Lab
Source PZO1110
This lab is used for making alchemical items, and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks. It has no bearing on the costs related to the Craft (alchemy) skill. Without this lab, a character with the Craft (alchemy) skill is assumed to have enough tools to use the skill but not enough to get the +2 bonus that the lab provides.
Alchemist’s Lab, Portable
Source PZO9410
This compact version of a full-sized alchemist’s lab provides a +1 circumstance bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks.
Artificer’s Lab, Portable
Source PZO1121
The portable artificer’s lab contains everything needed to create magic items, though many of the tools and implements are of only the most basic type. This lab allows the artificer to spend 4 hours crafting each night while out adventuring, and net 3 hours’ worth of work (instead of 2). However, because the tools are all designed to fulfill multiple functions and the portable lab lacks the space and quiet that provide ideal circumstances for creating magic items, the skill check to complete a magic item that had any of its work done using a portable lab takes a –5 penalty.
Bomb Launcher
Source PZO1121
These odd looking, egg-shaped contraptions have cleverly placed fins that improve bombs’ accuracy. Goblin alchemists use these special containers to make their bombs more accurate when thrown long distances. Using a bomb launcher when throwing a bomb increases the bomb’s range increment to 30 feet (or increases the range increment of a bomb with the rocket bomb discovery to 70 feet). Bomb launchers are destroyed when used.
Buoyant Balloon
Price 10 gp; Weight 1 lb.
This fist-sized alchemically treated animal bladder is tightly sealed around a small wooden grip. By giving the handle a sharp twist you break a tiny glass ampoule just inside the bladder, filling the bag with buoyant gas and causing it to swell into a 3-foot-diameter sphere. Inflating the balloon is a move action. Once filled, the balloon floats upward at a speed of 60 feet per round. The balloon can lift up to 20 pounds of weight as it rises, though carrying more than 10 pounds reduces its speed to 30 feet per round. Multiple balloons attached to a single object add their carrying capacities together when determining how much weight they can lift. If a balloon is not held or bound in place in some manner, it continues to rise until it reaches a height of 600 feet, or until 10 minutes have passed, after which it pops or deflates and is destroyed.
Candlerod
Price 1 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Similar to but weaker than a sunrod, this stick glows like a candle when struck and lasts for 12 hours.
Light Detector
Price 1 gp; Weight —
This hand-sized metal plate is covered with a thin layer of light-sensitive transparent paste. If exposed to light, the paste darkens and becomes opaque, depending on the amount of light. Bright light causes it to fully darken in 1 round, normal light in 3 rounds, and dim light in 10 rounds. It is mainly used by creatures with darkvision to determine whether creatures carrying light have recently passed through an area. The plate is sold wrapped in a thick black cloth to prevent accidental light exposure from ruining the plate.
Pox Burster
Source PZO1121
A pox burster is an alchemically preserved animal bladder or gourd that has been filled with toxic, rotting materials. You can throw a pox burster as a splash weapon. Treat this attack as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet. A direct hit forces a target to immediately make a DC 13 Fortitude save or contract filth fever. Every space adjacent to the target square of the pox burster is covered in disease-causing filth. For the next minute, any creature that is injured while in one of these spaces must also make a DC 9 Fortitude save or contract filth fever.
Sunrod
Price 2 gp; Weight 1 lb.
This 1-foot-long, gold-tipped iron rod glows brightly when struck (a standard action). It sheds normal light in a 30-foot radius and increases the light level by one step for an additional 30 feet beyond that area (darkness becomes dim light and dim light becomes normal light). A sunrod does not increase the light level in normal light or bright light. It glows for 6 hours, after which the gold tip is burned out and worthless.
Thurible
Source PZO9410
When filled with coal and common herbs worth 2 sp, this miniature brazier fills an area 30 feet in diameter with light smoke for 1 hour. Any creature in the area of this smoke gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Fortitude saves to resist inhaled diseases.
Water Purification Sponge
Price 25 gp; Weight 1 lb.
This fist-sized blue sponge absorbs up to 1 pint of water; squeezing the water out of the sponge filters and purifies it, making it safe for drinking, washing, and similar activities. Filling and emptying the sponge is a full-round action. The filtration is enough to remove mundane impurities and common diseases, but does nothing to protect against poisons, magic, and other exotic threats. Each sponge can cleanse 25 pints of water before deteriorating and becoming useless.
Medicines and Tonics
All of the items in this section are meant to be ingested or applied to a wound.
Antiplague
Source PZO1115
If you drink a vial of this foul-tasting, milky tonic, you gain a +5 alchemical bonus on Fortitude saving throws against disease for the next hour. If already infected, you may also make two saving throws (without the +5 bonus) that day and use the better result.
Create: Craft (alchemy) DC 25
Alchemical Power Component
Source PZO9410
Certain healing spells have greater effects when used with antiplague.
Heroes’ Feast (M): For each vial of antiplague used as a power component, one creature eating the feast gains the benefits of antiplague for 12 hours. Antiplague’s normally foul taste does not change the taste of the feast.
(M): For each vial of antiplague used as a power component, one creature eating the feast gains the benefits of antiplague for 12 hours. Antiplague’s normally foul taste does not change the taste of the feast. Remove Disease (M): Add +2 on your caster level check to cure diseases on the target.
Antitoxin
Source PZO1110
If you drink a vial of antitoxin, you get a +5 alchemical bonus on Fortitude saving throws against poison for 1 hour.
Alchemical Power Component
Source PZO9410
Like antiplague, antitoxin can augment certain healing spells.
Neutralize Poison (M): Add +2 on your caster level check to neutralize poison on a target creature. Antitoxin has no effect when you cast the spell on an object.
Bloodblock
Price 25 gp; Weight —
This gooey, pinkish substance helps treat wounds. Using a dose gives you a +5 alchemical bonus on Heal checks for providing first aid, treating wounds made by caltrops or similar objects, or treating deadly wounds. A dose of bloodblock ends a bleed effect as if you had made a DC 15 Heal check. When treating deadly wounds, using a dose of bloodblock counts as one use of a healer’s kit (and grants the +5 bonus stated above).
Create: Craft (alchemy) DC 25
Bodybalm
Source PZO9410
When this pungent yellow powder is boiled in water and given to a creature to drink, it provides the attending healer a +5 alchemical bonus on Heal checks for providing long-term care, treating poison, and treating disease.
Create: Craft (alchemy) DC 25
Clear Ear
Source PZO9410
This green gel is poured into the user’s ear and takes effect 2 hours later, enhancing senses and memory but increasing irritability. For 6 hours, the user gains a +2 alchemical bonus on Perception and Knowledge checks and a –2 penalty on all Charisma-based checks.
Healy Myrrh
Source PZO9406
When you burn this powerful resin, it fills 8,000 cubic feet with faint smoke that persists for 8 full hours. Any creatures resting or receiving long-term care in the area while the healy myrrh is active regain 1 additional hit point per level. Multiple uses of healy myrrh in a 24-hour period do not stack.
Create: Craft (alchemy) 5 ranks, Heal 5 ranks; Cost 25 gp
Mellowroot
Source PZO1121
Sneaky goblin chieftains give this orange paste to the tribe’s warriors before proposing a particularly bold raid. Consuming mellowroot causes a euphoric feeling that makes you feel invulnerable. For 1 hour after consuming mellowroot, you gain a +5 alchemical bonus versus fear effects. However, while under the effects of mellowroot, you must make a DC 15 Will saving throw when you try to leave the threatened area of an opponent. If you fail the saving throw, you cannot leave the threatened area with that action but do not lose the action.
Smelling Salts
Source PZO1115
These sharply scented gray crystals cause people inhaling them to regain consciousness. Smelling salts grant you a new saving throw to resist any spell or effect that has already rendered you unconscious or staggered. If exposed to smelling salts while dying, you immediately become conscious and staggered, but must still make stabilization checks each round; if you perform any standard action (or any other strenuous action) you take 1 point of damage after completing the act and fall unconscious again. A container of smelling salts has dozens of uses if stoppered after each use, but depletes in a matter of hours if left opened.
Create: Craft (alchemy) DC 20
Soothe Syrup
Source PZO1115
This sweet and wholesome-tasting blue liquid creates a sense of warmth and comfort. Soothe syrup coats your stomach and makes it much more difficult for you to succumb to queasiness. For 1 hour after drinking soothe syrup you gain a +5 alchemical bonus on saving throws made to resist effects that would make you nauseated or sickened.
Create: Craft (alchemy) DC 15
Stillgut
Source PZO1121
Drinking a vial of this bland, bluish liquid grants you a +5 alchemical bonus on Fortitude saves to avoid nausea or sickness for 1 hour. If you are already nauseated, you can drink stillgut as a move action. Drinking it in this fashion grants you a second saving throw (without the +5 bonus). Goblins often use stillgut so they can choke down meat or other foods in stages of rot or decay.
Soul Stimulant
Price 300 gp; Weight —
This soothing elixir was created to counter the energy-draining effects of vampires, wights, and similar horrible creatures. If you have a negative level (whether temporary or permanent), you can drink a dose of soul stimulant, negating the negative level’s penalty for 12 hours. You can only benefit from 1 dose of soul stimulant at a time, though you can continue to take a dose every 12 hours to stave off the negative level’s effects.
Troll Oil
Price 50 gp; Weight 1 lb.
This crimson liquid is viscous and tastes foul. If you drink it, for the next hour you automatically stabilize when reduced to negative hit points (unless the damage is sufficient to instantly kill you) and have a 50% chance each round to end any bleed effect on you. If you take fire or acid damage, the benefits of troll oil are suspended for 1 round.
Troll Styptic
Source PZO9211
A witch’s brew of troll blood, powdered plant extracts, and alchemical binders, troll styptic is intended as a field treatment for wounds and bleeding, particularly where magical healing is not available. This powder is stored in small packets, and when applied directly to wounds grants a living creature fast healing 2 for 2d4 rounds, as well as closing any open wounds the subject has or receives while the styptic is active, preventing ongoing damage from bleeding. This is a painful cure and requires the target to make a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid being sickened for the duration of the fast healing.
Create: Craft (alchemy) DC 25
Unguent of Revivification
The preservation of dead flesh is important in undead-friendly cultures. In such places this alchemical ointment is commonly used as a cheaper alternative to gentle repose to give their undead flesh the blush of life. A single dose staves off the decomposition of dead flesh for 1d6 days. It cannot reverse decay that is already present and has no effect on the time limit for raising creatures from the dead.
Woundweal
Source PZO9410
This gritty black paste is a poison that interferes with an afflicted creature’s ability to recover from injuries. All Heal checks applied to the creature suffer a –10 penalty. In addition, anyone using magical healing on the target must make a DC 25 caster level check to succeed.
Type poison, injury; Save Fortitude DC 18 Onset 1 round; Frequency 1/day Effect impaired healing (see above); Cure 2 consecutive saves
Herbs and Plants
Herbs and useful plants and fungi abound in most wilderness regions, and while these valuable plants can be obtained in special markets or shops, the skilled herbalist knows where to go to gather these resources by hand in the wild.
Gathering Herbs: Gathering herbs is similar to foraging and can be accomplished while you are traveling or as your sole activity during an 8-hour period. If you gather herbs while traveling, your overland speed is halved. Spending 8 hours doing nothing but gathering herbs from the area grants 1 additional yield of each herb you’re gathering.
When you start your day of herb gathering, you must declare which herb you are looking for. If you have 5 ranks of Profession (herbalist), you can search for two different types of herbs at once, and for each additional 5 ranks you have in this skill, you can search for one additional herb, to a maximum of 5 herbs at once if you have 20 ranks in Profession (herbalist).
Each herb listed below has a gather DC. At the end of the time spent gathering, attempt a Profession (herbalist) or Knowledge (nature) check against each herb’s gather DC. If the terrain you are searching in is one of your favored terrains, you can attempt a Survival check instead. If the herb in question is present in the region you searched (this is always subject to the GM’s discretion), success results in a single yield of that herb. Success by 5 or more grants 1 extra yield. Success by 10 or more grants 2 extra yields.
A single yield of herb weighs 1/10 of a pound unless otherwise noted in its yield section in the stats below.
In addition to determining whether a particular herb is available to gather in a region, the GM also determines how many attempts to gather that herb can be attempted in the region. Typically, a region can support 1d4 herb-gathering expeditions before the herbs must be given 2d6 months to regrow.
Preparing Herbs: Most herbs must be prepared to unlock their potency. If this is the case for an herb, its stat block describes the method required to process it, the Craft (alchemy) DC to accomplish this task, and the amount of time needed to do so. A Profession (herbalist) check can be conducted instead of a Craft (alchemy), but the DC of the check to prepare the herb increases by 5 in this case. If the preparer fails this check by 5 or more, the dose of the herb is ruined; if she fails by less, she can try again with the same herbs.
Preparing Multiple Herbs: An herbalist can normally prepare one type of herb per day, but she can prepare a number of doses of that single type of herb equal to her ranks in Profession (herbalist). An herbalist with 7 or more ranks in Profession (herbalist) can simultaneously prepare a second type of herb. At 14 ranks in Profession (herbalist), the character can prepare up to three types of herbs at the same time.
Herb Lifespan: A raw, unprepared herb spoils 24 hours after it is harvested. A prepared herb spoils after 1 month unless otherwise noted in its Use entry.
The herbs presented below are intended to represent a wide range of helpful plants; you can use these as examples for the creation of new herbs. Each herb is presented in its own stat block.
The first line of the block presents the name and the price the herb is sold for in markets and herbalist shops. This is followed by a brief description of the herb’s appearance.
The next entry provides the DC of the Profession (herbalist) check to find and gather the herb with a day’s worth of work. This is followed by the yield—the base number of doses that can be gathered each day. Extra yields can be gained with greater success on a gathering roll or by taking an entire day to do nothing but gather herbs.
After that, the block provides the terrain the herb appears in. This is followed by information about how the herb must be prepared in order for it to be used. Finally, the use for the prepared herb is detailed at the end of the stat block. Applying, eating, or using a prepared herb typically requires a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, unless otherwise specified in the description.
Allnight
Source PZO9410
This treated wafer dissolves into a chalky paste when placed under the tongue and then gives the imbiber a jolt of restless energy. It eliminates the effects of fatigue for the next 8 hours; when the drug’s effect ends, the user is exhausted. Allnight makes its users jittery and unable to focus; they suffer a –2 penalty on all skill checks until its effects wear off.
Angelstep
Source PZO1140
Price 25 gp
This iridescent white shelf fungus is said to have first grown from the footsteps of an angel, though some claim it instead comes from the footsteps of a djinni.
Gather DC 18; Yield 1 dose
Terrain temperate or warm deserts
Preparation A dose of angelstep can be used raw or processed into a pigment that can be worn on the skin. Processing a dose of the pigment takes 4 hours and requires a successful DC 15 Craft (alchemy) check. Angelstep pigment costs twice as much as the raw fungus.
Use As part of an attempt to stabilize a dying creature, a dose of raw angelstep can be rubbed on the creature to grant a +4 bonus on the Heal check to stabilize the creature. A dose of angelstep pigment applied to the skin of a Medium or smaller creature helps to protect that creature against death for 2d4 hours. The next time the wearer of angelstep pigment drops to negative hit points, it gains a +4 alchemical bonus on its next 1d6 Constitution checks to stabilize. The pigment loses its effect once all these checks are attempted or once the victim is stabilized.
Barbarian Chew
Source PZO9410
This bitter red chew comes from dried leaves of a stunted bush found in northern climates. It stains the teeth dark crimson but also increases the duration of barbarian rage entered into during the next hour by 1 round.
Belladonna
Source PZO9410
Also known as deadly nightshade, this plant, with its distinctive greenish-purple leaves and dull black berries, has served as a cosmetic and medicine for longer than memory despite its toxicity. It can also induce vivid but usually unpleasant hallucinations, particularly ones dealing with flight. Herbalists and others trained to use it safely believe it has numerous applications, including pain relief.
Black Amaranth
Source PZO1140
Price 100 gp
Black amaranth grows in small clusters from the remains of the dead.
Gather DC 18; Yield 1 dose
Terrain temperate or warm forests or plains
Preparation The amaranth’s flowers and stalks must be carefully ground into paste. This requires a successful DC 12 Craft (alchemy) check and 1 hour of work.
Use A dose of black amaranth paste can be applied to a dead body to slow decay. One dose used on a Tiny or smaller creature delays the onset of decay for 3 days (as per gentle repose). Two doses are needed for Small creatures, 3 for Medium creatures, 6 for Large creatures, 12 for Huge creatures, 24 for Gargantuan creatures, and 48 for Colossal creatures. Each dose applied requires a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity.
Bloody Mandrake
Source PZO1140
Price 15 gp
Bloody mandrakes grow from the corpses of intelligent creatures who had supernatural powers in life. This plant’s unsettlingly humanoid-shaped tuber-like roots increase fertility and vitality. Gather DC 20; Yield 1d4 doses
Terrain any plains or swamps
Preparation A bloody mandrake must be pulped so that its sticky red sap can be gathered, skimmed, and then refined into an even stickier paste; this process requires a successful DC 15 Craft (alchemy) check and 1d4 hours of work per yield.
Use One dose of bloody mandrake paste smeared on the lips (this is a free action) during spellcasting can be used as an additional material component when casting spells that remove afflictions and conditions or that provide a morale bonus. Doing so grants a +1 bonus to the spell’s effective caster level.
Bone Reed
Source PZO1140
Price 75 gp
This aquatic grass resembles translucent white horsetail.
Gather DC 24; Yield 1 dose
Terrain any swamps
Preparation A bone reed must be pressed and dried. This process requires a successful DC 10 Craft (alchemy) check and takes 8 hours to complete.
Use A creature that sleeps for at least 8 hours in 1 day with a bone reed bound to one of its arms or legs heals double the normal ability damage and hit point damage (or triple with full bed rest). A bone reed loses its effectiveness after use. Binding a bone reed to a limb requires 1 minute of work.
Cloud Puff
Source PZO1140
Price 100 gp
The spores of this odorous pale-gray fungus cause a euphoric light-headedness.
Gather DC 18; Yield 1 dose
Terrain any mountains
Preparation After soaking in salt water for 1 hour, a cloud puff must be dried in a delicate process that requires it to be turned three times per hour for 4 hours. This requires a successful DC 12 Craft (alchemy) check.
Use By crushing a dried cloud puff and inhaling the spores, a creature becomes light-headed and its mind grows resistant to outside influences. For the next hour, the creature gains a +2 alchemical bonus on saving throws against mind-affecting effects but takes a –2 penalty on Wisdom-based skill checks.
Dragon Rose
Source PZO1140
Price 25 gp
The vivid and thorny dragon rose is admired for its hardiness but is difficult to cultivate.
Gather DC 18; Yield 1 dose
Terrain any forests or mountains
Preparation The petals of a dragon rose must be delicately removed from the stem and then soaked in a mixture brewed from the flower stalk’s sap for 2 hours; this requires a successful DC 15 Craft (alchemy) check.
Use A dose of prepared dragon rose petals crushed in the hand and then smeared on a weapon (this is a standard action) infuses the weapon with a magic aura. For 1 hour, the weapon can bypass DR/magic, although it doesn’t gain any bonus on attack or damage rolls.
Dream Lichen
Source PZO1140
Price 2,000 gp
This multicolored, shimmering lichen grows in places where powerful magical creatures have slept and dreamt.
Gather DC 30; Yield 1 dose
Terrain anywhere the boundaries between the Material Plane and the Dimension of Dreams grow thin
Preparation The fibrous outer layer of the lichen must be gently scrubbed away, exposing the soft interior, which must then be allowed to dry after being sprinkled with various alchemical powders. This requires a successful DC 25 Craft (alchemy) check and 8 hours of work.
Use A creature that sleeps for at least 8 hours with a dose of dream lichen in contact with its body has vivid dreams in which it endures and recovers from a supernatural affliction. Upon waking, the creature can attempt a new saving throw against a single curse or mind-affecting effect from which it is currently suffering. Alternatively, the user automatically succeeds at a saving throw to remove a temporary negative level.
Dreamer’s Star
Source Heroes of the Wild
Price 5 gp; Check Profession (herbalist) DC 13; Weight —; Terrain forests or plains
When the orange petals of this plant are cured and left to steep in hot water, the leaves make a mild, aromatic tea that facilitates restful sleep. When taken before sleeping, this tea grants the drinker the benefits of a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep in only 6 hours. One dose of Dreamer’s star makes enough tea to serve six.
Fairy Cap
Source PZO1140
Price 250 gp
This toadstool’s pale-gray cap is stippled with yellow spots. Its presence often indicates ley lines or fey bowers nearby.
Gather DC 20; Yield 1 dose
Terrain any near ley lines
Preparation A fairy cap must be gently simmered (not boiled) in a mixture of water and other natural ingredients for 1 hour; this requires a successful DC 20 Craft (alchemy) check. At the end of this preparation time, the yellow spots’ color changes to bright orange or dark brown—there’s a 50% chance of either development.
Use When eaten without proper preparation, a fairy cap is mildly poisonous (save Fort DC 13, onset 1 minute, frequency 1/minute for 6 minutes, effect nauseated for 1 minute, cure 1 save), but when properly prepared, it takes on a not-unpleasant tangy flavor. The final color of a properly prepared fairy cap’s spots determines its effect when consumed. A cap with orange spots causes a Large or smaller creature to grow one size category, while one with brown spots causes the eater to shrink one size category. These effects function as per enlarge person or reduce person, except they can affect any Large or smaller living creature; the effects persist for 10 minutes in either case. Whether or not it is prepared, a fairy cap is quite |
the press from recording the briefings with Spicer, banning the use of video or audio to capture the exchanges between the press and the administration.
Acosta pointed out that Spicer is “just kind of useless” since “he can’t come out and answer the questions” being asked by reporters in the White House press corps.
He described the situation as “bizarre,” pointedly adding, “This just isn’t how we do things in this country, but for whatever reason we’re all going along with it.”
“I don’t know why everyone is going along with this.” @Acosta says maybe reporters should have skipped Spicer gaggle https://t.co/hsOtOJC6a0 — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 19, 2017
ACOSTA: So the White House Press Secretary is getting to a point, Brooke, where he’s just kind of useless. You know, if he can’t come out and answer the questions and they’re just not going to do this on camera or audio, why are we even having these briefings or these gaggles in the first place? BALDWIN: Is he not having conversations with the president about simple questions like climate change? Do you think he just simply doesn’t know? Why isn’t he having those conversations with the president? ACOSTA: It’s a really good question, Brooke, and it’s a question that I would ask, but unfortunately at this White House, we wouldn’t have the video or the audio to show you the answer to that question, because of the stonewalling that we’re getting over here at the White House. That’s the White House behind me. The White House. And it’s just — it’s bizarre, I don’t know what world we’re living in right now, Brooke, where we’re standing at the White House, and they bring us into the briefing ream here at the White House, and they won’t answer these questions on camera, or let us record the audio. I don’t know why everybody is going along with this. It just doesn’t make any sense to me, and it just feels like we’re sort of slowly but surely being dragged into what is a new normal in this country, where the president of the United States is allowed to insulate himself from answering hard questions. He hasn’t had a full-blown press conference since February. He has these two plus two press conferences with a foreign head of state, where maybe he’ll take a question from a conservative news media reporter, and then somebody from the mainstream media. This isn’t how we do things in this country, but for whatever reason we’re all going along with it. I don’t understand why we covered that gaggle today, quite honestly, Brooke. If they can’t give us the questions – the answers to the questions – on camera or where we can report the audio, they’re basically pointless at this point.
Acosta offered an initially amusing take on Twitter, but went on to point out that Spicer took a question from a Russian reporter but not CNN, using the hashtag “#pravda” to criticize the exchange. He also called out the “suppression of information,” declaring that the White House “should have the backbone to answer questions on camera.”
The Spicer off-camera/no audio gaggle has begun. I can't show you a pic of Sean. So here is a look at some new socks I bought over the wknd pic.twitter.com/wO9erspwYa — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017
At off camera no audio briefing, Spicer took a question from a Russian reporter but not from CNN. #pravda — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017
There is a suppression of information going on at this WH that would not be tolerated at a city council mtg or press conf with a state gov. — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017
Call me old fashioned but I think the White House of the United States of America should have the backbone to answer questions on camera. — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 19, 2017
The press has become window-dressing for Trump’s actions, a backdrop for the White House team to use instead of being allowed to operate as a watchdog on democracy. The daily press briefings have already been a farce, and the new ban has made the situation even worse.
It is crucial for members of the media, like Acosta, to push back on this scheme and to demand transparency and honesty for the American people.From The Cutting Room Floor
To do:
In the BATIM Wiki, there's a huge amount of other unused content needed that can be found here: http://bendy-and-the-ink-machine.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Deleted_content
This game is still under active development.
Be aware that any unused content you find may become used or removed in the future. Please only add things to the article that are unlikely to ever be used, or went unused for some time. If they do get used, please remove them from the page and specify in the edit summary!
Bendy and the Ink Machine is a puzzle action episodic horror game taking place in the old studio known for creating old rubberhose, Disney/Fleischer-influenced cartoons.
Always remember what Walt Disney himself says when thinking about bringing beloved toons to reality; "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."
Unused Graphics
While six portraits with different pictures are used in-game (seen from the power room where you have to activate the ink machine after collecting all six items), there are actually two other portraits that went unused. One is splattered with ink, and the other blanked with a long stitch.
An unused menu from the prototype of Chapter 3. It features an unused "Extras" area of the menu, a credits section, and a different font.
There is an unused screenshot in the game files with a multiple save file feature, which is absent in the final game.
Unused Audio
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An unused audio file with Henry saying "I'm getting the hell out of here!", which plays after encountering Bendy while the studio starting to flood. This file has only been heard in Chapter 1's prototype.
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An unused audio file with Henry saying "What the heck was that?". It is unknown how this would have been used.
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All of the Searcher's death moans, supposed to occur when killed. They can be only found in the game files for Chapter 2's first pre-update build. Once Chapter 3 was released the Searchers' models were redesigned, one of their unused death moans was recycled for one of their current death sounds, while two more of their unused audio files were edited and used by the Swollen Searchers.
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Found in the game files for Chapter 4, there are two unused sound files consisting of just loud beeps. Judging by their file names, both sound files are placeholders.
Unused Music
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First introduced for Chapter 2's release, there is a vintage-styled music (titled "You Left Me in a Heartbeat") used for the projector that turns on automatically inside the theater location in Chapter 1. It was also used for replacing the "Hellfire Follies" music in the theater location, which is previously used back in the other location. Upon the release of Chapter 4, the music was ultimately replaced by the cartoonish whistle.
Wandering Sin
This scary easter egg, bearing a sign reading "WANDERING IS A TERRIBLE SIN", is placed on the walls of rooms you can't legitimately get into without using teleport hacks or glitches.CHAPTER 1—A WARRIORS' CHOICE
Something wasn't right. They should have had more opposition by now. When they entered the temple, they encountered only one Priest and the five Warriors guarding him. Iliard Candril cast out his senses to search for more enemy, but found none. The flickering torchlight gleamed dully off the obsidian floor and gray stone walls of the sanctuary, leaving impenetrable shadows in every corner. The temple was clearly active—the bloodstained altar was evidence of that. The Novadi warrior's lip curled up in disgust. The blood basin at the foot of the altar was full and it's obsidian slab was still wet. So where were the Priests?
He sensed the unease of the Priest and Priestess of Asaeria who were with him. The Priestess, a tiny woman with blazing red hair, shifted restlessly. "I don't understand," she said quietly, "There should be at least two more Priests here."
The Priest, a slender man with snow white hair, nodded in a agreement. "You're right Zaira. Priests of Arnitath do not flee their temples not even, no offense Master Iliard, for Novadi such as yourself."
The warrior nodded. "No offense taken Egan."
"This feels like a trap," Zaira said.
Iliard silently agreed, but he couldn't fathom what he was missing. His psychic senses told him that no one was in the building. His instincts clamored that this was not possible. Even if the Priests had fled, along with all of the acolytes and the Warriors who guarded the temple, it was unlikely that they took all the prisoners with them. Victims for Arnitath's altar were distressingly easy to come by. How could the temple be completely devoid of other minds? "Minds," he said aloud. He stopped walking and drew his two long swords. "You were right Zaira," he said quietly. "There's a Mendari here shielding their minds. It's a trap."
Before Iliard could move to teleport his companions to safety, the first blow to his psychic protections came. Black-armored Warriors of Arnitath poured out of doors on either side of the sanctuary. Two Priests emerged from a door behind the altar, one in black robes with white trim, the other in gold robes with red trim. A Director and a Deliverant—both powerful Priests. They were followed by a man in all black robes—the Mendari. The Novadi warrior strengthened his mental defenses and the pressure eased, but his heart sank. Battling against the Mendari meant he would not be able to draw upon the life energy around him to fight the minions of the demon god.
Behind him, Egan roared an imprecation and bright white fire blazed up in the midst of the oncoming fighters. Zaira called up a wind that swirled within the fire, spreading it across the breadth of the sanctuary. Screams erupted from the Warriors caught in the heart of the inferno. Iliard heard one of the Arnitath Priests begin a prayer as several of the Warriors broke through the line of flames and converged on him.
Iliard clenched his jaw and readied his swords. He may not be able to use his Novadi abilities to their fullest, but he had been a warrior for nearly one hundred years and his blades were sharp. His task was to keep Egan and Zaira safe. He would not fail. His companions began a protection prayer. He felt the shield of his goddess envelop him. He hoped it was enough.
Sparks flew when the blades of the first two Warriors met Iliard's. He kicked one of them and sent him stumbling back while he drove his right hand sword into the chest of the other. The Warrior's knees buckled and he went down. Iliard ducked a strike from the first Warrior that was aimed at his neck, did a quick half-turn and severed the man's sword arm at the shoulder with one sword, then completed the turn and took off his head with the other. He barely had time to take a breath before four more Warriors charged him.
Iliard's blades flashed and danced in the torchlight and before long, the four Warriors were down. They had pushed him back in a slow retreat, but there was nowhere to go. The doors behind had slammed shut at a word from the Director. The fire barrier was weakening. The Mendari had resumed his attack on Iliard's psychic defenses, which slowed his reactions. It was getting harder for him fight off the constant pressure on his mental protections.
Zaire shouted a word that sent the Deliverant staggering to his knees. The Director snarled a curse and a column of red-orange fire engulfed the Priestess. Her screams of pain echoed in the sanctuary. Egan quickly countered the curse and the fire went out, but Zaira was now on the floor writhing in pain. More Warriors we coming. Egan set up a barrier of tiny, whirling blades between them and the minions of Arnitath, but it would only slow them down, it wouldn't stop them.
Iliard backed up until he was beside Egan. "I'm going to call on Master Philip."
The Priest's eyes went wide with dismay. "You can't do that. You'll have to drop your defenses. You'll die."
The Novadi took a deep breath. "If I don't we'll all die." He began to walk towards the oncoming Warriors. "I can't let that happen." With a swiftness that startled the Mendari, Iliard dropped his psychic defenses and sent out a single word to his master, "Mendari!" He felt the first hook of the Mendari's mind link take hold. His limbs felt like lead and his swords dipped. The Warriors swarmed in for the kill. A sword pierced his side, another cut across his left arm, a third open a deep gash in his right thigh. Pain ripped through him and he went down to his knees. The second hook of the mind link sank in. His head bowed as if someone were pushing down on it. His swords slipped out of his numbed fingers. He saw movement and the flash of a sword out of the corner of his eye. He prepared himself for death and hoped his master arrived in time to save Egan and Zaira.
An unattached arm, still grasping a sword, fell into his field of vision. A battle cry rang out echoed by two more. Excruciating pain exploded in Iliard's head. He cried out in agony, and fell to the floor. An instant later the pain and the psychic pressure were gone. He lifted his head carefully and pushed himself up to a sitting position. Through blurred vision, Iliard saw Grandmaster Philip, master of all Novadi on Ranwar, and his two lieutenants, Rhianna and Kyle, cut down the remaining warriors of Arnitath as if they were unarmed and unarmored. The body of the Mendari lay behind the altar, with his head several feet away.
Iliard looked down and saw that his hand rested in a pool of his own blood. Consciousness was slipping away from him. With an effort, he fought the darkness and began to pull energy into his body. He needed to heal himself before he bled to death. He directed healing energy to the wound in his side, but the effort cost him and he sank back down to the floor. He heard the voice of Egan boom an imprecation that shook the whole sanctuary. A moment later a piercing shriek of agony echoed throughout the temple. When the screaming kept going on and on, Iliard pushed himself up halfway and croaked out, "Egan." The Priest, however, did not hear him.
A hand fell gently on his shoulder. "Be still." Philip raised his voice, "Egan, enough. End it."
The elder Priest glared over at Philip, then nodded curtly. The flames which surrounded the Director flared to a blinding white and the screams cut off. When the flames died, all that was left was a charred corpse. Egan then hurried over to kneel beside the now still form of Zaira and began a healing prayer.
Philip knelt beside Iliard and said, "You should lie down. You've lost a lot of blood." Iliard didn't have the strength to argue with him. Philip laid one hand on Iliard's head, another on his chest and closed his eyes. Healing energy began to flow into the wounded man and the pain lessened a bit.
"You should really leave that to the experts." The pair looked up at Egan, who supported Zaira. Her white robes were scorched and in places gone completely.
Iliard let out a weak snort. "If I'd waited for you, I would have bled to death."
Zaira looked blearily down at him and said, "You look like hell."
The Novadi squinted up at her, his dark eyes dim with pain, "Thanks."
"Any time," she replied with a weary smile.
"Thank Asaeria you got here so quickly Philip," Egan said as he knelt beside Iliard. "I thought we were going to lose him."
The Novadi Grandmaster shook his head. "Not while I can do anything about it."
Egan put both hands on Iliard's chest and softly intoned a prayer. Iliard felt his pain recede and a small amount of his depleted energy return. The Priest stood up and shook his head, "The wound in your side was serious. You've lost a lot of blood." His brow creased in a deep frown. "Your nose was bleeding. How deep did the Mendari go?"
Iliard sat up and wiped under his nose. "I think he was trying for a death strike but he lost his head."
Zaira let out a snort of laughter. Egan's lips twitched. Philip didn't laugh. He gave Iliard a hand to help him up. "I'll call on Grandmaster Jared to have him make sure there's been no permanent damage."
"I'm not sure anyone would notice," Zaira said.
Iliard gave her a flat look. "Funny. Do you take that show on the road?"
The Priestess quirked a brow at him. "I tried but Egan told me it was unbecoming of a Priestess of Asaeria."
The Novadi chuckled. "I'd pay to see it."
Zaira's retort was cut off by the return of Rhianna carrying a scroll. Like Philip, she was liberally splattered with blood. She bowed her head slightly. "We checked the rest of temple, Grandmaster. We found no more Warriors, but there are at least a dozen prisoners in the dungeons below. Kyle is releasing them."
Philip nodded in approval then pointed at the scroll. "What have you there?"
Rhianna handed the scroll to him. "I found this in a small alcove behind the altar."
Egan snatched the scroll from her before Philip could touch it. "It could be cursed. You should never touch anything like this without having a Priest check it." He closed his eyes a muttered a soft prayer. "It is not cursed," he said as he unrolled it.
"I knew that," Rhianna murmured. Philip raised his eyebrows slightly and shook his head. His steel gray eyes twinkled with amusement.
Egan spent a long time reading the scroll. Finally he looked up and said, "This appears to be a prophecy of some kind. I have never seen it before."
Philip held out his hand, "May I?"
"Of course," Egan replied.
Philip took one look at the scroll and his dark eyebrows shot up. He carefully read the prophecy, then handed it to Iliard and said, "You need to see this."
Puzzled, Iliard took the scroll from Philip. As he unrolled the bottom half, he saw the symbol etched beneath the elegant script of the prophecy. "Blessed Asaeria," he murmured. He turned a stricken look to Philip. "They're after my brother."
"Perhaps," Philip replied thoughtfully. "This could have broader implications."
"The High Baron Candril is an ambitious target," Egan said.
"But it doesn't make sense," Zaira said. "You would think they would want to remain well hidden then. Why would they try to build a temple in the heart of the Candril barony when they had to know the Novadi would be sent to stop them?"
"I think this was intended to draw Novadi," Philip said. "The Mendari was here to trap a Novadi warrior. If Iliard hadn't taken the risk to mindspeak to me, this battle would have been lost."
Egan frowned. "I agree. If Iliard hadn't deduced that we were walking into a trap, we would have been right next to the altar when they sprang it. There would have been no time to call on you or anyone else." His gaze traveled over to the bodies of the Priests and the Mendari. "They had a Director here. That means they wanted this temple very badly. That Mendari was meant to send a message to the Novadi."
Philip's eyes hardened with steely resolve. "And the destruction of this temple will be my message to them."
Zaira shuddered. "They would have taken Egan and me alive."
Egan put his hand on her shoulder. "I would have killed you myself before I let that happen." Both Kyle and Rhianna stared at the Priest in shock. He met their gaze, his expression grim. "There really are worse things than death."
Iliard's eyes grew distant. "Yes. Yes there are." He fought back the lassitude that his blood loss caused. "Master Philip," he said quietly, "What about this scroll? The temple of Arnitath has marked my brother for death."
"Patience, Iliard," Philip said. "This temple will soon be destroyed. We will take this scroll to Terin Novar." He took the scroll from Iliard, rolled it up and slipped it inside his tunic. "But before that we need to tend to you."
#
No one knew for certain how long ago the original Novadi order had been founded. There were legends that the order began some twelve thousand years ago during the first Great Forest war. Novadi warriors used the power of the life energy around them to enhance their speed in battle, so much so that they could see a short time into the future and anticipate their attacker's movements. Novadi were so in tune with the world around them that they could also use the energy to teleport and to heal some wounds, as well as mindspeak and protect themselves from psychic invasion.
When the Dragons Lords came, some thousand years ago, the Novadi confronted them and came close to defeating the alien warriors. Thus challenged, the Dragon Lords threatened to destroy the entire continent of Ranwar if the Novadi did not cease their war against them. Rather than risk the deaths of hundreds of billions of souls, the Novadi dispersed and were diminished. Five hundred years later, a warrior from another continent came to Ranwar and, through much trial and pain, became the first Novadi of the New Order.
Terin Novar Arianna was master of all Novadi on Gorthus and had been since she revived the order more than five hundred years before. As with most powerful adventurers, her age showed little. Her long brown hair had only a few streaks of silver and a few small lines and one long, faint scar were visible on her face. Her eyes, although brown most of the time, changed color with her mood and seemed at times to shine with their own light. She was tall for a woman, almost as tall as Iliard, and moved with a grace born of centuries as a warrior. She looked at the man who sat across from her and smiled. Iliard Candril was one of the best Novadi warriors she had seen in a very long time, possibly since she had trained his mother so long ago. "From what Philip has told me," she began, "the battle was well fought."
Iliard flushed slightly, "Thank you, Terin Novar." He cleared his throat and asked, "What about this prophecy, Terin Novar?"
She put down the prophecy scroll, leaned back in her chair, and said, "What do you make of it, Iliard?"
Iliard sat forward in his chair. "I think the temple of Arnitath has marked my brother for death."
Arianna nodded. "Philip, what do you think?"
Philip steepled his fingers and answered thoughtfully, "I believe this may not involve Baron Candril directly, but perhaps the Candril family."
"An interesting observation, Philip, given that Baron Candril's mistress has just given birth to his child."
Iliard shifted restlessly. "What has that got to do with anything?"
Arianna raised one thin brow and replied, "That child bears the mark of Jeragoth."
Iliard blinked as an image of himself standing next to a young woman in the middle of a great battlefield, flashed into his mind. There were tens of thousands of battle weary warriors as far as the eye could see spread out before them. The smoke of distant fires filled the sky to his right and left where cities burned and lay in ruins. As he tried to clear his mind, more images crowded into it; he saw himself carrying a small child, a hint of his brother's likeness shining through her features. Then he was riding alongside a young girl, already tough and wiry like an adventurer, and lastly, holding a young woman in full battle gear as she wept. He shook his head and frowned deeply. "How ironic that his bastard child should bear the mark."
Arianna leveled a steady gaze at Iliard. "Bastard or not, the child will need to be protected."
Iliard's eyes went wide and he sprang out of his seat. "Oh no, I am no nursemaid. This has nothing to do with me."
"This has everything to do with you," Arianna replied calmly. "You life is inexorably entwined with that of this child."
Iliard took a few steps back. "Terin Novar, I cannot…I did not become a Novadi warrior so I could raise my brother's daughter."
"I would not be so sure about that," Arianna said. "How did you know his child was a girl?"
"I…damn it!" He gripped the back of the chair. "You don't understand. His mistress is a slave. He bought her from a brothel and he didn't set her free. How can I be part of this when it goes against everything I believe, everything I've been fighting against for the past thirty years?"
"You are not going along with anything, Iliard. Your task is to protect your brother's daughter, not condone his union with a slave."
"But it's the same thing," Iliard protested. "I haven't spoken to him in over a year. If I do this, he'll think I approve of what he has done."
"Your brother is a good man," Arianna began.
"Good men do not own slaves and get them with child," Iliard interrupted.
Arianna's steely glare pierced him. "Master Iliard, your self-righteousness has no place in this stronghold. How many times did your brother save you from your father's lash and even more so from your own folly? And in the seventy years you adventured together, did he once pass judgment on you?"
Iliard stood rooted to the spot, held by Arianna's gaze and the memories her questions evoked. He looked down at his hands and murmured, "No he never did, it's just that…"
"Just that what?" Arianna countered. "Am I mistaken in thinking you were upset at the idea that the temple of Arnitath has marked your brother for death?"
"No, of course not," Iliard replied. "Just because I'm angry with him doesn't mean I want him eviscerated on Arnitath's altar."
"And yet you would leave his daughter to suffer the same fate?"
"No!" Iliard threw his hands up. "By the gods!" He turned away from her, clenched his fists at his sides, and took a deep breath to calm himself. After a moment he turned back and said, "I apologize for my outburst, Terin Novar. But, please, I'm not the right man for this task. I am not…a family man."
"Iliard, this task is yours whether I will it or not, we both know that. The visions you had were no coincidence. Although your brother is a good man, he will have a difficulty being a father to his daughter. You must be the one to protect and guide her. She will learn much from you if you open your heart to her."
Iliard felt a pain in his soul that he thought had long since died. He sat back down, absently rubbing his left wrist. "Terin Novar, I don't think I can do this."
Arianna's gaze softened. "I know this will be difficult for you, but I believe your reward will be beyond anything you can now imagine."
Iliard closed his eyes to try to pull his thoughts together. Instantly he saw a little girl, her long brown hair flying behind her, run up to him and throw her arms around his neck. What he felt in that moment couldn't be described in words. When he opened his eyes, Arianna was smiling at him. With a sigh, he sent up a silent prayer to his goddess. "I'll do my best, Terin Novar, although I don't know what that will be." Philip smiled, then his smile faded and his eyes widened slightly. He looked quickly over at Arianna, who gave just the slightest shake of her head.
"Your best is all I can ask," she replied to Iliard. She leaned forward in her chair and said, "Now for the hard part. The child and her mother live in a small house in Candril City. You will need to go there and live with them."
Iliard's eyes widened in dismay. "Live with them?"
Arianna raised an eyebrow. "How did you think you were going to protect the child?"
"I didn't think that far ahead," Iliard replied. "But I don't see how this is going to work. Under the best of circumstances my brother is very suspicious. If I suddenly appear after a year and ask to live in the house with his mistress, I have no idea what he'll do."
"Well, then you'll have to convince him your intentions are honorable."
"I don't see how."
Arianna made a sound of exasperation. "In all the years your were together, did you ever betray him?"
"No," he answered.
"Then you have history on your side," she said.
"I suppose," he said skeptically. "But what of my work with the anti-slave underground?"
"That will have to wait," Arianna replied. "This is your primary task now." She smiled grimly, "Never fear, Iliard, there will still be plenty of slaves when you return."
He hesitated, opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it again. When Arianna continued to stare at him expectantly, he finally said, "I have never been one for domestic bliss. I fear restlessness might get the best of me."
Arianna chuckled. "I understand. Philip expressed a similar concern to me when I told him of your task." She reached inside her tunic and pulled out a small wooden box that was completely smooth and had no visible hinges or clasp. She spoke softly and a line appeared around the box that deepened to a grove and finally a small gap between the two halves. She opened the box and removed a small emerald amulet on a gold chain. The emerald was about the size of a silver piece set in a frame of gold filigree.
Iliard frowned in confusion. "I don't understand. Am I to wear this?"
Arianna shook her head. "Not you. This is a messenger—or it will be once we are finished with it." She held up the amulet by the chain and said, "Take the pendant in your hand and focus your thought energy, as if you are trying to mindspeak into it."
Iliard did as Arianna instructed, still unsure of his purpose. He took the pendant and directed his mind energy into the stone. After a few moments, he felt the emerald grow warm in his hand. He watched in fascination as minute pinpoints of light appeared in the depths of the dark green gem. First they vibrated and danced, but then they began to shoot like stars back and forth inside the stone. In his mind he heard what sounded like a song with complex interweaving harmonies. He looked over at her and asked, "What is this? I've never seen anything like it."
"Are you sure?" she asked with a smile. She reached inside her tunic and pulled out an amulet that was an exact replica of the one he held, only twice the size. "This one was given to me over five hundred years ago. I asked the maker to fashion a similar one for you. Yours is not as powerful, but it will suit your needs."
"But what does it do?" Iliard asked.
"As I said," Arianna answered, "The amulet is a messenger. The person wearing the amulet can contact the person whose mind energy is imprinted on the amulet. That is why I did not touch the stone. This amulet will work only for you and the person you give it to."
Comprehension finally dawned. "So, I am to give this to the child's mother and she can contact me any time she needs me?"
"Yes," Arianna answered with a nod, "All she has to do is hold the pendant in her hand and speak your name in her mind. You will hear her call and you can respond as necessary. But," she added, "that doesn't mean that you can go off for days on end. It's not completely foolproof. Sometimes an assassin's blade is faster even than thought. You must use your best judgment. I wouldn't suggest that you be away overnight."
"I understand Terin Novar. Thank you." He frowned thoughtfully. "I wonder how my brother will take me giving his mistress such a thing. As I said before, he's very suspicious."
"You already know my answer to that," Arianna replied.
Iliard smiled slightly. "Yes, I know." Iliard was silent for a moment then he asked, "Terin Novar, may I ask how the Novadi order became involved in the Prophecy of Jeragoth?"
"Many years ago, your mother asked for my advice regarding the prophecy. Since then, I have spoken with several different people about it and we decided that it would wise for the Novadi to be involved."
Iliard looked surprised. "She never told me."
"It was not her place to tell you," Arianna replied. Ignoring his look of surprise, she went on, "Now go to your brother. He is about to see his daughter for the first time. He will need you."
Iliard gave her a dubious glance and then nodded his head in acquiescence, "I will protect the child with everything I have."
"I know you will," Arianna said seriously. She stood up and held out her hand, "We will meet again soon."
Iliard took her hand, bowed slightly and replied, "Until then Terin Novar." He turned to Philip and said, "Master Philip, thank you for your help today."
"You are most welcome, Iliard. Good luck in you new task."
Iliard smiled wryly. "I think I'm going to need it." Then he teleported away.
Philip leaned back in his chair, his brow creased in a deep frown, and waited for Arianna to speak.
"Iliard is a good man," she said softly. She sat down in the chair that Iliard had vacated. "Kate was right about him. So were you. He will make a fine Wielder."
Philip did not smile. "This charge will lead to his death."
"That may be," Arianna replied. "Only the gods know for sure."
#
"Master, another has been born."
The Mage looked up at the brown robed figure and asked, "Another what?"
The dark half-elf swallowed hard. "Another…like yourself."
He frowned deeply. "There are no others like me, Crusas, you have told me so yourself."
Crusas took a step back. "There have been no others in all the years since I found you…until tonight. I can sense his energy."
The Mage shot out of his chair and wrapped his hand around his servant's throat. "How can that be?! I am supposed to be the only one! It is my destiny to rule over all on Ranwar!"
Crusas clawed at the hand that was choking him. "Master, please," he gasped, "I…I do not know. I know there are many prophecies, but I only have access to the one the Tagoni hold."
A sneer of contempt marred the man's handsome face as he shoved Crusas away from him. "You Tagoni," he spat, "with your antiquated rituals and weak magic." He stood for a moment with his fists clenched. Finally he said |
confirmed reports on Facebook of shots being fired elsewhere in the city.
On Twitter, one user wrote: "My sister just called to tell me that police are at my grandma's house because someone just shot at her and my cousins."
facebook 21 Cops have warned Stephens is considered "armed and dangerous"
facebook 21 Stephens is still on the run and people have been warned to stay inside
Cops said Stephens is 6ft 1inch tall and has a bald head and a full beard.
He was wearing a dark-striped polo shirt at the time of the shooting and was driving a new white Ford Fusion SUV.
Local hospitals have reportedly been put on standby "to receive more victims".
Homicide Suspect – Armed and Dangerous Steve Stephens https://t.co/uhRGkmyiRU — Cleveland Police (@CLEpolice) April 16, 2017
After the shooting, the man's shadow is shown heading back to the car, with a glimpse of his stripy T-shirt and some kind of ID card hanging around his neck.
He then climbs back into his car to continue driving - mumbling something inaudible before the video ends.
Cleveland Police said in a statement they "are investigating a homicide at 635 East 93rd Street".
It was initially reported that the killing was streamed on Facebook Live.
But Facebook has since confirmed that Stephens shared the video online, but did not stream it.
Facebook also condemned the post, saying: "This is a horrific crime and we do not allow this kind of content on Facebook.
"We work hard to keep a safe environment on Facebook, and are in touch with law enforcement in emergencies when there are direct threats to physical safety."
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Could this belly-busting 8,000 calorie fry-up be Britain’s biggest breakfast?
That’s the claim of Congleton’s Bear Grills Cafe, which is offering £100 to any customer who manages to finish the monster meal.
Not one of the 20 daring diners who have risen to the challenge so far have managed to finish the feast, which consists of eight sausages, eight rashers of bacon, four hash browns, four fried eggs, a four egg cheese omelette, four waffles, four pieces of toast, four pieces of fried bread, four chunks of black pudding, two ladles of beans, two ladles of tomatoes, mushrooms and a portion of large chips - with two pints of milkshake to wash it all down.
Mark Winder, boss of the all-day breakfast cafe, said: “I reckon with these ingredients you could feed a family for a week. The breakfast alone is around 6,000 calories and the 2,000 calorie milkshake just tops it off.
“We weighed all the cooked food and it came to a whopping 7lbs. That’s the weight of a baby. It’s called the Hibernator because if anyone completes it they’ll have so sleep for a year.”
(Image: Cavendish Press)
Customers must sign a legal disclaimer before they attempt the Man vs Food style challenge to confirm they are over 18 and have no underlying health conditions because of the shockingly high calorie and fat content.
It clocks in at four times a woman’s recommended daily intake of 2,000 calories and more than three times the guideline limit of 2,500 for a man.
Mark, 39, said: “It is all men who have tried the challenge, and they look at the ingredients up on the board and say ‘I am going to smash that.’
“But then they see it come out on the big platter all heaped high and start to cry on the phone to their friends. They give up after about twenty minutes.”
The feast is brought out on a 4ft turkey platter, because Mark could not find any plates big enough, and challengers have an hour to devour it all.
Anyone who manages to finish the £19.95 meal gets £100 as well as having their name added to a wall of fame, a breakfast named after them and the chance to add another ingredient to the challenge.
Mark said he cooked up the idea to lure in a younger clientele, but added: “It is great fun to watch and my customers in their 60s and 70s come in especially to watch.
“They love it. It’s a great spectator sport.”We talk to leave campaigners featured on the Daily Mail’s front page the day after the referendum. Are they still optimistic?
The day after the EU referendum, this picture of leave campaigners in Peterborough was used on the Daily Mail’s front page to capture their euphoric mood.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Daily Mail
Under the headline “Take a bow Britain”, the paper’s edition last Saturday celebrated “the day the quiet people of Britain rose up against an arrogant, out of touch elite”.
One turbulent week later the Guardian has tracked down several of the people in the photo to see how they feel now. None of them said they regretted voting out, but they did admit surprise about the racist attacks, criticised David Cameron for quitting, and wondered whether anyone actually has a plan. Ukip members were bullish that the party was still gathering strength at the expense of Labour.
1. Wayne Fitzgerald: Conservative, deputy leader of Peterborough city council
I don’t want to be rushed into anything by anybody. I think the country needs to take stock. The isolated incidents that may be race-related, I think that’s appalling. People should be ashamed of themselves. Rightwing lunatics will always look for an excuse to have a go at “Johnny Foreigner”. Immigration is an issue, not because you are a foreigner, but … we don’t have any school places. We have unprecedented demands on [health] services. We just cannot cope. I don’t think Mr Cameron was helpful by resigning. As far as the EU is concerned, we are a like a married couple getting a divorce. We want to live together, but no hanky-panky.
2. Hani Mustafa, 15, Conservative Future activist
I am surprised (about the racist attacks), but sadly some people will want to exploit any situation for their own twisted views. As a Muslim who was born to parents born overseas, I find it appalling that people are using this as an excuse to make racist comments … I think it’s another example of a certain far-right minority who are using this to spread their vile dogma.
3. John Peach, Conservative, mayor of Peterborough
I guess Michael Gove decided Boris Johnson wasn’t Eurosceptic enough! David Cameron has never looked so prime ministerial. I suspect he is demob happy and feels a bit of relief. Personally I don’t think he should have resigned, and I am a bit surprised he did. The number of racist incidents is concerning. The Poles in particular do work very, very hard. I think people have got the wrong end of the stick where they think that the migrants from the so-called accession states will be going back, but that isn’t the case.
4. Emily Fisher, 19, chair of Conservative Future for Peterborough
Like everyone I was very surprised by Gove’s move, the latest unexpected twist in British politics. I campaigned on the issue of sovereignty, not immigration. I think the upsurge in racism is very disappointing. The idea that the appalling, hateful actions of some disgusting people should delegitimise the clear democratic choice of the nation is wrong. I think the government should have had a plan – it is ridiculous there wasn’t a contingency plan.
5. Adam Collins, Ukip activist, Peterborough
Still plenty of time to steady the ship. I am quite concerned about the racist attacks. Freedom of speech has gone out of the window. Am I surprised that nobody seems to have a plan? Yes, kind of. What worries me the most is the pressure on us to come out of Europe almost immediately. Only time will tell how well it will go.
6. John Okonkowski, Ukip councillor, Peterborough
Over 17 million people voted to come out of the EU – that’s got nothing to do with racism. Everybody jumps to the conclusion that if it’s racism, Ukip were involved. I don’t know anything about these attacks. What do you expect me to do about it? My parents are Polish and I have a Polish name. The campaign was nasty.
7. Jay Beecher, secretary and deputy chair of Ukip in Peterborough
There were always going to be people that exploited Brexit. There are going to be far-right people like EDL … the National Front, far-right fascists. Any racist attack is completely deplorable. We definitely don’t think anything less of people who weren’t born British. For a long time in England, the Labour party was supposed to represent the everyday working man. It doesn’t any more. Labour party supporters are starting to come to Ukip … we are going to prove that we are not a one-policy party, locally and nationally.
8. Stewart Jackson, MP for Peterborough
Jackson, an arch-Eurosceptic, had a spat with the author JK Rowling after the referendum. The episode began when a reporter wrote: “I can’t get over the fact that the winning side lied about a whole bunch of stuff & yet expect us to live cheerfully with the result.” Mr Jackson responsed: “Suck it up whiner …”
Rowling commented: “Welcome to our post-referendum, anti-elitist, in-touch-with-the-people politicians.” Jackson told the Peterborough Telegraph: “I could not care less what JK Rowling thinks.”
The Guardian approached Jackson but did not receive a reply.
9. Sarah O’Grady, Daily Express journalist
O’Grady, the wife of Jackson, has written extensively about immigration as the Express’s social affairs correspondent. Her articles include: “How regions will be hit by soaring immigration”, “We’re sleepwalking to a migration nightmare”, “Immigration does cut house prices”, “White British now a minority in London” and “Pupils lose chosen schools to migrants”. O’Grady declined to comment to the Guardian.
10. John Whitby, Ukip councillorPAY ATTENTION TO THE LITECOIN TRAIN! Ltc/usd On Oct. 18, though litecoin fell to $53 stages, it speedy climbed again higher and closed above $57.It has considering then controlled to stay above this aid stage. However, presently the cryptocurrency is threatening to fall into the variety another time.If litecoin breaks under $57 and is not able to climb returned quick, it'll invalidate the current bullish setup. PAY ATTENTION TO THE LITECOIN TRAIN!
However, if the cryptocurrency finds assist at the modern ranges and turns up, a protracted function may be initiated at $63. The stop loss for the change may be stored at $55 and the income goal is $71.
In conjunction with the developing bitcoin, litecoin has additionally reached this week's excessive of $70, breaching $55and $60 resistance degrees. Inside the past, we predicted a $55 target in case it would leave the traded range.
As of now, litecoin is buying and selling at $61. As some distance as ltc is worried, there may be a shift from “bearish” to “bullish” moods and purchases are barely higher than sales. Ltc quickly restored its positions after a nearby correction to the $52 level.
A movement in flat in the $f57 to $65 variety is a tremendously possibly situation if there may be no enormous neighborhood correction for bitcoin. The conservative place for sales following the speculative buy of litecoin is near the top boundary. Sales within the $48 to $50 levels are feasible.A new study pinpoints with greater precision than ever before when and where HIV entered the United States and sparked North America's AIDS epidemic. It also puts to rest a media-fueled theory about a peripatetic flight attendant with a very active sex life: so-called “Patient Zero,” who after his death became infamous for supposedly bringing the virus into the country and seeding the infection in different locales.
Gaétan Dugas, infamously, and wrongly, labeled Patient Zero. PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
In And the Band Played On, the 1987 best-selling account of the U.S. epidemic's early years, journalist Randy Shilts wrote in detail about Patient Zero, a Canadian named Gaétan Dugas who died from AIDS 3 years before the book was published. “[T]here's no doubt that Gaëtan [sic] played a key role in spreading the new virus from one end of the United States to the other,” Shilts wrote. He did not say Dugas introduced the disease to North America, but subsequent media accounts, including one in Time magazine, did make that claim—and vilified Dugas. A front-page New York Post headline went so far as to proclaim, “THE MAN WHO GAVE US AIDS.” HIV/AIDS researchers have long been skeptical about the Patient Zero claim.
Last week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections here, Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, solidly debunked that claim, saying Dugas was far from what epidemiologists refer to as the “index patient” in the United States. Worobey's new work will help put “the myth of Patient Zero” to rest, says epidemiologist Harold Jaffe of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, who helped unravel the early spread of the disease.
The first AIDS cases surfaced in five gay men in Los Angeles, California, and were reported in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in June 1981. After HIV was proven to be the culprit in 1984, researchers analyzed stored blood samples from gay and bisexual men collected in the late 1970s in San Francisco, California, and New York City and found that the men already carried antibodies to the virus. Worobey plucked the virus from eight of those samples, which dated from 1978 and 1979, and obtained nearly the complete genetic sequences of each one. Jaffe, who had helped piece together Dugas's connection to a cluster of early AIDS cases in California and New York, supplied a 1983 sample of the flight attendant's blood, which also yielded a near-complete HIV genome.
HIV mutates at a constant rate each time it copies itself, so Worobey could use the differences among the sequences to create a family tree of the viruses and estimate when each isolate emerged. His work suggests the U.S. epidemic most likely began in New York City around 1970, when the real index case brought in a virus that closely matched the sequences of older HIVs isolated from people in Haiti and a few other Caribbean countries. Although his sample size is small, Worobey said the probability that New York City was the origin of the U.S. epidemic “is very, very high indeed.” He estimates the virus reached San Francisco around 1975.
On the family tree of the early U.S. isolates, Dugas's HIV genome fell in about the middle. “There's nothing special about his genome,” Worobey said. Although Dugas had been to Haiti—in 1977—there is no sign that he was either the index patient or key to spreading the virus around the country. Worobey notes that when CDC researchers were piecing together how the first AIDS cases were linked to each other, they originally referred to Dugas not by the number “0” but by the letter “O,” because he was from “outside” California. Later, for reasons that remain murky, Dugas morphed into Patient Zero.
So rather than Dugas sparking the U.S. epidemic, his case, historically speaking, really is just an “oh.”FLINT, MI - Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton has ruled that a homeowner who shot and killed a man earlier this month outside his home was acting in self-defense.
Police responded at 1:14 a.m. on Nov. 30 to reports of a person who was shot at a residence in the 1900 block of Joliet Street.
Leyton said Ollie Lee Drummer, 59, was allegedly armed with a knife and breaking into a vehicle parked outside the residence.
"The homeowner told police that he was coming at him with the knife in his hands at the time the homeowner shot him," Leyton said.
Drummer was taken to Hurley Medical Center where he later died.
Leyton said the homeowner was acting in self-defense when he shot Drummer and there will be no criminal charges.A ground-based interceptor missile fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base in southern California smashed into and destroyed a target launched from the Marshall Islands, the Missile Defense Agency announced today. This is the first test of the US homeland missile defense system against a “complex, threat-representative [intercontinental ballistic missile] ICBM target," per the agency’s press release.
The test was meant to show that the US can defend itself against a missile attack using the ground-based midcourse defense system or GMD. It was also to try out an upgraded component of the system. The GMD system consists of sensors deployed around the world, at sea, and in space; they work together to detect a hostile missile launch, and track the missile as it flies. Then, in theory, the control centers in the US can use that information to guide an interceptor missile to knock into the enemy weapon while it’s still in space — away from people — and smash it into smithereens.
That’s how the GMD is supposed to work, anyway. In practice, only 10 of the 18 intercept tests have succeeded, including today’s. (And, actually, counting a 2006 test as a success is kind of controversial, because the interceptor hit the target, but didn’t kill it. Destroying the target, it turned out, wasn’t part of the test’s objectives.) An LA Times investigation also reported that a January 2016 flight test considered successful in fact experienced a thruster malfunction, “causing the interceptor to fly far off-course.” The MDA says they dispute that characterization.
So: though the Missile Defense Agency is saying today is a success, that success may be asterisked. And they’re still evaluating the results. Still, the test is a step towards demonstrating the system is capable of protecting the US against a small-scale ICBM attack — like one that North Korea could one day be capable of launching. But neither North Korea, nor our missile defenses, are ready for action. For example, since it could take several interceptors to destroy an enemy’s warhead, the GMD still needs to be tested in a situation where multiple interceptors are fired together. But that’s not planned until late 2017 or 2018 per the Government Accountability Office, so stay tuned.TUESDAY, Nov. 11 (HealthDay News) -- High levels of lipoprotein particles may increase the risk of high blood pressure in women who currently have normal blood pressure.
That's the conclusion of a new study by U.S. researchers who analyzed data from thousands of participants in the Women's Health Study.
Lipoprotein particles carry cholesterol and triglycerides throughout the body. The particles travel into artery walls where they deposit the cholesterol, which forms artery-clogging plaque.
The researchers concluded that using nuclear magnetic resonance imaging to determine the number and size of lipoprotein particles can better predict a woman's risk of developing high blood pressure than checking standard cholesterol levels alone.
While there's a modest association between standard cholesterol measures and high blood pressure risk, this study suggests the link between high blood pressure and lipoprotein may be more important.
"This is the first study that examines whether the size of lipoproteins may affect blood pressure in women. Our findings indicate that even before the onset of hypertension, the size of the lipoprotein particles may indicate which women go on to develop hypertension," Dr. Samia Mora, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said in an American Heart Association (AHA) news release.
The findings were expected to be presented Nov. 11 at the AHA's annual scientific sessions, in New Orleans.
Previous research had found that low concentrations of lipoprotein particles were associated with fewer cardiovascular disease-related events than equivalently low levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, according to background information in the news release about the study.
Currently, doctors use lipoprotein particle information to monitor the effects of cholesterol-lowering treatments, such as statin drugs, and in the management of a patient's cardiovascular health.
More information
The American Heart Association has more about women and high blood pressure.Burn premieres in Detroit
This article by Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez about the distribution of their Detroit firefighter documentary Burn originally appeared in our Fall, 2013 print edition. It is appearing online for the first time.
“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” — Mark Twain
As filmgoers are increasingly flooded with new media options to keep them at home, the prevailing theory is that the days of theatrical releases for independent films are in their last slow throes.
We disagree because we just spent the last year filling 300- to 2,000-seat theaters in 170 cities with our firefighter documentary Burn. We did it with no distributor, no P&A budget and no experience. And the film has grossed more than $1 million to date in box office alone.
Along the way, we learned that with the right film and approach, theatrical can still be a major — and profitable — part of a winning release strategy.
We didn’t know it at the time, but we began laying the groundwork for our theatrical success back in 2008, when we first got the idea to make the film.
Find an Incredible Story
The idea for Burn came about after the death of Detroit firefighter Walter Harris. Harris died fighting a blaze in an abandoned home. We couldn’t understand why, in a city with 80,000 abandoned structures, someone would risk his life in one of them. When we visited a Detroit firehouse to ask some questions, we couldn’t believe the conditions the firefighters were working in: duct-taped rigs, leaking toilets, broken windows, jerry-rigged alarm systems; these weren’t the firehouses we’d seen in movies or TV. Add to that Detroit’s notorious arson and fire rate, and we’re looking at arguably the busiest firefighters in America, who were working with little more than buckets and jalopies.
ITVS/PBS gave us a little R&D money to produce a 10-minute teaser. We wanted to make a big, cinematic, action-packed documentary that captured the lives of the individuals who fought and risked their lives in an attempt to save this once great American city. They passed.
We then shopped the teaser to every cable network, every major indie studio and every documentary financier we could think of. They all said the same thing: “We love the idea. It looks amazing. This story needs to be told. But your vision’s too ambitious, too big, too expensive. And there’s absolutely no audience for a firefighter series or film.”
So we started a Facebook page and placed the 10-minute teaser on a website, next to a big, red “Donate Now” button.
It worked. The thing went viral; in a few days, it had racked up a half million views and was picked up by The Huffington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, Reddit, even The Sun over in the UK.
Think Like a Studio
The first donations started to come in, mostly $10 and $20 from Detroit expats and folks in the fire service. It wasn’t much, but it covered a flight or two to Detroit for meetings and research. We thought our fundraising was buying us time until we found our big investor.
What we didn’t realize was that we were cultivating our audience.
Ultimately, Burn was funded entirely by charitable donations — passive crowdfunding through that “Donate Now” button, fiscal sponsorships, a grant from Cinereach, corporate donations, in-kind donations and Kickstarter all played a role in bringing it together.
Most of our donors weren’t film industry people. And people outside the film business don’t understand the ups and downs of independent filmmaking. Within weeks of the first donations coming in, donors wanted to know where the movie was. Given that we’d set out on a yearlong shoot, we wanted to get ahead of that pressure. As soon as we were able to start shooting, in December 2010, we started posting clips and outtakes from each shoot. Stuff we didn’t think would make it into the finished film.
People shared the clips, and things continued to go viral. Our small audience grew, and they started telling us what they thought with their video views and donations.
As we posted more videos online, we began to see which characters and storylines were striking a chord with our fans. When one video gets 500 views and another has more than a million, you get a hell of a good idea about what to keep filming and what to let go.
By taking this “audience first” approach, we were able to inform our decisions with our viewers in mind — mostly firefighters and their families. (Luckily, there are more than 1.8 million of them in the United States.) It’s what studios do; they just don’t always do it well. We never compromised our vision for the film, but making it with an audience in mind was empowering and exciting. We pushed ourselves harder to make a film we could all be proud of.
Plan Ahead to Self-Distribute
We came into our premiere at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival with sold-out screenings and solid press, and Burn was listed on several “must-see” lists. When we left Tribeca with the Audience Award and an incredible flurry of attention, we figured the writing was on the wall. The film’s sales agents started to take an interest, and everyone felt poised for the next big step: A big sale!
It didn’t happen. The summer passed with no reasonable distribution offer, and our agents lost interest, mumbling something about self-distribution as they wandered off.
We were in the red on the movie, living off unemployment and credit cards. We had tens of thousands of fans basically demanding to see the movie and no way to get it to them.
We had no next step.
Build Strong Partnerships
One of our corporate sponsors, MSA, a manufacturer of fire-safety equipment, wanted to know what was next. We were candid with our champion there about the situation. He was passionate about the film; he got it. But his corporate peers didn’t understand what they could do with a movie. Luckily, they did understand the value of bringing something special to thousands of their customers all across the country. It was a terrific sales and marketing opportunity. Because we had a story MSA’s customers desperately wanted, MSA seized on the idea, and we set to work on a 35-city tour. MSA covered travel and shipping, and we covered theater rental and prints (hard drives and Blu-rays).
We approached the screenings like a concert tour, with one- or two-night engagements per city. We brought Detroit firefighters from the film for Q&As and meet-and-greets. We sold T-shirts, posters and extras DVDs. With no P&A budget, we relied solely on social media, email, printable flyers and word of mouth. Our tireless interns have called almost every local paper, firehouse, fire department, fire-related organization and union hall in the United States. The film’s donors and long-term fans were at the core of our outreach; we came into the tour with more than 3,000 donors and 30,000 Facebook fans who were already invested in Burn.
MSA is a great company, and they supported each screening with local sales reps and outreach. The value of having an invested partner on a tour like this cannot be overstated. The value of having the stars of the film there was tremendous. Our audience laughed, cried and cheered during the film. But when the Detroit firefighters came out? It was mayhem. They were rock stars. Night after night, we sold out large theaters and concert venues. We made the movie we wanted to make, but we also made a movie all these people wanted to see.
Give ‘Em a Call To Action
Early on, even before we’d started filming, we’d made the commitment to donate a portion of any profits from the film to the Leary Firefighters Foundation to purchase gear for Detroit firefighters. While this wasn’t a draw for our audience, it gave people a call to action and enticed them to buy merchandise. About 40% of our audience bought their $20 ticket and spent an additional $25 on a T-shirt, poster, or extras DVD.
We specifically chose not to release the film itself on digital, DVD or Blu-ray while we were in theaters. A lot of people tried to sell us on the day-and-date model, but not one of them could produce any legitimate reasons, let alone numbers, to back their claims. We just followed the simple law of supply and demand; if your film is everywhere, it’s less valuable. And we borrowed a page from the studio model — a theater is the one place where every person who sees your movie has to pay. We knew when we finally put the movie out on DVD, each copy would be watched by dozens of firefighters at a firehouse. Not to mention pirated. As a result, we decided not to release on home video until we’d tailed out our theatrical screenings.
The 35-city tour was a test for us to see how self-distribution might work, if we could pull it off and whether it was sustainable. The question of sustainability is a big one. We opted to find, call, book and four-wall every theater and venue ourselves. Four-walling, or paying up front to rent out a theater, is a huge financial risk. But if you have confidence in your audience, it’s the only way to make a profit. Theatrical splits don’t favor filmmakers, and even our bare-bones distribution machine cost something: copies of the film for the theaters, our cruddy office, one employee, two paid interns, phones, postage, Craigslist desks and chairs … it all adds up.
Think Profit (For Once)
As independent filmmakers, we’d never been particularly driven by profit in our careers. But with Burn, we were so woefully in the red, and it was imperative that we make good on our promise to the firefighters. So we decided that, while risky, a $20 ticket price and four-walling was the way to go, even though every single theater owner we dealt with told us we were crazy and that no one would ever pay $20 to see a movie.
But we knew our audience, and we believed in Burn. Had we charged standard theater ticket prices and/or negotiated splits with the theaters, rather than four-walling, we couldn’t have supported the distribution machine, and the whole thing would’ve been a bust.
The tour was a success — city after city, we sold out nearly every show. But we had the support of a major fire equipment manufacturer. We started to wonder how far could we go on our own. How much of an audience was left? We posted an online Google form for fans to request Burn screenings in their town. We received more than 3,000 requests, and they’re still coming in. Thirty-five cities wasn’t enough. People all over wanted to see Burn.
We followed the booking and outreach acumen we’d developed from the tour, using Facebook to figure out where our fans were, what cities we should book next, and what areas had the highest concentration of firefighters. Our associate producer would then find a local theater that could play digitally.
With so many independent theaters defunct or not yet digital-ready, our options were limited. We avoided city centers and chain theaters, as both were often too pricey. We created an arbitrary rule that we would pay no more than $1-$2 per seat for the rental. We always went for the largest theater available, usually 300 or more seats.
Once again, theater owners were skeptical. We wanted to rent their largest screen for a self-distributed firefighter movie they’d never heard of. And we wanted the theater on a Monday or Tuesday night — typically their slowest nights of the week.
And there was also a crucial difference between those first 35 cities and this next round of screenings: We and our Detroit firefighters would not be there. On tour, one or two of us would travel with the film as the tour manager, roadie, merch sales and shipping, ticket taker, will call, driver, talent assistant, promoter — all while having to meet-and-greet, pose for photo ops and be available till the wee hours for the after-parties so graciously thrown for us. We traveled to 35 cities in three months, returning to Los Angeles between every two to four cities to manage outreach, operations and for Tom to be a single dad. The tour had been way too ambitious and exhausting. We decided to stay home for the rest of our theatrical run.
Consider the High Cost of Awards
Our audience award at Tribeca had given us underdog dreams during awards season; we were certain we could beat the odds. We’d paid off the movie and gone into the black on the tour, so we hired a distributor to set up award-qualifying runs in New York and L.A. and paid for the big New York and L.A. publicists to go with them. Despite being selected a Critic’s Pick in The New York Times, both runs were abysmal. We simply couldn’t compete with the larger, studio-backed “indie” films that know how to play the awards game. We wouldn’t do it again; unless you’re lucky enough to have an amazing festival run and are on the radar of most voters, we would advise against making a major awards play. It’s expensive and the deck is stacked against you.
Despite our N.Y.C. and L.A. misfires, and based on the success or our 35-city tour, our distributor got us into four AMC theaters for traditional week-long runs: Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and two in the Detroit area. We had an amazing turnout, and every theater held it over after the first week. On its second week, Burn had the third-highest per-screen average in America! Our hopes of crossing over into a mainstream audience were taking shape. But these were splits, not four-walls. After the theater and distributor had taken their cuts, and we deducted the money it took to promote them, we realized we could make more in one or two of our special event shows than we could with these big AMC runs.
Between the awards bid and the AMC runs, we shelled out about $60,000. That’s nowhere near the budget it takes to be a contender. It was an expensive mistake, but it got us back on track; we knew what worked, we just had to refine it. We gave up trying to reach a wider audience and refocused our energies on our core, who had been with us all along.
Great Problems To Have
We hired an independent theater booker, thinking a professional would be able to do a better job than we could ourselves. With the tremendous success of the tour, we went off book, operating with a mindset of “What IS possible?” But, frankly, our ignorance had worked better for us; by explaining our situation to every theater manager, we were able to get richer deals than the booker did. Our charitable commitment was a big selling point with some theaters, media and supporters. You never know whom you’ll run into that’s been touched by your film or your cause. In our case, we got more than a few favors and deals from theater owners who had loved ones in the fire service or had survived a fire themselves! After a frustrating stint with the booker, we went back to booking theaters ourselves.
Our original goal was 35 cities. To date, Burn has played several hundred shows in more than 170 cities.
If anything, we had too much of a good thing. Making Burn, we kept our crew lean and mean. To distribute it, we should’ve hired more people and had a bigger staff. Even with one associate producer, two paid interns and ourselves, we still found we were constantly chasing the machine. As many cities as we played, we fielded about 200 complaint emails a day from people who wanted the film in their town, or wanted to know why it takes so long — people who had contributed to the film but don’t understand how film production or distribution works.
We’ve learned there’s a reason distributors take such a large percentage — distribution is incredibly hard and much more expensive than we ever would have imagined, even sourcing for the cheapest theaters and charging $20 for tickets.
In June 2013, nine months after launching in theaters and 14 months after our festival premiere at Tribeca, we released Burn on DVD, Blu-ray and digital. We’re handling DVD and Blu-ray sales directly through our website, and Burn was selected by Film Independent and Sundance for their Sundance Artist Services, the institute’s digital release arm. Burn made it to No.1 doc, No.1 indie and No.9 action film on iTunes within a week of release. Many people who’d seen the film in theaters came right back and bought it again on disc or digital.
Be Prepared to Win, but On Your Own Terms
We understand why filmmakers shy away from theatrical, and why distributors are avoiding it like the plague: Most films probably don’t have a strong sense of audience, or a clear-cut way to reach it without a large advertising budget.
But for filmmakers who know and have a relationship with their audience, theatrical may be the core of their distribution experience. With so many filmmakers engaging with their audience through Facebook and crowdfunding long before they’re released, that relationship will become stronger and stronger.
Self-distribution isn’t pretty. It more or less rules you out of awards consideration. It keeps you off the mainstream radar and the radar of people in the industry who are in a position to hire you or fund your next project. And it’s grueling. Imagine how worn out you were after delivering your last film. Now go distribute the thing yourself. It’s not for the faint of heart.
After four years, it’s nice to be off unemployment and paying down our personal debt. We took a big risk, and it’s starting to pay off. Later this year, when the distribution machinery expenses have slowed, we’ll be able to tally our profits and losses and write a big fat check to the Leary Firefighters Foundation to buy that gear for our guys in Detroit.
The Detroit firefighters of Burn put their jobs and personal lives on the line by letting our cameras into their world. We took a gamble on this 21st-century distribution monster. Our audience showed up and made it a success. We did it together. And that feels amazing.
And yes, we would do it again.
See also:
Burn Self-Distribution Resource ListGiven an opportunity to replace every member of Congress, 60 percent of Americans would favor an all-inclusive congressional overhaul, while only 35 percent said they |
mastodons, saber-tooth cats, ground sloths, mammoths and other fossils were discovered, along with the now-famous human remains, which included skull fragments and 44 bones of a human skeleton. These bones became known as the “Vero Man”, although later testing suggested the original bones were from a female.
The finding caused huge controversy at the time of discovery. In 1916, geologist Dr E.H. Sellards found more human bones in the strata and testing revealed that some of the bones were male and some female. It was at this time that the finds were published and Dr Sellards claimed the humans lived side by side with the extinct Late Ice Age mammals, which put them as living in Vero Florida over 14,000 years ago. This defied the conventional wisdom of that day which stated humans were in North America no further back than 6,000 years ago.
Ales Hrdlicka, anthropologist and curator of the Physical Anthropology department at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, fiercely opposed Dr Sellards, claiming that the way the bones were recovered was ‘unscientific’ and that the remains were only a few thousand years old, which was well within the bounds of the euro-centric view of the day which held that humans were not in North America before 4,000 years ago.
Later DNA testing revealed that Vero Man was in fact much older. Dating has approximated the remains at 13,000 years old, however, this was done some time ago and the bones have since been lost. There is therefore a need to test new fossil remains.
While the Vero site is still regarded as one of the most significant archaeological finds in North America concerning early American inhabitants, questions about the site still remain largely unanswered. In 2009 scientists announced the discovery of a carving of a mammoth or mastodon on a piece of bone found near Vero Beach. The carving may be the oldest art found in the Americas. Scientists studying the carving noted similarities with Pleistocene art in Europe. However, the predominant theory is that the first inhabitants of America arrived via Siberia, not Europe.
Dr James Adovasio, principal excavator, explained in a recent press release that Vero Man “was the subject of vitriolic abuse by the alleged experts at the time. Largely because of that abuse and the less than rigorous field methods, Vero went off the radar. But, because of the phenomenal preservation of Ice Age plant and animal materials at that site, this new excavation will serve to illuminate a time frame in the American Southeast that no other site can, with or without human associations. Whatever information is in there, we are going to get it.”
The new excavation will utilise latest technology and analytical techniques applied to the soil layers, bone fragments, seeds, pollen and other materials discovered. It is hoped that the more complete testing will provide new answers to questions of who the people were and how they lived and died.
By April HollowayDid you know that you could use Microsoft Office to easily remove background from a photo? Yes that’s true! Microsoft Office 2010 has intelligent image editing tools that can help you extract images from complex or cluttered backgrounds.
Adobe Photoshop and other popular image editing software like GIMP have tools like background eraser or extract filters. These tools allow you to erase complicated background images from digital photos. However, now Microsoft Office has in-built image editing features that include background removal options. Thus you can do some of the advanced image editing stuff without having to use Photoshop. Let’s look at how easy it is to remove background from images with Microsoft Office.
Tutorial: How to Remove Background from a Photo Without Photoshop
Simply drag and drop the image you wish to edit into Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Click on Picture Tools or Format tab and choose Remove Background. The unwanted portions of the image like background and other distracting details can be automatically removed.
You can use the automatic background removal or you can further refine the areas to remove by drawing lines to indicate what portions to keep and what portions to remove.
Once you have chosen the areas to remove, click on Keep Changes to remove background. To save the new image, simply right-click on the image and choose Save as Picture. You can save the edited image as JPG or PNG to your hard drive. To save multiple images from Office documents to your hard disk at once check out the article on extracting multiple images from Word documents.
Thus we have learned the simplest way to remove background from an image without having to use digital image editing software like Photoshop.
More Resources on How to Remove Background from a PhotoBy October, MTV was presenting a weekly version with Fab 5 Freddy as host. Ratings were so high that by March 1989 there was a daily version, too, hosted by Ed Lover and Doctor Dré (not the Dr. Dre of N.W.A.). “Yo! MTV Raps” quickly became the genre’s highest-profile showcase and sped the music’s dispersion to all corners of the country — and eventually the world.
Peter Dyer Dougherty was born on Dec. 13, 1955, in Queens to Philip H. Dougherty, who later became the advertising columnist for The New York Times, and Dorothy Patt Dougherty, a homemaker. In his teenage years, he became a tireless consumer and collector of downtown culture, traveling to Manhattan from Forest Hills, Queens, to frequent punk clubs like CBGB and Max’s Kansas City — often with a cassette recorder in hand.
Mr. Dougherty was “a hooker-upper, a connector,” said Adam Horovitz, better known as Ad-Rock, of the Beastie Boys, who first met him in the early 1980s at a friend’s apartment on St. Marks Place. “He was there when things were happening — not just one thing, but all the big things”: punk and hip-hop, New York and London, CBGB and MTV.
While a student at Ithaca College, Mr. Dougherty spent a semester abroad in London and immersed himself in the nascent punk scene there, meeting key figures like the D.J. Don Letts. When he returned to New York, he mailed tapes across the Atlantic to his new friends. Mr. Letts wrote in an email, “How else would a black kid from Brixton have known to include the likes of Patti Smith, Television and the Ramones into my dub reggae D.J. sets at the legendary Roxy Club?”
After graduating from Ithaca in 1977, Mr. Dougherty returned to New York, where he worked as a waiter until getting a job in 1983 as a production assistant at MTV, then a fledgling network. By 1985, he had become a producer, working on promotional spots including the brief interstitial clips that gave the network its edge, especially in its early years, when the music videos themselves could be tedious.How law schools completely misrepresent their job numbers.
This month, thousands of ambitious young people are asking themselves the same question: Does it make sense to invest $100,000 to $250,000, and the next three years of my life, to become officially qualified to work as a lawyer? For most people considering law school, this question is hardly an easy one. Law schools, however, make it much harder than it needs to be by publishing misleading data about their employment statistics. Many law schools all but explicitly promise that, within a few months of graduation, practically all their graduates will obtain jobs as lawyers, by trumpeting employment figures of 95 percent, 97 percent, and even 99.8 percent. The truth is that less than half will.
There are two main sources of information on post-law-school employment rates. One is U.S. News and World Report (USNWR), which publishes statistics for individual schools as part of its annual law-school rankings. These rankings, of course, are much reviled but even more greatly feared by deans and admissions officers. (Prospective law students pay very careful attention to the rankings, which means law schools must as well.) Until little more than a month ago, almost all 198 ABA-accredited law schools were reporting nine-month employment rates of more than 90 percent, and it was a rare top 100 school that had a rate of less than 95 percent. But last month, in the wake of criticisms that these figures were literally incredible, USNWR revised its employment statistics in an effort to combat some of the legerdemain law schools engaged in, such as excluding from their calculations graduates who described themselves as unemployed but not seeking work. The new USNWR percentages are therefore somewhat less inaccurate: Schools that, until a few weeks ago, were claiming one in 500 graduates were unemployed now claim one in 30 are, while those who were advertising 95 percent employment rates are saying one in six graduates don’t have jobs, and so on down the hierarchical line.
The other source is the National Association for Law Placement (NALP)—the group to which the ABA delegates the compiling of employment statistics that ABA-accredited law schools are required to report. According to the NALP, 88.2 percent of all law school graduates are “employed” within nine months of graduation. If we exclude people employed in non-legal jobs, and people doing part-time work, the NALP number drops to 62.9 percent.
There are a few problems, however, with even this lower number. The first is that it is only reported for law schools as a whole. NALP does not provide this number for individual schools, while USNWR does not report it at all. This means that the only school-specific information currently available to students is extremely misleading.I remember the first time I saw Tom Petty.
It was the “Refugee” music video. I remember thinking, who is this horse faced dude ridiculously creeping around an abandoned building? I laughed at his long blonde hair and funny facial expressions as he traipsed from pole to pole. But as I listened to the music, I realized I really liked the guy. I asked my mom who it was and she told me Tom Petty, her favorite singer.
She was watching some kind of “Best Of” DVD and I ended up sitting there watching the whole thing with her, drawn in by how different Petty’s voice sounded. This was 2007 and I was about to graduate eighth grade. Almost exactly one year later, I saw Mr. Integrity himself live for the first time out of the four I would be privileged to get.
A bit of my Tom Petty memorabilia.
Tom was the master of casual storytelling. Able to craft complex but digestible lyrics packed with real emotion and human lessons all while remaining tethered to his southern fried rock and roll roots. Always being able to provide needed perspective like:
To not listen to people who try to tell you how to live your life. To not let life become LIFE and overwhelm you. To just try your best. To love your friends and lovers while you can. To be patient. To have fun. To be creative. To know it’s okay to feel absolutely awful sometimes and to stand up for what you believe in no matter what.
I’ve had happy times with Tom and plenty of sad ones too. From singing and dancing my heart out in the pouring rain at his Wrigley Field show just four months ago to laying on my college apartment floor sobbing, thinking my depression was quite literally going to kill me while listening to the Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) album.
I have memories of all kinds with Tom.
A photo of a photo from the second time I saw Tom live in 2010.
The first song I ever nervously sang at karaoke was “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a duet with my friend Brett.
The joy of having a kid who attended a talk I gave once about writing find me afterwards to tell me he liked my Damn the Torpedoes shirt.
Still feeling the regret of passing up that random “For Promotional Use” only single I found at my school’s record store.
Being upgraded to main floor at Wrigley because a lady named Marge who worked for the Cubs saw I was alone at the show and knew there was open seats down closer.
There’s already been tons written about Tom today from major publications, most factual, covering his musical accomplishments and life. But I thought sharing something more personal from the eyes of a fan would mean a little more.
Below are a few of the t-shirts my mom and I have bought at his concerts or made in anticipation for them. Tossing on a record while crafting them was always the best part.
So, while Tom’s life hangs in the balance, I just wish him peace. Because that’s all he has ever given to me.
Tom, I know the waiting is the hardest part, but as you learn to fly towards the great wide open today, my heart breaks.
-Stacey.
AdvertisementsA couple of posts down, I announced that I had decided to cancel a couple of my planned appearances for 2015, namely the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga and the San Diego Comicon.As seems to happen with everything I post these days, this was immediately misinterperted and misreported. The usual game of internet telephone took place, and suddenly it was being said that I had cancelled ALL my planned appearances for 2015. This immediately triggered a flood of emails, and comments here on the blog, from fans who had bought memberships in Norwescon or Conquest or Sasquan in order to see me, and were now worried that I was not coming.No. Not so. Listen, please. I am skipping San Diego Comicon and World Fantasy Con... but as of this writing, I am still planning on making all of my other scheduled appearances. Okay? Clear? That means, yes, I will be in Seattle for Norwescon next week, and yes, I will be going to Kansas City for Conquest over Memorial Day. And so forth. And so on.Please note that at both of these cons, I am aThey invited me years ago, and have been advertising my participation for many months. Fans and readers have planned accordingly. I would not feel right in pulling out of an obligation like this, except perhaps in cases of medical or family emergency, and that does not apply here. At San Diego and Saratoga I was not a GOH, just a program participant, attending largely on my own hook. Makes it much easier to withdraw.It is possible that I may withdraw from some other announced appearances later in the year... most likely in the summer and fall... but if I do, it won't be from cons where I am the featured guest of honor. I would prefer not to have to cancel anything, but that depends on how the work is going.And by "work," I mean WINDS OF WINTER, of course... but not exclusively WINDS OF WINTER. When I say, "my plate is full," I don't just mean with WINDS. I am still editing the latest Wild Cards volume, HIGH STAKES. I have an overall deal with HBO, and three new television concepts in various stages of development, with a variety of collaborators and partners. I am consulting on a couple of videogames. There's the Wild Cards movie at Universal, where I'm a producer. And I've recently formed a new production company to make low budget short films based on a trio of classic short stories by... well, no, not yet, that would be telling. Premature telling.(Many of these other projects may come to nothing. Such is the dance of development as they do it in Hollywood. If anything ever actually comes to fruition, you will read about it here. Till then, don't hold your breath).Anyway, I'm. But please note, most of these other projects involve me editing, producing, consulting, or financing. The writing I'm doing is all on WINDS OF WINTER.Speaking of which... after wrestling with it for a month or so, I've decided not to script an episode for season six of GAME OF THRONES. Writing a script takes me three weeks, minimum, and longer when it is not a straight adaptation from the novels. And really, it would cost me more time than that, since I have never been good at changing gears from one medium to another and back again. Writing a season six script would cost me a month's work on WINDS, and maybe as much as six weeks, and I cannot afford that. With David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Bryan Cogman on board, the scriptwriting chores for season six should be well covered. My energies are best devoted to WINDS.So... back to it.Muslim men from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have asked their embassies to help to help them find Syrian girls living in makeshift refugee camps in Jordan and Iraq. "Exploiting the conditions of the girls in the refugee camps by marrying them temporarily is a form of rape that must stop immediately. Those responsible for this crime should be brought to trial," says Abdel Bari Atwan of Al-Quds Al-Arabi.
Syrian female refugees aged 14 and 15 who fled their country to Jordan and Iraq are being forced into "pleasure marriages" [Nikah al-Mut'ah] -- a pre-Islamic custom allowing men to marry for a limited period.
Apart from being a cover for legalized prostitution (the marriage can last for as little as 30 minutes), Nikah al-Mut'ah deprives the wife of many rights.
No divorce is necessary in "pleasure marriages," for instance, and the husband may void the marriage earlier than agreed.
What is most disturbing about this practice is not even whether or not the wife has rights, so much as that Muslim scholars and preachers have given the green light to their followers to exploit the plight of the poor and helpless Syrian girls.
Muslim men from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have in the past few weeks asked their embassies in Amman and Baghdad to help them find Syrian girls living in makeshift refugee camps in Jordan and Iraq.
This is happening at a time when the oil-rich Arab countries are doing almost nothing to help the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who are living in extremely difficult conditions.
Some Arab human rights activists have condemned the phenomenon, but their voice has thus far fallen on deaf ears.
Muslim preachers in a number of Arab countries have been encouraging their followers to engage in "pleasure marriages" with Syrian girls as a way of ridding them and their families of their misery. Some of these preachers have even issued fatwas [Islamic decrees] permitting the sexual exploitation of minors.
Many of these girls, according to reports in a number of Arab media outlets, are being returned to their families after hours or days of the temporary marriage.
Some of the victims are being sold by their desperate families to Muslim men in return for a few hundred dollars.
The Jordanian newspaper Ad-Dustour revealed that Muslim men from the kingdom were also exploiting the plight of the Syrian refugees by targeting 14 and 15 year old girls.
According to sources in Amman, some Jordanian Islamists have even divorced their wives in favor of temporary marriage of minors.
Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the pan-Arab Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, expressed outrage over the "ugly exploitation" of Syrian girls who fled the war in their country.
"Exploiting the conditions of the girls in the refugee camps by marrying them temporarily is a form of rape that must stop immediately," Atwan wrote. "Those responsible for this crime should be brought to trial."
Yet Atwan's condemnation seems to be a lone voice in the desert. No prominent Muslim figure or organization has deemed it necessary to denounce the sexual exploitation of the Syrian girls.The Internal Revenue Service has insufficient controls over the outside employment or business activities of its employees, according to a new government report.
The report, from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, noted that IRS employees are generally allowed to engage in outside employment or business activities after obtaining written approval. However, effective controls over outside employment can reduce the risk of conflicts of interest that could result in decisions that are not in the best interest of American taxpayers, TIGTA noted.
IRS records indicate that, in calendar year 2011, nearly 3,000 of the more than 6,000 active, full-time IRS employees who held jobs or participated in business activities outside the IRS did not have approval for outside employment or the activities were not documented on the IRS’s Outside Employment System as required. IRS Human Capital Office management was generally not aware of the number of employees with unapproved outside employment because responsibility has not been assigned for overseeing the overall outside employment process.
In addition, the IRS said it does not have authorization to use taxpayer information such as W-2 forms to identify employees with unapproved outside income because Section 6103 of the Tax Code does not clearly provide that tax data can be used for this purpose.
“Our report found that it will be difficult for the IRS to monitor outside employment because 93 percent of the existing records in the database used to compile outside employment requests are out of date,” said TIGTA Inspector General J. Russell George in a statement. “Moreover, approval of outside employment requests is not always documented on the database or in Official Personnel Folders, in part because of confusing and incomplete guidance.”
Improving controls will be important, TIGTA pointed out, because it identified both current and former IRS employees with both actual and potential conflicts of interest. One employee pled guilty to engaging in a criminal conflict of interest for accessing taxpayer information for the purpose of conducting a private tax and accounting business, while 44 IRS employees prepared tax returns for compensation, which is a prohibited practice.
TIGTA’s analysis also identified 20 employees with a high risk of potential conflicts of interest who received outside income without documented approval.
For example, four employees operated businesses with annual gross receipts ranging from more than $500,000 to more than $7 million, and six employees had wages of more than $50,000 from outside of the IRS. Significant outside income could affect the employee’s effectiveness on the job, the report noted.
TIGTA recommended that the IRS human capital officer update its outside employment guidance, appoint management responsibility for overseeing the outside employment process, evaluate whether legislation would be needed to authorize the IRS to perform analyses of employee income information to identify employees with unapproved outside employment, and perform a one-time cleanup of the outside employment database.
In response, IRS management agreed with three of TIGTA’s recommendations. However, the IRS did not agree that income information should be used to detect IRS employees engaging in potential conflicts of interest.
“We do not believe that sensitive taxpayer information should be used to oversee the IRS' outside employment program,” wrote IRS human capital officer Daniel T. Riordan in response to the report. “Further, we do not agree the IRS should be singled out to utilize such a method for oversight simply because we are the repository for, and custodians of, such information.”
For its part, TIGTA said it continues to believe that the IRS should evaluate whether legislation would be needed to allow it to detect employees with outside employment.
Riordan also disagreed with TIGTA’s methodology for identifying employees who were required to request approval to engage in an outside activity and with TIGTA’s estimate that 2,656 employees are engaged in outside employment without documented approval. He also disagreed with the statement that employees who “spend much of their workday outside the office” or “can access taxpayer account information” are at higher risk for a conflict of interest.
“As stated in the Plain Talk about Ethics and Conduct handbook, a conflict of interest occurs when the employee's outside employment violates a regulation or causes an employee to have to be recused from official matters to such an extent that it impedes the employee's ability to perform his job,” he wrote. “Management regularly monitors employees’ performance and conduct regardless of their work location. Engaging in an outside activity while on-duty is an example of employee misconduct (e.g., misuse of official time), not a conflict of interest. Additionally, IRS maintains a robust system to monitor all access to taxpayer data and ensure employees only access information as required to perform their official duties. As noted in the report, from October 1, 2009, through July 31, 2013, 54 employees engaging in prohibited outside employment or with a conflict of interest were referred to TIGTA for investigation. We believe this reflects the strength of the controls in place to identify these issues.”
The IRS also sent an email Thursday to Accounting Today with further comments on the report. "The IRS takes the findings of this report seriously and notes that TIGTA did not find any cases of actual conflict of interest or prohibited outside activities that had not been previously identified and referred for action by the IRS," the IRS said in the statement. "It is important to highlight that TIGTA found only 0.3 percent of active full-time employees with an outside employment agreement and/or who earned significant outside income could potentially result on a conflict with their official duties or impact their job effectiveness. The IRS disagrees with TIGTA’s methodology to identify employees who were required to request approval to engage in an outside activity.While TIGTA identified employees with income reported on Form W-2 or Schedule C, the receipt of income reported on these forms does not determine whether an employee is required to request approval. We also disagree with the TIGTA’s statement that employees who work remotely or have access to taxpayer data are at higher risk of a conflict of interest. We maintain a robust system to monitor all access to taxpayer data and employees only receive access to taxpayer information if required to perform their official duties. Additionally, IRS managers regularly monitor employees’ performance and conduct regardless of their work location."Last week, the White House waived restrictions on the provision of military assistance to foreign insurgents operating in Syria. Russian observers commenting on the move suggest that it looks like an act of desperation– a last-ditch effort by the Obama Administration to shore up the rebels as Obama prepares to make way for the incoming Trump team.
President Obama's memorandum, issued Thursday to the Departments of State and Defense, officially waived prohibitions on the provision of US military equipment to "foreign forces, irregular forces, groups, or individuals" that are "engaged in supporting or facilitating ongoing US military operations to counter terrorism in Syria." According to the document, the relevant departments will require Congressional authorization to proceed in providing official US support to Syria-based militants.
The move comes as US and Gulf State-supported rebel groups in the city of Aleppo face the prospect of imminent defeat at the hands of the Syrian Army and its allies, which have been conducting an active campaign to liberate the country's second city for several months. Observers say that the Syrian Army is poised to restore complete control over Aleppo 'within weeks', with the Syrian government already establishing control over more than 90% of the city, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. In less than a month's time, rebels are reported to have lost 70% of the territory under their control.
© AFP 2018 / George OURFALIAN Syrian pro-government forces walk amidst the rubble in old Aleppo's Jdeideh neighbourhood on December 9, 2016
At the same time, about 50,000 civilians have managed to flee the militant-held portions of the city in the last two days alone. Syrian media has reported that the commanders of some opposition groups are trying to establish contact with Damascus to discuss a deal which would allow insurgents and their families to evacuate Aleppo. Aleppo's liberation would significantly strengthen Syrian President Bashar Assad's negotiating position in peace talks, with the government effectively asserting control over most of the country's largest cities.
Accordingly, with the situation in Aleppo reaching a critical juncture for the rebels, and Obama preparing to make way for the incoming Trump administration, which has repeatedly promised to make fighting Islamist terrorism Washington's main priority in Syria, Obama's memo appears to be the last-ditch effort to prop up US-supported forces, both in Aleppo and elsewhere in the country where militants continue to maintain a foothold.
© AP Photo / Khalid Mohammed Daesh Terrorists 'Would Have Received US Weapons in Syria if They Had Better PR'
Vladimir Yevseyev, the deputy director of the CIS Institute, says that Obama's 'new' policy, announced just weeks before the end of his tenure, is aimed at "setting the tone for US involvement in Syria, and to set a certain algorithm of actions for his successor, Donald Trump. He is looking to bind Trump in some way, forcing him to pursue the Obama policy in the Middle East. But this does not mean that Trump will continue to act exactly the way Obama wants."
Anatoly Tsyganok, a retired military officer and head of the Russian Center for Military Forecasting, agrees with his colleague. Speaking to Russia's RIA Novosti news agency, the analyst explained that "most likely, the US is going to act according to the tried and true plan of taking advantage of a negotiating pause [in hostilities] to allow the so-called irreconcilable opposition to regroup, reequip and again turn it against Syrian government troops. Obama is doing everything he can to continue the policy aimed at overthrowing the current Syrian government."
At the same time, multiple observers have warned that if the US Congress approves the Obama Administration's proposals, the weapons provided could easily end up in the hands of Daesh (ISIL) and al-Nusra, terrorist groups Washington is ostensibly committed to fighting.
© REUTERS / Abdalrhman Ismail A Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki fighter watches news about Donald Trump's election as president on his smart phone in the rebel held beseiged area in Aleppo, Syria November 9, 2016
For this reason, Yevseyev suggested that given the "very dangerous undertaking" the provision of such weapons would imply, "it is likely that implementation will meet resistance from Congress and even sabotage by those charged with executing the order. Everyone in Washington understands that Obama will soon leave office, and it's unlikely that anyone will be eager to take responsibility for such hasty decisions."
But dangers remain, Yevseyev added, particularly if Congress approves Obama's proposal, which would make it more difficult for President-elect Trump to undo the decision once he steps into office.Part of actress Meryl Streep's speech at the Golden Globes included a rather bizarre swipe at football and mixed martial arts. Streep said that without Hollywood actors, they'd be all Americans would have to watch.
"So Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigner. And if we kick them all out you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."
Apparently, being left with just football is A-OK with ordinary, non-Hollywood Americans. Sunday night's football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys had the highest rating in several decades for a divisional playoff game.
The Packers/Cowboys game got a 28.2 overnight TV rating, the highest in 20 years. The Golden Globes? A 5.6.
Football may not be an art form, but it looks as though Americans don't really seem to mind.A hidden portrait underneath the “Mona Lisa” has been discovered by a French scientist, who said he uncovered the image using reflective light technology.
The digitally reconstructed image of the hidden portrait was presented at a press conference in Shanghai on Tuesday by scientist Pascal Cotte, who’s been analyzing the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece for over a decade, the BBC reported. Pascal said he uncovered the image using a multi-lens camera that took images of the painting under intense light.
The hidden portrait features a sitting subject who looks almost identical to the “Mona Lisa,” minus small but significant differences.
The sitter in the image appears to be looking to the side rather than directly at the viewer, and the sitter does not seem to have the enigmatic smile that’s intrigued “Mona Lisa” viewers for over 500 years.
Cotte told the BBC that he believes his findings challenge the widely accepted theory that the “Mona Lisa” is a painting of real-life 16th century Italian woman Lisa Gheradini, who was the wife of a Florentine silk merchant.
Pascal Cotte, a French scientist, claims he has found a hidden portrait underneath the Mona Lisa. “The results shatter many myths and alter our vision of Leonardo’s masterpiece forever,” he said. “When I finished the reconstruction of Lisa Gherardini, I was in front of the portrait, and she is totally different to Mona Lisa today. This is not the same woman.”
In an upcoming documentary for the BBC, art historian, Andrew Graham-Dixon, said he studied historical documents linked to the “Mona Lisa” alongside Cotte’s findings and came to the same conclusion as Cotte.
Reflective light technology used to analyze the Mona Lisa. “I think the new discoveries are like a huge stone thrown into the still waters of art history,” Graham-Dixon said. “They disturb everything that we thought we knew about the Mona Lisa … [T]here may be some reluctance on the part of the authorities at the Louvre to think about changing the title of the painting because thats what were talking about. Its ‘Goodbye, Mona Lisa.’ She is somebody else.”
The Louvre Museum declined to comment on the findings, saying it was not a part of the scientific team that studied the painting.
The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, exhibited at the Louvre in Paris in 2007.Other art historians remain skeptical about the claims that Cotte’s findings could prove the “Mona Lisa” was someone else other than Lisa Gheradini.
Oxford University Professor Martin Kemp, one of the world’s leading experts on Leonardo da Vinci told the BBC that he believes Cotte and his team is “ingenious” but “the idea that there is that picture as if it were hiding underneath the surface is almost untenable.”
He added, “I think there’s no doubt it is Lisa.”Scifi films aren’t just for Christmas, they’re a way of life. That doesn’t actually make any sense, but if you are on the same wavelength as us here at Scifi Methods, you’re probably going to want to wrap your eyeballs around these films at some point during your career. These are our recommendations to you for films which we think have a uniqueness and sophistication amongst everything else out there.
Not listed in order of superiority, because that changes every day.
Blade Runner (1982) Director: Ridley Scott The timeless classic and holy bible of future-noir art direction. Can take multiple viewings before the profoundness of the themes takes hold, but it is pure Cyberpunk eye candy to watch each time. The benchmark since 1982, just watch it.
Metropolis (1926) Director: Fritz Lang Quite simply the archetype scifi film. Whilst the medium of film was still in its infancy, German director Fritz Lang astounded his audiences with these incredible technical achievements. Although its imagery has been echoed from film to film continually since the 1920s, the influential elements are clearly still recognisable today.
RoboCop (1987) Director: Paul Verhoeven Set in a near future where the government has privatised the police force, a fatally-wounded police officer is resurrected as a programmed prototype crime-fighting cyborg, who must do battle with his inner self. Luckily, he also battles a powerful criminal gang who die in horrendous ways when he meets them. Scifi satire delivered as coldly as can be.
12 Monkeys (1995) Director: Terry Gilliam The film which captures what is by far Brad Pitt’s best film performance (second to his role as “Floyd” in “True Romance”), and Bruce Willis while he was still a serious actor. A complex story weaved together by director Terry Gilliam, who first found fame as part of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Source Code (2011) took enormous influence from this film and doesn’t even come close to being in the same league.
The Terminator (1984) Director: James Cameron The only genuinely believable role which Arnold Schwarzenegger has pulled off is in the film which has the most ridiculous synopsys ever, but is delivered as seriously as cancer: Self-aware Artificial Intelligence which has taken over the world in the future sends a bodybuilder-shaped cyborg back in time to 1984 to murder the mother of the future human resistance leader who is causing it problems in the future.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Director: Stanley Kubrick The word “masterpiece” is rarely used with as much justification as when it is used to describe this film. There are few other scifi films where so many of the elements come together so perfectly and stand the test of time so well. Alien (1979) and Moon (2009) are just two films which take obvious influence from this, but it is difficult to see any interior spacecraft sets and wonder how many times the director re-watched this to check he got everything correct. Features the most sinister death scene ever committed to film.
Aliens (1986) Director: James Cameron There’s no denying that the original Alien film (1979) is superior in originality and artistic sophistication, but this first sequel has a personality to it which just sticks with you. Features much of the Giger-influenced imagery which the series is known for, but with an additional dose of 80s action thriller for good measure. It’s just a shame they didn’t stop after this one…
Children of Men (2006) Director: Alfonso Cuarón Much like watching a documentary from an apocalyptic London of the future, British viewers will find this film uncomfortably close to home. Long single-shot sequences draw you into a dystopian world where the human race is facing extinction through infertility and society has completely broken down. Very real and very, very enjoyable.
Gattaca (1997) Director: Andrew Niccol Future-noir aesthetics combined with strong biopunk themes make this an extremely emotional story about genetic engineering and destiny. We get to know a young man who dreams of travelling into space but must illegally assume someone else’s identity in his attempt to get there, because his own genetic profile is not up scratch. Many provocative themes here, examined with depth and sophistication.
District 9 (2009) Director: Neill Blomkamp Director Neill Blomkamp’s breakthrough film takes very real historical subject matter (Apartheid in South Africa) and applies a scifi scenario of aliens who have been made refugees on earth being segregated from humans. Blomkamp’s documentary-style cinematography is used a great deal here, as is his impressive (but not gratuitous) use of CGI to give a film with indie roots a very blockbuster-feeling realisation. Judging by the alien technology and weaponry in this film, I’d say Blomkamp is also a big video game nerd.Mursitpinar (Turkey) (AFP) - Jihadists are on the verge of seizing the key Syrian border town of Kobane, neighbouring Turkey has warned, prompting the UN envoy to Syria to appeal for immediate international action to prevent its fall.
Washington, whose air strikes have failed to stop Islamic State group fighters' advance on Kobane, said it was "very concerned" for Kurdish civilians still inside the town given the jihadists' track record of "terrible acts of violence" against ethnic minorities.
IS jihadists launched their assault on the Kobane region three weeks ago, driving back the outnumbered |
the mapping process. For example, different cities often use different time frames for their mapping projects, while there are also different views on the kinds of squats that should be mapped. While most projects focus on primarily mapping squatted social centres, others have chosen to also include residential squats.
Finally, and certainly not least, the SqEK maps do not yet possess the visual appeal of the Berlin Besetzt website. The maps were supposed to be produced by the developer at a quality resembling the Berlin map, but this is clearly not the case yet. Berlin Besetzt has more features and overall looks a lot prettier. This is of course crucial for a project that sets out to make the various squatter initiatives “visible” as the Berlin group stated it.
To better understand the challenges to the SqEK mapping project, and think of effective ways to move forward, it is vital to gain a better overview of how the SqEK collective works in practice. Considering the significant autonomy of the individual mappers, and staying true to the bottom up approach of SqEK, this issue translates to questions regarding the individual mappers. What kinds of challenges do they encounter when mapping “their” cities? How do they see these challenges, deal with them and reflect on them? These questions will stand at the heart of this chapter, where we focus on the individual projects making up the SqEK mapping effort. In a concluding paragraph, we will reflect on the more general conceptual issues that are brought up through the mappers’ individual experiences.
The process of mapping
An image from the Leiden map
The website at maps.squat.net at present features finished city maps from Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brighton, London, Madrid, Potsdam and Rotterdam. Information for other cities such as Copenhagen, Hamburg, Leiden, Oslo, Paris and Seville is still being added. The first mentioned maps are considered finished in that the researcher(s) have completed the input of data.
Of course, a project such as this is never fully finished, since there will always be new squats to upload. Furthermore, ever more people are adding squats from the past. This process is facilitated by an added feature (a comment form), through which people can anonymously add squats. This feature builds forth on the bottom up approach of SqEK, and it is hoped that in this way crowd-sourced information can become a vital part of both old and new maps.
Even so, at present cities are being mapped by individuals or groups. Upon request, most of them have answered to our call and sent us brief reflections on their experiences. In the following, we will cite the experience of those who are mapping the following cities: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brighton, London, Madrid, Paris, Potsdam, and Rotterdam.
In doing so, we will focus on specific questions, such as
1.) What kind of sources did you use, and in what way did you process the information that you gathered?
2.) How do you define the squats that you are mapping?
3.) Is your map complete, is your project finished?
4.) How have you experienced the process of mapping and what effects did it have on you or on your environment?
Amsterdam
With 171 projects listed from the 1960s to end 2013, Amsterdam is far from finished. I spent the best part of a week at the Institute for Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam, devouring information and reading all the Grachtenkranten, the squatters’ newspaper which counts over six hundred issues and lasted from 1979 to 2008. Still, I could have done more. Not living in Amsterdam meant that my research was hampered, although several people did help out a bit.
There is one thing that is really brought out by the map. When you untick the ‘all years’ box and drag the timer slowly from year to year, you will see the number of projects from the 1970s and 1980s that are still in existence. Many of these project still adhere to radical politics and are still linked to the movement today. In doing so, they provide a massive amount of infrastructure and indeed form a sort of living history for today’s activists. By the simple fact of their continued existence, these places provide a huge boost to current struggles.
Barcelona
The Barcelona map covers the entire Metropolitan Area. It only includes squatted social centres. Residential squats are excluded. Due to their large numbers it would be extremely difficult to acquire a complete listing of them. In total, the map covers roughly six hundred squatted social centres, providing basic information on each of them (mainly the start and eviction dates).
Our data on squatted social centres from 1995 to the present has been drawn from the websites Info-Usurpa and Contra-Infos. These two tools made it possible to easily gather information on a large number of political squatting projects. For the most recent information, we were able to use the website 15mpedia.org as a source of information. For the period prior to 1995, we have drawn from bibliographic research and activist knowledge.
Due to various reasons, it has become increasingly difficult to map recent events and squatter actions. First of all, since the emergence of the 15M movement in 2011, the number of squatter actions has risen dramatically. Furthermore, communication within the movement is at times hampered by the movement’s heterogeneity. Not only are there differences between an old and a new generation of squatters, the same holds true for Catalan and foreign squatters.
Those who are interested can access the map and add new information. So far however, only one collective has posted an update on the original database. This may also be explained by the limited publicity that we have given on the map amongst activists.
Brighton
Mapping Brighton was fun to do in that I lived there and thus had access to people who had squatted in different times from the 1970s to the present day. This means that the map feels quite complete, especially since (compared to the other cities listed here) Brighton is not very large. Of course there will be projects still to be added.
London
Most people scoffed when I told them I was mapping squats in London, since the city is so vast and has experienced thousands if not hundreds of thousands of squatter actions since the 1960s. However, limiting the project to mapping social centres made the task easier, even if the result still needs much more input. So far, 263 projects have been inserted.
The information for the map was mainly gathered at the 56a Infoshop in Elephant & Castle, London. This is a rare long-lasting movement project, which has a large archive to trawl through. Their suggestion was to add photos of projects (then and now) which would be a great addition but also a lot of work. Surprisingly, the Institute for Social History in Amsterdam was also quite helpful in finding places from the 1980s, a decade for which the map is still far from complete.
Madrid
When we started our map, we could rely on the work done by others. One of them listed squatter actions until the mid-1990s, while others focused more on recent squats, for example okupa tambien, agita madrid and 15mpedia.
A problem with these sources was however that they were not complete and that many data inputs were wrong. We could verify much of the information and add new cases by checking squatters and mainstream news websites. Often, firsthand knowledge was crucial in checking data.
Our mapping effort sparked a group that from 2008 to 2010 met regularly to research and discuss the history of squatting in Madrid. These meetings among other gave way to a book publication.
Our database is limited to squatted social centers and covers the period from 1977 to 2015. This choice was informed mainly by the fact that information on these squats is more easily accessible and public. All of them are located in the metropolitan area of Madrid (municipality and region). In one case, a squat from a bordering province (Guadalajara) is included due to its active role in the 2008 campaign against the eviction of social centers. In addition, fourteen cases of occupation urban plots of land are also included. In most cases, regular squatters were involved in these projects, and many of these spaces functioned as a sort of outdoor social centers. In total, in covers 155 squats, although it must be noted that only eight are registered for the period between 1977 and 1980.
Residential squatted houses are generally excluded from the list. Usually, squatters do not recognize the residential function of a squat, because that entails more legal risks. Thus, researchers are not to mention the residential function of squats unless a prudent amount of time has passed. This applies specifically to the currently active squatted houses or the recent ones from the last 5 years.
In fact, less than thirty squatted social centers hosted residents. In some cases, the initial purpose of a squat was to provide a home. More often than, however, it was later decided to open up parts of the building as a cultural and political venue.
Paris
The map for Paris is not finished and currently under progress. The process is long. I work with a database of around 400 squats since the 1950s. I have collected the data for a research about squatting and urban policies between 2010 and 2015. The data were collected and completed through interviews with squatters or previous squatters for the most recent period, also helped by press reviews and analysis of websites documents (squat.net + Intersquat). For the oldest squats, I used works from historians (among others C. Pechu and B. Colin) and press reviews. For each squats, I tried to find informations for 20 variables about location, period, type of property, type of squat, relations with authorities, with neighbours etc…
But the database is not exhaustive and focus too much on the Paris centre and its closest suburbs while there are / were also many squats in the suburbs. Besides, most of the squats in Paris (as in most of the European Cities) are invisible and cannot be considered as social centres. They are rather residential squats where different kinds of population live, mostly very precarious, in Paris and its Northern suburbs. I have an aggregated database (by Departments) and I won’t put them in the SqEK Map. We can estimate that there are more than 3000 squats of this kind in the Paris Region.
A map is an important resource for both sides. Statistics and maps are tools for power: governments can build and analyze database in order to control the population. However, social movements and resistant can also use this tool as a way to resist and develop an alternative knowledge on the history of squatting for example. Thus, the issue is to turn this map into a tool for resistance. Among many debates we had with SqEK members and other activists, I found the idea of mapping only squatted social centres that have been closed very interesting. The issue is important. On the one hand, it is necessary to respect the will of collectives not to be visible on the map. On the other hand, this work could be part of a process of memory building for social movements.
Potsdam
An image from the Potsdam map
The map is almost complete and documents the history of squatting in Potsdam between 1985 and 2006. In the beginning of the 1990s, Potsdam was a centre of the German squatting movement.
It was not easy to find all this material. There was no coherent collection of information about this local phenomenon, the relevant sources were scattered in different places. The sources of this collection are newspapers, different archives, flyers from the movement, interviews with squatters, movie clips, pictures…. A lot of former squatters gave me their collections of material and supported this project.
Some houses have a description, for a lot of buildings background information was not found.
I added a short history of squatting and tried to explain squatting from a historical perspective. A central point in this contribution is the system change 1989/1990 where public squatting was born. I try to show the main lines of development and the connection between squatting in the time of GDR and the practice of squatting after the fall of the Berlin wall. I think the map makes it possible to show the diversity of squatting, local concentrations, spaces of public struggles and more.
Rotterdam
Rotterdam has a largely hidden and underground squatting history, so it was a question of pretty much starting from scratch with the research. Since I had squatted in Rotterdam in the 2000s I had some leads and one squatter from the 1980s was very helpful. Otherwise people were supportive but were either not very interested to spend time adding places or could not remember much coherent info from their days of squatting. The city archive had a limited amount of information but what revolutionised the search was the tip from the Leiden mappers to use delpher, a website which facilitates the online search of digitised newspapers from the 20th century in a very easy format. I thus began a second phase of research (which is still ongoing) in which I am discovering the squats of the 1970s and 1980s. Whilst some people undoubtedly know about this since they were participants at the time,for me it is all totally fresh. I’m reading about the Phoenix Motorclub cracking a series of places for their workshop space, action groups occupying buildings for gastarbeiders (foreign migrant workers), communities protesting emptiness and dereliction, the people of Spangen reopening their baths, artists providing themselves with atelier space, punks smashing up the ABN AMRO bank after an eviction, kids in the south squatting youth centres and police shooting at demonstrators during the eviction of a former bicycle factory.
It is very exciting to discover all this new information and the map is currently being used as a repository for data which will then be utilised for a separate project to produce a book about squatting in Rotterdam.
Hopefully recording all these projects will help contribute to a broader awareness of how squatters have shaped the city of Rotterdam. Unfortunately, as the map shows, there are not so many current projects. Nevertheless, it brightens up my day as I cycle around the city to see places which I have just inputted on the map and to see what function they have now.
Moving forward
The maps we have produced, through hours of labour, have the potential to be a really useful activist resource. Over time, hopefully crowd-sourced data will improve them and make them more complete. Despite the difficulties engendered through varying approaches, a disinterested developer and the transnational nature of the collective, the maps form a delightful means to feed our academic work back into a more activist function of radical history, since many more people will see the maps than read the articles and databases.
The mapping project aimed at presenting the history of squatting in an easy manner to access and navigate for past and new activists. Compared to academic articles the maps, pictures, locations, short texts and links open up more ways to delve into that history. They also provide indications to compare cities and urban areas within cities. A map is just a tool to facilitate access to information and to produce knowledge, although all the political implications are responsibility of those who interpret this information. Squatting projects tend to be omitted, stigmatised and misunderstood, so the maps contribute to the public debate about it. As a collaborative tool open to suggestions from visitors to the webpages, it bridges the activist scenes and the SqEK in a supplementary fashion to the meetings, talks and publications we also produce. Given the complexity of the technical aspects involved (new icons for the legends, implementation of queries, scales, different languages, etc.) and the social networks of people involved (those collecting data, those entering in the maps, those maintaining and updating, etc.) the project is for sure a work in progress that need to be enhanced in the coming years and, perhaps, linked to similar ones.
Finally, as one would expect, there were concerns for many about the utility of the maps for the state and other repressive organisations, an issue which has occasioned much debate. There is no easy answer here and different cities approached the maps in different ways. One approach was only to profile social centres, defined in a loose sense as politically active squats open to all, which therefore already had a public presence. Thus these places were already present in the media and often had websites, so the maps are not so much revealing anything as collating data already available. Otherwise one city was requested to be taken off the database since participants in the local squatters movement decided they would rather not be profiled in an online, publicly available map.
As can be seen from the individual accounts above, people are using the mapping project in different ways and new research opportunities are the result. The process is ongoing. Within this, there are still of course questions to be answered, for example:
What can we usefully say with this kind of visualisation?
Can we represent connections and relationships between the different local movements in Europe?
How could the maps grow?
Written by (in alphabetical order):
Thomas Aguilera
Claudio Cattaneo
E.T.C. Dee
Miguel Martinez
Bart van der Steen
Jakob Warnecke
Images are either screenshots taken by the authors or documents with link suppliedMichael Adebolajo, the knife-wielding, blood-soaked brute who is suspected of killing Drummer Lee Rigby told passersby he was fed up with people killing Muslims in Afghanistan. If that was the reason for Wednesday's attack on Drummer Lee Rigby, Adebolajo should have travelled to Helmand and started wielding his knife against Taliban fighters. It is they who kill most Muslims in Afghanistan.
According to the United Nations, 81% of civilian casualties were inflicted by the Taliban and their bedfellows in 2012, with only 8% caused by Afghan and coalition forces. This is roughly the pattern of previous years too. The overwhelming majority of the Taliban's victims were the result of deliberate targeting and indiscriminate use of improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks, some carried out by children.
Adebolajo seemingly has a track record with the group that loudly accused my own regiment, the Royal Anglians, of being child killers and "butchers of Basra" during a march through Luton to honour their return from Iraq in 2010. A regiment that had completed its six-month tour of duty without firing a shot in anger, and had protected many Iraqi Muslims from the depredations of extremist killers.
Of course, Iraq, Afghanistan and the "defence" of their brother Muslims in far-off lands are nothing more than feeble excuses for Islamists who follow al-Qaida's murderous agenda. Al-Qaida's earlier bombing campaigns in the 1990s – during which far more Muslims were killed than the westerners they were targeting – and 9/11 obviously pre-date the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
Their agenda is far wider. It is to remove western presence and influence from Islamic lands, impose fundamental theocratic rule on all Muslim countries and unite them under a restored Sunni caliphate as imagined from centuries past.
Al-Qaida does not see this as a short-term project, but one that will be achieved only in generations to come. Its role is to drive inexorably towards this goal by mass killings intended to set community against community, and to gradually undermine the existing order through violence and economic destruction.
Al-Qaida's war will not end when Nato forces leave Afghanistan. Neither will its campaign in Britain. If anything, terrorist attacks here could increase. In Helmand, British soldiers have encountered Taliban fighters with Birmingham accents and bodies with Manchester United tattoos. Many British Muslims have travelled to Afghanistan for jihad. If that option reduces after 2014, some might turn their murderous attentions on their homeland.
That was true of Parviz Khan, a Birmingham man who was prevented from travelling abroad to fight and instead hatched a plot in 2007 to kidnap and behead a British soldier here at home.
Ironically, the rudimentary attack in Woolwich may be the result of increasing success by British and international security forces against Islamist terror networks and cells set up to execute more sophisticated plots. MI5 has thwarted dozens of serious terrorist plans here in the UK since 2001. Only last month, 24 people were convicted of terrorism-related offences in British courts. Al-Qaida Central, whose hand was previously behind many attack plans in Britain, has been sent reeling by wave after wave of highly effective US drone strikes in the Pakistan border areas, and are now in virtual survival mode.
Anwar al-Awlaki, an English-speaking al-Qaida leader, was the inspiration behind many recent terror plots in the UK. It is possible that the Woolwich killers were motivated by his exhortations to Muslims everywhere to launch whatever attacks they could with whatever weapons they had to hand. Though Awlaki's message continues to resonate among his followers, he was fortunately silenced by a US drone strike in Yemen in September 2011.
There are unfortunately many more Awlakis out there. The continuing threat from Islamist terrorism shows how urgent it is that the government finds ways of shutting down the preachers of hate both here in Britain and on the internet. These mind-benders, who seek out the compliant and the vulnerable, are every bit as culpable as those who wield the knife or plant the bomb at their behest.
We don't yet know whether Rigby's murderers were acting alone, but their attack required little planning, no finance, no support network and no special expertise other than merciless bloodlust. With few opportunities to collect intelligence via planning and communications, these are the most difficult terrorist attacks for our security services to prevent.
Yet it seems that both suspects had previously been on MI5's radar. It is not the first time that the activities of those on the periphery of extremism have been disregarded by the security service, only to emerge in serious terrorist plots. Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the 2005 London suicide attacks, is a case in point. But the police and security service have to prioritise their operations against finite resources. The Woolwich attack raises the question: is increased funding needed to widen their net in an ever-evolving war on terror that has many decades yet to run?If you thought about this long enough, you might start to wonder, would this trick still work if we used a difference of consecutive cubes instead? It might look something like this:
As we talked about last time, for two consecutive numbers $n$ and $m$ (with $m$ the larger of the two), the difference of their squares is given by $m^2 - n^2 = 2n + 1$.
If only we knew a nice way to express quantities involving cubes such as $5^3 - 4^3$ like we did for quantities involving squares.
Since $m$ is one greater than $n$, we can substitute $n+1$ for $m$ in the expression $m^3 - n^3$. This results in the expression $(n+1)^3 - n^3$.
To dig into this problem, we need to express the quantity $(n+1)^3$ in a more useful form. We can do this using the binomial theorem:
$$ (x + y)^n = \sum_{k=0} \binom{n}{k} x^k y^{n-k} $$
Where the symbol $\binom{n}{k} = \frac{n!}{k! (n-k)!}$ is the $(n, k)^{\text{th}}$ binomial coefficient.
In the special case that we need, this gives us $(n + 1)^3 = n^3 + 3n^2 + 3n + 1$. And to put it all together, we have:
$$ (n+1)^3 - n^3 = 3n^2 + 3n + 1 $$
In effect, we have just expanded $(n+1)^3$ and "chopped off" the first term, so I will be writing this as follows throughout:
$$ (n+1)^3 - n^3 = \cancel{n^3} + 3n^2 + 3n + 1 $$
Now, we can make progress on our original idea:
$$ \begin{array}{rrcrr} & 6^3 - \cancel{5^3} & & \cancel{5^3} + 3 \cdot 5^2 + 3 \cdot 5 + 1 \\ + & \cancel{5^3} - \cancel{4^3} & & \cancel{4^3} + 3 \cdot 4^2 + 3 \cdot 4 + 1 \\ + & \cancel{4^3} - \cancel{3^3} &=& \cancel{3^3} + 3 \cdot 3^2 + 3 \cdot 3 + 1\\ + & \cancel{3^3} - \cancel{2^3} & & \cancel{2^3} + 3 \cdot 2^2 + 3 \cdot 2 + 1 \\ + & \cancel{2^3} - \cancel{1^3} & & \cancel{1^3} + 3 \cdot 1^2 + 3 \cdot 1 + 1 \\ + & \cancel{1^3} - \cancel{0^3} & & \cancel{0^3} + 3 \cdot 0^2 + 3 \cdot 0 + 1 \end{array} $$
We can now add vertically, as we did last time, to get:
Seeing the pattern clearly
$$ 6^3 = 3\cdot(1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + 4^2 + 5^2) + 3 \cdot (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5) + 6 $$
We can take this equation and alter it very slightly in a way which makes the pattern very clear. We start counting at $0$ rather than $1$, and we expand the $6$ at the end as the sum of the $0^{\text{th}}$ powers. (We also write the first powers explicitly). The result is quite pleasing to look at, even though it's not necessary for computation:
$$ \begin{array}{lrl} 6^3 =& &3 \cdot (0^2 + 1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + 4^2 + 5^2) \\ & +&3 \cdot (0^1 + 1^1 + 2^1 + 3^1 + 4^1 + 5^1) \\ & +&\ \ \ \ \ (0^0 + 1^0 + 2^0 + 3^0 + 4^0 + 5^0) \end{array} $$
The $6$ on the left hand side reminds us that we're thinking about the first $6$ integers, when we count starting from $0$. The $3$'s we see as coefficients in front of the sums are actually the binomial coefficients, $\binom{3}{1} = 3$ and $\binom{3}{2} = 3$. There is no coefficient for the last term, since $\binom{3}{3} = 1$.
Continuing on...
So we currently have this equation sitting in front of us:
$$ 6^3 = 3\cdot(1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + 4^2 + 5^2) + 3 \cdot (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5) + 6 $$
We can see we have an expression involving the sum of the first $5$ consecutive integers $(1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5)$ and their squares $(1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + 4^2 + 5^2)$. We don't know anything about the sum of the squares, but we do know how to quickly calculate the sum of the integers themselves: $(1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5) = \frac{5\cdot (5+1)}{2} = 15$, as we discussed last time. And so we can substitute:
$$ 6^3 = 3\cdot(1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + 4^2 + 5^2) + 3 \cdot 15 + 6 $$
And so we could use a little bit of algebra and solve for $1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + 4^2 + 5^2$.
Generalizing to the sum of the first $n$ squares
And moreover, this trick would work for more than $5$. In general, we get:
$$ \begin{align} (n+1)^3 &= 3\cdot (1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + \cdots + n^2) + 3\cdot (1 + 2 + 3 + \cdots + n) + (n+1) \\ &= 3\cdot (1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + \cdots + n^2) + 3\cdot \frac{n(n+1)}{2} + (n+1) \end{align} $$
From this point on, it's just a lot of messy algebra. If you isolate the sum of squares on the left hand side, you will arrive any of these equivalent, tidy formulas:
$$ \begin{align} 1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + \cdots + n^2 &= \frac{1}{3} n^3 + \frac{1}{2} n ^2 + \frac{1}{6} n \\\\ &= \frac{2n^3 + 3n^2 + n}{6} \\\\ &= \frac{n(n+1)(2n+1)}{6} \end{align} $$
Tada! While the naive sum requires computing $n$ squares and then $n-1$ additions, we can instead arrive at the same result with only a single cube, a single square, three divisions, and two additions. When $n$ is large (say, in the tens or hundreds), this saves us quite a bit of computing.
Generalizing to higher powers
The algebra is tedious, but conceptually it is no harder to apply this same trick to higher powers than it is for squares.
For computing the sum of cubes, you would use $(n+1)^4 - n^4 = \cancel{n^4} + 4 n^3 + 6 n^2 + 4n + 1$ and play the same trick, adding vertically, cancelling out terms as you go.
With enough work, you can work out a formula for each power. Here are the first few:
$$ \begin{align} 1 + 2 + 3 + \cdots + n &= \frac{1}{2}n^2 + \frac{1}{2}n \\\\ 1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + \cdots + n^2 &= \frac{1}{3} n^3 + \frac{1}{2} n ^2 + \frac{1}{6} n \\\\ 1^3 + 2^3 + 3^3 + \cdots + n^3 &= \frac{1}{4} n^4 + \frac{1}{2} n ^3 + \frac{1}{4} n^2 \\\\ 1^4 + 2^4 + 3^4 + \cdots + n^4 &= \frac{1}{5} n^5 + \frac{1}{2} n ^4 + \frac{1}{3} n^3 - \frac{1}{30} n\\\\ 1^5 + 2^5 + 3^5 + \cdots + n^5 &= \frac{1}{6} n^6 + \frac{1}{2} n ^5 + \frac{5}{12} n^4 - \frac{1}{12} n^2\\\\ \end{align} $$
You'll notice a few patterns among them. In 1713, mathematician Jakob Bernoulli wrote about these patterns and discovered an important sequence of numbers buried inside the coefficients. These numbers, which are now called Bernoulli Numbers, appear in many curious places in analysis and number theory.Camel, a Reynolds American brand, and Newport, a Lorillard brand, cigarettes are arranged for a photo Tuesday, July 15, 2014 in Philadelphia. Reynolds American Inc. is planning to buy rival Lorillard Inc. for about $25 billion in a deal to combine two of the nation's oldest and biggest tobacco companies. (Photo: Matt Rourke AP)
R.J. Reynolds, a subsidiary of Reynolds American, is following through with its vow to fight a court verdict totaling $23.6 billion in punitive damages.
On July 28, the second-largest tobacco company filed for a post-trial hearing in a Florida federal appeals court to challenge a July 19 lawsuit verdict for a widow whose husband who was a longtime smoker.
In its post-trial filing, the maker of Camel and Winston brand cigarettes said that the punitive award would result in "economic castigation" to the company, asserting that its "stipulated net worth between 2006 and 2008 averaged approximately $8 billion."
"We feel that this (the verdict) is grossly excessive," Reynolds American CEO Susan Cameron told CNBC on Friday. "We believe that it is not legal in the state of Florida, nor constitutionally. We feel the court will and should set it aside."
But the plaintiff's attorney, Christopher Chestnut, insisted that "no one lawsuit was going to cripple the company."
"They (Reynolds) were making billions of dollars in the '50s," Chestnut said. "The company made it clear that $100 million wasn't big enough to send a message. They're arrogant."
The case was originally a part of the class-action Engle-Progeny lawsuit against big tobacco companies in 1994. The Florida Supreme Court rejected the jury's verdict, however, and said that plaintiffs could only file for lawsuits individually.
For its defense, the tobacco company cited past settlements stemming from the Engle-Progeny class-action lawsuit, saying that the $23.6 billion settlement was nearly 100 times larger than any previous punitive award.
Reynolds said that the case decision was a product of "passion and prejudice," underscoring what it believed was a lack of conclusive evidence.
Chestnut reemphasized that Reynolds should focus on making a safer product, rather than reducing its lawsuit award.
"They need to take responsibility for what they have knowingly done for decades. They should fix the problem rather than fight the verdict."
R.J. Reynold's appeal came in the midst of talks for Reynolds American to acquire its competitor Lorillard. The transaction would be valued at $27.4 billion, but has to be first approved by the Federal Trade Commission.
The acquisition would still put the company behind Marlboro-maker Altria, which has 50% market share vs. Reynolds and Lorillard's combined 33% share, analysts say.
On Friday, Reynolds American closed at $55.75, down 0.2%. Its 52-week high was $63.39, while its 52-week low was $46.55. Most analysts agree that the lawsuit verdict hasn't had much impact on Reynolds' shares.
"We expect to hear back from the judge in two to four weeks," Cameron said to CNBC.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1ngOEzSAfter a rural adventure around the island of Borneo the next stop of the journey was Singapore: a squeaky clean commercial hub with great public transit and dazzling architecture. Unsure of how to navigate the new city, I asked friends on Facebook if they had any tips on Singapore.
My friend, and Michigan State University professor, Karl answered the call:
I have friends at the newspaper there if you need some good people to ask what to do!
Before I knew it, I was messaging with Lee “Hup” Kheng, a Singaporean with great advice: Chinatown, the Mariamman Indian Temple, Marina Bay on the Sands Hotel for spectacular views of the skyline and more.
Hup was so gracious to offer his expertise, I asked him if he’d like to get coffee. Two days later I was in the art department of Singapore Press Holdings where Hup works as the Infographic and Design Chief for The New Paper.
…
Hup is an award-winning graphics artist. Born in the Rice Bowl region of Malaysia, he realized he had a talent for drawing and should try to make something out of his life. After high school he bought a one-way ticket to Memphis, Tennessee for art school. He then moved back to Malaysia and soon got a job in Singapore. He has been in the industry for 25 years and is now running the show at The New Paper–the best paper in Singapore.
We met at his office and sat on the rooftop deck overlooking the city. We talked about what makes Singapore unique, swapped travel stories and discussed lessons Hup had learned over the course of his career.
Our conversation was lively and it was clear Hup was an artistic guy. He’d use his hands or objects on the table to help me visualize the story he was telling.
My favorite part of the conversation was when he talked about art and trying to unlearn things.
He talked about drawing a face over and over again. Each time he starts with the nose, which means it’s now become a habit. He doesn’t know how to draw a face without starting with the nose because habits are hard to break.
It’s the same for life habits: we fall into a routine that is known and comfortable. Then we get stuck.
We pick the easy, expected, known route and suddenly a few years go by and we are in a rut that is safe yet boring. As Hup said:
We get stuck in patterns but sometimes the best things are when you can embrace the unknown… The best things come unexpectedly. It can be a bit dangerous but that’s okay, it’s more fun to follow the heart.
While his career has been vibrant, he said if he could do it again, he would have worked in Singapore for two years and then gone somewhere like Japan where a new challenge awaited. He would have switched things up more often.
To compensate, he’s now travels as often as possible, which is why he was so willing to share tips with me. He told me that when people are traveling he loves to help give them advice |
verso to his left sword hand and at the same time step strongly with the right foot to his left side. In this you will also thrust him firmly in the “frinchi” or give him a mandritto to the left leg. For your defense you will throw the right foot behind the left and cross your swords. You will then make a half turn of the hands and return to the porta di ferro on the left and the coda lunga e alta on the right with the left foot forward. You will settle with your arms and legs well formed. Cap. 82. In questa sesta parte serai con la spada della man manca agente. Essendo tu rimaso con la spada manca in porta de ferro & con la dritta in coda longa & alta con el piè manco inanci, de qui l’è di bisogno che tu trovi il tuo nimico, anchora lui in queste due medesime guardie proprio come te: all’hora trovandolo in queste due guardie come te ho detto, tu li darai della spada manca de uno roverso forte per la sua man manca nella spada e, in tempo che tu tirerai tale roverso, tu passarai del piè dritto forte inverso alle sue parte stanche & in tale passare tu li caccerai una ponta ferma per li fianchi o vorrai darli de uno mandritto per la gamba manca; & per tuo reparo tu butterai el piè dritto de drieto dal manco & sì incroserai le tue spade insieme, e incrosato che tu haverai le ditte spade tu farai una megia volta de pugno per ciascuna man, per modo che tu serai tornato pure con la spada manca in porta de ferro & la dritta serà in coda longa & alta con el piè manco inanci; & lì te assetterai con le tue braccie & gambe ben polito.
Capitolo 83. Of the seventh part of the above said. Being in the porta di ferro with the left sword and the coda lunga e alta with the right, here you will put the true edge of the left sword to the outside of your enemy’s left sword. That is to his false edge with the intention that he is in the same stance as you and you will in the same time thrust with a falso impuntato to his left temple while stepping to his left with your right foot. In this manner your left sword will go into the guardia di testa and the right into the porta di ferro larga. Here, if your enemy makes a similar attack, high or low, or even if he does not attack, you will step four inches to his right side with your right foot and strike his sword s with a rising falso and make a roverso with the right sword. With the left sword you will make a falso and a mandritto. In this you will step forward with the left leg to his right side and then cross your swords together. For your defense you will immediately throw the left leg behind the right and make a half turn of the hands so that the right sword goes back to the coda lunga e stretta and the left into the coda lunga e alta and you will settle with the arms and legs well formed. Cap. 83. Della settima parte del sopraditto. Essendo tu rimaso con la spada manca in porta di ferro & la dritta in coda longa & alta, de qui tu metterai el filo dritto della spada dalla man manca de fuora dalla spada manca del nimico, cioè in el falso; se intende che lui sia in queste due medesime guardie come tu, & quando tu metterai el ditto filo dritto in el suo falso, a uno tempo medesimo tu gli cacciarai uno falso impontato per la sua tempia manca, con il piè dritto passando inanci inverso alle sue parte manche; e insieme del falso impontato tu li darai de uno mandritto per la gamba manca, per modo che la tua spada manca andarà in guardia di testa & quella dalla dritta calarà in porta di ferro larga; e de qui s’el tuo nemico te tirasse de botta alcuna o da alto o da basso e ancora ch’el non tirasse de botta alcuna, tu butterai el piè dritto quattro dita inverso a le sue parte dritte e in tale buttare tu urterai della tua spada dritta de uno falso de sotto in suso in le sue spade, con un roverso della spada dritta & della manca tu farai falso e mandritto passando in tal tempo della tua gamba manca inanci, inverso alle sue parte dritte; & per tuo reparo tu butterai de fatto la tua gamba manca de drieto dalla dritta et in tal buttare incroserai le tue spade insieme; incrosato che tu le haverai, tu farai una meggia volta de pugno per ogni mano, per modo che la spada dalla man dritta serà in coda longa e stretta et quella dalla mano manca serà in coda longa & alta; & lì te assetterai con le tue braccie & gambe ben polito.
Capitolo 84. Of the principles of the said fight with two swords. Being still in the coda lunga e stretta on the right and the coda lunga e alta on the left, I want you to throw a rising falso at your enemy’s left sword hand with the left sword so that he will parry to cover. This so he has reason to attack you in the upper body. O r even low. You must remain alert for when he makes the attack you will put the edge of your right sword to his attack turning the point of your sword down and with the left sword you will thrust him in the chest. In this you must not step forward with the left foot to the right. For your defense you will throw the left leg behind the right and attack his head with a fendente in the style of a tramazzone. In this manner your right sword will be in the porta di ferro larga and the left in the coda lunga e alta with the right foot forward. You will settle with the arms and legs well formed and in this manner I want you to make a half turn of the hands. Know that having done this your right sword will go into the coda lunga e stretta and the left into the cingiara porta di ferro. Now you will make a falso and roverso with the left hand and a falso mandritto with the right with the right leg going behind the left. In this manner your right sword will go into the cinghiara porta di ferro and the left into the coda lunga e stretta with the left foot forward. Having done this throw the left leg in a gran passo behind the right with the right sword doing a falso and roverso and the right doing a falso and dritto. Then you will throw the left foot forward and go into a ponta di terra with the left sword and the guardia alta with the right. Here your right foot will be ordered with the knee to the point of your left foot and your arms and legs will be extended and well formed and in this mod e you will return back to play. Cap. 84. Della diffinitione del ditto abbattimento di due spade. Essendo tu rimaso con la spada dritta in coda longa e stretta e con la man manca in coda longa & alta, de qui voglio che traghi al tuo nimico de uno falso con la tua spada manca de sotto in suso per la sua mano la quale te parerà scoperta: e questo se fa perchè lui habbia cagione de tirarte alle bande de sopra o de sotto; tu starai avertito, chè tragandote lui de botta alcuna, tu metterai el filo della spada tua dritta in tale sua botta che lui tirerà, s’intende che tu volti in tal parado la ponta della detta spada dritta verso terra, e della manca tu li darai de una ponta ferma innel petto, passando, in tal tempo che tu li darai la ponta, della tua gamba manca inanci per lo dritto e forte; cacciato che tu haverai questa ponta, per tuo reparo tu butterai la gamba manca de drieto dalla dritta e trarai uno fendente per testa in atto di tramazzon, per modo che la tua spada dritta serà calata in porta di ferro larga e quella della mano manca sera andata in coda longa & alta con el piè dritto inanci; & lì tu te assetterai bene polito, con le tue braccie e gambe, per modo che qui voglio che tu faci una megia volta di pugno per ciascuna mano; & sappi che fatto che tu haverai la detta meggia volta, la spada dalla mano dritta serà andata in coda longa e stretta e quella della mano manca serà calata a cinghiara porta di ferro; & de qui tu farai falso e roverso della man manca e dalla man dritta falso e mandritto, con la tua gamba dritta buttando de drieto dalla manca, per modo che la tua spada dritta serà andata in cinghiara porta di ferro e la manca sera andata in coda longa e stretta con il piè manco inanci; & fatto che tu haverai questo, tu butterai la gamba manca indrieto gran passo dalla dritta e farai con la spada dritta, in tal buttare, falso e roverso e con la mano dritta tu farai falso e dritto; de qui tu butterai el piè manco inanci e sì te anderai assettare con la tua spada manca con la ponta in terra & con la dritta tu anderai in guardia alta, con il tuo piè dritto, acconciato al garretto, appresso della ponta del tuo piè manco, ben polito & disteso le tue braccie e gambe; a questo modo tu serai tornato indrieto da giuoco.
Capitolo 85. That which shows the way one should undertake the fight, from person to person, in sword and large buckler, attack and counter. Here I will arrange a combat of spada da filo with brocchiero largo that makes an excellent and very useful thing for teaching, for one who must make attacks. Take note and stay attentive. When you have the spada da filo in hand with the brocchiero largo, I want you to settle into the coda longa e alta, that is with the left foot forward. Keep the sword close by together with the brocchiero. This do because you will be patiente, that is you will wait for your enemy to attack you first. The intention is that when a man attacks another, it is natural for one to make three types of attacks; that is mandritto, roverso and stoccata. But I will tell you of others than these three aforementioned attacks. I confirm to you that in being able to make these, that is, more various attacks that one wants, if you make an attack, I say to you that in principle it is not possible to make other than these three aforementioned attacks. In principle if he makes the first thrust, in making said stoccata, I want you to step forward with the right foot to his left side. During this advance you will strike his stocatta with a rising falso. You will then give him a roverso segato to the legs. Your brocchiero will go below your sword and for your defense you will bring the right foot behind the left. At the same time you will give a mandritto sgualembrato to his sword arm. Your sword will go into the cinghiara porta di ferro and immediately you will bring the left foot behind the right. You will then make a half turn of the hand and settle into the coda longa e stretta with the arms and legs extended and the sword to the outside. Here you will be agente. That is you will attack first. Cap. 85. El quale tratta del modo che ha da tenere uno combattendo, da persona a persona, de spada e brochiero largo, pro e contra. Hora qui componerò uno abbattimento de spada da filo, con il brochiero largo in mano, che sarà una cosa eccellente & molto utile per insegnare & anchora per uno che havesse a fare a cortellate, sicchè nota e sta’ attento. Io voglio che quando tu sarai con la spada da filo in mano & con el ditto brochiero largo, tu te assettarai in coda longa & alta, cioè con il piè tuo manco inanci, stretto con la spada tua e ‘l brochiero insieme: e questo faccio perchè tu sia paciente, cioè che tu aspetti el nimico che tire lui prima che tu, facendote intendere che quando uno homo fa a cortellate, naturalmente lui non può fare più che tre feriri, cioè mandritto, roverso e stoccata; ma gli è alcuni che dicono ch’el se se può fare più di questi tre sopraditti feriri: io t’el confermo che se ne può fare, cioè di molte sorte ferire, ma pure sia che si voglia che si faccia a cortellate, io te dico che innel principio non può fare altro che questi tre feriri sopradetti. Sicchè metteremo in questo principio che lui faccia prima la stoccata: io voglio che facendo lui la detta stoccata, tu passerai il tuo piè dritto inverso alle sue parte stanche e, in questo passare, tu urterai del falso della spada tua de sotto in suso in la stoccata sua e sì li darai d’uno roverso segato per le sue gambe e ‘l brochiere tuo serà di sopra dalla spada tua; et per tuo reparo, tu butterai el piè dritto de drieto al manco e in questo tuo tal buttare tu desnoderai uno mandritto sgualembrato per il braccio della spada del detto nimico, la qual spada acalarà in cinghiara porta di ferro stretta; de fatto tu butterai el piè manco de drieto al dritto e in questo buttare tu farai una meggia volta di pugno e sì te assettarai in coda longa e stretta, cioè con il piè dritto inanci, & la spada serà defora della gamba dritta tua, ben polito e ben disteso con le braccie e gambe; e de qui voglio tu sia agente, cioè io voglio che tu sia il primo a ferire.
Capitolo 86. The principle arrangement of the fight with sword and said buckler. Remaining in the coda longa e stretta, I want you to thrust with a stocatta with the left foot forward and with the right you will throw a mandritto to the legs. You will step in this time to the left side of your enemy and your sword will go into the porta di ferro larga. You will wait for said enemy to attack your head or leg. But I suggest that when he attacks with what he wants: (mandritto, roverso, or stoccata) that you fall out with each of these attacks and strike with a rising falso to his sword. In this attack you will hurl the left foot forward to his right side and give a mandritto to his legs, putting your brocchiero to his sword hand and following in this time with your right leg going behind the left. Having done this you will throw a roverso and move the leg to the rear of the right and in this manner you will be in the coda longa e stretta. For your defense you will throw the right foot in a gran passo behind the left and settle into the coda longa e alta as I first taught with the left foot forward. You will now wait for your enemy to throw a mandritto to the head or legs and waiting with graciousness and not moving the eyes from his sword and you will make it so he cannot deceive you. So stay attentive. Cap. 86. Del principio dello assettare con la spada e ‘l ditto brochiere. Essendo tu rimaso in coda longa e stretta, de qui io voglio che tu cazzi una stoccata del piè manco inanci e con lo piè dritto tu tirerai uno mandritto per le gambe, passando in questo tempo verso alle parte stanche del nimico & la tua spada acalarà a porta di ferro larga & lì aspetterai el ditto nimico che ti tire per testa o per gamba; ma preponiamo che lui te tiri dove el si voglia, o mandritto o roverso o stoccata: io voglio che a cadauna di queste botte che lui tirerà, tu urterai d’uno falso de sotto in suso in la spada, cioè in la botta che lui tirerà, e in questo urtare tu butterai il piè manco inanci, inverso alle sue parte dritte & sì li darai d’uno mandritto per le gambe, mettendo in tal passare el brochiere tuo innel pugno della spada del nimico, seguendo in questo tempo la gamba tua dritta alla manca per de drieto; e fatto questo, tu li tirerai d’uno roverso, fuggendo con la gamba manca de drieto alla dritta, in modo che la spada tua acalarà in coda longa e stretta; & per tuo reparo tu butterai el piè dritto uno grande passo de drieto al manco e sì t’assettarai in coda longa & alta, come prima io t’amaestrai, cioè con el piè manco tuo inanci & aspetterai el tuo nimico che tire uno mandritto per testa o per gamba; e aspettalo con gratia e non mover l’occhio da la mano dalla spada sua e, se così farai el non te potrà ingannare, sicchè sta’ accorto.
Capitolo 87. In this where, with a stoccata, you will be agent. You will be able to remain in the coda longa e alta, waiting for your enemy to throw a mandritto to the head or leg. In throwing said mandritto I want you to in this time to throw your right foot opposite his left side and you will give a mandritto fendente to the head or the sword arm with the intention that in attacking the head you will parry with the brocchiero. Your left foot will follow the right to the rear and you will end in the porta di ferro larga. And if in this retreat your enemy throws a stoccata, mandritto or a roverso, in each of these attacks I want you to strike with a rising falso, stepping in this strike to the his left side with your right foot. During this step you will give a roverso to the legs and your sword will end in the coda longa e stretta. For your defense you will throw the right leg behind the left and throw a mandritto traversato to the sword arm of your enemy. You will then make a half turn of the hand and settle into the coda longa e alta and wait for your enemy to throw a roverso to the head or leg. So do not forget. Cap. 87. In questo serai, con la stoccata, agente.
Dapoi che sei rimaso in coda longa & alta per aspettare el tuo nimico che te tire d’uno mandritto per testa per gamba, io voglio che tirando lui il detto mandritto, in questo tempo tu butterai el piè dritto inverso alle parte manche del nimico e, in questo tal buttare, tu gli darai d’uno mandritto fendente per la testa o per lo braccio della spada sua; se intende che, in tal tirare per testa, che tu pari del tuo brochiere e ‘l piè manco consequirà el dritto per di drieto & la tua spada acalarà in porta di ferro larga; e se in tal calare el tuo nemico te tirasse una stoccata o mandritto o roverso, voglio che a ciascuna di queste botte, che tu urti del falso di sotto in suso, passando in tal urtare del piè dritto inanci, inverso alle sue parte manche e, in tal passare, tu gli darai d’uno roverso per le gambe, in modo che la tua spada serà in coda longa e stretta; e de lì, per tuo riparo, tu butterai el piè dritto de drieto dal manco; in questo buttare, tu tirerai uno mandritto traversato per el braccio della spada del tuo nimico e de lì tu farai una meggia volta de pugno e sì te assetterai pure in coda longa & alta e lì aspettarai el nimico che tire d’uno roverso per testa o per gamba, sicchè non te dismenticare.
Capitolo 88. The third part, where you will wait for the enemy to cast. You know that in principle being the first to attack, I have said that each person has the spada da filo and brocchiero largo in hand and that it is not possible to make more than three attacks naturally. That is the mandritto, roverso and stoccata. At first you have seen the stoccata, second against the mandritto, and third you saw the counter to the roverso. Now note that always being in the coda longa e alta, if your enemy throws a roverso you will make in his attack a step of the left foot close by the right and you will let his roverso pass. You will then step immediately with the right foot and throw a roverso to the legs or thrust the chest. Immediately you will throw a rising falso to his hands with a strong roverso tramazzon and for your defense you will throw the right foot behind the left and throw a mandritto traversato ending in the cinghiara porta di ferro. You will not move at all because this guard is a good guard for being patiente. That is, when you wait for your companion to attack first. In this good guard thrusting to the chest, there is a need that your right foot follows the left in a gran passo. In this time you will push a rising thrust to the face of your enemy accompanied with the brocchiero. Immediately you will settle into the coda longa e distesa and wait for said enemy to attack you first. Cap. 88. Della tertia parte, e qui aspetterai el nemico che tire. Tu sai che innel principio del primo fer9 per cent of Brits say the Public Affairs Act 1975 should be repealed, and 9 per cent say it shouldn’t, according to a new poll by YouGov. If you’re wondering ‘What on Earth is the Public Affairs Act 1975?’, that’s probably because it doesn’t exist. And yet 18 per cent were willing to offer an opinion on it (interestingly, men were twice as likely to do so than women).
This is a recreation of an experiment conducted by researchers at the University of Cincinnati in the eighties, which also found that ‘a substantial number of people will offer opinions on fictitious topics in the context of a survey interview’.
YouGov used the controversial (or, rather, non-existent) Act to test how attaching a party’s position would alter people’s opinions on it. The first group were simply asked whether it should be repealed or not. The second were told that ‘Some Conservative politicians have called for the Act to be repealed’, and the third were told the same about Labour politicians. And the results?
Looking at the breakdowns between supporters of different parties involves small sample sizes — and therefore big margins of error — but some clear, and expected, patterns seem to emerge. For instance, Labour voters were evenly-split between supporting (12 per cent) and opposing (11 per cent) repeal. But when Conservative support for repeal was attached, opposition among Labour voters shot up (to 24 per cent, with 10 per cent in support). And those Labour voters who were told that their party supported repeal were much more likely to follow suit, with 19 per cent of them support, 4 per cent against. You can see a similar pattern among Tory voters.
YouGov recently conducted a very similar survey in the US, with similar results. But the partisan effect is much more pronounced in the States: 39 per cent of Republicans were opposed to repeal when told Barack Obama was in favour of it. (Although they were given more concrete figures to sway their opinions — Obama and congressional Republicans, rather than generic Tory or Labour politicians.)
So the partisan mindset (‘If my party’s for it, so am I.’/’If the other guys are for it, I’m against it.’) seems to be stronger in the US than the UK, but it exists here too. That might not be surprising, but it’s worth bearing in mind when you see poll numbers on various policies. Are voters backing a policy because they like the policy, or because they like the party proposing it?Published online 23 February 2011 | Nature 470, 437 (2011) | doi:10.1038/470437a
Column: World View
Some effects diminish when tests are repeated. Jonathan Schooler says being open about findings that don't make the scientific record could reveal why.
Many scientifically discovered effects published in the literature seem to diminish with time. Dubbed the decline effect, this puzzling anomaly was first discovered in the 1930s in research into parapsychology, in which the statistical significance of purported evidence for psychic ability declined as studies were repeated. It has since been reported in a string of fields — both in individual labs (including my own) and in meta-analyses of findings in biology and medicine. The issue has been recognized in some circles within the scientific community, but rose to wider prominence last December when it was discussed in an article in the magazine The New Yorker.
Some scientists attribute the decline effect to statistical self-correction of initially exaggerated outcomes, also known as regression to the mean. But we cannot be sure of this interpretation, or even test it, because we do not generally have access to 'negative results': experimental outcomes that were not noteworthy or consistent enough to pass peer review and be published.
How could the availability of unpublished results be improved? I suggest an open-access repository for all research findings, which would let scientists log their hypotheses and methodologies before an experiment, and their results afterwards, regardless of outcome. Such a database would reveal how published studies fit into the larger set of conducted studies, and would help to answer many questions about the decline effect.
Availability of unpublished findings could also address other shortcomings of the current scientific process, including the regular failure of scientists to report experiments, conditions or observations that are inconsistent with hypotheses; the addition or removal of participants and variables to generate statistical significance; and the probable existence of numerous published findings whose non-replicability is shrouded because it is difficult to report null results.
To address the decline effect, such a database could pinpoint whether the phenomenon reflects how scientists design experiments, how they write them up or how journals decide what to publish. It could be used to explore whether genuine changes in studied phenomena could stem from conventional mechanisms; for example, in social sciences, decline effects could be the result of participants no longer being naive about the effect under investigation. Less likely, but not inconceivable, is an effect stemming from some unconventional process. Perhaps, just as the act of observation has been suggested to affect quantum measurements, scientific observation could subtly change some scientific effects. Although the laws of reality are usually understood to be immutable, some physicists, including Paul Davies, director of the BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University in Tempe, have observed that this should be considered an assumption, not a foregone conclusion.
More prosaic explanations for the decline effect include the previously mentioned regression to the mean. If early results are most likely to be reported when errors combine to magnify the apparent effect, then published studies will show systematic bias towards initially exaggerated findings, which are subsequently statistically self-corrected (although this would not account for the typically linear nature of the decline).
Publication bias could also be responsible. Researchers might only be able to publish initial findings on an effect when it is especially large, whereas follow-up studies might be more able to report smaller effects. Other potential answers include unreported aspects of methods, exclusive reporting of findings consistent with hypotheses, changes in researcher enthusiasm, more rigorous methodologies used in later studies, measurement error resulting from experimenter bias and the general difficulty of publishing failures of replication.
“We need a better record to learn how well science distinguishes truth from fallacy.”
An open-access database of research methods and published and unpublished findings would go a long way towards testing these ideas. For example, both the regression to the mean and degradation of procedure explanations assume that early published studies benefit from being at one statistical end of a larger body of (unpublished) findings. Publication bias and selective reporting of data are similarly difficult to investigate without knowing about unpublished data.
An open-access repository of findings would be difficult to introduce. It would need an automated protocol to enable study methods and results to be entered and retrieved. Some way to assess the quality of the work would be required — perhaps through open-access commentaries moderated in a manner similar to Wikipedia. We would need to assure the qualifications of researchers who use it, and maintain a blackout period to protect hypotheses and findings prior to publication. Reluctant scientists would need incentives — and perhaps new rules from funders — to take part.
Such challenges would not be insurmountable. Similar, if more narrowly defined, databases have already been set up for clinical trials (http://clinicaltrials.gov) and educational research (http://pslcdatashop.web.cmu.edu). A good starting point might be to develop a host of subject-specific repositories. However it is implemented, we need a better record of unpublished research before we can know how well the current scientific process, based on peer review and experimental replication, succeeds in distinguishing grounded truth from unwarranted fallacy.
Jonathan Schooler is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. e-mail: schooler@psych.ucsb.eduFrom CIIC
Strange Slope is so called due to its apparent violation of gravity. It is located 30 km to the northeast of Shenyang, Liaoning Province. The 80-m-long and 15-m-wide slope descends eastwards. If a car stops at the foot of the slop, it will run to the top of the slop without any difficulty. The contrary occurs when cars attempt to drift downwards. Experts and scholars have attempted to discern the mystery. Some experts attribute this phenomenon to magnetic fields and optical illusions. Owing to the lack of evidence for a solid explanation, the mystery remains.
The Strange Slope lies at the heart of the Strange Slope Scenic Area, which also features a number of other natural attractions, including those which comprise the so-called "Three Mysteries" and "Five Great Mountains."Page 5 of 5
Overall and Final Verdict
Overall I think that the Thor is a great mouse for what it is meant to be. It is a great entry level mouse that serves the purpose well. The Avago-9500 sensor isn’t too bad and it doesn’t experience any z-axis issues, and there is only a slight amount of acceleration, almost unnoticeable. The buttons are easily accessible and comfortable to press including the mouse wheel, though it does tend to wiggle some. The mouse itself can be a bit strange to get used to as it is much larger than other mice on the market, but that is easily solved with time invested in using it. With only a $30 price tag, I don’t think you can find a better entry level mouse. This price point puts it up against the Cooler Master Xornet which is a great mouse, but for the same price you are getting an arguably better sensor (laser vs optical) and you have more flexibility as far as sensitivity adjustments. You may be able to spend $10 more and get something like the DeathAdder or the MX518, but for someone just looking for their first mouse, this is a great place to start.MANCHESTER, NJ — A Manchester Township woman escaped with non-life-threatening injuries after a dump truck overturned and dumped its gravel, crushing the roof of her car and trapping her, following a crash on Route 539 on Monday afternoon, police said.
Andrea Penna, 24, of Whiting was rescued after extensive extrication efforts that included members of the Manchester and Whiting Volunteer Fire Departments, New Jersey State Police, members of the state Department of Corrections and other motorists who stopped to help, said Capt. Todd Malland of the Manchester Township Police Department.
Also injured in the crash were truck, Kaitlyn McCabe, 22. of Lakehurst, who was Penna's passenger, and Tayfun Obut, 41, of Browns Mills, the driver of the dump truck, Malland said. All three were taken to Community Medical Center, Toms River, with non-life-threatening injuries, he said.
The crash happened about 3:30 p.m. at the intersection of Route 539 and Harry Wright Boulevard in the Whiting section, Malland said. Penna was driving a gray 2008 Nissan Altima southbound on Route 539 and making a left turn onto Harry Wright Boulevard when it was hit on the driver's side by the silver 2016 Kenworth T80 tri-axle dump truck driven by Obut, Malland said.
The force of the impact caused both the car and the dump truck to leave the road, he said, and the subsequent collision with multiple signs and trees caused the dump truck to overturn onto the Nissan's roof, spilling its load of gravel, Malland said.
Penna was trapped under the gravel and debris as the truck completely collapsed the Nissan's roof on top of her, Malland said. He did not say how long the extrication took but the road was closed from about 3:45 p.m. until after 8 p.m. according to Nixle alerts from police and the Ocean County Sheriff's Office, for the rescue, investigation and subsequent clean-up.
Assisting at the scene were detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office and Ocean County Sheriff's Office Crime Scene Investigations (CSI) Unit; members of both the Manchester and Whiting Volunteer Fire Departments; EMTs from Quality Medical Transport and MONOC paramedics, Malland said. Representatives from the Manchester Township Department of Public Works and the Ocean County Road Department assisted as well, he said.
"We would also wish to express our gratitude to the members of the New Jersey State Police, New Jersey Department of Corrections, and other motorists who had stopped to assist with the extrication process," Malland said.
Patrolman Ian Bole, Sgt. Antonio Ellis, and Patrolman Thomas O'Hare are investigating the crash.
Photos provided by Manchester Township PoliceTocabe The bison ribs at Tocabe
Don't feel like cooking tonight? In just about any medium-sized town in the United States, you can go out for dinner and experience the cuisines of the world: Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Thai, French. But where would you go for something quintessentially American? Say, a meal of sage-rubbed bison ribs, slow-cooked in the oven and then finished on the grill, with a blueberry barbecue sauce that you'll want to slurp up with a spoon; a place that serves fry bread a puffy piece of flash-fried heaven and hominy salsa.
In all of the United States, there are just a handful of places that do this, even though it is food that has been here long before hot dogs and apple pies, and long before immigrant cultures joined the melting pot. It is Native American cuisine. (See the top 10 food trends.)
For years, unless you lived on or near a reservation or happened to be visiting the cafe at the National Museum of the American Indian you were unlikely to be able to go out for Native American food. But now, residents of Denver, Colorado, are able to feast on Indian tacos, green chile stew, wojapi (a thick berry dessert) and more, thanks to Osage Indian Ben Jacobs and his restaurant Tocabe: an American Indian Eatery.
"I want native food to be much more in the public eye," says Jacobs, 28. |
programmers.
The earliest computers were programmed at a very low level -- for example, instructions for the chip to put a particular number in a storage register, to add the value of another to it, to compare the result with what's in another register. Higher-level languages like C came along that were much easier for humans to understand but that had to be compiled into native instructions for the chip.
Then even higher-level programming technologies arrived that run programs not on hardware but in software simulations of them called virtual machines. That means people writing Java, C#, or JavaScript programs don't have to worry about what chip is underneath. Each new level of abstraction gave programmers new power and made software easier to create, but it also meant the computer spent more of its energy accommodating humans rather than getting work done.
Software wouldn't be the only vein to mine for speed boosts. Chips can be designed more cleverly, for example sacrificing backward compatibility with existing software to move to designs with a fresh start.
"There's plenty of room left in architectural innovation," said Bob Doud, director of marketing at chip designer Tilera.
Another refinement: multidie packaging, in which several chips are sandwiched atop one another, perhaps linking a processor on one layer with memory on another. High-speed links called through-silicon vias, or TSVs, connect the layers.
The processor power panic
We've already tangled with the end of Moore's Law in one sense. Last decade, the processor industry ran into a wall: excess power consumption.
National Academy of Sciences
Intel's NetBurst chip architecture was supposed to carry its Pentium processors to 4GHz, but instead it carried them to inordinately high electrical power usage. That's crippling in a computer: it leads directly to overheating that crashes and potentially even damages a computer. And nowadays, with laptops reigning supreme, it means batteries don't last long.
The result of this problem has been an industry focus not just on transistor counts, but on performance per watt of power used. In the good old days, processors ran faster with each shrink, but that's not the case anymore.
"Since six years ago or so, the clock rates of microprocessors have not increased much above several gigahertz, and the power has not gone much above 100 watts," said Sam Fuller, CTO of Analog Devices.
The clock in a 2.5GHz Intel Core processor ticks 2.5 billion times each second, fetching new instructions and executing them step by step with each tick. A hundred watts is enough to power a bright incandescent lightbulb, which up until a few years ago was plenty to power a chip.
The party ended with the end of a phenomenon called Dennard scaling. It's named after IBM researcher Robert Dennard, who in 1974 observed that the increases in the number of transistors enabled by next-generation manufacturing was counterbalanced exactly by reductions in each transistor's power usage.
"It went on for more than three decades. It was really great. You shrank the size of the circuits, scaled down the voltage, and adjusted the doping," which means adding carefully chosen chemical extras to the chip's silicon substrate, Fuller said. "What you got with each generation was twice the transistors and an increase in speed and performance, with no increase in power consumed and no increase in cost."
With the end of Dennard scaling, processors have been getting more transistors, but typically not faster ones. Instead, chips have pushed in the multicore direction. Where there once was a single processing engine, dual-core chips share the work between two engines on a single slice of silicon. Mainstream personal computer chips now are quad-core models, and server chips have eight cores.
The plight of parallelism
Multicore systems can juggle multiple tasks better, and many computing chores such as displaying high-resolution graphics or encoding video get faster on multicore machines. Unfortunately, though, many tasks don't.
One persistent computer industry challenge is parallel programming -- the creation of software split into multiple pieces that execute simultaneously. It's a thorny problem. People naturally think of algorithms that take place with a single thread of instructions. And parallel programming gets profoundly complicated when it's time to manage how different threads try to change the same data at the same time. Or when one thread stalls because it has to wait for another to finish. Or even worse, when two threads deadlock because each is waiting for the other.
Tilera has aggressively embraced the multicore philosophy by designing chips now used for network gear, media processing, and cloud computing. Doud thinks software developers have to wake up and smell the multicore coffee.
"It's virtually impossible to buy anything with fewer than two cores these days. Multicore is here to stay," Doud said. Programmers who can't handle multicore have stale skills. "That might have played in 2005, but now anybody who's not on board is going to be a dinosaur," he said.
Tilera
Moving to parallel programming is tough, despite the apparent mutability of software.
"Anything that requires a software change is always harder than a hardware change," said Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.
Chipmakers are working to make parallel programming less painful, he added.
"I actually think both Intel and Nvidia are preparing for that already," with huge numbers of employees focused on software, Moorhead said. Some of that work involves programming tools that hide the complexities of parallel programming. "You see a lot more resources going in to keep the utility curve of what you can do with the silicon moving up to the right."
Lean on the cloud
But a 1,000-core processor in a smartphone? It's not going to happen, even in Doud's view. Instead, the sensible approach is to offload work to servers on the cloud, the way Apple uses servers to handle Siri voice commands, he said.
The utility of the cloud will improve as networks get faster and more ubiquitous. And higher-end Internet companies have already figured out how to build massive data centers: They've partly cracked the nut of parallel programming.
The upshot is people won't focus on chip transistor density, because the cloud will offer a more relevant measurement: "It's compute power per dollar," said Coraid's Brown.
A lot of companies haven't matched the state of the art, though, he added. If the steady hardware progress embodied by Moore's Law slowed down, ordinary companies would rush to achieve the high computing efficiencies that only elite companies today have achieved, Brown said.
"Many IT companies have no idea. They have nothing that looks like Amazon and Google. There's a lot of change left to happen there," Brown said. "One way or another evolution will drive the cost down."
Moore's Law won't be easy to maintain, but a persistent optimism pervades the industry that computing hardware will steadily improve, even after today's silicon transistor technology meets its limits.
"I'm going to bet," Brown said, "on human ingenuity."
National Academy of SciencesMS Paint, ASEprite, Paint.NET, Tiled used. 3 Months
16 colors, resized to x3. After a long, hard 3 months of work, I have finally completed my biggest spriting project yet...A remake of NetHack, one of the most famous rogue-likes of all time. My aims when creating this texture pack were simplicity, professionalism, contrast and familiarity.
First and foremost, I knew the very best best way to keep things simple would be to stick to a 16-color palette. Knowing this, I decided to recreate the 1057 tiles of NetHack using the ever-popular DawnBringer palette. I did this because I wanted to reinvent the graphics of an old game while still keeping the old-school look of it. Dawnbringer also converts very nicely to terminal colors, which means I could also create a version using NetHack's original colors.
My second aim was professionalism, and this appears throughout the texture pack. NetHack's default texture pack has many stylistic clashes. Some graphics have very tiny heads and realistic proportions, while others are goofily out-of-proportion. I set to create this entire texture pack using bases as often as possible to keep a consistency from character to character. I also used many modern pixel art techniques such as anti-aliasing, hue-shifting and sel-out to create the smoothest, clearest texture pack possible in a 16x16 resolution.
Thirdly, I aimed for a high level of contrast in this tileset. One of the biggest parts of NetHack is encountering and identifying the hundreds and hundreds of enemies and items. In the default tileset, it might be hard to tell apart a halberd from a bardiche, or a giant ant from a soldier ant. Many tilesets are also color-coded, making it harder for deuteranopic or color-blind players to play. This has led to a lot of criticism of tile-based graphics in the community, and how text-based graphics are much better. To mend this, I did my best to make no two items look alike. Items are never differentiated by just color. Some might be flipped, others might look a little wider or taller...you get the idea.
Lastly, I knew it was important to keep a familiarity with this tileset. Over the decades, millions have played NetHack and many have used the default tileset. It's grown and changed over the years, but many of the basic monster appearances have stayed the same. I knew I would be alienating people if I changed the tileset too much, so I tried my best to keep the designs/posing of the popular characters as familiar as possible without making too many sacrifices in professionalism. For example...In both the default tileset and mine, the Rogue is a brown-eyed warrior wearing a red barbarian helmet, blue tunic and brown pants.
When you download this tileset, you will find multiple versions of the tileset within, including those. For vision-impaired people, I created a larger 32x32 tileset resized using 2xBr..txt versions of the graphics are also included for those who wish to mod their inventory icons to reflect this tileset.DTT: Mr. Zubair was out on Saturday to do some shopping. While he was going there, he recognized one old ‘Uncle’ whom he recognized before. They both exchanged Salaams (Islamic greetings). As Mr. Zubair was on his way in to do his shopping an old man behind him suddenly started shouting, he stopped and turned around. The old man asked Mr. Zubair if he was ‘Muslim’, to which he said, ‘yes’. The old man started saying that he did not like Muslims and that they should go back home.
The is what Mr. Zubair wrote in regards to the incident:
“This wasn’t how I imagined my Saturday morning to be…
As I was walking into my local supermarket I noticed an old man ‘uncle’ who I recognise, who happens to be Muslim. After shaking hands and saying ‘Salaam’, he went on his way and asked that I remember him in my prayers.
As I walked into the supermarket I could hear someone shout from behind me. On instinct I turned around and saw another elderly man walk towards me asking “are you Muslim?!” To which I replied “Yes” in a rather surprised tone. To which he said “go back to where you came from. I hate Muslims” he said pointing to me and uncle.
At first it didn’t register. But then he said it a couple of times to make his point. On instinct I took my phone out and started filming what this man had to say. Clearly it was a well thought out argument.
My parents have always told me to be calm, and not get into trouble. Biting my tongue I engaged with the man and as you can see in the video he has very strong opinion.
For anyone that doesn’t know, I was born in Bristol. My family moved to Cardiff when I was about 7. Wales is home, that is after all where my parents are. I’ve also lived in Manchester and Hull. I’ve lived in London now for 9 years so I consider myself a proud Welsh Londoner. So when someone says, “go back to where you came from” I’m a bit confused. Where should I go?!
I was one of two Asian children in my junior school, and 1 of 5(ish) in my high school. Ethnic minorities in Cardiff in the early 1990s were few and far between, but no one ever said anything or had an issues. No one has ever pointed out maliciously my religion or ethnicity, until this morning.
It’s clear to see where this anti Muslim / immigrant feeling is stemming from. In a few weeks we’ll vote on whether the UK will remain in EU. The Media & Politicians are scaremongering and the only argument that is being heard is of immigrants coming here and taking jobs, housing and the like. Ultimately you follow the line and it turns into an anti Muslim rhetoric. The likes of Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Britain First and Donald Trump are the voices that are being heard.
Muslims and migrants end up being demonised, and the referendum becomes a pointless immigration debate instead.
The staff at the supermarket were really helpful and understanding. Luke, the manager, insisted I go to the coffee shop and in the most British of ways offered me a cup of tea. The man has now been banned from the store and I’ll lodge a formal complaint with the local police.
My family came in the 70s and along with other ethnic minorities suffered through racial abuse & discrimination. Yet they worked hard and built for themselves successful lives and contributed in every positive way they could to their now home country. This is our home. It’s my home as much as anyone else’s.
I’m proud to be British.
I’m proud to be a British Muslim.
I’m proud to be a British Muslim Pakistani.
…For more than two decades, the Medieval treasures of Spain’s Sijena convent have been at the centre of an ownership battle between the autonomous communities of Catalonia and Aragon.
Now, the 44 artifacts kept in Catalonia’s Museum of Lleida have become a flashpoint in the independence crisis, as Aragon takes advantage of direct rule to retrieve the pieces it says were illegally sold off by Sijena's nuns.
On Monday the town of Lleida is braced for a standoff between police ordered in to remove the artifacts and pro-independence Catalans who have vowed to come to their defence.
With the Catalan government dissolved, Spain’s culture minister has stepped into the legal dispute, signing a judicial order for the return of the treasures, with a midnight on Sunday deadline.
Last minute challenges have been launched by local authorities and the museum, arguing that the case is still under appeal and the fragile treasures would suffer if they were then ordered back to Catalonia.
But the Guardia Civil have been authorised to seize them "with force if necessary" - a move which museum director Josep Giralt said risks turning the operation into "a battlefield".→
Homeland Security Threat Chart
Ever wonder what Homeland Security condition green, blue, yellow, orange, and red
You can proudly display this chart in your home or workplace in order to help protect yourself from those who hate our freedom:
Submit This Site Like what you see?
Help spread the word on social media: Tweet
Submit This Site
Like what you see?
Help spread the word on social media: Tweet
Homeland Security Checkpoint
I originally created the threat chart as part of our Homeland Security Checkpoint at Burning Man 2006:
Officer Bob and Officer Roberta
Our team of highly-trained, meticulously-screened officers was placed strategically across the mouth of a major intersection during the more-than-40,000-person event. We intercepted suspicious-looking persons and, using the latest in American security technology, determined if these subjects were with us—or against us:
Officer Bob and Officer Roberta performing a Body Cavity Check
In the image above, we see a subject willingly submitting himself to the Homeland Security Body Cavity Check:
The Body Cavity Check is a minor inconvenience to which we must occasionally place our American citizens. It's just a small price to pay for enduring freedom.
At the checkpoint, we would also confiscate any liquids that subjects were attempting to carry through. Our program also included thorough, random Security Wand scans which—strangely enough—would frequently reveal illegal contraband that the terrorists were hiding in this location:
Officer Bob and Officer Roberta Security Wand scan a subject
Recent advances in Total Information Awareness and terrorist psycho-profiling have allowed our Department to greatly reduce inconvenience and waiting time for our loyal citizens. For example, at our checkpoint, we were able to immediately wave through any low-risk subjects (e.g. those wearing turbans, those with long scraggly beards, those carrying swords, maces, or other homemade electro-chemical devices) and focus on the real terrorists.
Here, Chief Officer Bob assails a high-risk terrorist suspect (off camera) for failing to vote Republican:
Officer Bob and Chief Officer Bob maintain vigilance
Our checkpoint offered many services to the Burning Man event, incuding the dissemination of critical warnings and information:
If you would like more information about our Homeland Security Checkpoint, you can check the DHS Home Page, or in a pinch you can also check this website or this website under "Homeland Security Checkpoint."
Thanks for your vigilance and your continuing patriotism.
Chris Pirazzi, chris@pirazzi.netDreadbox has introduced the Erebus, a new semi-modular paraphonic analog synth module.
It offers what is essentially a monophonic synth architecture, but that allows for independent control of its two oscillators. This means you can play (or sequence) two different pitches, but the pitches will go through a shared VCF, VCA, etc.
Features:
Full Analog Paraphonic Synthesizer
Full Analog 2-voice Paraphony or Unison sounds
2 x VCO with separate glide controls
Two pole (12dB/ocv) resonating VC Low Pass Filter
VC LFO with additional VC Depth
2 x Envelope Generators (1xADSR and 1xAR dedicated to the AMP)
VC Delay/Echo
14 patches for an astonishing Modular experience
CV Outputs: LFO, Envelope, Modulation Wheel, Gate, Osc1 pitch (1V/ocv), Osc2 pitch (1V/ocv)
CV Inputs: Osc1, Osc2, Echo time, VCF, LFO rate, LFO depth, CV/Gate
MIDI interface: Pitch note/gate on-off, retrigger function (on-board), Mod wheel (patched on-board), Pitch wheel, MIDI Channel select 1-7 or Omni (DIP switch)
Paraphony CV/GATE outputs allows you to turn monophonic devices into Paraphonic, or even combine 2 monosynths into a paraphony orgy
Here are the official audio demos:
The Dreadbox Erebus is priced at UR $539. See the Dreadbox site for details.
via WouterSubmitted by Charles Hugh Smith from Of Two Minds
The Last Refuge Of Wall Street: Marketing To Increasingly Insolvent Consumers
Wall Street is promising riches to those who believe social media is something more than just another Darwinian churn of starving piranhas.
Have you noticed that all the "hot" initial public offerings (IPOs) being hyped by Wall Street are all marketing companies? The big IPO that has everyone on the Street salivating is of course Facebook in 2012--the ultimate "social media" marketing machine.
What's striking about these heavily hyped Social Media companies is that they make nothing, and their service is either free (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) or a "free" marketing mechanism (Groupon). When was the last time a company went public in the U.S. that actually manufactured a good? When was the last time a "hot" company went public selling a service that had nothing to do with marketing and that actually performed a valuable function?
Wall Street has nothing left to sell except marketing schemes aimed at increasingly insolvent consumers. With a hollowed-out manufacturing base and leveraged financialization finally running out of steam as the engine of "growth" (see debt saturation chart below), then chumming the waters thrashing with marketing piranhas is Wall Street's last refuge of staggering profits.
Does anyone really believe Groupon coupons build lasting profits? Offering 50% discounts is basically the "Black Friday" scam run year-round: sales leap up because the product/service is being sold at a loss.
Once the customers grab the deal, they're gone until the next loss-leader sale. Meanwhile the enterprise experienced a blip up in revenues that quickly declines while racking up major losses to honor the coupon.
In other words, marketing to increasingly insolvent consumers is a Darwinian zero-sum game. Sales can't actually increase as consumer credit and incomes both decline; sales are simply brought forward in time or ripped from the desperate grasp of a competitor.
The only "hot industry" left in America that Wall Street can hype is the one promising to get to the consumer before the other marketing piranhas can strip the last shreds of cash and credit from their bones. Wall Street has no interest in hosting 800 Million Channels of Me for free; there is essentially no income in this "revenue model."
The "real money" in hosting 800 Million Channels of Me for free is in the selling of stuff to those who spend hours on the site, expanding their Channel of Me and socializing online.
But that model assumes the people spending hours on social media sites actually have disposable income to spend. The Wall Street crowd loves consumption math extrapolations--if 800 million Chinese people each buy one tube of Crest toothpaste, if 800 million Indian people each buy a Coke, if 800 million people on Facebook or Twitter each spend $20 on Farmville or another online game....
We're all get filthy rich!
Actually, it's the folks selling marketing services who will get rich, and Wall Street knows this. Those selling the "sizzle" of marketing take no risks and carry no costs of actually making goods or delivering services; their money is made the moment you fall for their pitch that "social media is the place to get to those consumers before anyone in old media can even smell their credit cards."
But Wall Street is working a meta-scam, as usual: you don't have to believe in the trillion-dollar potential of social media marketing, all you need to believe is that other suckers will believe it enough to buy the shares of the IPO off you for a bloated price.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, American consumers are increasingly insolvent: their incomes are declining even as their non-Federal taxes rise and their debts are pinned at the "crushing" level.
Let's glance at a few charts for a whiff of non-Wall-Street-tainted reality.
After tax income is way off the pre-recession peak-- and note that "government transfers" are a big part of non-earned income. Also note how the refinancing "your house is an ATM machine" boom that issued $2.5 trillion in crisp new bills to consumers per year at the peak has broken down for good; the "free money" from re-fi's has declined to a trickle.
Note that Median Income of working-age households has fallen dramatically.
Employment has tanked.
If we look at the ratio of employed to the civilian population, the reality is even more sobering.
Employment per capita has also fallen off a cliff.
As a percentage of GDP, employee compensation (i.e. earned income) has collapsed to levels not seen in 50 years.
Here is a chart of the costs of financialization: staggering debt loads in every sector of the economy, public and private.
Keeping all those wars "hot" and all those transfers flowing while tax revenues tanked means Federal debt has skyrocketed.
Households funded the past 30 years of consumption with debt.
All that debt no longer adds to GDP "growth," it actually causes GDP to contract. "Growth" based on exponential debt has run its course; marginal returns have turned negative. It's called debt saturation.
The real economy is still well below pre-recession levels of production.
The financial media ignores rising taxes-- for example, property taxes, which continue to rise nationally even as the market value of real estate continues declining.
So let's add this up: less income, crushing debt loads, higher taxes (not to mention junk fees), no more "free money" from re-financing, and a Federal government that might not be able to borrow and blow 11% of GDP each and every year to prop up consumption.
The Darwinian struggle to strip the flesh from insolvent consumers before one's competitors do so is not a thriving economy nor a growing economy; it is a hollowed out economy at a dead-end of financialization and substitution of Federal debt for actual production.(CNN) -- A Utah Highway Patrol trooper is under investigation after a video showed him punching a woman several times during a traffic stop, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety said.
A dashboard camera captured footage of Sgt. Andrew Davenport punching 53-year-old Darla Wright in August.
Davenport is on paid administrative leave, said Brian Hyer, spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety.
Wright was speeding in Ogden when officers tried to pull her over, authorities said late Saturday. According to an incident report, the driver evaded police, and a chase ensued. Authorities stopped the woman by trapping her car between two vehicles.
"The suspect was still trying to escape, she had the accelerator floored and engine revving in an attempt to push our vehicles out of the way," Davenport wrote in an incident report.
Davenport said Wright would not roll down her window and gripped on the steering wheel.
On the video, Davenport is seen breaking the driver's side window, reaching into the car and repeatedly punching the woman.
"She refused to comply with commands to give us her hands," Davenport wrote. "Due to my close proximity to the suspect and my experience with Taser failure at such close distances, I delivered three close hand strikes to her head in an attempt to gain compliance with our commands. I did this to distract and stun her and to stop her from trying to drive off and strike our vehicles or possibly run us over. The strikes worked and we were able to grab her hands."
Hyer said investigations involve "multiple layers of reviews." It is unclear when the reviews might be completed.
"The Sgt. Davenport investigation is a personnel matter, and I am limited at what I can say," Hyer said. "There have been several reviews and an investigation, and right now we have a pending personnel matter."
Hyer confirmed to CNN that Davenport is a cousin of Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner D. Lance Davenport, but police say the relationship will not affect the case.
Hyer said the commissioner told him he believes in doing the right thing.
"The commissioner expects all of his employees to be held accountable for his or her actions," Hyer said. "There is a relationship between Commissioner Davenport and Sgt. Davenport, but that's it. It has no bearing on this case."
CNN attempted to reach Sgt. Davenport, but the Department of Public Safety is not allowing him to speak, Hyer said.
The driver was eventually taken into custody on suspicion of driving under the influence, eluding police, reckless driving, assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. Attempts to reach her were unsuccessful.andythanfiction:
“Many red-heads wear pants.”
This is a qualified statement about a group. It describes an action, not a trait. There are many appropriate and interesting ways to respond to such a statement. There are some of the ways that are neither listed below:
“I’m a blonde, and I wear pants.” That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Only red-heads wear pants.”
That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Only red-heads wear pants.” “I’m a red-head and I wear skirts sometimes.” That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Red-heads wear only pants.”
That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Red-heads wear only pants.” “I’m a red-head and I never wear pants.” That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “All red-heads wear pants.”
That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “All red-heads wear pants.” “I know a blonde who wears pants/a red-head who wears skirts.” You are not only making the same mistake as one of the ones above, you’re giving it an extra layer of irrelevance and self-centeredness.
You are not only making the same mistake as one of the ones above, you’re giving it an extra layer of irrelevance and self-centeredness. “Pants are pantsist.” That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence ”Are pants good?”
That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence ”Are pants good?” “Red-heads should wear skirts.” That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Many red-heads wear pants, which is better than them wearing skirts.”
That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Many red-heads wear pants, which is better than them wearing skirts.” “Red-heads look hotter in skirts.” That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Do you find red-heads in pants sexually desirable?”
That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Do you find red-heads in pants sexually desirable?” “Pants are more comfortable.” That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Why do many red-heads wear pants?”
That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Why do many red-heads wear pants?” “That’s pantsist against red-heads!” That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Many red-heads wear pants, and that is indicative of something about pants, pants-wearing, or red-heads.”
That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Many red-heads wear pants, and that is indicative of something about pants, pants-wearing, or red-heads.” “I can wear what I want!” That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Many red-heads wear pants, as you now must.”
That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Many red-heads wear pants, as you now must.” “I have statistics that show more red-heads wear skirts than pants!” That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Most red-heads wear pants.”
That’s not what was said. You are derailing in response to the imaginary sentence “Most red-heads wear pants.” “Pants means underwear in the UK.” I know that. Made this post more interesting, IMHO.
I know that. Made this post more interesting, IMHO. “I like ice cream.” Now you’re just trolling.
While many things can be implied by words and by other words that surround them and the context of words, the words themselves still do matter, and good rhetoric, debate, and argument does not need strawmen or derailment. You can’t respond to “what they really meant” if you aren’t even responding to what they said.
So the next time you read a post that says something like “Almost all straight guys have committed acts of sexual entitlement towards women at some point in their lives,” or “some Yourotp fans are disturbingly aggressive to the point of criminal behavior,” or “many teenagers display poor rhetorical skills,” please at least understand how the words work while you’re revving up your typing fingers of rage.
Because every time a blogger misses a point, Hawkeye cries.Barbara Park, a former class clown who channeled her irreverence into the million-selling mishaps of grade schooler Junie B. Jones, has died. She was 66.
Park died Friday after a long battle with ovarian cancer, according to a statement released Sunday by Random House Books for Young Readers. She was a longtime resident of Scottsdale, Ariz., where she lived with her husband, Richard, and raised two sons.
Starting in 1992, Park wrote more than 30 illustrated chapter books about the smart-mouthed girl with an ungrammatical opinion of everybody - her parents, her teachers, her friends and her classmate and enemy for life, May, who is so mean she won't even acknowledge Junie's middle initial (which stands for Beatrice: "Only I don't like Beatrice. I just like B and that's all," Junie warned).
The books' titles alone were windows into Junie's slangy mind: "Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth," "Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus," "Junie B. Jones and That Meanie Jim's Birthday." Junie was stuck in kindergarten for years before Park advanced her to the next class, starting with Book 18 and "Junie B., First Grader (at last!)."
"I don't have a problem being 6 years old in my head," Park once explained during an interview with barnesandnoble.com. "It's almost embarrassing; if I'm talking to librarians or teachers who know my books and they say, `How do you do this?' It's not a stretch.
Barbara Park's 'Junie B. Jones' series about a smart-mouthed girl sold more than 55 million copies in North America alone. (Facebook)
"I find that when I'm struggling to think of how a 6-year-old would feel about something, I just have to go right down to the common denominator, find the simplest way that you can look at an object or a problem, and not muck it up with all of the stuff that adults do and over-analyze," she said.
Park's books sold more than 55 million copies just in North America, according to Random House, and the series was adapted into a popular musical theater production. Junie B. inspired much laughter among families, and a few frowns. Parents and educators occasionally objected to Jones' personalized language and cheeky ways, worrying that she was a bad influence on her fans. The series has appeared on the American Library Association's list of "challenged" books.
Born Barbara Tidswell in Mount Holly, N.J., Park remembered herself as a troublemaker who knew well the path to the principal's office. She had actually planned to become a teacher, majoring in education at the University of Alabama, but a year of being a student teacher for 7th graders convinced her that any further classroom experiences should be confined to paper.
Park would cite "The Catcher in the Rye" as an early literary influence and also credited the books of Judy Blume with inspiring her to write for children, and to make the stories funny. On Sunday, Blume praised Park for getting kids to read and recalled that some would confuse her with the title character of Park's books.
Barbara Park won several awards for her best-selling 'Junie B. Jones' serie, although parents and educators worried about their influence on young minds. (Facebook)
"I'm Judy B. and lot of kids just assumed I was Junie B. Jones and had written the books," Blume told The Associated Press. "I'd always say, `I didn't write them, but I wish I had.'"
Besides the "Junie B. Jones" series, Park also wrote picture books, novels for middle school students and even a Hallmark greeting card, an "insulting" birthday message about getting old. She was a frequent winner of the Children's Choice Award who never did bother to write a novel for adults.
"I'm not actually sure I'm grown-up enough for grown-up books," she once explained.
Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing!Before you start designing your own games, mods, or levels, it is important that you have a firm understanding of the game design basics. This includes understanding the heart of the video game medium, mechanics, interplay, variation, and counterpoint. On top of this, it wouldn't hurt to become familiar with the critical theories I've developed.
So if you're looking for an entry point into the level of discourse within the Critical-Gaming Network, a place to start developing your critical-eye, or seeking a crash course in game design then here is where you start.
First of all, if you can get your hands on a copy of the book Half-Real by Jesper Juul, read it cover to cover. This book jump started my journey into developing Critical-Gaming. The foundation and language Half-Real builds is indispensable. After reading the book, make your way through these articles.
The pages below may not display properly in some browsers (Safari).There are times when a promotion has such a great idea to market their product that it creates a buzz and sales improve. The IFL's rap song was not one of those ideas. Featuring the coaches and several of the IFL's stars, the goal was to use a marketing technique that no one had ever used before. Instead, fans were treated with one of the most unintentionally funny marketing campaigns.
Using hip hop producer Jazze Pha the song kicks off with Carlos Newton laying down the first verse. He's followed up by a tone deaf Matt Lindland who talk-sings his way through his verse which is "I am L and I'm hard as hell. When I hit the mat the girls all yell." That's honestly what he says. And then he follows it up with a little bit of a dance. It's amazing.
Renzo Gracie makes an appearance laying down this sick line "I'm Renzo Gracie. Nobody wants to face me. Go harder. Go harder. Go harder in your face-ie!" The remainder of the video shows the obviously drunk coaches and fighters just hanging out in the studio.
This was a terrible idea made worse in the execution. What was probably considered a way to humanize the fighters and coaches instead made them absolute jokes. The IFL dropped the ball on this one with ridiculously bad rap video to promote the product. While it wasn't a contributing factor to the death of the IFL, it did illustrate the shortcomings the promotion had with getting people to take the product seriously.Bids are due within a month for a US Air Force contract to build an improved version of the 2,000lb BLU-109 penetrator and deliver at least 12,000 of the bunker-busting bombs over the next five years.
The improved BLU-109, which will be redesignated the BLU-137, and should correct known deficiencies and make the weapon more reliable against targets such as bunkers and hardened aircraft shelters, the service tells FlightGlobal.
Reliability is expected to improve with the next-generation |
are grieving their loss.
"These are always tragedies, no matter where they happen, but when they happen in your own community, it's that's much worse," he said.
A family in Marchand, Man., is grieving the death of four-year-old Zoey Allan, who died this week after the all-terrain vehicle she was riding on flipped backwards while going up a hill. 1:38
Read the full statement
Lydia Empringham, grandmother of Zoey Allan, submitted the following statement to CBC News on Thursday night:
We are heartbroken.
Zoey had an amazing smile and bright eyes that not only lite up the room but made you feel like all was truly right in the world. She had it going on and shared it freely.
Zoey was all about fun and games and family. Guess what guess what... Chicken butt followed by a torrent of laughter was her favorite joke. She loved yogurt, ice tea, dirt biking, quading and the beach!
Almost everyone that met her commented about how special she was. She was always game for an adventure.
I am forever thankful to have been gifted with her presence even for such a short while. She was our angel now with the angels and will be adored and missed forever.SINGAPORE - There are 17 new cases of Zika in Singapore as of noon on Tuesday (Sept 6), the Health Ministry (MOH) and National Environment Agency (NEA) have confirmed, as a potential new cluster emerged in Bishan.
Of the new cases, 10 are linked to the Aljunied Crescent, Sims Drive, Paya Lebar Way and Kallang Way cluster, Singapore's biggest.
One new patient lives in the Bishan Street 12 area, where a previously reported case also lives. The area is a potential new cluster, the MOH and NEA said in an update on Tuesday evening.
The other six cases have no known links to any existing cluster.
The total number of locally transmitted Zika cases stands at 275 as of Tuesday.
Sixteen had been reported on Monday, 11 fewer than Sunday's 27.
In its vector control update, the NEA said that it has been continuing operations in the Aljunied Crescent, Sims Drive, Paya Lebar Way and Kallang Way cluster, which accounts for more than 200 of the current cases.
It has also expanded its efforts to the periphery of the cluster, at Circuit Road, Geylang East Central and Geylang East Avenue 1.
As of Monday (Sept 5), 65 breeding habitats - 38 in homes and 27 in common areas or other premises - have been detected and destroyed.
In Bedok North Avenue, another cluster, 67 breeding habitats have been detected and destroyed. Fifty-six were in homes, while 11 were in common areas or other premises.
Two instances of breeding in common areas or other premises have been found and destroyed at Joo Seng Road.
The newest potential cluster will get the same treatment. "NEA will be carrying out vector control operations and outreach efforts at Bishan Street 12," the agency said.New University of Memphis head basketball coach Tubby Smith speaks during a press conference at FedExForum. Smith replaces Josh Pastner, who left last week for Georgia Tech. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal)
By Jason Smith of The Commercial Appeal
Twice, the University of Memphis has fallen short in national championship games. On Thursday, it introduced a coach who’s reached the pinnacle of college basketball in former Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith.
“Today the University of Memphis has hired the most accomplished coach in our history,” U of M president David Rudd said in a press conference Thursday at FedExForum. “As we’ve mentioned in other hires, it is entirely about fit. It is about fit for our program, fit for our university and fit for this city. Tubby Smith is precisely the right coach at the right time for the University of Memphis.”
A three-time National Coach of the Year and the 2016 Big 12 Coach of the Year, Smith, 64, who won a national title at Kentucky in 1998, brings 25 years of Division 1 head coaching experience and one of the most respected names in college basketball.
Last Friday in Los Angeles, he received the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching award at the College Basketball Awards ceremony. Seven days later, he had agreed to replace Josh Pastner as the 18th men’s basketball coach at Memphis, which will pay him $15.45 million over five years. Smith, who made $1.8 million at Texas Tech last year, will make $2.8 million this season, $2.9 million in 2017-18 and $3.25 million in the final three years.
The $2.8 million he’ll make this season would have ranked Smith among the 15 highest-paid coaches who made the NCAA tournament this year, according to a USA Today database. The $3.25 million he’s set to make over the last three years would rank him seventh on that list. Pastner was making $2.65 million annually at Memphis.
“We believe that we have found a coach that’s exceeded all of our expectations,” U of M athletic director Tom Bowen said. “He’s one of the best teachers in the game and I believe one of the most outstanding role models for young men that play Division 1 basketball. Coach Tubby Smith is also one of the most successful head coaches in Division 1.”
Radford assistant coach Ron Jirsa worked alongside Smith for 12 years at Virginia Commonwealth (where the two were assistants in 1984-85), Tulsa, Georgia and Minnesota. Jirsa said Smith’s coaching philosophy hinges on three elements — love, family and discipline — and Smith repeated those words during his news conference Thursday.
“I’m excited for Tubby. To me, he’s the top college basketball coach in the country,” Jirsa said. “Tubby Smith is a tireless worker. He loves the game, he loves coaching, he loves college athletics and he’s going to roll up his sleeves and do the very best he can wherever he is. I think we’ve all seen that in each one of his opportunities.”
Smith is one of two head coaches (with Lon Kruger) to have led five programs to the NCAA tournament. Last season, his Red Raiders won six games against top-50 RPI opponents. Memphis has won six over the last three years.
“You can’t debate or argue with his accomplishments. He is a Hall of Fame coach. He is a coach that’s not only won at places like Kentucky, but he’s won at Minnesota and Texas Tech — a program that hadn’t been to the NCAA tournament in a number of years,” said Methodist Le Bonheur senior vice president Cato Johnson, a member of the U of M search committee. “He’s an icon in the collegiate coaching profession.”
Former Tiger Bubba Luckett (1979-83), basketball coach at Christian Brothers High, said he’s excited about Smith’s hiring. Luckett, who coaches one of the city’s top 2017 prospects in 6-5 guard William Douglas, is among the local high school and AAU coaches Smith will need to reach out to if he’s going to lock down the area’s rich talent base. Though he’s not known as an elite recruiter, Smith will have all the talent he needs in his own backyard with an elite crop of prospects in 2018 and 2019.
“I think Tubby Smith is the kind of coach the University of Memphis right now needs,” Luckett said. “His experience, his success in previous places. He’s a proven winner. I think he has a great knack of relating to players, and the discipline that he will have and style of play I think is going to be something the fans will enjoy.”
Smith said he’s asked Pooh Williams, one of his assistants at Texas Tech, to join him at Memphis. Asked whether he would consider adding Tigers legend Penny Hardaway to the staff, Smith said, “I’m sure he’d be excellent. We’d love to talk to him.” Current Tigers assistant Keelon Lawson is expected to be back next season, with his player sons, K.J. and Dedric Lawson, both returning.
“I think he can handle (recruiting Memphis) if he puts some good assistants around him, because a lot of head coaches don’t handle (day-to-day recruiting),” said Team Thad program director Norton Hurd, whose top player, Jaylen Fisher, signed with UNLV over Memphis last fall. “I haven’t seen his style of play in a minute. Somebody told me it wasn’t up-tempo. I think Memphis should have an up-tempo program. But he’s a winner.
“I’ve been a fan of his from afar for a long time. I look at him as a top-20 coach in college basketball.”
One of seven active coaches with more than 500 wins (Smith’s career record is 557-276) and a national championship, Smith said the decision to leave Texas Tech was tough. Texas Tech made Smith a counteroffer Wednesday.
“It happened so quickly. Usually it’s a buildup. Somebody’s contacted you earlier,” said Smith, who guided Texas Tech to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2007 last season. “I had no intention of leaving. I wasn’t looking for a job, coming off the season we had.
“But when you hear the University of Memphis Tigers, you know their tradition and their success and the opportunity.”CTVNews.ca Staff
Ill and injured soldiers will no longer be forced to leave the Canadian Forces until their pension cheques are set, closing an administrative loophole that left some veterans without incomes and no way to pay bills for months.
It’s a major policy shift for the Department of National Defence, which had been criticized for the delays.
CTV’s Mercedes Stephenson has reported on personal stories of soldiers who came close to losing their homes and had to turn to charities to cover mortgage payments. Military ombudsman Gary Walbourne said last year that he had received 1,300 complaints about similar delays since 2007, with many veterans waiting up to three months for their cheques.
Lieutenant General Chuck Lamarre, the new head of military personnel, says the payment system will be up and running before ill and injured military personnel leave their jobs.
Sources also say a new face will take over the much-criticized Joint Personnel Support Unit, which handles cases of ill and injured soldiers.
Major policy change for DND: injured troops will no longer be released from the military until their pension cheque is ready #CAF — Mercedes Stephenson (@CTVMercedes) April 20, 2017
Thousands of ill & injured troops faced months long pension delays meaning they were forced out of the CF without their pension income #CAF — Mercedes Stephenson (@CTVMercedes) April 20, 2017
Sources say this was direction from the CDS General Jon Vance (to stop forcing ill/injured soldiers out before pension ready) — Mercedes Stephenson (@CTVMercedes) April 20, 2017
CTV News has learned that the directive came from Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance, who has pledged to overhaul the system.
Afghanistan veteran Kevin Sweeney spoke to CTV News last year. He said his family nearly lost their home while he waited five months for his pension to kick in. Sweeney, who suffered mental health injuries, eventually turned to Veterans Emergency Transition Services (VETS) Canada, which bought food for the family and helped with their mortgage.
“It looked very, very close,” he said. “My wife was very scared about (losing the home). I was crossing my fingers.”
At the time, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, a veteran himself, called the delays “unacceptable.”
“We can’t immediately change the backlog,” Sajjan said. “We’re going to put all the resources in the right areas to making sure that those backlogs are taken care of.”
With a report from CTV’s Mercedes StephensonVote Hemp advocates for changes in state law to allow for hemp farming once again. Vote Hemp provides education and advocacy materials for state legislators and advocates. We have provided testimony and consulted on legislative language.
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District of ColumbiaEsteban Cambiasso: Won Champions League with Inter
Leicester have signed Argentina international midfielder Esteban Cambiasso.
The 34-year-old, who was a free agent after leaving Inter, joins the Premier League newcomers on a one-year contract.
Cambiasso spent a decade with Inter and was part of the side that won the Champions League under Jose Mourinho in 2010.
Once part of the famous Real Madrid squad featuring Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and David Beckham, Cambiasso has been capped by Argentina more than 50 times.
He is known for one of the most memorable World Cup goals in recent times - scored for Argentina against Serbia and Montenegro in 2006 after a 25-pass move.
Cambiasso will wear the No 19 shirt at Leicester and could make his debut against Arsenal this weekend.
Watch Leicester v Arsenal live on Sky Sports 1 this Sunday, kick-off 4pmN.H. Electricity Rate Increases Shock Residents
West Lebanon — The electricity bill that arrived Friday brought bad news for Chip Crawford, owner of Chiplin Enterprises, a real estate company in West Lebanon: energy costs for the company’s units had skyrocketed, doubling from $4,000 a month to $8,000.
“I’ll be hearing from the tenants soon,” said Crawford, who owns nearly 200 apartments and 25 different buildings in which about half of his tenants pay for their own electricity. “It hurts everybody, but it really hurts the people on fixed income — the older people.” He shrugged. “What can you do?”
Crawford is hardly alone. Residents and business owners across New Hampshire are facing electricity rates that are increasing by between a few percent and as much as about 100 percent, depending on their supplier.
Some are reacting with the same resignation as Crawford. Others are actively pursuing measures to soften the blow by reducing electricity use.
On Nov. 1, Liberty Utilities raised its rates from 7.7 cents per kilowatt hour to 15.4 cents, increasing the average household’s monthly energy bill from $110 to $162. On Dec. 29, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission approved a 6 percent rate increase for Public Service of New Hampshire, which serves about 500,000 New Hampshire homes and businesses. The new rate went into effect on Jan. 1. The increase is seasonal, both companies assured. Rates will return to normal six months from the date they were instituted.
“We have heard from customers; they’re not happy,” said John Shore, spokesman for Liberty Utilities. “We’re not happy either. We don’t want to send out higher bills either.” Liberty has instituted programs and held workshops to help customers find ways to save energy.
Jeff Graham, who gets electricity from Liberty, said that he and his wife attended those conferences and implemented changes in their Hanover home. Nevertheless, he estimated that his electricity expenses rose between 30 and 35 percent in December.
“It’s definitely a topic of conversation,” Graham said of the response he’d observed in Hanover. A 30 percent increase “is enough to notice.”
At Durgin and Crowell Lumber Co. in Springfield, N.H., the rate increase means an extra $100,000 in electricity payments for 2015. The company used a third-party provider, Constellation Energy, until the contract expired in December. Now it’s buying from PSNH for an additional 3.5 cents per kwh until it can re-up the contract with Constellation in April.
Malcolm Milne, the company’s compliance coordinator, said that Durgin and Crowell spends close to $1 million a year on energy costs. “We pay more in this region for electricity than anywhere else in the country,” he said. “It’d be nice if we could get that changed somehow, whether it be legislatively in Concord or some other way. It’s definitely not helpful for business to keep paying more and more for energy.”
Within the last three or four years, Milne said, the company has invested in efficiency upgrades. It has replaced nearly 500 light fixtures, two large air compressors, and upgraded severals motors and drives to more efficient models. Even so, it expects to pay $100,000 more in 2015.
“It’s enough where there are certain projects we won’t do,” Milne said.
PSNH attributed the rate increases to a complex convergence of factors.
Limited amounts of natural gas, one of the fuels used to generate electricity, has driven up production costs across New England.
Last winter’s low temperatures and high demand for natural gas, coupled with the limitations of the state’s natural gas pipeline infrastructure, has made the natural gas supply for electricity generation subject to more volatility. Costs for production and sale of electricity have also risen correspondingly.
In addition, Vermont Yankee and Salem Harbor Coal Plant in Massachusetts both closed within the last year, which, PSNH spokesperson Lauren Collins said, “added to the anxiety about what would happen this winter.”
Shore emphasized that Liberty Utilities is merely passing along the increased cost of power and is not making any additional profit. Because PSNH generates much of its own electricity, the company’s energy supply is more consistent and prices have not spiked as dramatically.
Electricity rates have risen much less dramatically in Vermont because the state relies on hydropower from HydroQuebec for a substantial amount of its power, making it less vulnerable to changes in the natural gas market.
To alleviate future price swings, Liberty Utilities recently announced that the company would be purchasing New Hampshire Gas, a Keene-based propane distribution utility. The acquisition will help “stabilize energy costs and facilitate future growth,” according to a Liberty press release.
The price increase will remain in effect until April 30 for Liberty customers and June 30 for those using PSNH power.
Meanwhile, businesses and residents are trying to cope.
Jeff and Sarah Barrette own the Ink Factory Clothing Co. in Claremont. After watching their PSNH energy bill jump from $550 to $750 a month, they’re already looking into new options to decrease energy costs. Jeff Barrette considered replacing the electric dryer, which dries the ink prints on clothing and consumes the majority of the company’s electricity, with gas equipment. But, he added, it may not be viable.
“There’s not really much you can do,” he said. “If you can pass the cost on, you try to, but I’m not sure that the market can absorb any cost increase. We probably just live with lower profits. That’s usually how it goes.”click here to Pin this recipe
Today’s lesson is on healing foods.
You might be thinking of brightly colored veggies and lean proteins, and I can dig that. Most of the time.
But today I’m thinking of chicken tamale pie: creamy corn bread, spicy enchilada sauce, seasoned chicken, and melted cheese baked into a pie dish. A PIE DISH. That right there is healing.
HOW TO MAKE OUR CHICKEN TAMALE PIE (45 SEC):
I’ve had a rough go of it the last few days. After my embarrassing gas station encounter, there was the life-altering iPhone incident, and now there’s this.
The Pistachios.
Let me tell you something about myself. I like free food, and I like it a lot. Especially like it when it’s shelled, salted pistachios in an extra humongo bag.
So in an effort not to eat the whole bag of pistachios in between lunch and dinner, I’ve been spending my evenings making one bazillion types of pistachio baked goods. And I have privately eaten thrown away all one bazillion attempts.
No pistachios were thrown at the kitchen wall. Nope. None at all.
Just when I was about to throw in the towel on baking for the rest of my life, Bjork asked for this tamale pie. And the moment it came out of the oven, hot and saucy with bubbling cheese, I was healed. Hallelujah Amen.
One last thing:
Tamale Pie
loves
the camera.
Like, whoa.
Chicken Tamale Pie ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.8 from 114 reviews Author: Pinch of Yum, adapted from Cooking Light
Prep Time: Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: Cook Time: 30 mins
Total Time: Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: Yield: 8 Print Recipe Pin Recipe Description This chicken tamale pie is a huge crowd pleaser and so easy to make! A corn cake bottom layer topped with shredded chicken, enchilada sauce, and cheese. Ingredients 1/3 cup fat free milk
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 1/2 tablespoon taco seasoning, divided
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (14 3/4 ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8.5 ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy)
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
1 (10 ounce) can red enchilada sauce – I recommend going with an authentic Mexican brand
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
3/4 cup shredded white cheese (I used Raclette – random, I know, but it’s what I had on hand, and it ended up being delicious!)
cilantro and crumbled Cotija cheese for topping Instructions Preheat oven to 400°. Combine the first 7 ingredients (milk through green chiles), using just 1/2 tablespoon of the taco seasoning, in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a round pie plate (mine was glass) coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 20-30 minutes. While corn is baking, toss the chicken in the remaining 1 tablespoon taco seasoning. When corn is done – it will be just barely set and golden brown – pierce entire surface liberally with a fork (it might stick a little bit to the fork). Pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken; sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with cilantro and Cotija cheese. 289 1.8 g 755.7 mg 9.5 g 32.8 g 18.4 g 33 mg
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May the healing powers be with you as you pull this out of the oven tonight.
UPDATE: Thanks for all your feedback on this recipe! Some of you have mentioned the cornbread crust was a bit mushy – this is normal. The consistency should be similar to a masa type corn cake or corn pudding – enough to hold together, but not dry like a cornbread. I did update the baking time to 20-30 minutes after making it for the second time. 🙂He held up a box of Rattex rat poison (Picture: CEN)
A Christian pastor urged followers to prove their faith in god by drinking ‘deadly’ rat poison.
The man, known as Prophet Light Monyeki, mixed up a solution of Rattex rat poison in a plastic bottle in front of the congregation.
Donald Trump's ex-fixer Michael Cohen banned from working as lawyerAfter blessing it so that it would no longer be harmful but ‘nourishing’ instead, he drank some himself and then urged people to come forward so he could pour it into their mouths.
He told them to drink the poison to ‘show forth their faith’ – and many willingly did so, according to the church’s social media page.
The ‘prophet’ reportedly told the Grace Living Hope Ministries in Soshanguve, South Africa: ‘We do not need to proclaim faith because we are believers.’
His strange actions were apparently a reference to a street drug called nyaope, made with heroin and rat poison.
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‘If nyaope boys can smoke Rattex for more than eight years, who are we?’ he said. ‘Death has no power over us.’
It is not known whether anybody became ill as a result of drinking rat poison at the service, or how concentrated the solution was.
It is unclear if the authorities are involved.
He got people to prove their faith by drinking rat poison (Picture: CEN)
He also drank some himself (Picture: CEN)
But many people commenting on the church’s social media page were not convinced.
Stinky couple who smelt like vomit, BO and feet break into family's house to shower
‘When I think correctly Jesus never used poisonous things to demonstrate miracles,’ one commenter said. ‘HE touched the people and they were healed.’
One believer defended the ‘prophet’ by saying: ‘General Light Monyeki. Nothing can stop us. Appointed by God, not people or media.
‘So if God allows it, we gonna do it. The more you talk bad about our family, the more crazy God makes us.
‘If you think it’s demonic or satanic, come deliver us then. We are willing to kneel down before you and get deliverance. But if u can’t do that, keep your opinion to yourself.’Oregon junior closer Jake Reed signed with the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, according to Chris Cotillo of SB Nation.
Reed, who was drafted in the fifth round, reportedly received a $350,000 signing bonus and will skip his senior season with the Ducks.
Reed went 4-1 with a 1.95 ERA and 13 saves in 31 games in his first season as a reliever for the Ducks. He started 17 games in each of his first two seasons with the Ducks and went 8-4 with a 2.92 ERA as a freshman and 6-6 with a 3.50 ERA as a sophomore.
He is the first of five Oregon players drafted this month to sign a pro contract. Pitcher Brando Tessar signed with Arizona, but the contract was reportedly nullified due to injury concerns. Pitchers Tommy Thorpe and Porter Clayton and third baseman Scott Heineman were also drafted, but have not signed.
Also Tuesday, there was some news with Oregon recruits. The Ducks lost one of their top recruits when outfielder Derek Hill signed with the Detroit Tigers.
Hill, the No. 23 pick in the first round out of Elk Grove (Calif.) High School, received a signing bonus of nearly $2 million, according to The Detroit News. The 18-year old batted.500 with 26 runs, 11 doubles, seven triples, and 30 RBIs as a senior.
He is the second Oregon signee drafted earlier this month to skip college and sign a pro contract. Branden Kelliher, a right-handed pitcher from Lake Stevens (Wash.) High School, signed with the Oakland A�s after being drafted in the eighth round.
Alex Jackson, a prep outfielder drafted No. 6 overall in the first round by Seattle, has yet to sign a contract.
Challengers split two games against Roseburg
Stellar relief pitching by Travis Boggs and timely hitting by Tanner Cantwell led the Eugene Challengers to a 5-3 win over Doc Stewarts of Roseburg and a split of an Area 4 American Legion baseball doubleheader Tuesday at Swede Johnson Stadium.
In the second of two seven inning games, Boggs pitched five innings for the win, allowing one unearned run. That came in the seventh, when Boggs� sixth strikeout, against two walks, ended the game with the bases loaded. Cantwell was 3-for-3 for the Challengers (5-4, 1-1) and drove in three runs.
Doc Stewarts (1-7, 1-1) won the opener, 7-1, as left-hander Jacob Fricke allowed four hits and one run over six innings. Right-fielder Jake Forrester led the a 12-hit Roseburg attack with three hits; he scored two runs and drove in another.
Beavers add assistant coach to women�s hoops
CORVALLIS � Oregon State has hired Jonas Chatterton to be an assistant women�s basketball coach and will join Scott Rueck�s staff. Chatterton was on the staff at Colorado the last four seasons and he was the associate head coach last year.
During his time with the Buffaloes, they won 83 games and made the postseason each year, including the NCAA Tournament in 2013. Before Colorado he was at BYU and before that NAIA Westminster College in Salt Lake City.
More postseason awards for Fry, Wetzler and Conforto
CORVALLIS � Oregon State baseball players Jace Fry, Michael Conforto and Ben Wetzler were named all-Americans by Perfect Game on Tuesday. Conforto earned first-team status, and Fry and Wetzler were both on the second team.
Hamblin, Wiesner added to Team Canada
CORVALLIS � Oregon State women�s basketball players Ruth Hamblin and Jamie Weisner were named to the Canadian senior women�s roster for the Edmonton Grads International Classic, a three-game series against Brazil at the Saville Centre in Edmonton from June 26-28.
Brazil is ranked No. 7 in the world, and it�s a warm-up for the upcoming 2014 FIBA World Championships at the end of the summer.
Currently the roster is at 16, and Team Canada will make one more round of cuts to finalize the roster at 12 at the end of the weekend.
Hamblin has played with the senior squad before in 2013, but this is Weisner�s senior international competition debut. She starred for Canada�s FIBA U19 World Championships team last summer.
Beavers get football transfer from Cal
CORVALLIS � Former California tight end Jacob Wark has joined the Oregon State football team after transferring from California, the Beavers announced Tuesday. Wark lettered three years for the Golden Bears. He played in 37 games and had seven career starts. In 2013, he caught two passes for eight years, including a 1-yard touchdown against the Beavers.
Wark graduated from Jesuit High in Beaverton. He will be immediately eligble after graduating in May with a degree in American Studies.
Les Schwab Bowl set for Saturday afternoon
HILLSBORO � Oregon�s annual all-star football game, the Les Schwab Bowl, will be played at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium. The South holds a 32-30 series lead against the North.
Players have been practicing twice a week all this week at Pacific University in Forest Grove, and their week of activities will culminate with the game Saturday.
Springfield senior Taylor Travess will play for the South, and he will be joined by teammates Hunter Hastings and Jordon Haas. Sheldon�s Tanner Davies and Marcus McGovern are also on the roster. McGovern will play football next year at Linfield. Thurston�s Carson Cook will play wide receiver.
Springfield coach Dave Heuberger is an assistant for the South.
Pro ultimate team to visit South Eugene on Saturday
The Portland Stags, a member of Major League Ultimate�s Western Conference, will hold a clinic and play its final regular-season game against the Seattle Rainmakers at South Eugene High on Saturday.
The clinic begins at 2 p.m. and the game begins at 6 p.m. Tickets to the game are $12 and available at www.portlandstags.com.
The events are being held in conjunction with the Eugene Ultimate Group�s 36th annual Summer Solstice Tournament taking place Saturday and Sunday. More than 20 men�s and women�s teams from the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada are scheduled to compete in games being played on fields at Roosevelt and Monore middle schools.
Horse vaulting competition comes to Eugene
The American Vaulting Association Region III Championships will be held this weekend at the Oregon Horse Center, 90751 Prairie Road.
Riders from Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming will be competing for a chance to ride at the national championships, which will be held at the Oregon Horse Center in July.
This event will be held from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Cottage Grove Speedway set for more racing Saturday
COTTAGE GROVE � Racing in the 360 Sprint, IMCA Modified, Street Stock and Hornet divisions will be featured Saturday at Cottage Grove Speedway.
The racetrack will be observing fan appreciation night, when pre-race activities will include an opportunity for fans to meet the drivers, take photos and get autographs.
Gates will open at 4 p.m. and racing will begin at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults; $10 for seniors, members of the military and juniors 13 to 17; $5 for youths 6 to 12; and free for those 5 and younger.“SegWit is old news for the market.”
So says crypto analyst Petar Zivkovski, and there’s evidence to suggest traders largely agree. Despite just completing perhaps its most significant technical upgrade ever, the price of bitcoin is down just under 1% over the last 24 hours of trading.
To Zivkovski, this shows that bitcoin’s upgrade, no matter how impactful, was for traders a classic “buy the rumor” event. He speculates much of the price activity in recent months was due to the upgrade – prior to it being clear SegWit would be activated (thereby increasing and redefining network capacity), he notes bitcoin was trading below $2,000.
But before the network adopts the top-level payment networks and other next-generation features enabled by SegWit, Zivkovski expects a run of profit-taking.
Others are less certain here. Arthur Hayes, CEO of bitcoin derivatives exchange BitMEX, said that while the price will likely decline slightly in coming days, he expects it to “zoom higher” in the aftermath of the activation.
“My upside price target is $4,500 then $5,000,” he told CoinDesk.
Elsewhere, comments hint that traders are just beginning to understand how cryptographic assets broadly respond to issues related to their technology. Charles Hayter, founder of exchange service CryptoCompare, for instance, chose to view it as the latest data point in an ongoing experiment on the matter.
Though he said it’s likely to provide a “positive catalyst” long term, he hinted at an uncertain outlook in the coming days, remarking:
“With litecoin we saw a fall after the enaction of SegWit, but with bitcoin cash we saw a price rise on 8MB blocks being mined – its half a dozen of one and half a dozen of the other for bitcoin.”
Eyeing future changes
Among analysts there was also a feeling that prices could be locked into the current range until November, when another technical change is anticipated for the network.
Given the controversy around the plan, and the possibility that it could result in the creation of a third major bitcoin asset, Hayes put forward this idea, arguing that while the price could creep above $5,000, it’s not likely to go much higher.
Elsewhere, developer and trader Jacob Eliosoff agreed that uncertainty is likely ahead as the market looks to price in those coming changes.
“I predict will be a huge mess and will do at least temporary damage to the price – around the split itself,” he said.
Level bubble image via ShutterstockSHARE
In his continuing testimony to a US court in New York City, a confessed drug trafficker from Honduras implicated the brother of current Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández in his criminal enterprise, the latest in a series of accusations that appear to be forming the foundation for several more ground-breaking US judicial cases against Honduras elites.
As part of a sentencing hearing on March 16, Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga of the once-feared Cachiros criminal group said he met with Honduran Congressman Antonio “Tony” Hernández where they discussed how a company that Rivera Maradiaga and his family owned and operated could receive money from the government for services rendered. In return, Rivera Maradiaga claimed, he would pay a “bribe” to the president’s brother.
The company, Inmobiliaria Rivera Maradiaga SA (INRIMAR), had done a series of road construction and maintenance projects for the government during the previous administration of President Porfirio Lobo. Rivera Maradiaga was testifying in a sentencing hearing regarding Lobo’s son, Fabio Porfirio Lobo, who plead guilty to trafficking drugs in 2016.
The question and answer session between Rivera Maradiaga and lead government prosecutor Emil Bove went as follows:
Bove: During the course of your cooperation with the DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration], did you ever meet with Tony Hernández to discuss your front companies?
Rivera Maradiaga: Yes, sir.
Bove: What were some of the things discussed at that meeting?
?
Rivera Maradiaga: That Tony Hernández was going to help us pay some money to INRIMAR.
Bove: Sir, at the time of this meeting, did the Honduran government owe INRIMAR money pursuant to contracts?
Rivera Maradiaga: Yes, sir.
Bove: And what did Tony Hernández offer to do with respect to those debts that the Honduran government owed to INRIMAR?
Rivera Maradiaga: He was going to get funds from the government in order to pay INRIMAR.
Bove: Did he ask for anything in return?
Rivera Maradiaga: Yes, sir.
Bove: What?
Rivera Maradiaga: Bribes.
Bove: Did you record that meeting?
Rivera Maradiaga: Yes, sir. I recorded it.
Bove: Did you turn it over to the DEA after you recorded it?
Rivera Maradiaga: Yes, sir.
Rivera Maradiaga did not say if Tony Hernández fulfilled his promise, and the president’s brother denied these latest accusations linking him to drug trafficking.
“I am open to questions from any investigation or request for information,” he said, according to El Heraldo.
For his part, President Hernández responded to the allegations by reiterating previous |
using derogative labels like "Canadians of convenience" or "Foreigners holding Canadian passports," Canada needs to take a proactive approach to engage Canadians living abroad. People have many different reasons for moving away, and to label them as less Canadian for doing so is troublesome. There are many cases of Canadians studying in the United States who find work in the United Kingdom before coming back to Canada a decade later yet under the current system they would be disenfranchised after five years. Many of these Canadians working abroad do so for Canadian companies, yet these businesses are not facing the same dilemma as Canadians abroad.
Immigrants who decide to leave Canada for whatever reason and return to their native countries are not less Canadian as their compatriots who live in Canada. They may not be residing in the country but they are nevertheless subject to Canadian law and foreign policy decisions. Many of them actively retain connections to Canada. Questions like are expatriates "real" Canadians, is unconstitutional and un-Canadian in themselves. Canadians living abroad are significant global assets who deserve the same rights as those living in Canada. The world is as interconnected as ever, and is only becoming more so. Isolating citizens based on their current geographic placement, which is based on many factors, runs counter to the way the world operates in the twenty-first century.
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If the decrease in voter turnout domestically is a concern, Canada should not be turning away Canadians abroad who are expressing a strong interest in being able to continue to participate in Canadian political life. Nearly half of Canada's expatriates are disenfranchised for being abroad for more than five years. The paranoia over the idea that expatriates have differing loyalties or a lack of knowledge about Canadian news and government policy is not backed by evidence. As well, it is not as if the expatriate vote will somehow completely change the tide of an election in any given year.
Expatriates who are allowed to vote, do so in the last riding in which they lived. Given the current system, if the right to vote was maintained based on their intention to return, because the expatriate votes are spread over many ridings, their impact on Canadian elections would be trivial at best. But this does not mean it is an issue that should go ignored. The idea that Canadian citizens who want to vote are prevented from exercising their democratic rights because of their geographic location does not concur with the Charter.Is Boston’s Museum of Science smarter than a 10th grader?
Apparently not. Joseph Rosenfeld, a 15-year-old from Virginia visiting the museum on a family trip, found a mistake in the museum’s display of the Golden Ratio equation. The display is part of the museum’s “Mathematica: A World of Numbers…and Beyond” exhibit, which has been running for almost 35 years.
Rosenfeld noticed that the equation had minus signs where there should be plus signs. He left a note at the museum’s front desk explaining the error and eventually received a letter from Alana Parkes, the museum’s exhibit content developer, informing him that they would be amending the display.
“It was cool,” Rosenfeld told Boston.com. “At first, I wasn’t sure, I thought maybe I had it wrong, but I was excited.”
[Boston.com]
Contact us at editors@time.com.What I’m asking for is not that much. I just want a boyfriend who is sweet and trustworthy. That’s it.
He doesn't need to have a perfect body or look like George Clooney. I want a guy who wants to curl up on a Friday night and watch Netflix. He can even pick the show. I mean, ideally it's serialized and female-driven, and maybe not that boring political one. But honestly, I don't care. It's not important.
All I want is someone reasonable who is basically a good guy. Someone patient, who doesn't mind if I'm taking a few extra minutes getting ready before we leave the house. But who is impatient with the same things that I am, like when we're left waiting forever to be seated for dinner and he should maybe go talk to the hostess. Because otherwise, why did we make a reservation at all?
I want a guy who is a feminist, someone who knows that all that means is that men and women are equal. A man who admires strong women, such as Hillary Clinton or Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But not that really accomplished woman from his office who seems cool and put-together—I don't mean her. I'd like him to resent her irrationally, actually. I mean older, strong women in the theoretical.
And I don't need some über-rich hedge-funder, either. He just needs to be successful enough financially to support himself. And me and our children if I take time off from work after the babies are born. I just want him to love his job; I don't care about how much money he makes. Just as long as it pays enough to give me the option to go back to work part-time if I decide to professionally pursue my hobby, which is photographing cool manicures for Instagram.
I'm not even one of those women who doesn't want her boyfriend to watch porn. I think it's hot! As long as I'm watching it with him, and it has some kind of entry point for women, like "Fifty Shades of Grey" or "Magic Mike."
One thing I definitely don't need is lavish gifts. I'm not some princess living in a fairy tale. A simple compliment once in a while is enough to show that he appreciates me: "You look pretty today"; "I love your laugh"; "You're such a good cook, even better than my mother and my sisters"; "I love you more than my mother and my sisters." See? It's so easy!
I don't get why that's asking so much—to meet a nice guy at a bar who wants to date for six months and then propose to me while we are in Montana glamping, on a night that is perfectly clear, and then move out of his apartment, give his dog to his co-worker, and buy a four-bedroom house in the town where I was raised, near that elementary school everyone's raving about.
That's why I think I should date an older guy. They say older guys are more secure and have gotten all the immaturity out of their systems. That would be so refreshing right now. To be with a man who isn't obsessed with youth and doesn't want to stay out late smoking weed with his loser friends. And I don't care if he has kids. I think that's cool! So long as his kids are already away at college and his wife is dead, I'm in. But she needs to be normal dead, where she won't come back as a ghost to haunt me.
’Cause that's all I want: a sweet, mature, normal, loving guy, with no baggage. And an absolutely enormous penis.
From the upcoming book "Why Not Me?," to be published by Crown Archetype.Bushiden Is A Sidescrolling Action Game Of Cybernetic Ninja
By Joel Couture. July 15, 2017. 9:00am
The protagonist’s sister goes missing amidst rumors of the evil Gaoh’s return. This means players will be facing down an army of machines and cybernetic foes in Bushiden, an action-packed ninja sidescroller.
Appearing to draw some inspirations from Strider, Bushiden’s hero uses many acrobatic, crowd-clearing abilities, flipping and sliding in order to cut down mechanical foes. These won’t be the hero’s only powers, as magical Chi abilities will give players more offensive skills, as will cybernetic upgrades that will make the player stronger or give them more movement powers (which can unlock new routes in old stages).
Few more details of the game exist, save that it will offer seven stages and a prologue area, and that the game’s combat will focus on crowd control, forcing players to tackle many different foes at once using their various abilities.
Players wishing to know more about Bushiden can follow its development on Facebook and Twitter. A trailer showing of its gameplay and story is said to be coming soon.Headphones are seen in front of a logo of online music streaming service Spotify in this February 18, 2014 illustration picture. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo
(Reuters) - Music streaming service Spotify said on Tuesday it had signed a deal with Universal Music Group that lets artists release new albums exclusively on its paying premium service for two weeks.
Spotify, a rival to Apple Music, has yet to report a profit as it expands, but is under pressure from some artists who have boycotted the usually free service and needs to show investors it can generate cash as it considers a U.S. listing.
The multi-year license agreement with Universal Music could make Spotify more attractive to Universal Music’s artists, who include Taylor Swift, Adele, Lady Gaga, Coldplay and Kanye West.
“We know that not every album by every artist should be released the same way, and we’ve worked hard with UMG to develop a new, flexible release policy,” Spotify Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek said in a statement.
“Universal artists can choose to release new albums on premium only for two weeks, offering subscribers an earlier chance to explore the complete creative work, while the singles are available across Spotify for all our listeners to enjoy,” he said.
Spotify said the deal also covered collaboration on marketing campaigns and would give Universal Music “unprecedented access” to data.
Spotify did not disclose details of the agreement in the statement, such as the fee structure or its exact duration, and a company spokeswoman declined to provide further information.
Launched in 2008, Spotify said last month it had reached 50 million paying subscribers, a rise of 25 percent in less than six months, extending its lead over Apple Music.Campaign coverage of the 2008 presidential election has been both biased and shallow, according to a study released today by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.
One party dominates, and there’s way too much partisan fluff.
Numbers reveal all: Democratic candidates were the subject of half of the 1,742 recent print, broadcast and online news stories analyzed in the research. Republicans garnered 31 percent.
“Overall, Democrats received more positive coverage than Republicans (35 percent of stories versus 26 percent), while Republicans received more negative coverage than Democrats (35 percent versus 26 percent),” the study said.
The public pines for substance. A separate survey found that 77 percent of the respondents said they wanted more solid information on candidate policies and ideas. The press did not deliver.
Instead, almost two-thirds of the coverage focused on the “game” of the political horse race and candidate “performance.” Accounts of their marriages, health and religion followed in importance in 17 percent of the stories — with just 15 percent examining domestic and foreign policies. A mere 1 percent shed light on candidates’ public records.
“The press and the public are not on the same page when it comes to priorities in campaign coverage,” the study said. “This disparity indicates there is room for the press to calibrate its coverage differently to make it more useful and possibly more interesting to citizens.”
Indeed. More than half the public wants more insight into candidate debates, sources of campaign money and the lesser-known White House hopefuls. Of 18 candidates running, 52 percent of the coverage went to just five of them: Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois fixated press interest, garnering 17 percent and 14 percent of the total coverage, respectively.
Three Republicans followed: Rudolph W. Giuliani with 9 percent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona (7 percent) and Mitt Romney (5 percent).
Contenders, such as Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee, were featured in only a dozen stories; Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Democrat, scored just one. Even John Edward’s wife, Elizabeth, got more coverage than 10 of the candidates, the study found.
Mr. Obama was the media darling: 47 percent of the stories about him were positive, compared with 27 percent for Mrs. Clinton. Mr. McCain got the most press abuse. Just 12 percent of the stories about him were positive in tone.
The public, meanwhile, has only tepid reviews for it all, with a majority — 53 percent — rating the news coverage only fair to poor. The fault could lie in journalism’s focus on insider politics.
“Just 12 percent of stories impact ordinary citizens,” the study said. “By contrast, 86 percent of the stories were produced in a way that largely focused on how the politician’s chances of election would be affected.”
The stories were analyzed between January and May; the survey of 1,000 adults was conducted Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, with a margin of error of three percentage points.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.For the last year, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries has served up its modern take on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in bite-sized portions. Now that the story has been retold, the team is looking to explore other classics.
By Michael Andersen, originally posted at ARGNet
It's been almost a year since Lizzie Bennet introduced herself to the internet through her video blog, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. With twice-weekly video updates serving as a voyeuristic window into Lizzie's personal affairs, viewers were effectively invited to take up digital residence at the Bennet household. After spending so much time getting to know Lizzie's family and friends, watching the final installment of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was like saying goodbye to old friends.
Of course, in many ways it was saying goodbye to old friends. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was a modern adaptation of Jane Austen's much loved novel Pride and Prejudice, which recently celebrated its 200th anniversary. Over the years, I've witnessed Elizabeth Bennet fall in love with Fitzwilliam Darcy countless times, complemented by everything from Bollywood dance numbers to zombie attacks. With The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, co-creators Hank Green and Bernie Su sought to re-imagine the classic love story through the modern lens of YouTube.
To modernize the story, the team took more than a few liberties. While Mrs Bennet's blatant maneuvering to secure husbands for her daughters remains as comically anachronistic as it was in Pride and Prejudice, her notions are not completely out of circulation even two centuries after Austen brought them to light. The family businesses did receive an update, evolving into online production companies like Collins & Collins and Pemberley Digital that serve as bases of operation for some of Pride and Prejudice's original suitors that assume roles that are just as important as the Bingley mansion at Netherfield.
Surface-level changes were made to many character names, but it doesn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to connect the dots between Charles Bingley and Bing Lee, or Georgiana Darcy and Gigi Darcy. Even Mary Bennet and Kitty Bennet, who were excised from the core Bennet clan, still find their way into the narrative. The major changes arose through the challenges faced by the lead characters. For Lizzie, Charlotte, and Jane, the prospect of creating a life independent of marriage is an ever-present and essential reality, and the three finally realize that goal in new and interesting ways that challenge their relationships. While Lydia's narrative arc still thrusts her into scandal, her character's reaction to that scandal takes a different turn.
Embracing the vlog format, the bulk of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries videos revolve around Lizzie speaking directly into a stationary camera, holding a one-sided conversation with the viewer. Even when Lizzie is joined by Jane Bennet, Lydia Bennet, and Charlotte Lu, the attention remains focused on the viewing audience with her friends and family standing by to check Lizzie's more extravagant claims and provide a different perspective on events. For added entertainment, Lizzie frequently coerces her guests into donning costumes for dramatic reenactments of recent conversations and events. At one point, Lizzie even convinces Darcy to reenact a scene in costume, playing himself. Looking back on the project, Bernie Su reflected that Lizzie Bennet Diaries co-creator Hank Green's video, How to Vlog: From the Vlogbrothers was a strong influence to the show's format and style, with its clear instructions on vlogging best practices.
While format and narrative arc both required modifications to fit in with the YouTube mold, the most extensive modification to the story came in adapting Pride and Prejudice to incorporate the sense of community that YouTube engenders. While The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' audience could chat with the show's characters on Twitter and Facebook, leave video responses to the various channels, and even ask the characters questions through frequent Q&A videos, the project remained a story. The audience could not stop Lydia from falling into scandal any more than they could prevent Lizzie and Darcy from getting together in the end. Hank Green did note that Lydia's increased presence in the series was due entirely to the positive fan response to her portrayal, but that is inherent in the nature of responsive serial fiction.
Since some of the most intensely personal aspects of the YouTube community could not be carried over while adapting a classic novel, the characters in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries stepped in to fill that void by forming a core community beyond the main YouTube channel. To deliver on that promise of agency, the series' transmedia focus was on building outlets for all of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries characters to have their voices heard and to allow the characters to interact with each other. Characters discussed on Lizzie's vlog were presented through Lizzie's heavily biased perspective, so these extensions were often the only way for the characters to reclaim ownership of their stories. And each character reclaimed ownership of their story in different ways.
In the main videos Charlotte, Jane, and Lydia were often relegated to supporting Lizzie in telling her own story. To get a better sense of each of their own personal stories, it's necessary to look to their larger online footprint. For Lydia, that footprint took the form of a competing channel that frequently provided direct commentary on Lizzie's videos, and introduced another side of Lydia through her interactions with Mary and Kitty on the channel. Jane's online presence through her LookBook account helped her cultivate her interest in the fashion industry, leading to opportunities that filtered back up to the dominant narrative in the main channel. With Charlotte, the focus centered on her efforts mentoring her younger sister Maria.
Fitz William and Gigi Darcy's online activities provided some of the most meaningful opportunities for fans, as both characters openly watched The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and shipped Lizzie and Darcy ("Dizzie", as they liked to call the pair) as a couple. While fans couldn't take concrete actions to throw the two together, Fitz and Gigi could serve as a voice for the fans through their reactions to the evolving love-hate relationship shared by the two. As the growing cast of characters met each other, their online profiles created an underlying lattice of social interactions that informed the show's progress and added depth to the characters. Caroline Lee's most humanizing moment in a series that generally thrust her into antagonistic roles was a Twitter conversation about her near-disasterous efforts to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for her friends. Lizzie's main video series eventually reached 100 episodes, but additional videos from the Q&A sessions and spin-off channels resulted in over 9 hours of content across over 150 videos (as well as a host of websites and social media profiles) for the full experience. Characters even made in-character appearances at conferences like Vidcon and SXSW.
While the Lizzie Bennet fan community (often referred to as "Seahorses") did not possess the agency to change the events of a 200 year old story, they did embrace the opportunity to interact heavily with the characters through the communication channels carved out for them in the narrative. And their creative efforts spilled out onto other platforms, with nearly every episode seeing popular moments transformed into animated gifs. Fans filmed – video homages to the series, drew fan art, created Valentine's Day cards, and set up an online discussion group enabling fans to read the book and watch the series in tandem. One fan with a sense of humor even uploaded a "Regency-era fanfic" of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries by copying and pasting the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice.
While the budding romance between Lizzie and Darcy was pivotal to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, its true strength was in fleshing out many of the minor characters in Pride and Prejudice through the transmedia elements making audiences familiar with the story consider alternate readings of the source material, and new inductees to the world of Austen to turn to the text for the first time. Fans of Pride and Prejudice rarely cite Lydia Bennet, Colonel Fitzwilliam, Gigi Darcy, and Richard Collins as their favorite characters, and yet those characters were able to claim the spotlight in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Accordingly, it's fitting that Lizzie's last video was not the true end for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. After the last video's surprising conclusion, many characters returned to social media for one final farewell.
Even those goodbyes do not mark a true end to our tale. Shortly before Pemberley Digital made its fictional debut in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries narrative, Hank Green and Bernie Su registered the very real corporation as a LLC that is currently raising funds to support the DVD release of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and a canonical follow-up project taking Gigi Darcy to Sanditon, California in a video series based on Austen's unfinished novel, Welcome to Sanditon. The team is also looking to follow up The Lizzie Bennet Diaries with another full-scale adaptation of a classic novel that has yet to be identified. To date, the Kickstarter campaign has raised over $360,000, readily surpassing its target.
If you're interested in watching the Lizzie Bennet Diaries in its entirety, here is a link for a playlist with the series and all of its related videos. Alternatively, you can visit the show's Kickstarter page and order the full series with commentary and extras for a minimum contribution of $55. There's even an option to purchase a Lizzie Bennet Diaries-branded version of Pride and Prejudice.This article is over 3 years old
Scenes showing Ben Mitchell and Paul Coker half naked next to an open coffin were ‘implied and not explicit’, says corporation
The BBC is standing by a controversial scene in EastEnders that showed two men half naked in a funeral parlour after the media watchdog received nearly 50 complaints.
The scene, which aired last Friday, showed characters Ben Mitchell and Paul Coker stripped off above the waist and embracing in front of a dead body in an open coffin.
The couple’s intimacy was interrupted by a knock at the door and one of the characters was then shown hiding under the casket.
Some viewers were upset by the scenes, with one claiming the broadcaster had “lost the plot” and another branding it a “disgrace”.
The BBC claimed the scenes were ‘implied and not explicit’ and said EastEnders fans “know and expect dramatic storylines”.
But despite defending the material, which featured actors Harry Reid and Jonny Labey, the corporation would not say how many complaints it had got over the scene.
It is understood that the Ofcom complaints were more about the location of the action, rather than the sexuality of the characters.
An Ofcom spokesman said: “Ofcom has received 48 complaints about EastEnders on Friday 17 July. We will assess these complaints before deciding whether to investigate or not.”
The first kiss between the young men last month provoked homophobic remarks on social media.University of Maryland professor Jason Nichols received a disgusting 8-minute racist rant from a caller after he appeared on Fox News earlier this week.
Nichols appeared on Tucker Carlson’s nightly program to discuss Columbus Day and to explain to the Fox News audience why Christopher Columbus is maybe not the best person to celebrate.
Fellow UM professor Rashawn Ray shared video of Nichols playing back the message on his phone, which Nichols broadcast on Facebook Live.
“This message is for Jason Nicholas [sic], I’ve been listening to him on Fox,” said the caller, a woman. “You know, this f*cking n**ger, you n**gers are not gonna be satisfied until you change every f*cking piece of sh*t holiday to ‘N**ger Day.’ Okay, you can have it. Let’s change Martin Luther King N**ger Day, Christmas N**ger Day, Columbus N**ger Day.”
She went on, “He’s talking about Columbus killing 200,000 people, what about the camel n**gers that got the n**ger blood in them, the terrorists, the f*cking Syrian Muslim piece of sh*t n**ger terrorists…”
The caller continued in that vein for eight full minutes as Nichols looked silently at the camera and occasionally shook his head.
Watch the video, embedded below:
Watch Jason Nichols’ appearance on Fox News, embedded below:Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters took to a major highway in Bahrain on Friday demanding the cancellation of the Formula One Grand Prix. Protesters threw petrol bombs while the police responded with tear gas and stun grenades.
Police were allowed to fire live rounds if necessary, said John Yates, the former assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police hired by Bahrain to advise on police reform. “If the opposition started firing live ammunition, the police would respond with live," he said.
The rally had received permission from the government. But when a group of about a hundred protesters broke away from the rally, police fired stun grenades and tear gas. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The massive rally was organized by Shiite political groups, including the main groups Al Wefaq and Al Waad. Protesters chanted slogans such as "We demand democracy!" and "Down, Down Hamad!" referring to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
The F1 race is mainly backed by the ruling Sunni dynasty. The crown prince owns the rights to the event and has vowed that the country's sporting highlight will go ahead.
During a visit to the circuit on Friday, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa told reporters the F1 race will start on Sunday as planned.
"I genuinely believe this race is a force for good. It unites many people from many different religious backgrounds, sects and ethnicities," Salman told journalists.
The F1 Grand Prix is Bahrain's premier international event and has been part of the kingdom's attempts to boost its prestige in recent years.
Protests and police violence have taken place in Bahrain almost every day for months, but it is a major sporting event that has finally drew international media attention to the drastic situation in the country.
Some say the reason for such reluctant coverage is Bahrain’s close ties to the United States. The two countries are strategic allies with Bahrain hosting the US Navy 5th fleet.
Protests and rallies are generally organized by Shiites, who account for 70 per cent of the population. They are demanding an end to discrimination at the hands of the Sunni rulers.
The death toll from the year of turmoil now stands at around 70. Many deaths are due to the heavy use of tear-gas by police. The government disputes the causes of the deaths and accuses protesters in Shiite villages of sabotage and attacking the police.
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BOSTON (CBS) – Massachusetts resident and Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein is full steam ahead.
Stein is headed for Florida to campaign, a state where fellow Green Party member Ralph Nader pulled nearly 100,000 votes in 2000.
Before she headed out to campaign, the Harvard-educated physician, instructor of internal medicine, and environmental health advocate sat down with WBZ-TV’s Political Editor Jon Keller on Wednesday, and minced no words in her condemnation of the major-party candidates.
“Bush bailed out Wall Street to the tune of $700 billion. But under this president, that bailout has been over $4.5 trillion already distributed, $16 trillion more in free loans, and we haven’t seen the end of it. And the problem has not been fixed,” she said.
As for Mitt Romney, who stein debated in the 2002 governor’s race, she says he’s hardly a better solution.
Watch Part 1 Of Jon Keller’s Interview With Jill Stein
Basically back to George Bush, with no apology and cheerleading for more deregulation, more tax breaks for corporations, more dirty energy… It’s essentially Barack Obama’s program, but without any restraint,” Stein said.
Stein, who was recently arrested at an anti-foreclosure sit-in, criticized the presidential election as “a choice between a do-little party and a do-nothing party.
Watch Part 2 Of Jon Keller’s Interview With Jill Stein
When asked if she could become the Ralph Nader of 2012; pulling crucial votes from the democrats by campaigning in swing states like Florida, Stein said she was determined to run.
“In my view, to concede the futility of the campaign is to concede the futility of our democracy,” she said.
I’m in this as a mother. I’m in this for the long haul. I’m not giving up.”Once again Seattle ranked second in annual home-price growth — behind only Portland, according to the Case-Shiller home price index. But on a month-to-month basis Seattle's prices are now growing more slowly than the average U.S. market.
Home prices throughout Greater Seattle are continuing to accelerate, and are now surging at their fastest clip in more than two years — but there are some signs indicating the ride into the price stratosphere is starting to slow.
The typical single-family home in July cost 11.2 percent more than a year ago and is at an all-time high, according to the new Case-Shiller home-price index released Tuesday.
Seattle ranked second in annual price growth — behind Portland — for the seventh straight month. During that span, in each month home prices in Seattle have grown twice as fast as the national growth rate, which was 5.1 percent in July.
Fastest-rising home prices compared to a year ago 1. Portland: +12.4% 2. Seattle: +11.2% 3. Denver: +9.4% 4. Dallas: +8.3% 5. Tampa: +7.8% Source: Case-Shiller home price index
The last time Seattle home values grew this fast on an annual basis was April 2014. Before that stretch, home prices hadn’t grown this fast in 10 years.
Home values have now consistently skyrocketed for 4½ straight years, taking their toll on potential buyers. In all, a typical house costs 58 percent more than it did when the market bottomed out in early 2012.
“Home prices in Portland and Seattle are growing nearly as fast as they ever have since the recovery began in 2012, which is unlike most markets that saw peak growth between 2013 and 2014,” said Trulia chief economist Ralph McLaughlin. “I’m thinking much of this is being driven by strong income and job growth in the area.”
Still, drilling down more closely at the short-term, home prices in July inched up just 0.6 percent from the month before, down from 2.4 percent when the spring began, the Case-Shiller data show.
Earlier this year, Seattle had the fastest-growing home price on a month-over-month basis — but now it’s just tied for eighth among the 20 large metro areas studied. Seattle’s monthly growth is now actually slightly below the national average.
McLaughlin said the same sudden drop happened in July in each of the past two years, which is likely a reflection that the homebuying season slows down in Seattle earlier than the rest of the country.
The good news for buyers here is that his analysis of the data show home-price growth remained very small in each of the last two falls and winters, before surging again in the spring. If that history repeats, home prices here wouldn’t start ramping back up significantly again until next March.
Looking at types of homes, those seeking starter homes have been hit hardest. Prices are up 12.4 percent in a year for the cheapest homes, compared with 10.7 percent for luxury houses.
The national home-price index is now just a hair below the record set before the recession. But Seattle passed its previous 2007 high earlier this year and is now 6 percent above its previous peak.
David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Case-Shiller home index committee, said the national growth rate is “probably not sustainable over the long term” given that it’s rising more than twice as fast as inflation.
But “there is no reason to fear that another massive collapse is around the corner,” Blitzer said in a statement, citing data showing people are paying off their mortgage debt better than in the bubble that inflated before the recession.
Svenja Gudell, Zillow’s chief economist, noted the rising home values are finally being supported by higher incomes, as the Census Bureau reported earlier this month that Americans — led by Seattle — were seeing some of their highest pay raises in decades.
“The bad news: incomes are so far behind that they need to do a lot of catching up before homes become more affordable, especially for those at the bottom of the income distribution and in the country’s most expensive markets,” Gudell said in an email.
The Case-Shiller index tracks single-family home sales in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties and does not include raw price numbers.
The most recent data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service showed the median home sale in August was $625,000 in Seattle, $550,000 in King County and $400,000 in Snohomish County.The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt surely is one of the best role-playing games released in the last couple of years thanks to its great story, cast of characters and superb range of quests. Polish developer CD Projekt Red outdid themselves with their latest RPG, creating a game that video game fans will remember for a long time to come, and which has also turned out to be a long-running success for the Polish company.
And given the game’s popularity with gamers, it is not surprising that some have taken to modding CD Projekt’s RPG, making all sorts of changes to the game and releasing some truly worthwhile mods.
Some of these make aesthetic changes to The Witcher 3 such as the Realistic Weather mod, which improves the game’s weather elements like fog and rain. Others make convenience changes, such as one which lets you fast travel from any point in the world, without having to hunt for a goddamn signpost first.
There’s also another mod which lets you play through protagonist Geralt’s adventure in first-person, a welcome change for those looking to replay the game, wanting things to look different on their next playthrough. This first-person mod (which you can download here) does have a few limitations, namely that combat is not supported yet and you will be yanked to third-person mode when things become hostile. Also, riding Geralt’s trusty horse Roach isn’t possible in first-person mode either as of now.
But still, wandering through the game’s superb medieval fantasy world in first-person perspective will surely make for a quite different experience despite the mods limitations, so this is one mod that Witcher 3 fans will surely want to take a look at.news Internode founder Simon Hackett has declared that the innovative ideas he has put forward over the past several years with respect to reforming the NBN are “just the tip of the iceberg” in terms of potential improvements and cost reductions to the project, as debate continues about its future under the new Coalition Government.
Up until last week, the Coalition’s NBN policy, put together in Opposition, focused on using a predominantly fibre to the node rollout style for the project, as opposed to the more ambitious and technically superior fibre to the premises approach preferred by the previous Labor Government. However, last week new Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull appeared to drastically modify the policy, declaring the Coalition was not wedded to its FTTN model and was “thoroughly open-minded” about the technology to be used in the network.
Many of the Coalition’s choices about the future of the NBN, Turnbull intimated in a press conference, would be guided by a strategic review which NBN Co was to conduct into its operations within 60 days after its new board its appointed. The review is to set to estimate the cost and time to complete the NBN under its current model, as well as evaluating how other models could potentially reduce that cost and time to complete the rollout.
Telecommunications analysts such as Paul Budde have immediately interpreted Turnbull’s policy backdown as the Minister having given NBN Co “the opportunity to save the current NBN”.
In the wake of Turnbull’s comments, a number of commentators, including the writer of this article, have highlighted the fact that Internode founder Simon Hackett has constantly publicly over the past several years canvassed a number of improvements which could be made to the NBN rollout to make it both more cost-efficient, as well as improving the competitive outcomes to be stimulated by the rollout.
Hackett accurately predicted that the large number of points of interconnect model mandated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for the NBN would lead to a rapid consolidation of the ISP industry; he predicted moves by smaller ISPs such as TPG to deploy their own fibre if the Coalition won power and modified the NBN rollout; and he predicted the need for ownership of Telstra’s copper cable to be transferred into the NBN Co; an issue currently being discussed by the two telcos.
And in July this year, Hackett outlined a wide-ranging series of changes which NBN Co could make to its network rollout, including using a drastically simplified network termination device and reviewing the design of its network rollout, that would deliver, as the Internode founder said in a speech at the time, “fibre outcomes on a copper budget”.
Because of Hackett’s ability to predict the dynamics of the NBN’s impact on Australia’s telecommunications ability, his extensive experience in the sector and his innovative ideas regarding the project, Delimiter has proposed the executive as a candidate to be appointed to NBN Co’s board (subscriber content).
In a series of new comments posted on broadband forum Whirlpool last week, Hackett said that his comments regarding the NBN so far represented only a start.
“Its also worth appreciating that while I put a lot |
can be easily customized for different companies' requirements.
What Are They Great At?
The sheer wealth of data at your disposal within Netsuite is the platform's major selling point. It can give any member of any business unit access to customer information, transaction histories, invoice and order status, and ongoing customer concerns. It allows for a complete overview of the customer and their financial history with the company.
What Are They Missing?
The major drawback for Netsuite is the lack of graphics, charts, and other visualizations that use its underlying data. It's spreadsheet heavy, so new users can have difficulty understanding what all the data means. Finance teams that spend their entire day in Netsuite can understand all the data presented. But teams like sales and marketing that just need to quickly check in on certain data points can find the data-driven interface confusing.
How Does This Fit In Your Billing System?
Netsuite checks all the high level for a SaaS billing system—analytics, dunning, GAAP—but it isn't a hybrid billing system with a payment gateway.
Company Size: Netsuite is for advanced enterprise companies.
Customer Size: It's best suited for companies with higher pricing who serve other enterprise companies.
Pricing Approach: Netsuite wins when you need maximum flexibility in your pricing to land extremely large contracts.
goTransverse TRACT®
TRACT is well positioned to service mid-size and large subscription based enterprises, easily accommodating companies with multiple types of billing arrangements. Their enterprise solution boasts the high levels of security, service-level agreements, and “white-glove” customer service that's a pre-requisite to play at this level.
What Are They Great At?
TRACT supports for companies with complex usage, time-based, or dynamic pricing. They support 20+ configurable payment gateways out of the box while allowing customers to retain gateway control. They have an adaptable dunning system that allows users to set up event-based rules.
What Are They Missing?
Reviews report that TRACT's business analytics tools aren't as fleshed out as some of its enterprise competitors. While their tools may be enough satisfy the needs of some customers, those looking for more developed BA tools may look elsewhere.
How Does This Fit In Your Billing System?
TRACT is a powerful subscription management platform, so you'll need to integrate it with one of their payment gateways to directly process payments.
Company Size: TRACT targets the mid-market and Fortune 1000 companies.
Customer Size: TRACT can bill everyone from individual customers to organizations.
Pricing Approach: TRACT's flexibility allows you to offer a range of pricing options.
Apttus
Like Salesforce, Apttus offer a Quote-to-cash solution for billing. In fact, the Apttus version was originally built on top of Salesforce alone until they chose to expand it out to integrate with other CRMs. This allows you to manage the entire revenue process beyond just billing. You can optimize pricing, upselling opportunities, and revenue recognition from within the platform and follow customers' lifecycles to develop a deeper understanding of each customer.
What Are They Great At?
This quote-to-cash structure gives your sales team visibility into the entire lifecycle of a customer. They can access expiring contracts and upsell and cross-sell opportunities to build recurring revenue. Unlike Salesforce, this quote-to-cash platform works across a variety of different CRMs.
What Are They Missing?
Again, dunning isn't built in. This critical feature might not be as important in high-touch sales environments such as enterprise, but the lack of dunning basically rules this out for any subscription model based on automation.
How Does This Fit In Your Billing System?
Like Salesforce Quote-to-cash, Apttus requires integration with a merchant account. Unlike Salesforce, it doesn't provide a payment gateway so it will also need to be paired with a payment processor like Stripe or Braintree.
Company Size: Apttus is for advanced stage companies where you're producing individual quotes for customers and need to follow their journey through your product to target upselling opportunities at the end of the contract.
Customer Size: Large companies that want individual quotes for pricing and have individual needs.
Pricing Approach: If you are pricing individually and want to be able to easily track customers beyond the sales process, a quote-to-cash system that fits into your CRM gives you opportunities to gain expansion revenue beyond the initial sale.
Now we'll jump into subscription management services designed for enterprise SaaS companies.
Aria
Aria's strength is its flexibility. It can be used for all types of customers and companies. If you have a simple 3-tier pricing system, it can handle that. It can also handle complex, individual arrangements with different customers. It doesn't matter if your customers are small companies or other enterprises — Aria offers customized solutions for all possibilities.
What Are They Great At?
Dunning. Aria is one of the few enterprise billing systems that includes dunning in their platform. This means that the system can be used to support subscription companies with tens of thousands of customers.
What Are They Missing?
Though Aria's dunning options work well for smaller companies, the lack of a free trial isn't. While this is common with heavy duty systems, this makes it more difficult for Aria to appeal to companies looking to try out several billing options before committing.
How Does This Fit In Your Billing System?
Aria provides the tools needed within a subscription management platform such as analytics and revenue recognition.
Company Size: Mid and large enterprises.
Customer Size: As they offer significant customization, Aria can handle a variety of customer types and sizes.
Pricing Approach: Flexibility means that Aria will work with most pricing approaches.
Vindicia
Vindicia looks to get their customers up and running in the shortest time possible. The system supports all subscription lengths, trial periods, freemium models, and usage metering. Vindicia Cashbox allows to test and refine your pricing over time you've calibrated it for your target customers.
What Are They Great At?
Vindicia Cashbox's flexibility is its main selling point. It can be configured to meet different needs of different enterprise models. You can customize how customers are billed, what's included in different packages, and how usage is calculated for each billing type. You can also launch campaigns and test pricing with your customer using Vindicia's marketing and sales components.
What Are They Missing?
Though Vindicia Cashbox has a large number of features, it lacks dunning and APIs that would allow you to build easily on top of the platform. Integration is vital for SaaS success, so making it more difficult for users and other developers to integrate with your platform means Cashbox might not be the best option for companies that want to do their own customization.
How Does This Fit In Your Billing System?
No dunning or revenue recognition options means that Vindicia lacks some features for strong subscription management. However, it can work as a payment gateway, meaning that you only need to tie it to a merchant account before you can use.
Company Size: Well beyond the growth phase.
Customer Size: The flexibility of Vindicia means you can serve most levels of customers.
Pricing Approach: Flexible pricing means you'll need a stack that is equally customizable.
Zuora
Zuora is a cloud-based subscription management system that helps track the entire customer lifecycle. They provide many categories of add-ons that allow you to easily mix-and-match features to design your unique subscription plan.
What Are They Great At?
Zuora focuses on providing “end-to-end” management of the entire customer lifecycle. Here's what they allow you to do:
You manage the full payment lifecycle
Your customers can manage their entire subscription lifestyle
You have access to subscription quoting integration that connects with your billing, payment and revenue
You can get insights on your company and your customers
Similar customers are grouped to help to segment data
Trigger interactions with customers based on insights
Get a complete history of every subscriber to see how best to help them
The large range of features means you can easily add or remove options to create new plans and easily generate one-time unique invoices if necessary.
What Are They Missing?
Some users report that Zuora has a bit of a learning curve, especially around the reporting interface.
How Does This Fit In Your Billing System?
Zuora is classified as a subscription management system because it still needs to be integrated with a payment gateway and merchant account. They support a large number of payment gateways to help round out your billing system. Zuora is our billing system of choice if you're above $20M ARR.
Company Size: Zuora is best for large, established companies. Their flexibility and customizability make it possible to address any scenario.
Customer Size: Your customers should be larger companies that will likely request more flexible services, but are also willing to pay higher prices for these custom plans.
Pricing Approach Zuora's many add-on features allow you to offer customizable pricing plans that can easily be changed and updated when necessary.
Cleverbridge
Cleverbridge is a turnkey solution for billing that aims to put customer success and your monetization strategy at the heart of the billing system. But once you have the platform up and running, you can still customize each aspect of your pricing to fit in with your business goals.
What Are They Great At?
Cleverbridge lets you plan your pricing strategy from start to finish within a single platform. In fact, the product is organized around your pricing strategy. This letsyou build out the tactical and technical aspects of your monetization—subscription management, analytics, processing—from there.
What Are They Missing?
Enterprise companies need to adhere to GAAP accounting practices, so the lack of revenue recognition within the system might be a turn off for some larger companies.
How Does This Fit In Your Billing System?
The lack of revenue recognition here means that you might need another tool for that job if you are truly moving upmarket.
Company Size: Far enough along that you have a good pricing strategy to build your Cleverbridge pricing around. But not quite at the top level as revenue recognition isn't included.
Company Size: Mid-level companies that are still expanding.
Pricing Approach: This is an ideal platform for companies that have a pricing strategy already in place and are looking for the best way to implement it quickly.
Choose What Works for You
The most important thing when choosing a billing system is to find one tailored to your needs. When making your choice, keep in mind:
The size and MRR of your company
The size and revenue of your customers
How customizable you want your billing system to be
What integrations you need
Who is managing your billing system
Rather than coding your own system or relying on a patchwork approach, selecting a strong billing stack that can scale with you ensures that you're set up for success and won't need to shift systems down the road.Originally Posted by Churchwork Originally Posted by
"And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven" (Deut. 4.19). The Bible says, "And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so" (Gen. 1.15), not "and for other members of God's creation to inhabit other planets". It's not even an issue there could be life on other planets. As Hugh Ross says, there are 800 variables needed for life on another planet, and there simply is not enough planets in the universe to make life possible on another planet. There simply has not been enough interatomic actions in the history of the universe even to produce one protein molecule of at least 200 amino acids, let alone 1000 needed to create the simplest replicating life form. Understand that the reason why there are so many stars and planets in the universe is because there needs to be that many to produce the full elemental table. And when the New City changes into 1379 x 1379 x 1379 with walls 216 feet thick we whom are saved will go out to explore God's amazing creation, but not to visit aliens, since there is none, but to see all the amazing worlds out there. To explore! To go where no man has gone before!Fear Of Cantaloupes And Crumpets? A 'Phobia' Rises From The Web
Hide caption Seeds of fear? To most of us, this cantaloupe and horn melon look like a healthy breakfast or snack. Previous Next Daniel M.N. Turner/NPR
Hide caption But for some trypophobes, the clusters of seeds in a melon can evoke anxiety, nervousness and even nausea. Previous Next Daniel M.N. Turner/NPR
Hide caption One person on Reddit posted a picture of a sliced bell pepper with the comment, "I love bell peppers, but man this gets me every time." Previous Next Daniel M.N. Turner/NPR
Hide caption Holey foods, like Swiss cheese and aerated chocolate, give some trypophobes the heebie-jeebies. Previous Next LearningLark/Flickr
Hide caption Bubbles rising up as dough cooks can also gross out trypophobes. But seriously, don't these homemade crumpets look yummy? Previous Next Chris_Samuel/Flickr
Hide caption Trypophobes might not have a problem eating honey, but it's doubtful many are beekeepers. Previous Next StephenMitchell/Flickr 1 of 6 i View slideshow
Four years ago, my husband revealed one of his more peculiar qualities: He's freaked out by the sight of sliced cantaloupe.
The melon seeds, all clustered together, make his skin itch and his stomach churn. Then he gets obsessed and can't stop talking about it.
A bit concerned by his behavior, I started researching it on the Web. Boy, was I in for a treat. My husband was not alone.
Trypophobia, as the Urban Dictionary defines it, is an irrational fear of holes, pods or cracks — specifically, clusters of them.
It's not recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or any clinical psychologist we could find, but a whole trypophobia community is rising up on the Web.
On Instagram and Reddit, people share photographs of clusters that make them anxious, obsessed and even nauseated. Many images show holey foods or clusters of seeds, like aerated chocolates, the innards of a red bell pepper, and bubbles rising up in pancakes while they cook.
"I don't like the holes in crumpets or sponges or Swiss cheese," @CourtneySGray said on Twitter. "They all make me shudder and panic."
The trypophobia Facebook page touts nearly 7,000 followers, who commiserate on their "condition" and triggers. "When macaroni noodles stand up straight when I'm boiling them, I wanna cry," Kelcey Piper remarked on Facebook. "Anyone else experienced this?"
The standard litmus test for trypophobia seems to be a photograph of lotus seeds. And I have to admit, these pictures can give me the heebie-jeebies if I think about them long enough.
But in Southeast Asia, people eat these like peanuts. They just peel the pods and pop the seeds in their mouth. And down in New Orleans, people harvest lotus from the bayous and then fry up the seeds.
So I'm not convinced about this trypophobia. From the comments on Facebook, it's clear that many people didn't even realize these photographs bothered them until they stumbled upon them on Google.
Is there really a common phobia to lotus and melon lurking in our society, or could this just be some modern-day phenomenon fueled by social media and the power of suggestion?
Psychiatrist Carol Mathews of the University of California, San Francisco, who specializes in anxiety disorders, thinks it's mostly the latter.
She's never heard of trypophobia, and from looking at the comments on the Web, she doesn't think most people have a real phobia — or an intense fear — to these objects. Instead, they simply find the images disgusting or yucky.
Mathews thinks this response is probably due to a psychological concept known as priming: You're asked if the lotus photo makes you feel itchy, so it's more likely to stir up an itch or two.
"We all have random skin sensations, but we normally filter them out," she tells The Salt. It's "like background noise — our brains have taught us not to listen to it. But if we're asked to pay attention to our skin, then we start to feel all these little itches."
Research psychologist Arnold Wilkins at the U.K.'s University of Essex has been investigating the phenomenon, and he thinks he might know what's going on. In images that set off this repulsion, the pattern of contrast is similar to that found in photographs of extremely poisonous animals — like box jellyfish, king cobras and Brazilian wandering spiders. Wilkins speculates that we humans are especially good at picking out these patterns because they help us spot dangerous animals that might otherwise blend with the background.
It's a tidy, evolution-based theory, but Mathews isn't buying it.
Intermixing truly yucky pictures of parasites and skin conditions with innocuous images of cantaloupes and crumpets, she says, could also make you feel grossed out by your breakfast. This is a type of conditioning, in which one emotion — disgust, uncomfortableness — gets associated with something that normally doesn't evoke that emotion.
"There might really be people out there with phobias to holes, because people can really have a phobia to anything," she says. "But just reading what's on the Internet, that doesn't seem to be what people actually have."
"Now that I think about cantaloupes, I feel a little disgusted, too," Mathews says. "And I really like cantaloupes."By Amanda Tonoli
atonoli@vindy.com
CANFIELD
A North Lima woman who accidentally shot her husband said she will never touch another gun again.
Donna Bricker pleaded no contest Tuesday to one count of domestic violence in Mahoning County Area Court after reports said she shot her husband in the leg during an argument.
“It’s something I close my eyes about and think about every night,” Donna Bricker, 76, of Lynn Road, said at her court hearing.
Judge Scott D. Hunter found her guilty, suspended a 180-day jail sentence, fined her $250, placed her on two years’ probation, and ordered her to continue counseling at Turning Point Counseling. She also is no longer allowed to own or possess a firearm.
The judge could send her to jail if she violates any terms of her probation.
On July 20, Donna Bricker shot her husband, Dale Bricker, 83, a prominent local lawyer, in the leg with a.38-caliber revolver in their home.
Dale Bricker, recently honored by the Mahoning County Bar Association for 55 years as a lawyer, was treated for nonlife-threatening injuries at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
Donna Bricker said her husband is recovering and is back to work at his office in 100 DeBartolo Place, Boardman.
Reports said the couple was arguing over the care of their dog, who is unfriendly to strangers, and taking it to a kennel.
“It was an accident,” Donna Bricker said. “I went to shoot the handle of the door and I guess I had too much of a grip [on the gun].”
Once she knew she shot her husband, Donna Bricker said her nurse instincts kicked in, and she rushed to his aid to stop the bleeding, traumatized by what she had just done.
The sole reason she and her husband got the gun was for the purposes of traveling at night, she said.
“It was so we wouldn’t be victims,” Donna Bricker said.
She said she never would have imagined the mess the gun would cause.
“I never want to see another gun in my life,” Donna Bricker said.
Her lawyer, J. Gerald Ingram, said the incident was isolated to the Bricker family, was unfortunate and is now over.If you’ve ever visited Minnesota’s north shore of Lake Superior, you’ve no doubt been inspired by vistas of jagged rock and tumbling waterfalls.
Perhaps, even perplexed by one scene in particular – the Devil’s Kettle.
The attraction inside Judge C.R. Magney State Park near Grand Marais has mystified visitors for decades, where water in the left fork of the Brule River waterfall appears to simply vanish into a large hole in the rock below.
In the summer of 2012, WCCO’s Mike Binkley explored the mystery of Devil’s Kettle for a Finding Minnesota feature. He experimented by tossing a ping pong ball into the cauldron etched with his phone number.
Last we heard, Binkley has yet to receive a call from the person who recovered the ball.
Over the decades, others — including scientists — have tossed in logs and even dye in hopes of tracing the water’s flow. Nothing ever surfaced.
“It gets ground up. It’s a pretty powerful churning,” said retired University of Minnesota professor Calvin Alexander.
Alexander suggests thinking of the kettle as nature’s giant blender. The water is churning around the hole in the rock with such power and force that it essentially shreds whatever material enters the pool.
Still, the questions remain: What happens to the flowing water and where does it exit to the surface water?
“The first thing you do is measure the water and it turns out nobody had ever done that,” Alexander said.
Last fall, he and DNR hydrologist Jeff Green did just that.
What they discovered is that the river’s water volume is nearly identical when measured both above and immediately below the falls. Their observation essentially debunks the myth that the water is taking an alternative route underground to nearby Lake Superior.
To help visualize their observation and measurements and to show the location of where the water is re-entering the Brule River, the scientists plan on pouring a bright green dye into the falls above.
They are betting that it will turn the river water directly below the same color, proving that the exit to the kettle is merely a short distance away.
“It’s cool, it’s neat,” Alexander said. “We now know something we didn’t know before. That’s what turns a scientist on.”Meredith Kleiber/kleibography.com
When the gloriously deranged iconoclasts Ween shocked its loyal fan base with its untimely breakup after nearly three decades of weed-eating, helium-sucking, avant-jam band bat-shittery, the question was what Gene (a.k.a. Aaron Freeman) and Dean Ween's (née Mickey Melchiondo) next moves would be. The beloved Gener was first out of the gate, offering up his "recovery record" (Marvelous Cloud) while Melchiondo—blindsided by his childhood best bud/band-mate's decision to arbitrarily put Ween to bed—focused on his fledgling fishing business he calls Mickey's Guide Service.
Now Melchiondo is finally putting Ween in his rear view mirror and is back in full force. He’s taken his ax out of its brief retirement, and with his blistering six-string, revived longtime outfit Moistboyz, the scuzzy-assed blues-punk bar band he shares with a dude even more brain-fried than his former Ween cohort. Guy Heller—or as he's known under the deliciously revolting pseudonym Dickie Moist—first teamed with Melchiondo to form Moistboyz way back in the early 90's and it’s no wonder their pervy rawk shitbaggery caught the ear of Beastie Boy Mike D, who originally signed the ‘boyz up on their Grand Royal label.
Twenty years and change and a few records later, Ween is dead and the Moistboyz are left standing and the new V (via their own Neverman label) is testament to Melchiondo and Heller’s rock godheadness. Heller’s white-trashed, tat-covered and Iggy-shirtless histrionics meets Gibby Haynes-esque sleaze makes him one of rock's best and volatile punk front-men you've never heard of. Heller has no problem getting all un-PC on your ass, hurling the most delicious of tasteless of barbs and cuss filled diatribes while Melchiondo plays guitar god, letting loose on epic boogie 'n' chug shreddage. On V, Moistboyz hit shitstorms of both the country home twang of “Down on the Farm” (an ode to the Pennsylvania farm Ween and Heller lived on) and “One Cut at a Time,” just a tender ditty about Jerry Sandusky getting his ass-raped in prison. There ya go.
We caught up with Melchiondo to get the dish on the Moistboyz, how they stack up to Ween, and the solo record he’s currently hard at work on
Noisey: Hey Mickey, how ya doin’?
Mickey Melchiondo: Doin’ good.
I saw that awesome episode of Guitar Moves you did with Matt Sweeney.
Oh, for VICE, yeah [laughing]. I’ve known Matt since back then (in the Skunk days), before that even.
Yeah, I saw Ween, Skunk and H.P. Zinker at Maxwell’s in Hoboken in 1989.
Oh, I remember that! I loved those guys. H.P. Zinker—that’s funny. Good call. I have pictures from that show.
What do your remember about that show?
Not much. That was really the old days. Yup.
Last night was the first gig of the Moistboyz tour. How’d it go?
It was awesome but I can’t hear out of my left ear today—at all.
Really? Well, that sucks.
I’m kind of concerned, yeah. I don’t know whether its congestion or I actually blew up my ear [laughing]. Loud fucking band.
What took so long for the new Moistboyz record, V, to come out? Live Jihad came out in 2006 and IV came out the year before that. It’s been a while.
Ya know, it didn’t take really long by the time that we decided to do it—it only took like a year. But Guy moved to Texas, so it was kind of hard for us to…you know…I mean he was in Texas and I was in Pennsylvania. Then our local bar here (John & Peter’s Place in New Hope) had their 40th anniversary and they wanted to do something special so I called Guy to see if he would fly out and I’d get our old band back together and do it. Guy came out there and then we had so much fun. We did a couple of shows, actually, that was part of that thing (the anniversary) and then it was like, “Wow, let’s do a new record.” Ween was already broken up at that point so I had the time and just seeing Guy again and just playing the gigs again reminded me and it was like, “Fuck. Would you willing to come back and make a record?” And he said, “Yeah.” So, about a year ago, Guy was here for Hurricane Sandy, from September through Thanksgiving, we made the new album and then I went to Austin in February and we finished it. It was just him living in Texas, ya know. Had he been local, I’m sure we would’ve made the fifth record much sooner.
Moistboyz have been around a long time, huh?
Yeah, over 20 years.
Almost as long as Ween was around, right?
I known Guy almost as long but…uh…Ween would have been 29 years right now. But fuck, yeah, I guess I’ve been with Guy somewhere between 20 and 25 years.
How did you and Guy meet originally?
We’re both locals, going back to high school. I remember one of my friends later became his girlfriend and then Aaron (Freeman) and I lived together at a place we called The Pod and then when we got thrown out of there, Aaron moved into a farmhouse, which basically was five other dudes—most of which were in Guy’s band, False Front—and that was when I became really close with Guy. I’d spend every night over there recording with Aaron and hanging with those guys and Ween and False Front were playing a lot of shows together.
Guy and I then started this thing (Moistboyz) on the side and it was just punk rock originally—that was the idea. It was gonna be just really, really fast punk rock stuff and then it got good really fast, actually. It was different and it definitely had its own identity, which it still does. I then had a tape of it and the Beasties had just started Grand Royal so got a tape of it to Mike D and he was like “I would totally put this out.” I think Moistboyz are one of the first Grand Royal releases, actually, or like the second or third, maybe. It was the Beastie Boys thing, us and Luscious Jackson. We’re the first three. That made it official and we’ve just kept doing it. That was like the early 90s, so…
Back then, did you think of Moistboyz as a different release for you, guitar shredding-wise, than what you were doing in Ween?
Ween was never inhibiting, you know what I mean [laughing]? Ween wasn’t the kind of band where I’d go, “We can’t do that because that wouldn’t be Ween.” That was the opposite of what Ween was. We’d go for everything. But it was different in the way that we (Moistboyz) definitely have a harder ethic. I would say the Moistboyz, lyrically and like, our “code, [laughing]” is very, very focused. We’re trying to make kick ass rock and roll, in a nutshell, all the time.
That’s the Moistboyz “code?”
We’re not trying to make...sensitive pussy art [laughing].
Has Guy, or Dickie Moist, always been somewhat of a provocateur? Is that a shtick?
He’s a wonderful dude and super, super intelligent but there’s all sorts of different sides to him—he’s a person. But he’s the real thing, he’s a true rock and roller—to the bone. Rock and roll is like a religion to him, like it is to most of the fuckin’ people I know, actually. But (Guy) especially so. He’s a great front-man; he’s the real thing. He’s a real front-man, a very serious man and he’s my friend.
Touring with Guy must be kind of insane.
Our touring hasn’t been too heavy. We did a bunch of it for the last two records but not as much I would have liked. The Moistboyz is definitely something special. If we are coming around your area, you should come see us because it’s not like we are ever gonna saturate. It’s a very high energy thing that I think if I did it full time, like every day for two years, I don’t think I would survive. Somebody would be dead [laughing]. It’s taxing, like the practicing we were doing is something that is necessary on a physical level as much as it is learning what the notes are and leading the songs. It’s not easy; it takes some fuckin’ stamina to play those songs at the right energy level [laughing], to execute them properly you’re gonna…I estimate when I’m back by Christmas time from this (tour) run I’ll probably be down to 160 from 175 [laughing].
The Moistboyz live show is that physical?
Oh, yeah. You have to change everything when you’re done: the jeans, the sneakers, the socks, the underwear. And I’m playing guitar. Guy is up front.
How is touring different aesthetically with Ween than it is with the Moistboyz?
Well, aesthetically, where I last left Ween off, we were a lot more cushy than the Moistboyz. We’re touring in a van, we’re sharing rooms, and we have no tour manager even. But the music business has also gone that way and it doubly sucks. We put out this record (V) ourselves on our own Neverman Records, we paid for it out of pocket, we released it on our own label, I produced it and we recorded it in a place we rented. Labels don’t give you advances anymore to fuckin’ make records—those days are just gone. So, this will be my first tour in a couple of years but the Moistboyz thing is obviously a lot more gritty (than Ween) and it’s a lot fuckin’ more DIY. We’re in a van, no tour managers, we loading our own gear, we’re doubling, tripling up in hotel rooms, most of our meals are probably going to be provided by the club, which is fine. I’ve done all that shit before and I don’t mind doin’ it again. Fuck it. If Mike Watt can still tour that way then I can still fuckin’ tour that way.
You’re jammin’ econo, man.
Yeah, exactly! Fuckin’ Moistboyz jam econo. That’s the short answer to your question between Ween touring and Moistboyz jam econo.
Have you missed touring since Ween was out there on the circuit? It sounds like it.
Uh….nobody in the world will tell you that they miss being on tour. Not Charlie Watts or not Mike Watt, actually. It’s the playing on tour is what you miss. The rest of touring stinks: the driving around and the waiting. Playing live fuckin’ rules and I miss that tremendously. But, no, being on tour, no. I did 25 years on tour. I know exactly what to expect, exactly what it’s gonna be like. It’s part of who I am but now more than ever it’s the best way to make a living as a musician and it’s still the best way to get your music to people.
I don’t get it when a band sends me a link and says, “Here, listen to my band at our Soundcloud page.” It’s just like, “I’m not fuckin’ doing that. No way. What are you, crazy?” But if I was to hear it playing somewhere and go like, “That sounds cool. Who is that?” I might be inspired to check it out or see a band come through your town, play your local club or somethin’ and you see ’em you’re like, “Oh, god, those guys fuckin’ rule.” But I know one way of doing things in any band and it’s the old fashioned way and that’s the way we’re gonna keep doing things. You take a while to make record, you write a lot of songs, way too many, you pick the ones that are the best that work the best as a record and then you get a label to put it out and then you go on tour to support it, ya know?
Is the Moistboyz audience the same people who are going to Ween shows?
It definitely is. It took a little while but there you’d be wrong in assuming that there just fans of Ween and Moistboyz both. There’s certainly a lot of crossover and spillover. But there are a certain amount of people that prefer the Moistboyz to Ween or I am sure there are a lot of Ween fans who don’t like the Moistboyz. Where the fuck were we? Southern California. There was a big contingent of Mexicans at the gig and I’m talking to them and I knew immediately—and it was confirmed upon talking to them—that they had no fuckin’ idea who Ween was [laughing].
Guy doesn’t seem to be filled with the usual vitriol and is not as confrontational on the new record that on previous ones. Is that intentional? Is he mellowing out or some shit?
Nothing on any project I’ve ever been involved in has ever been intentional. People assume a lot more, like when they say, “Were you going for this thing?” We definitely weren’t going for a thing with this record that said, “We want this record to differentiate itself from the last one by this.” What happens is you automatically grow: your songwriting gets better, your lyrics get more meaningful, your playing gets better, you become a better engineer. I just look at it as progress. I think that very one of our records has progressed from record to record and gets a little but more, whatever, a step up. Step up your game a little bit more.
Did Moistboyz ever play a gig with Ween?
No, not that I can think of. I don’t think we ever shared a bill. We shared some members and we were all friends back in the day.
Guy’s lyrics offend just about everyone and of course Ween had some songs that caused some stirs. Have you ever gotten shit for Moistboyz?
Nah, I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in something that didn’t offend somebody on some level, in every band that I’ve ever been in.
Nick Oliveri is playing bass with you on this current Moistboyz tour. Is he now christened Nicky Moist?
Ya know, I didn’t even think about that. He brought it up and I think he really wants to be Nicky Moist. But then we have to do something with Hoss Wright and Stephen Haas. We’d have to make him something. But Nick is probably talking to fans somewhere telling them he’s Nicky Moist [laughing].
What’s the difference between Guy and Aaron Freeman?
Uh, what’s the difference? They are just two completely different people. Leave it at that. We all used to be great friends. I don’t even wanna remember it any other way, to be honest with you.
So you, Aaron and Guy were all tight?
Oh, yeah. We fuckin’ lived together—that’s what I’m saying. We all lived together at the farmhouse. Guy’s band, False Front and Ween. It was very incestuous; we were all very tight. That’s the way I’d like to remember it. There’s a song about it on the record, “Down on the Farm.” It’s all about that period of time—Brookridge Farm in Lambertville. That was the band house; that’s what it’s about—it’s about all us living in the band house. There was about a hundred people that lived there, different faces in time. It was almost like a boarding house for our friends and local musicians. Someone probably has done but make a family tree who lived there from the original tenants to the very end when they tore the place down.
How do you balance your fishing business and touring with the Moistboyz?
This will be my sixth year of being a full-time charter boat captain. A lot of people warned me, a lot of my friends who were chartering before I was who had their captain’s license said to me, |
mention that he read every book on investing in the Omaha public library by the age of 11. That he owned stocks in high school. That he took a train down to Washington and knocked on GEICO's door. That he went to annual meetings of companies he knew Graham owned stock in even though he was only a student and Graham himself wasn’t going. They don't mention that Warren Buffett worked harder than anyone else. That he always made an absurd effort.And when the same authors list Ben Graham's investing secrets, they fail to mention this one:"I took my job of self-education very seriously. I got myself a small looseleaf notebook, and on each page I wrote the salient data about a given bond issue in convenient form to be memorized. After all these years, I can still remember the appearance of that black notebook and some of the entries in it. The first was 'Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe, General 4s, due 1995: 150 mil.' There must have been a hundred different issues entered; I memorized their size, interest, maturity date, and order of lien. Why I wanted to memorize facts that could be readily obtained from manuals or my notebook I am at a loss to explain... I had become something of a walking Railroad Bond Manual."Graham was a 20-year-old bond salesman at the time. There was no reason for him to know those facts. But he probably did something nobody else on Wall Street had done.Which brings me to the two things Buffett and Graham did that you can do too:1. Work an absurd amount.2. Become an expert.Lots of people do a lot of writing related work. They start projects. Think about things. Talk about writing. Read about writing. Read other people's writing. Few people actually have their butt in chair and fingers on the keys for 1,000 hours a year. If you wanted to become a better writer, you'd start by making sure you were one of those few.Lots of people do a lot of investing related work. Few read a 10-K a day. Why not be one of those few?Become an expert. You've sampled some different stocks now. Studied them. You've had a taste of Indian stocks, U.S. stocks, Japanese stocks, micro caps, big caps, net-nets, hidden champions, etc. What interested you? What stock was the most fun to research? What did you think you really "got"? What area was that stock in? What kind of analysis — competitive analysis, quantitative analysis, sum of the parts, etc. did you do?Think about what area you might want to learn more about.Then become an expert in that area.Pretty soon, you'll develop your own investing style.Invest with StyleYou'll have a circle of competence to work from.Two of my favorite books are "A Christmas Carol" and "Animal Farm." Think about these two books for a second. Where do stores shelve them? What genres are they in?In both cases, it’s actually very easy to see which genre they were written in. A Christmas Carol is a ghost story. Animal Farm is a fairy tale. There’s really no disputing those facts. Although if you Googled either book you’re unlikely to find them described that way.Why?Because of who wrote them. Genre is not style. It’s more personal than that.For most people, the defining mark of "A Christmas Carol" is its sentiment. And the defining mark of "Animal Farm" is its politics.Well, that’s just a roundabout way of saying the defining mark of each book is its author.Dickens’s style was sentiment. And Orwell’s style was politics.That doesn’t make A Christmas Carol any less of a ghost story. Or Animal Farm any less of a fairy tale. It just adds style.The distinction between genre and style is ignored in most discussion of investors great and small.Are you a value investor? Or a growth investor?That’s genre.Genre is how a specific stock fits in an overarching top down tradition.Style is how a specific stock fits into your personal system. The way you think.Do you buy turnarounds? Hidden champions? Wide moats? Brands? Companies with surplus cash? Family controlled companies? Food and beverage companies? Companies with mind share? With cutting edge tech? With a lack of change? Young companies? Old companies? Low cost operators? Stocks in industries with little price competition? Stocks with an activist banging at the gates?For a blog with style, read Variant Perceptions. All about turnarounds. How about net-nets? Try Cheap Stocks. And notice that Greenbackd doesn’t have exactly the same style as Cheap Stocks even though he’s covering pretty much the exact same ground. Finally, check out The Interactive Investor Blog. Definitely a value investor. But definitely not the same style as Variant Perceptions, right? You can tell the two blogs apart instantly. Same genre. Different style.You’ll find that even if you decide to become an expert on net-nets, you won’t like all net-nets equally. Net-net retailers are very different from net-nets with lots of surplus cash. You don’t analyze them the same way. And very few people like the two groups equally. Personally, I avoid net-net retailers and scoop up all the consistently profitable net-nets with piles of cash.Why?Style.I don’t have any evidence that net-nets with histories of good returns on capital, high free cash flow margins, lots of surplus cash, and almost no liabilities outperform retail net-nets. In fact, some retail net-nets clearly end up being among the best performing net-nets in any year. Sure, this might be because some retail net-nets succeed terrifically while others end up in bankruptcy. Regardless, buying retail net-nets sounds like a winning strategy as long as you diversify.So why don’t I buy them?Style. Personal preference. Knowing myself. My process. What I’m comfortable with. And where my circle of competence ends.I’m an awful judge of retailers. Check out my investment in Barnes & Noble (BKS) for the gory proof. People send me emails asking my advice on retail stocks all the time. Mostly, I just tell them I’m not the guy to ask. I’d start with non-retail net-nets if I was them. It’s easier to find a couple safe net-nets outside the retail space.None of this has anything to do with the superiority of one approach over another. It only has to do with my own skills and my own process.Why didn’t Orwell write the ghost story and Dickens write the fairy tale?Why didn’t Fisher buy Northern Pipeline and Graham buy Motorola?Style.If you really want to understand what I’m talking about when I tell you to “invest with style”, just watch an interview — any interview — with Tom Russo. He did a good one with Consuelo Mack recently. And you can also find three lectures he gave over at Columbia. Tom Russo is a buy and hold investor. He is a global investor. He likes brands. He likes food and beverage companies. And he likes family controlled companies. He wants a high return on capital and the ability to reinvest that capital for many, many years to come. He cares about price. But he’s a lot more flexible on price than most value investors.That’s style. Tom Russo is a value investor. But he’s got a style all his own. A style that’s unique even among value investors. He’s got a certain way of sorting the universe of available stocks that is different from everybody else.That’s what you need.And I think that’s really what Warren Buffett is talking about when he says “circle of competence”.He’s talking style. Warren Buffett ’s style is interesting. He’s sometimes called a big cap growth investor. Remember, that’s genre not style. Some computer is counting up the price-to-earnings, price-to-tangible book, growth rate, and other metrics on the stocks Buffett buys and saying that constitutes Buffett’s style. It doesn’t. The same thing would happen if you asked a computer to analyze Animal Farm. The computer would say: “Well, the language is pretty plain. There are talking animals. And it’s short. So, it’s got to be a fairy tale.” That’s genre. Not style. Any checklist a computer can run is unlikely to see the principle operating in the background. The real reason behind a story. The real reason behind a stock purchase.But we humans think we see Buffett’s real reason right away.Think about Posco (PKX), Burlington Northern, and Bank of America (BAC).Would you have guessed Buffett was going to buy those stocks ahead of time?Maybe. Maybe not.I’m leaning towards not.But didn’t you understand the purchases after he made them? Didn’t they suddenly seem to fit his style?Whether or not these were value stocks — they were Buffett stocks.That’s style.That’s what you need.So stop reading.Start working.And grow your own style.An awesome event will be held this Monday by the Minnesota Timberwolves. In honor of the first practices of the season starting up, the Timberwolves will doing a scrimmage and dunk contest at Minnesota State University-Mankato’s Bresnan Arena. The doors to the arena will be open at 11 pm, and the players will take the floor at midnight.
“Dunks After Dark” is free and open to the public, though tickets are limited. This is a great opportunity to see how the new additions to the Timberwolves play, and see how they play with each other. Fans who don’t want to or can’t go to Mankato are also able to watch the event. “Dunks After Dark” will be on NBA TV and Timberwolves fans also can do live streaming through Timberwolves.com.
Fans unfamiliar with the new faces on the Timberwolves will definitely want to tune in. This is a great opportunity to watch the Timberwolves players interact with each other and a great chance to gauge the young talent before the season starts. Andrew Wiggins will definitely be a player to watch in the scrimmage and the dunk contest. It’s more than likely that Flip Saunders the coach of the Timberwolves will use practices like this and training camp to determine whether or not Wiggins will be starting to start the regular season over Corey Brewer.
Additionally, this is the first chance in a long time to see the play of Zach LaVine, Anthony Bennett and Thaddeus Young playing real basketball for coaches and fans. While Young is established already as in NBA player, “Dunks After Dark” will help fans learn more about how the inexperienced LaVine and Bennett have improved since Summer League, where both players definitely impressed in terms of athleticism and improvement.
This is also unique in that the scrimmages will allow fans to see how Timberwolves players play against each other. For instance, who will win the battle of the bigs when Nikola Pekovic and Gorgui Dieng guard each other? Dieng is more athletic and taller, but Pekovic is a tank in the post and is much more polished offensively. Along with this it will be interesting to see Ricky Rubio going up against Mo Williams, the veteran point the Timberwolves signed via free agency.
Finally, fans of the Timberwolves will want to watch this event for the dunk contest, as this will definitely be the highlight of the program. The dunk contest will feature Wiggins versus LaVine, two players who are known for their supreme dunking ability. This could be a preview for the NBA dunk contest that is held over All-Star weekend, as both players will definitely be considered for the Dunk Contest. Remember September 29th, “Dunk After Dark” will turn into a great preseason tradition for this team.CLICK ON THE GRAPH TO SEE A LARGER IMAGE
GRAPH ON CARBON DIOXIDE DURING GEOLOGICAL ERAS
In prehistoric times, during the Permian, in the Palaeozoic Era, for example, the concentration of Carbon Dioxide dropped below 210 ppmV. Throughout the Permian Period plant and animal species diverged and diversified as never before. Dinosaurs prospered and predominated over all the other orders of vertebrates. Coniferous plants first appeared in the Permian. The change of atmospheric temperature at the time of the Permian was around 10 °C. By comparison, the current change of global temperature is only 0.52 °C while the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide is 385 ppmV. If the global temperature is dependent on CO 2, then the change of temperature at present would be around 10 °C or higher, as it was during the Permian Period.
From the early Triassic to the middle Cretaceous, the concentration of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide was similar to its current density. From the late cretaceous to the early Miocene, the concentration climbed above 210 ppmV. During the Holocene period, the concentration has oscillated from 210 ppmV to 385 ppmV.
It is possible that the concentration of atmospheric CO 2 will increase normally in the course of the next 50 million years to 1050 ppmV or 2500 ppmV.
We have also observed that the concentration of atmospheric CO 2 increases several centuries after glaciations. Perhaps this is due to the fact that most plants perish at sub-zero temperatures, and plants are organisms that capture Carbon Dioxide from their surroundings to make food.
Scientists have also observed that the concentration of atmospheric CO 2 increases during periods of warming. However, an increase in temperature always precedes an increase in carbon dioxide, which generally occurs decades or centuries after any change of temperature. We have not observed an increase in the concentration of Carbon Dioxide to have preceded a period of warming. This latter phenomenon occurs because when oceans absorb more heat from an increase in the amount of direct solar irradiance incident upon the Earth's surface, they release more Carbon Dioxide molecules into the atmosphere. Nevertheless, most drastic increases in CO 2 concentration occur decades or centuries after the oceans have warmed up. For example, the present increase of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide was caused by an extraordinary increase in solar activity in 1998 which warmed up the El Niño South Atlantic Oceanic Oscillation.
These increases in concentration of atmospheric CO 2 offer optimal conditions for the development and evolution of living beings on Earth. Human beings should adapt to these natural changes by means of science and technology.Copyright by WFLA - All rights reserved
KRQE - ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A typical sobriety test usually requires walking in a straight line, but one Albuquerque woman took the test in a different direction, displaying her acrobatic skills instead.
"Where's this direction? Face that direction for me, with your whole body. We're not doing yoga. I don't know what you're doing, put your hands down," an officer said.
Police say Bryelle Marshall was seen sleeping in her car near Zuni and Pennsylvania Friday night. According to a criminal complaint, police say she reeked of alcohol, but she told the officer otherwise.
"Have you consumed any alcoholic beverages today?" the Albuquerque Police officer asked.
"No, I'm fine," Marshall replied.
After having a hard time standing up straight, the video shows the officer trying to have Marshall walk in a straight line. That proves to be a challenge as well.
"Turn around and face me. Your whole body, face me. With your hands down…I don't know what you're doing," the officer said.
What she ends up doing is a cartwheel, followed by another after the officer tries to show her what to do.
"Okay well, I'll demonstrate it for you. Right foot in front of your left, hands down at your side, not doing somersaults," the officer said.
The officer gives her one more chance to walk in a straight line, also warning her to not do another cartwheel.
"Don't do it, because you're going to hit me and I'm going to charge you with a battery," the officer said.
He shows her one last time what she needs to do, but once again, comes out unsuccessful.
"When you get to that ninth step you're going to take your rear foot out…OK, we're done," the officer said.
The video shows Marshall was then placed under arrest.
Police say when they got her downtown to do a breathalyzer, she ended up kicking the officer in the back of the leg.
Marshall was charged with battery and aggravated DWI for refusing the breathalyzer.
http://wx.wfla.com/oembed/app_promo/app_dl.htmlA brother who was sharing lodging with other brothers asked Abba Bessarion, ‘What should I do?’ The old man replied, ‘Keep silence and do not compare yourself to others.’
—-sayings of the desert
There is no greater enemy than the enemy of self – judgment. When we compare ourselves to others, we are judging ourselves and usually looking for ways to compete with the other. This sort of behavior easily leads to jealousy and envy, emotions which ALWAYS cause us to fall into sin. Jealousy and envy become all-consuming and the next thing you know you are trying to eliminate them so they are no longer a threat.
The other side of that scenario is self – loathing. Such an attitude leads to loss of productivity, depression and destructive behavior. We must be continually be reminded that we are created in the image and likeness of God, and we are possessors of great potential. The sheer numbers of different personalities and talents are an expression of an infinite God whose possibilities are limitless.
The Abba is telling the brother and us, to keep silent and see the person that God has created. We are not all the same, but we are the crown jewel of God’s creation. In silence we discover God’s spark in our lives, and He then uses it to bring us to our full potential. As the psalmist says, ‘Be still and know that I am God….’
Related articles[color-box color=”orange”]This video illustrates how U.K Muslim migrants with more than one wife will get more welfare checks. Is this fair to local Brits? Why are they being forced to follow the rules of a religion they do not ascribe to? If the person has a second wife, he should have to choose one or be forced to survive on one check. It appears that politicians are looking to buy votes in the future by securing a base that stays subservient to them? The best way to achieve this is to get them hooked onto benefit the moment they step into the country. This is going to create immense resentment and lead to massive religious war. The seeds of extreme violence are being sown now. [/color-box]
The second video shows you how wild and unruly the Muslim refugees are and how they listen more to their Imam. Strict rules need to be enforced, and a very stringent filtration process implemented that disqualifies all Low IQ and radical individuals.
Tough Love is needed
One cannot help every single person and this quote from a recent article in the Telegraph by a mother sum it up best
But never have phrases such as “tough love” or “cruel to be kind” been apter.
Take 3,000 from the jungle and 3,000 more will arrive within days. Then another 3,000 will arrive days after that. How many will die on the journey? How many will be terrified, starved, subjected to life-threatening diseases and horribly abused on the way to France? How many of the older kids will be exposed to hard drugs while they’re in the camp, which appears to be run by louts at best and hardened criminals at worst? The fact is, the more we take in, the more children will be abandoned to the cruel sea and the even crueller people traffickers. Is this really what we want?
Looking after our own children can be a challenging enough job for most of us. Looking after a child who can’t speak English is utterly traumatised, and believes that their parents have abandoned them takes very special skills. Too few people in this country have those skills for Jeremy Corbyn and others to be making sweeping gestures. Being closest to Calais, Kent County Council is at the sharp end of the refugee crisis. In 2014, the council had 238 refugee children in the care of social services. By the end of last year, that number had shot up to over 900, and Kent was facing a £6.5 million shortfall in funding. The council is now looking after 1,382 refugee children. It’s all very well Corbyn calling for action: will he take responsibility when Kent social services are so over-stretched and under-funded that another case reminiscent of Baby P or Victoria Climbie slips under the professionals’ radar? Or will he make political capital out of their failures? Full Story
Outcome of uncontrolled immigration
Rents will rise and so will the cost of homes as more and more people compete for the same resources. The government will not be able to build affordable housing units fast enough and in some countries like Britain, the Government has been behind schedule for a long time. All this sets up the perfect ingredients for slums and or overcrowding, which then sets the perfect backdrop as a breeding ground for violence and drugs.
Regarding the market, it means that the governments will create as much money out of thin air as needed to not only support the economy and surge in social services they will have to provide to the newly arrived immigrants. The favourite trick regarding the economy is to prop the markets, to create the illusion that the economy is doing well. This method is being actively employed in the U.S; our economy is actually in tatters, but the propping up of the stock market with hot money creates the illusion that all is well. This trick serves to make the rich even richer, drives the Middle Class into the Doghouse, and pushes the poor into the grave at a young age.
[color-box color=”orange”]As long as the trend is up, strong market pullbacks need to be viewed as buying opportunities. [/color-box]
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Why lobsters aren't food
BY DAVE BARRY
I am pleased to report that the scientific community has finally stopped wasting time on the origins of the universe and started dealing with the important question, which is: Are lobsters really just big insects?
I have always maintained that they are. I personally see no significant difference between a lobster and, say, a giant Madagascar hissing cockroach, which is a type of cockroach that grows to approximately the size of William Howard Taft (1857-1930). If a group of diners were sitting in a nice restaurant, and the waiter were to bring them each a freshly killed, steaming-hot Madagascar hissing cockroach, they would not put on silly bibs and eat it with butter. No, they would run, retching, directly from the restaurant to the All-Nite Drive-Thru Lawsuit Center. And yet these very same people will pay $24.95 apiece to eat a lobster, despite the fact that it displays all three of the classic biological characteristics of an insect, namely:
1. It has way more legs than necessary.
2. There is no way you would ever pet it.
3. It does not respond to simple commands such as, ``Here, boy!''
I do not eat lobsters, although I once had a close call. I was visiting my good friends Tom and Pat Schroth, who live in Maine (state motto: ``Cold, But Damp''). Being generous and hospitable people, Tom and Pat went out and purchased, as a special treat for me, the largest lobster in the history of the Atlantic Ocean, a lobster that probably had been responsible for sinking many commercial vessels before it was finally apprehended by nuclear submarines. This lobster was big enough to feed a coastal Maine village for a year, and there it was, sprawling all over my plate, with scary insectoid legs and eyeballs shooting out in all directions, while Tom and Pat, my gracious hosts, smiled happily at me, waiting for me to put this thing in my mouth.
Remember when you were a child, and your mom wouldn't let you leave the dinner table until you ate all your Brussels sprouts, and so you took your fork and mashed them into smaller and smaller pieces in hopes of eventually reducing them to individual Brussels-sprout molecules that would be absorbed into the atmosphere and disappear? That was similar to the approach I took with the giant lobster.
''Mmmm-MMMM!'' I said, hacking away at the thing on my plate and, when nobody was looking, concealing the pieces under my dinner roll, in the salad, in my napkin, anywhere I could find.
Tom and Pat, I love you dearly, and if you should ever have an electrical problem that turns out to be caused by a seven-pound wad of old lobster pieces stuffed into the dining-room wall socket, I am truly sorry.
Anyway, my point is that lobsters have long been suspected, by me at least, of being closet insects, which is why I was very pleased recently when my alert journalism colleague Steve Doig referred me to an Associated Press article concerning a discovery by scientists at the University of Wisconsin.
The article, headlined ''Gene Links Spiders and Flies to Lobsters,'' states that not only do lobsters, flies, spiders, millipedes, etc., contain the exact same gene, but they also are all descended from a single common ancestor: Howard Stern.
No, seriously, the article states that the ancestor ''probably was a wormlike creature.'' Yum! Fetch the melted butter!
And that is not all. According to articles sent in by alert readers (this was on the front page of The New York Times), scientists in Denmark recently discovered that some lobsters have a weird little pervert organism living on their lips. Yes. I didn't even know that lobsters had lips, but it turns out that they do, and these lips are the stomping ground of a tiny creature called Symbion pandora (literally, ``a couple of Greek words''). The zoology community, which does not get out a lot, is extremely excited about Symbion pandora, because it reproduces differently from all other life forms.
According to various articles, when Symbion pandora is ready to have a baby, its digestive system ''collapses and is reconstituted into a larva,'' which the parent then gives birth to by ''extruding'' it from its ''posterior.'' In other words -- correct me if I am wrong here -- this thing basically reproduces by pooping.
So to summarize: If you're looking for a hearty entree that 1) is related to spiders, 2) is descended from a worm and 3) has mutant baby-poopers walking around on its lips, then you definitely want a lobster. I myself plan to continue avoiding them, just as I avoid oysters, which are clearly -- scientists should look into this next -- members of the phlegm family. Have you ever seen oysters reproduce? Neither have I, but I would not be surprised to learn that the process involves giant undersea nostrils.
And don't get me started on clams. Recently, I sat across from a person who was deliberately eating clams. She'd open up a shell, and there, in plain view, would be this stark naked clam, brazenly showing its organs, like a high-school biology experiment. My feeling is that if a restaurant is going to serve those things, it should put little loincloths on them.
I believe that Mother Nature gave us eyes because she did not want us to eat this type of food. Mother Nature clearly intended for us to get our food from the ''patty'' group, which includes hamburgers, fish sticks and McNuggets -- foods that have had all of their organs safely removed someplace far away, such as Nebraska. That is where I stand on this issue, and if any qualified member of the lobster, clam or phlegm-in-a-shell industry wishes to present a rebuttal, I hereby extend this offer: Get your own column.I’ve written before on How to Quit Drinking Alcohol, and one of the more important steps in overcoming an alcohol addiction is to understand the many benefits you will receive by living a healthier lifestyle.
A great way to do this is to make a list of these benefits, and refer to it often to reinforce your commitment to removing alcohol from your life. Here are a few good reasons to stop drinking to get you started down the road to a healthier lifestyle:
Health Reasons to Quit Drinking Alcohol: Your blood pressure will be closer to normal; your heart will beat at a slower and healthier rate; your liver will begin to heal; your eyes will be less red and your skin less blotchy; you will be a healthy weight and eat delicious meals; you will sleep more soundly and awaken more refreshed; you will have more energy; you will look more youthful and recover your enthusiasm for life; you will feel more inclined to exercise, and take part in healthy activities.
Mental Reasons to Quit Drinking Alcohol: Your brain will heal; you will become more mentally alert; your memory will improve; your resolve strengthened; your self-esteem will rise; you will feel free from addictions that have kept you down in the past; you will be fully aware of your surroundings.
Financial Reasons to Quit Drinking Alcohol: You will no longer waste money on alcohol; money saved can be used for more important, practical or enjoyable things; you will be more aware of your financial situation; you will be able to work harder and/or smarter since you now have the energy to do so; you can help out those in financial need; you can get out of debt, or put the money you save toward the purchase of a home or new car.
Spiritual Reasons to Quit Drinking Alcohol: Your mind and body will be in tune; you will be more giving toward others since you are less focused on your own wants; increased awareness of your spiritual side will benefit other areas of your life; you will appreciate the gift of health; nothing artificial will block your vision of your true self; you will be more aware of, and thankful for, your many blessings.
Relationship Reasons to Quit Drinking Alcohol: You will want to spend quality time with your spouse, children and friends; your sex life will improve; you will be more at peace with others as the silly arguments of the past seem to no longer occur. You will feel closer and more loved by your family.
You may have dozens of other reasons to quit drinking alcohol – and all of them are good. Remember, the more reasons you have for doing something, the more likely it is that you will do it. And by focusing on these positive reasons, you empower yourself to take action to change your life for the better. ♦Image caption The first Carmageddon games was released, amid much outrage, in 1997
Carmageddon, a notorious video game from the late nineties, is attempting to raise crowd-sourced funding to make a return.
The original, which sold over 2 million copies, was heavily criticised for featuring excessive violence
Stainless Games aims to raise over $400,000 (£250,000) via Kickstarter.
The UK-based firm has had to set up a separate company in the US in order to receive money through the crowdfunding site.
Censorship
Bonus points are awarded in the game for driving over pedestrians.
This action was amended in the game's initial 1997 UK release following the threat of a sales ban, causing the developer to replace the victims with green-blooded zombies.
However, it was later re-released in full, as was a sequel the following year.
In subsequent years, other 3D "violent" games such as the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto sequels followed.
Despite the Carmageddon's controversy, it was well-received by the gaming community for its innovative gameplay and "action replay" feature.
'Pedestrians running'
Image caption The original game, which allowed action replays of collisions with pedestrians, provoked criticism
Five of the original eight developers are still with Stainless Games and work has already begun on the new title, which is set to be called Carmageddon: Reincarnation.
"We've been able to very quickly get a prototype up and running," Neil Barnden, co-founder of Stainless Games, told the BBC.
"With pedestrians running around, we're all just spending a lot of our day laughing like drains at things that happen in the game."
Several games have been funded via Kickstarter projects, most notably Double Fine Adventure - which raised $3.3m (£2.1m).
Restrictions on the sites, mostly relating to taxation issues, mean that only US-based companies are able to raise funds through the system.
This led Stainless Games - which is based on the Isle of Wight - to come up with a workaround.
"We have a lawyer in the States as we do a lot of our business there," Mr Barnden explained.
"We had them set up a US company which then acts as the holding company for the funds that come into Kickstarter."
Intellectual property
Like many, Mr Barnden has called for Kickstarter to expand its operations to the UK and other markets.
"You'd imagine it would be in their interests to widen the base of who can actually set up a campaign."
Kickstarter was unavailable for comment.
Image caption People who pledge more than $1000 for the project get the chance to be featured in the game
Other sites, such as indiegogo.com and London-based PleaseFund.us, offer similar features but have thus far been unable gain the popularity of Kickstarter.
Stainless Games had to purchase the intellectual property rights from publisher Square Enix before it could go ahead with the game, despite being the game's original designer.
"Back when we made Carmageddon it was just the case that when you signed with a publisher, they automatically gained all the rights for the title.
"The original publisher of the game [SCi] owned the rights. They went away to make a third game when we asked for a break in Carmageddon for a while."
That last game proved unpopular with the series' fans.
"The new game is going to be like Carmageddon 1 and 2," said Mr Barnden.
"But not 3, we're happy to confirm that!"T-Mobile Pushes The Samsung Vibrant Launch Date To July 15
Just recently there was a rumor regarding the Samsung Vibrant claiming T-Mobile is going to move the launch date ahead from July 21 to July 15. Such a move would make T-Mobile the first American carrier to launch a Galaxy S smartphone and it would put the Samsung Vibrant on par with the Motorola Droid X in terms of launch. While it seemed like a fairly certain rumor, T-Mobile officially confirmed it today by responding to a tweet. The tweet, that can be viewed above, is short and sweet:
The Samsung Vibrant launch is scheduled for July 15. 🙂
The debate now becomes whether moving the launch date up was a good move by T-Mobile. For Android, it is a great move because of all the hype they will receive on July 15 between the Motorola Droid X and the Samsung Vibrant – two big named Android devices. Everything else, such as pricing and availability, remains the same about the Samsung Vibrant. However, I’m not sure how Radio Shack will fare in pre-orders because customers can simply order a phone on launch day and receive it much earlier than taking a pre-order. Is anyone stuck between the Motorola Droid X on Verizon and the Samsung Vibrant on T-Mobile now that they launch on the same day?Property owner hopes to turn explosion site into the ‘living room of Greenwood’
The property owner of the site of the devastating March 9 natural gas explosion in downtown Greenwood says his company is planning to rebuild the site into “the living room of Greenwood.”
The blast destroyed Mr. Gyros, Neptune Coffee and Greenwood Quick Stop, and damaged another 50 surrounding businesses.
“We are 100 percent committed to rebuilding Greenwood,” Mike Slattery of Slattery Properties said at tonight’s Greenwood Community Council meeting.
With insurance dragging its feet, Slattery said his company is moving ahead anyway and has hired an architectural design firm to begin designing a mixed-use building that will cover the west side of Greenwood Avenue North between 84th street and the soon-to-open Flint Creek Cattle Co. restaurant on the corner of 85th (the restaurant plans to finally open Oct. 1.) The building that housed Better Hearing, Kouzina and Insurrection Apparel and Boots will be demolished.
Slattery said that before the explosion, his company planned to restore buildings on that block to look like Greenwood in the 1930s, taking cues from the Flint Creek building. They had done some work on roofs and windows, and were very excited to have Flint Creek sign a lease to turn the former antique store into an upscale restaurant.
Then came March 9.
“When you see your son calling at 3:30 in the morning, it ain’t good,” Slattery said. “He said the place is kindling and in pieces.”
It’s now been more than six months of cleaning up and dealing with insurance companies. With this morning’s Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission report that places blame for the explosion on Puget Sound Energy for failing to properly decommission a gas line attached to Mr. Gyros that was later damaged by transients, Slattery hopes the insurance money will start flowing.
“With the partial finger pointing to PSE, it strengthens our case,” he said.
Slattery said the plan now is for two levels of underground parking, ground floor retail of seven or eight small businesses, then apartments on top. He said the company will offer retail space to all seven businesses that were destroyed or displaced. (G&O Family Cyclery, which was next to Neptune Coffee, suffered extensive damage and has temporarily moved a block north.)
“We’re looking to do something that blends with the neighborhood, that will be a first-class project,” he said. “We’re hoping to make that retail presence the living room of Greenwood.”
He said the retail spaces will likely range from 600 to 1,200 square feet. He wants small, local businesses in there, not national chains, with outdoor seating, a green roof, and “having a belly full of PSE, we want to put as many solar panels on the roof as possible.”
The community will have opportunities to comment on the project once design gets officially underway.
Update Wednesday: Slattery Properties has applied for a permit with Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections to construct a 91,400 square foot building with 75 apartments, ground floor retail, and 70 parking spaces. The project will be subject to Early Design Guidance meetings (open to the public) and environmental review.
Comments
commentsReading has been hit by unusually heavy rain this afternoon causing disruption for shops and motorists.
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romance with Scott. She didn’t have time to heal or fully settle back into life in New York.”
This was the socialite’s first relationship after her tumultuous, nearly four-year affair with Florida sugar scion Nico Fanjul. They split in April 2016, when Mortimer was arrested for trespassing at his Palm Beach home.
There were some incidents of alleged abuse prior to their split, including one Christmas Day 2013 altercation which ended with Mortimer in a hospital with head lacerations. Nico, the son of sugar baron Alexander Fanjul, denied abusing Mortimer.
Page Six first revealed Mortimer, 42, had been dating Kluth for several months back in May. Then more recently, Mortimer’s “Housewives” castmates accused Kluth of “buying” Mortimer’s role on the show after he bought a series of ads that aired on Bravo.
Kluth’s company is based in Chicago and New York is Mortimer’s home for filming. On the past season of “RHONY” Mortimer lived with castmate Sonja Morgan.
“Long-distance relationships are never easy. They remain friendly and Tinsley hasn’t closed the door to a possible reconciliation in the future. She wishes him the best, but only time will tell if distance shall make the heart grow fonder,” the source added.
Mortimer has always said she still wants to be married again after her public divorce from ex-husband Topper Mortimer, whom she wed in 2002 and split from in 2009.
“I still believe in love,” she said in a recent interview, “I still want to be married again and be happy and be in a relationship. I always hope for the best.”
A rep for Tinsley has no comment. Kluth could not immediately be reached.Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich defended Donald Trump’s attacks against former Miss Universe Alicia Machado Wednesday night, telling a crowd of Log Cabin Republicans that “you’re not supposed to gain 60 pounds during the year that you’re Miss Universe.”
Ms. Machado, a newly naturalized U.S. citizen who has come out in support of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, has claimed Mr. Trump, former owner of the Miss Universe Organization, called her “Miss Piggy” when she gained weight after her 1996 pageant win.
Mrs. Clinton brought up Mr. Trump’s comments about Ms. Machado toward the end of Monday’s presidential debate, saying the business mogul referred to the Venezuela-born beauty contestant as “Miss Housekeeping.”
“One of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest — he loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them — and he called this woman ‘Miss Piggy,’ then he called her ‘Miss Housekeeping’ because she was Latina,” Mrs. Clinton said. “Donald, she has a name. Her name is Alicia Machado, and she has become a U.S. citizen, and you can bet she’s going to vote this November.”
The Clinton campaign later released an ad featuring Ms. Machado talking about how Mr. Trump insulted her.
Mr. Trump later doubled down on his criticism of Ms. Machado, telling “Fox & Friends” Tuesday that she became a “real problem” after gaining “a massive amount of weight” following her victory.
“I saved her job because they wanted to fire her for putting on so much weight,” the Republican told Bill O’Reilly in a pre-taped interview that aired Wednesday night, Politico reported.
At Wednesday night’s “Spirit of Lincoln” dinner in downtown Washington, D.C., Mr. Gingrich blasted the “Machado Trap,” which he said was “set up for three or four months” ago by the Clinton campaign, The Daily Mail reported.
“Every element of the news media, including part of Fox, has been dedicated for two days to suppressing Donald Trump,” he said. “News media were lined up to run articles the second Hillary said something.”
Mr. Gingrich reassured Trump supporters in the crowd that this “deliberate” attack would blow over soon.
“By the end of the week, he’ll be ahead again,” he said, the Daily Mail reported.
Clinton campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri blasted Mr. Gingrich for criticizing Ms. Machado’s weight, tweeting, “I am sorry, I can’t get past this. Newt Gingrich is criticizing someone for their weight.”
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.Vijay Prishad in his work The Darker Nations recognizes that the worlds’ historically oppressed and excluded populations represent one of the most powerful forces for historic change towards social and economic justice. The rise of the Third World movement was a manifestation of these popular forces that developed before and after World War II in rejection of the bipolar, First World market capitalist, and Second World state socialist models. The Third World movement represented “the Darker Nations”, or the worlds historically oppressed and excluded majority, through the formation of international organizations, national liberation movements, and alternative development projects. Over time, due to a number of internal contradictions and external pressures, the Third World movement lost much of its political power, but not its’ importance to the lives of those people it represented and all those who desire global justice. Vijay Prishad only briefly mentions the Bolivarian Revolution in his book, and when he does he brushes it off as a colonels coup. Judging by the various similarities between the Third World movement and the Bolivarian Revolution, as well as by the entirely new context through which the Bolivarian Revolution has arisen; I believe that the Bolivarian Revolution represents a novel resurgence of the values and ambitions of the Third World movement.
Today, the First World, with the United States as its vanguard, operates through organizations like the IMF, World Bank and NATO, and has achieved a level of economic and military power that borders on hegemony. Through these institutions, many nations in the former Third and even Second World face the threat of neocolonialism. The neocolonialism of our time often wears a human face or obscures its true intentions through structural adjustment, debt bondage, capitalist culture, and NATO military “humanitarian” intervention. With a lack of any real check on these powers, it is now more important than ever that the voices and wills of the majority of the world achieve political and economic power, and organize themselves internationally to defend their collective demand for equality and justice.
In many ways, the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela is working towards this reality, and has already achieved economic and political empowerment of a large part of its historically oppressed and excluded population. In the context of a unipolar neoliberal world order, the Bolivarian Revolution has built upon many of the ambitions of the Third World movement. By championing regional integration, international nationalism, and by directly challenging First World ideology that there is no alternative to neoliberal capitalism, Venezuela is becoming possibly the vanguard of a new World movement. This new World movement builds upon the Third World movement by learning from its failures and striving towards similar goals of global justice and dignity for the historically oppressed and excluded.
Popular Power
The Third World movement was a manifestation of popular power. This popular power took various forms that included armed anti-colonial resistance (Algeria), non-violent anti-colonial resistance (Ghandi, India), and massive grassroots organizing with national liberation or socialism as its demand. A major failure of the Third World movement was that it did not live up to its promise of participatory democracy. Some nations within the Third World such as Saudi Arabia did not even have a semblance of democracy, while others like Tanzania took extremely top-down approaches to their ambitions. Even nations that had emerged from a long anti-colonial struggle and developed strong support like Algeria,
“did not fully live up to its promise of radical democracy, where every person would be constituted by the state as a citizen, and where each citizen in turn would act through the state to construct a national society, economy and culture” (122, Prishad).
This failure to include popular forces into the Third World struggle made various states “vulnerable to the counterrevolution of the old social classes of property and the disgruntlement of those in whose name it ruled” (123, Prishad). Furthermore, the failure to include popular forces deprived the movement of its initial energy, and stifled much creative potential that may otherwise have been able to manifest
The Bolivarian Revolution and government are also rooted in popular power against oppression. One of the earliest manifestations of this popular power came with the Caracazo. During this event, tens of thousands or more people, representing the millions most effected by the new neoliberal “shock” package proposed by Carlos Andres Perez and the First World, took to the streets in protest of rising prices, inequality and poverty. The popular power of this movement was violently repressed, but later manifested as political and economic power with the democratic election of Hugo Chavez and the creation of a new constitution.
Likely in response to the failure of Third World nations in their top-down approaches to global justice and national development, the Bolivarian Revolution has emphasized the construction of a participatory democracy. The government has facilitated this by granting legal authority and logistical support to the creation of communal councils; by opening up opportunities for referendum on national issues; and through its laws that support protagonist action. Participatory democracy is antithetical to the assumption of the First World that only representatives and technocrats know what is best for the majority. Having travelled to Venezuela recently and listened to many people who have participated in community councils or participatory democracy in other more direct ways, it is quite apparent that these changes are building a society that encourages participation by its members in their own political and economic reality. It is most encouraging that the citizens of Venezuela have legal authority through the constitution to challenge the government, and the institutional framework through community councils and other organizations to do so. While there does still exist bureaucracy between these social forces and the government, it is a good sign that people are encouraged to self-organize to challenge the government, instead of being repressed or ignored.
Economic Autonomy
Economic autonomy, or economic self-sufficiency and determination, was equally as important to the Third World movement as political sovereignty. Many Third World nations realized that the economic policies promoted by the First World were the direct cause of their poverty and lack of development. A question arose:
“How can sufficient capital be harnessed to do the important work of reconstruction for economies battered not just by the world depression of the 1930s and the wars of the 1940s but by the centuries of colonial depredation?” (64, Prishad).
A possible answer to this question was Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI), which sought to limit their nations importation of goods from First or Second World countries with higher value-added, by producing those products within their own nations. This ISI model was accompanied by social investment in infrastructure and programs, and nationalization of key industries. The ISI model had its own contradictions, some of the most significant being that its main intentions were to protect domestic industry, and that this in turn led to the development of a national capitalist class detached from the interests of national liberation and the history of that struggle. This national capitalist class pushed the Third World into integration with the First World through globalization, which eventually destroyed one of the primary pillars of the Third World movement, economic autonomy.
The Bolivarian Revolution too has championed economic autonomy through endogenous development and a move away from neoliberal policies. The macro-level changes to the Venezuelan economy in many ways appear similar to the economic policies of ISI, including social investment, nationalization of key industries, price regulations and currency control. The Venezuelan government has achieved significant reductions in poverty and inequality, while increasing access to education and health care, primarily through reforms like these. What is inspiring about the Bolivarian Revolution and government is that they have realized the limitations of ISI development, and have sought out a social economy through endogenous development. Endogenous development according to the Venezuelan government is
“a means to achieving the social, cultural and economic transformation of our societies, based on the revitalization of traditions, respect for the environment, and equitable relation of production” [2].
How endogenous development has manifested most significantly has been through the creation of a social economy, which attempts to break down capitalist work relations, and move away from capitalism towards democratic and participatory economics.
The creation of a social economy in Venezuela has been a slow process, which at first was primarily promoted through missions like Vuelven Caras and later Che Guevara that sought the creation of cooperatives. Cooperatives were understood to be a model that creates more equitable work environments, while promoting the values of solidarity. The social economy is also present in various worker-run and/or expropriated industries that have been granted legal recognition or are in the process of doing so. Socialist Production Enterprises (EPS) are another way the Bolivarian Revolution has sought to socialize the economy, by integrating production into the structure of the communal council. There are, however, some contradictions within the social economy. One is that many of the cooperatives facilitated by the government have not lived up to their expectations as real alternatives to capitalist relations, either in the workplace or with the community. Another is that the social economy has grown at a sluggish pace, and is still not a significant portion of overall economic activity. However, the very existence of a social economy is a powerful example of alternatives to neoliberal capitalism, and the growth or decline of this sector could very well determine the health of the Bolivarian Revolution in the future.
Internationalist Nationalism
International nationalism was a theory for the construction of nations within the Third World movement, which built itself upon “the history of their struggle against colonialism, and their program for the creation of justice” (Prishad, 12). International nationalism manifested in the form of organizations like the G-77 and the Non-Aligned Movement, while pushing to democratize the United Nations, which was viewed as “a crucial forum for the Third World to raise issues of colonial barbarity and use the General Assembly as a medium to broadcast previously hidden atrocities before the world” (Prishad, 103). Unfortunately over time nations within the Third World movement began to move away from internationalist nationalism towards cultural nationalism that emphasized linguistic, racial or religious unity. This type of nationalism was deeply rooted in the pre-liberation social forces, and developed symbiotically with globalization. Saudi Arabia became a strong and sad example of cultural nationalism, which developed symbiotically with globalization in order to “open [the] economy to stateless, soulless corporations while blaming the failure of well-being on religious, ethnic, sexual and other minorities” (275, Prishad).
The Bolivarian Revolution is named after a revolutionary leader that helped to liberate many Latin American countries from Spanish colonial rule. The international nationalism of Venezuela today is not only apparent through its various references to Simon Bolivar, who believed in a Gran Colombia and the political unity of Latin America. The Venezuelan government since 1998 has built international relations with regional countries that in many ways challenge the international relations of the First World. The formation of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America’s Trade Agreement for the People (ALBA-TCP) was initially a counter to the neoliberal Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) that has become focused on Latin American and Caribbean integration. ALBA has already proven to” allow for the creation of new forms of exchange and communication between countries that were once isolated” [3]. These new forms of exchange involve direct commodity trades such as oil for doctors with Cuba. In regards to new forms of communication between countries, Venezuela has established the regional television station Telesur, and launched the communications satellite Simon Bolivar, while also opening up the space for meetings between ALBA countries. Furthermore, Venezuela has been participating in trade agreements and commodity exchanges with members of the South American Nations (UNASUR). As a whole the organization is seeking the creation of alternative economic structures between participating nations, while basing its success on the well-being of its people rather than by profitability.
A more recent development with significant historical precedence is the formation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in December of 2011. CELAC was pushed for hard by Hugo Chavez, and its first meeting was held in the capital of Venezuela, Caracas. The United States and Canada are intentionally absent from CELAC, due to their domination of previous organizations like the OAS. The official stated objectives of the organization are to “to deepen integration and political, social, economic, and cultural unity and to promote sustainable development” [4]. Leaders such as Rafael Correa have proposed an alternative Latin American human rights watch to combat the plethora of U.S. funded human rights organizations. At the meeting, Chavez also stated
“It’s an honour for Venezuela [to host the summit]… many talk about the dream of Bolivar [for a united Latin America] but few talk about it as a project, about actually putting it into practice. Today we’re laying down the first stone, a fundamental one for the unity of Latin America and for our real independence.” [4]
All of this certainly suggests that Latin America is moving further towards regional integration, seeking cooperation economically and politically to challenge the dominant First World of neoliberalism and imperialism. Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution have been at the forefront of this movement towards integration, through the formation of ALBA, the hosting of and push for CELAC, and increasing cooperation with UNASUR.
Conclusion
Within the context of a unipolar world order, the Bolivarian Revolution has been a critically important accomplishment of popular power. Its goals and values align with the historical struggles of the Third World movement, but in an evolved form that has learned from history. Venezuela today is living evidence that the historically oppressed and excluded are the protagonists of history, and that their struggle for political and economic justice has not ended.
Works Cited
Prishad, Vijay. The Darker Nations. New York: The New Press, 2007. Print
[2] Gobierno Bolivariano de Venezuela: http://www.pdvsa.com/index.php?tpl=interface.en/design/readmenu.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=1947&newsid_temas=92
[3] Tahina Ojeda Medina, 7 Years on from the Creation of the ALBA –TCP : Venezuela Analysis http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6972
[4] Ewan Robertson, CELAC Holds First Meeting of Triumvirate Countries, Designates Priorities: Venezuela analysis http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6746🐬 Dolphin Browser is the best internet explorer browser for Android with fast loading speed, HTML5 video player, AdBlocker, tab bar, sidebars, incognito browsing and flash player. Once users experience the fast, smart and personal Web of Dolphin, regular Mobile Internet feels like torture.
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🐬❤👪, 🚄🚃📷🎥🎧🎮🎡🎠🎢🌏🚃, 🚀🏁🏆🎆He’s now the third youngest player to own four major golf championships and Rory McIlroy trading cards are catching fire. For the uninitiated, there are golf rookie cards, thanks to Upper Deck and a special insert that might be familiar to Tiger Woods fans.
His first appearance on a U.S. trading card wasn’t really distributed in traditional fashion. The 2001 SI For Kids Rory McIlroy card is part of an uncut sheet that was placed inside the magazine’s November 2011 issue. Back in 1996, Tiger Woods’ first card also showed up in SI For Kids. While valuable, they’re a bear to cut neatly because of perforations that separate the various cards on the sheet and if you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t expect a high grade when you send it off for authentication. The good news is the SI For Kids McIlroy cards and sheets are still pretty reasonably priced and hey, it is his first card.
McIlroy’s ‘true’ rookie card, it seems to us, is the 2012 Upper Deck SP Game Used Golf SP. The card was issued not long after McIlroy signed a contract with Upper Deck and the card is found in only one in 72 packs. Prices depend on grade, but they can be found on eBay right now for anywhere from $175 to $400 depending on grade, which might not be a bad investment (tip: buy the best one you can afford).
Upper Deck really got serious about McIlroy the 2013 Goodwin Champions set. You can find memorabilia cards featuring a swatch from one of his match-used shirts, autographed cards (expect to pay over $1,000), a Sport Royalty insert numbered to only 10, mini cards and your standard issue base card (see them all here ). The Goodwin cards marked the first time you could buy a box of trading cards and have a reasonable expectation of finding a McIlroy, so there are some who put a rookie card label on these as well.
2014 has brought us the best Rory McIlroy trading cards ever produced. There is SP Authentic, SP Authentic Game Used and SP Authentic Inked Drivers with an autograph. Memorabilia and autograph cards are available in all. However, the top release to date is the ultra high-end Upper Deck Exquisite Golf. Released in late July, Exquisite is all about autographed relic cards in small numbers. Autographed swatch cards have been selling for over $2,000 each. Lustrous, Signature Masterpieces and Dimensions aren’t quite as expensive at $200-400 each and all carry McIlroy’s autograph (check them all out here.
Whether you consider the SI For Kids, SP Game Used or the high end issues, there is something out there for most budgets and—at least for now—McIlroy autographs are attainable at a level that doesn’t approach Tiger’s high water mark. At age 25, Rory should have plenty of championship golf left in him and today’s cards seem like a reasonably good investment.Buy Photo This is the house where Des Moines police said two people were killed Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015. (Photo: MacKenzie Elmer/The Register)Buy Photo
A Des Moines man called 911 and said he shot his wife and child, then waited for police on the living room floor, a police report shows.
Police got a call at about 7 p.m. Nov. 22 about an "unknown problem" at the Barney Fraaken's little brick home in the busy 4200 block of Hull Avenue, according to a police report. But as they neared, police dispatchers sent alert tones over the police radio, signaling to law enforcement that they were headed toward a shooting.
"Dispatch told us that the male caller was saying something about his mouth and that he shot his wife and son," the report states.
Barney Fraaken (Photo: Polk County Jail/Special to the Register)
Something may have become lost in translation, because officers would eventually find two female victims — Fraaken's wife, Amy, 42, and their 16-year-old daughter, Amber — and Fraaken, sitting on the living room floor with a gun at his feet.
A police sergeant was the first through the door, the report states. He spotted a female victim lying at the bottom of a flight of stairs.
Fraaken, 47, had a gunshot wound to his mouth, the report states. His weapon, a Springfield XD handgun, rested at his feet, the police report shows.
Another officer entered the living room and grabbed the gun. Medics arrived and went to check on the woman on the staircase, but she was dead.
The sergeant searched the rest of the house, calling to his partner that there was another woman dead in a bedroom.
Amy Fraaken and Amber Fraaken (Photo: Photo courtesy of Greg Russell-Lane)
That's when Fraaken "said that he did it."
Fraaken would affirm twice more to police that he'd shot the bedroom victim and once to medics that he'd shot the stair victim as well, according to the report.
Medics told police later that on the way to the hospital, Fraaken "kept saying that he shot them."
Fraaken spent more than 100 days in the hospital recovering. He was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the shooting death of his wife and daughter.
He's at the Polk County Jail on a $2 million bond. His first hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Read or Share this story: http://dmreg.co/20XEXL3Friday (Meet & Greet)
So I paid like a LOT of money that I really can't afford for the M&G, wherein guests rotate round tables of four attendees for about 4 mins each.
SO THIS WAS MY TIME.
I paid it for Tom only, and there was some fuck up on the rotation of guests and my table DIDN'T GET TOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WAS SO ANGRY AND SAD. BECAUSE I PAID FOR THAT 4 MINUTES WITH HIM AND DIDN'T GET IT.
But here is what went down from what I recall:
-Italia: quite short, a bit funny, very very beautiful but average otherwise. Seemed nice! This is her first con, and has always just been on the sidelines for Robbie's appearances before. Seemed sweet!
-Robbie: HOLY FUCK HANDSOME. I never thought he was good looking before, but he's seriously handsome in the flesh, it's striking. Also very very nice guy, very talkative, very down to earth, funny. ❤
-Franz: what a qt! He was very sick and his skin was absolutely FREEZING.❤
-Keiynan: really nice kid! Quiet, genuine.❤
-Danielle: she seemed nice enough, and she was talking about interviews a bit and about how important it is we watch (as i'd said I was up to date as I watch online and don't have a TV etc lmao and she jokingly berated me), but omfg HER VOICE. Like high and clipped if that makes sense. I was surprised actually how she sounded irl, very different. (MORE ABOUT DANIELLE FURTHER DOWN)
She DID like my STAR Labs tool kit though! ❤
-Amy: very sweet and funny, very personable, loves cons and was interested to find out what else we watch and other cons we go to, talked about the SPN guys fondly, said she recognised me from a SPN con, which is weird as I did meet her at one like 4 years ago. ❤
-Mike Rowe: spent most of the time talking to a guy at my table about his tattoos, and talking up his band and rock/metal music show tomorrow night. Ok guy though, friendly, down to earth.
-Sean Pertwee: handsome and rugged, but smelled distinctly like a bottle of white wine had been poured all over him lmao. On the sauce!
-Cory: I don't watch Gotham so I knew nothing about this dude, but he's REALLY HANDSOME and cleancut irl!!! And very sweet, very into art, was talking about all the galleries he's been to in London and all the exhibitions. He's staying with Sean Pertwee and his fam right now.
-Peyton: honestly didn't have much to say for herself at all.
-Ciara: her voice is ALSO really high and clipped/nasally! Who knew! Her Kendra voice is NOT how she normally speaks at ALL. Unrecognisable voice.
I didn't rate her though tbh, there was something kind of idk 'off' about her? Idk if she was reserved or something but it was strange to me. Maybe she felt shy? Nervous? Stunningly beautiful in the flesh though.
-Falk: I'M SHOCKED. I'M SO SHOCKED. Falk is INCREDIBLY personable, kind, funny, talkative. Like... I hate Hawkman and his acting has sucked lmao, but omg Falk is pretty great. WHO KNEW.
He was very very sweet to me, was joking about about having gone on a field trip when he was at school in the UK to the Isle of Man (where i'm from), and I was all mock offended about all the sheep he was talking about, he was laughing, and touched my arm in that way you do someone you're close to in apology. And squeezed my arm and gave me some kind of bro-hug on the way out.
I couldn't have been more shocked by him tbh!!! ❤❤❤
Now.... on to the upset.
Charlotte: So the rotation system was in place so we got all the guests - but there was some fuck up, and when it was Tom's turn to come to our table, Charlotte's handler pushed her in the line and Tom's handler steered him past us, SO WE WERE MISSED!!!!!!!!!
Charlotte seemed sort of sweet, whatever, and mostly just talked about Emily, and Emily this, Emily that, Emily doesn't do cons normally, blah blah, and I was talking to her about how on twitter i'd seen people were coming in from the US and such just to meet Emily. MORE ABOUT CHARLOTTE FURTHER DOWN which you WILL want to read!!
But because of HER I MISSED TOM’S ROTATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No wonder I have always and will always hate Mama Smoak.
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Brandon: ok you all know i'm not a Brandon fan... BUT I LOVE HIM NOW. He's actually so so sweet. We only got him for about half a minute, most of which the time was spent sanitising his hands and explaining that he was sick and didn’t want to infect anyone.
Then Tom walked past with his handlers on the way out and I saw him go, and was like "omg but we haven't had TOM yet!!!" And Brandon was like "TOM!!! TOM!!!!!!! TOMMMMMM!!!!!! and waving and beckoning him over. Which I thought was very sweet of him! So i'm a fan now. Brandon gave me a precious precious gift. ❤❤❤
TOM: ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
So Brandon beckons him over as he's being made to leave, and I have had my Harry pop out on the table all night and basically everyone had been like "who is that? Harry? Harry who?" (Robbie said it scared him because it has no mouth!)
But as Tom approaches our table HE SPOTS THE POP IMMEDIATELY and dashes over all "OH MY GOODNESS!!" And reaches to grab it up. "HOLY HANNAH IN A HANDBASKET! IT'S ME!" And he's all "can I take a selfie with him? Is that ok? Is this yours?" I was all "YES HE'S MY PLUS ONE, BUT GO AHEAD."
And then he just gets his phone out and starts posing with Little Pop Harry for selfies, and I was stood right next to him looking at his phone screen and watching him pose with Harry.... and my god IT WAS FUCKING UNCANNY. THEY LOOKED COMPLETELY THE SAME.
But you know when friends take selfies and you lean in over their phone to check it out and you're up in their personal space looming at their screen... it's automatic isn't it! And I was on autopilot, I was so dazed by standing next to him. I WAS SO UNCOOL BUT HE WAS SO BEAUTIFUL AND STOOD NEXT TO ME AND I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO AND IT WAS SURREAL.
There was some joke about Superman as Brandon pointed out the tats of a guy at our table, Tom said something in that rambly nonsensical way of his that I love, and then he's like "WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT, THERE IS SUPERMAN, ACTUAL REAL LIFE SUPERMAN!" at Brandon who was stood there with his hand sanitiser. "OR AM I SUPERMAN?!" I was like "Tom, no no, you are BATMAN, you are actual BATMAN remember!" And he was like "I am BUT THAT THERE, THAT THERE IS REALLY ACTUAL SUPERMAN! JUST LOOK AT HIM!"
But then before he could talk to us really, his handlers grabbed him and dragged him off to the next room.
All I know is that that brief moment in my life changed my body and my soul forever. Reply
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omg this is so goddamn precious I'm so happy for you bb Reply
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so happy for you, this is the greatest post so happy for you, this is the greatest post Reply
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idt i've ever been so happy for another person before Reply
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I'm so happy it worked out! Reply
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EEEE I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU BB!!!! Reply
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-Italia: quite short, a bit funny, very very beautiful but average otherwise. Seemed nice! This is her first con, and has always just been on the sidelines for Robbie's appearances before. Seemed sweet!
RIP Chasing Life tbh. :(
I want to know if Brandon is over his Ayn Rand infatuation. I haven't been able to take him seriously since he gushed over Atlas Shrugged. That was years ago but when it comes to Ayn Rand my grudge doesn't come with an expiration date!!!!1!
And does Danielle come off freakishly smart in person? The main thing I remember about her and her sister is how they graduated high school at, like, ages 12 and 13 IIRC. I think Kay even took Jesse McCartney to her high school prom.
Edited at 2016-05-17 01:53 am (UTC) Reply
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katies gonna make my ass watch the flash if shes on full time isnt she ugh Reply
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YES YES SHE IS, WELCOME.
lmao I doubt she'll be on full time, no matter how happy it'd make us all, but even if she just recurs every now and then i'd be satiated!
Kreisberg is a comic stan and wants to be faithful to the material. He wants to do these characters justice. UNLIKE SOME OTHERS I COULD MENTION....
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Tom sounds AMAZING! I'm surprised you kept it together, I would die if I ever met him
John Barrowman is adorable as always, did you see his snap with him and Garrett doing voice work together? So excited!
Danielle sounds really nice, I feel bad for being meh over Caitlin. So much for those Candice rumors
Charlotte Ross has some goddamn nerve
I'm glad Katie got some love, smh @ rude people making up shit, and I'm glad about the spoiler
Can you confirm whether Brandon Routh has a big penis like rumors say? Reply
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lmao I CAN'T confirm about Brandon's cock! I MEAN I WISH I COULD.
If Barrowman got to be on Legends, he'd confirm it for us in panels for sure.
Danielle is SO nice omg, I felt bad for being meh about Caitlin too now lately! Because |
gives units like archers an expected combat bonus.
de Waubert says that intelligently using those elevation differences is key in combat, since there's no micromanagement. You give each unit a simple order—where to move and then who to attack—and then end your turn and watch combat play out. Each unit in the battle takes its turn in a sequence that's displayed at the top of the screen.
"Now the battle is happening in real time, but it's turn after turn based on [unit] initiatives," de Waubert explains after giving his units orders and ending his turn. "The faster initiatives play first. The whole trick is to make sure the other guy's units with fast initiatives are being killed first or stopped first. So in a way you can combo and only have your guys play."
By paying attention to that sequence, you can target the enemy units that are moving first and potentially wipe them out before they get to attack. Dominoes.
Long battles can play out over three phases, with multiple turns in each, though the skirmish I watched de Waubert manage ended in only two turns. He lost.
"I should not have lost that battle," he says laughing. "It's all about how you place your troops and which you place first. It's high strategy: more about the big decisions and not the extreme details that, in a way, I think are the same [in many 4X games]. I think it's more interesting to have to play on the initiatives and have a combo where the others can never play."
While you're making turn-based combat choices, other players in a multiplayer game can wander into range of a skirmish and watch the elves and trolls and other fantasy warriors take their turns in real time. It's a strange hybrid, and I didn't get a chance to see how smoothly everything will mesh together in a real game.With the United States shamefully abstaining, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2234, which declared “that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law...” But the Security Council is wrong. In fact, “Palestinian territory” is historically, legally, and ethically an integral part of Israel, precluding such territory from being “occupied” by Israel.
One thousand years before Jesus’ birth, ancient Israel extended from the Mediterranean to beyond the Jordan River, encompassing Judea and Samaria, what many today refer to as the “West Bank.” Moreover, both the First and Second Temples, built in the tenth and sixth centuries BCE, stood within the eastern part of Jerusalem—not “East Jerusalem,” as though it were a separate city, apart from Israel’s ancient capital.
In 63 BCE, Rome invaded ancient Israel, and in 70 CE it destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. In 135, Rome dismantled the entire nation, at which time it changed the name of the Jewish state, from Judea (land of the Jews) to Palestine (land of the Philistines). Such was Rome’s hatred for the Jews.
By the seventh century, Muslims wrested control of the area from Rome, and the Jews of Palestine resided under Arab dominion. Although the Crusaders defeated the Muslims in 1099, that victory was short-lived. A century later, Muslim armies regained sovereignty over Palestine. By the fifteenth century, the Ottoman Turks defeated the Arabs. Although the Turks and the Arabs shared a common religious core, their cultures were different, fueling the Arabs’ desire to end Turkish rule. Their chance came during World War I.
With Turkey allied with Germany, the British assured the Arabs independence if they rebelled against the Ottomans. At almost the same time, to garner Jewish support for the war effort, the British issued the “Balfour Declaration,” authored by Britain’s Foreign Secretary, stating that Great Britain would work toward reestablishing a Jewish homeland “in Palestine,” which was understood to mean historic Palestine, encompassing both sides of the Jordan River.
Whether or not Britain was playing both ends against the middle, the Arabs revolted against the Turks and the Jews supported Britain, which helped Britain and France take over the Middle East from the vanquished Turks. In 1922, the League of Nations implemented the decisions the British and French made at the San Remo Conference, ultimately paving the way for the creation of the sovereign nations of Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, fulfilling Britain’s promise to the Arabs.
The British backtracked from their promise to the Jews, however, and retained full control of Palestine, but not before splitting the land east of the Jordan River off as another independent Arab nation, Trans-Jordan, as a reward to the Hashemite tribes for supporting Britain. Importantly, for the first time in history, Palestine was severed, leaving under British control only 25% of historic Palestine, what came to be known as “Mandatory Palestine.”
In the aftermath of World War II, an exhausted Britain decided to leave Mandatory Palestine. Prior to Britain’s exit, however, the United Nations, the successor to the League of Nations, proposed a plan to avoid a full-scale war between the Jews and Arabs by dividing Mandatory Palestine still further: a Jewish nation and an Arab nation, with the United Nations itself administering Jerusalem. The Jews were willing to accept the plan, but the Arabs were not. On May 14, 1948, the Jews of Palestine declared the (re)establishment of the State of Israel. The next day, five Arab armies invaded the revived nation.
While the Jewish state survived the war, it did not do so intact: Trans-Jordan seized eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank, expelling all Jews residing there. Notably, the final demarcations (what many today refer to as the “Green Line”) were not final boundaries, but merely the places the combatants found themselves when the 1949 ceasefire took effect. Consequently, these lines are not fixed borders and, therefore, cannot be deemed Israel’s permanent boundaries in any future peace negotiations
By May, 1967, another Arab-Israeli war loomed. Egypt, Syria and Jordan (which changed its name after seizing the West Bank) entered into an alliance to go to war with Israel and “drive the Jews into the sea.” Egypt blockaded the Straits of Tiran, precluding Israeli access to the Red Sea. Under the law of nations, this constituted an act of war..
Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol pleaded with Jordan’s King Hussein to stay out of the coming war, but to no avail. Jordan fired long-range artillery into Israel, targeting even an Israeli air base. King Hussein would later admit that this was the worst decision he ever made.
Indeed.
Israel defended itself and took back eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, whose earlier conquest lacked any historical or legal basis. Israel also captured the Sinai from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria. There is a price to be paid for starting and losing a war.
Nevertheless, whether or not one accepts the West Bank as historically and legally Israel’s, international law holds that a nation may retain land acquired in a defensive war until hostilities end. Thus, when hostilities with Egypt ended with a peace treaty in 1979, Israel returned the entire Sinai.
Security Council Resolution 242, passed in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, requires Israel to relinquish “territory,” not “all territory,” as some argue. And Israel has complied, returning the Sinai to Egypt and, more recently, transferring Gaza to the Palestinians (Egypt did not want Gaza returned).
Whether Israel ultimately trades land for peace is for Israel to decide, not the Security Council, or even the United States. Until that time comes, Israel’s ownership rights to the West Bank and all Jerusalem are historically, legally, and ethically proper and absolute.
Here is a link to a great set of maps that explains the forgoing.
And one last point: It is nothing less than shocking that America would not stand with the only democratic republic in the Middle East.
I welcome your comments.
Happy (secular) New Year! Shalom!
Copyright 2017 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.Monolith Soft President Wants To Bring Xenoblade Chronicles X To Switch
By Sato. November 30, 2017. 5:30am
All eyes are on Xenoblade Chronicles 2 with its release tomorrow, but those of you wondering if Xenoblade Chronicles X will ever see light of day on Switch, Monolith Soft president Tesuya Takahashi had a little to share on that in a recent interview with 4Gamer.
4Gamer: Just as Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii was made available on the New 3DS, are there any chances we’ll see Xenoblade Chronicles X on other hardware?
Tetsuya Takahashi, Monolith Soft President: “Personally speaking, there are times I feel like playing Xenoblade Chronicles X and think about how nice it would be to play it on the Nintendo Switch. Of course that will depend on demand and such, but I will think about it while discussing future plans with Nintendo.
Xenoblade Chronicles X released in December 2015 for Wii U.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
July 21, 2017, 8:07 PM GMT / Updated July 21, 2017, 8:07 PM GMT / Source: Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Both sides in the abortion fight raging in Kentucky agree on one thing: The stakes are as high as ever in a state that could become the first in the nation without an abortion clinic.
Political pressure has intensified since the Kentucky GOP took control of state government and moved quickly to pass new restrictions on abortions. And Republican Gov. Matt Bevin makes no apologies for waging a licensing fight against a Louisville clinic that is the last remaining facility performing abortions in the state.
Another battle-tested participant joins the fight this weekend. Operation Save America, a Christian fundamentalist group, plans to mobilize hundreds of activists to protest against EMW Women's Surgical Center.
Meg Stern, left, and other escort volunteers line up outside the EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville, Kentucky, July 17, 2017. Dylan Lovan / AP
The group's leaders state their purpose unequivocally: to rid Kentucky of its last abortion clinic. Some of the group's followers were arrested during a protest outside EMW in the spring. The group has said it won't use those same tactics in the coming days, but a federal judge on Friday ordered the creation of a "buffer zone" to keep protesters out of an area in front of the clinic. The pre-emptive move was requested by federal prosecutors to prevent protesters from blocking access to the surgical center.
"We have never been under siege like this," Dr. Ernest Marshall, a co-founder of the clinic open since the early 1980s, recently told The Associated Press. "We have never had any question as to whether we would exist."
For years, protesters have been a fixture outside Marshall's clinic, a plain brick building in Louisville's bustling downtown. Blinds are drawn to keep people from peeking inside.
Volunteers in bright orange vests stand watch near the clinic, walking patients past sign-waving activists. On a recent morning, as a demonstrator held a sign that said: "Abortion an American Holocaust," a child walking nearby asked a woman what holocaust means.
Related: Kentucky’s Last Abortion Clinic Saved From ‘Imminent Closure’
As a volunteer whisked another woman past a handful of protesters, a demonstrator clutching a rosary told the patient's male companion: "Men don't kill their babies. Man up." The man turned and glared but said nothing.
The demonstrator, Chuck Jones, defended his harsh words.
"This is the last chance we'll get to talk to them before they go in," the retired sheet-metal worker from Indiana said. "I just wanted him to think about what he's doing. If anybody believes in God, they can't be for abortion, in my opinion."
"Some of the things I see out in front of our clinic, to me, by the pro-life people, don't represent good Christianity."
The 66-year-old Marshall — the father of three grown children and grandfather of eight — said he attends church every Sunday and is a former Sunday school teacher. He said abortion protesters don't have a "monopoly on morals." He condemned their tactics as "very harassing, very judgmental," taking a toll on patients and staff.
"Some of the things I see out in front of our clinic, to me, by the pro-life people, don't represent good Christianity," Marshall said. "I just don't think Jesus would harass people or name-call people or call doctors murderers."
The number of protesters is expected to surge this weekend when Texas-based Operation Save America converges on Louisville for a weeklong vigil, with the long-term goal of making Kentucky a national model in its push to end abortion. The group urges state officials to ignore the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that legalized abortion.
Its activists plan to demonstrate outside the clinic, elsewhere downtown and in the neighborhoods where the clinic's doctors live, organizers said.
Related: Kentucky's Last Abortion Clinic Sues State to Stay Open
The buffer zone in front of the clinic won't deter those vigils, said Rusty Thomas, the group's national director.
Brigitte Amiri, an attorney for the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said the buffer zone gives patients a "small measure of relief," ensuring they can enter.
The EMW Women's Surgical Center in Louisville is Kentucky's last abortion provider. WAVE3
The clinic has been on the defensive since Bevin's election in 2015 put a social conservative and ardent abortion foe in the governor's office. Last year, the GOP finished its takeover of Kentucky's legislature by winning control of the House of Representatives. They have been in charge of the state Senate for years.
Early this year, abortion opponents pushed through two bills signed by Bevin. One measure banned abortions in Kentucky after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless the mother's life is in danger. The other requires the abortion doctor or a "qualified technician" to perform an ultrasound and then try to show fetal images to the pregnant woman before she provides consent to an abortion. Women are allowed to avert their eyes. The procedure also seeks to detect the fetal heartbeat.
The ultrasound law is being challenged in federal court.
It's one of two pending legal fights in Kentucky over abortion.
The other was sparked when abortion rights supporters say Bevin's administration tried to shut down EMW earlier this year. State officials said the clinic was out of compliance with state requirements related to its agreements with a hospital and ambulance service. EMW sued in federal court, and Bevin's administration agreed to renew the clinic's license until after the lawsuit is resolved. A September trial is scheduled.
EMW's legal team points to a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down Texas regulations that required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and forced clinics to meet hospital-like standards for outpatient surgery.
Though the types of regulations differ, the EMW case "falls squarely" within the Texas ruling because the Bevin administration's efforts would put an "undue burden" on women seeking abortions, said Heather Gatnarek, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky. The Kentucky case is even "more stark," she said, because a revocation of EMW's license would leave the state without an abortion facility.
The Supreme Court has found that access to an abortion must be guaranteed, but it remains to be seen whether eliminating every clinic in a single state would pass that test.
"I can't imagine being a female and being... forced to have a baby that I didn't want," Marshall said.The Kennesaw State University Atheists United group (in Atlanta, Georgia) has a lot of big events coming up. As any group would do, they’re advertising the events via flyers on campus.
On Sunday, someone sent a picture of one of the flyers with what appears to be an honest-to-goodness bloody cross on it to the Twitter account of KSU Atheists United:
The KSU group bravely responded with this:
The sender seems to think that their red cross is something to fear. Well, I assure you that you will not deter us, you will not stop us, we are coming strong. Watch us.
This may be a prank. It may be one asshole trying to scare them off. But just to be safe, the KSU group reported the incident to the campus police and their dean. It was the right move. If it’s discovered that a student did it, that student will be expelled. (I’m not sure if the person who tweeted the picture is a student, the person who put the cross on the flyers, or someone who just wanted to frighten the atheists.)
The same person then sent them a picture of several (clean) flyers on a bedspread, suggesting that he was ripping them down.
Again, it didn’t stop the atheists. The KSU group can just put more flyers up. It costs them money to buy the paper and print the copies, but still…
No group should have to put up with this kind of harassment. We wouldn’t stand for it if a Christian group were treated this way and we won’t stand for anyone to treat someone in our community this way. Let the KSU folks know you support them on Twitter and Facebook.
Or, better yet, help them defray the costs of printing/copying fliers by chipping in a few bucks (I’ll make sure the money gets to them, with proof, as always):
(Thanks to Teresa for the link!)
***Update***: If the commenter is correct that this is not a registered student group, I’ll hold on to the money until they are. It’s not too difficult to do. I never hand money directly to any of the recipients of fundraisers on this site.Today we’re proud to launch Mantaphrase. Mantaphrase is an app for your iPhone and iPod Touch that makes communication in a foreign language easy. Using this app, you can communicate a phrase and get an answer without needing to know how to pronounce or understand the foreign language. It’s available on the App Store starting today.
Why?
We started this project because the current solutions for communication in another language simply don’t work. Patrick came back from a 9 month exchange from Japan, at first not knowing the language. He couldn’t use Google Translate because he didn’t have an internet connection. Native Japanese speakers talk too fast for speech to speech applications to pick up accurately, not to mention awkward to put a phone near someone’s mouth like a microphone. Phrasebook applications tend to be lists of vocabulary and phrases which is nice for learning, but not communicating. These were all dealbreakers.
We made Mantaphrase to really solve the problem of communication over a language barrier: addressing the interaction between two people.
How does it work?
The best way to communicate to someone in a foreign language is with large, readable text. Let’s say you are shopping for clothing in China, but the employee doesn’t speak English. You simply take out your phone, open the app, and find phrase you have in mind from our large list of common phrases. Then, you show your phone to the employee, who then can read and respond in their own native language.
Responses
Communication doesn’t work if the other person can’t respond back to you. Mantaphrase’s first key feature is that it can create a conversation by letting the other person respond in their own native language interface using buttons and gestures. This means that people speaking different languages can have a real two-way conversation.
Follow-Up Phrases
When you ask a question, you probably will want to ask another related question. Mantaphrase gives you smart suggestions on what you might want to say next so that you can seamlessly continue your conversation. You don’t want to keep someone waiting while you fumble with trying to type out text on your phone.
How do I get it?
Mantaphrase is free and available on the App Store for your iPhone or iPod Touch. We currently support English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), and Japanese. You can try the app for free, and then purchase a language to gain access to all of the phrases in that particular language.
Discuss on Hacker News.It’s easy for a small child to get his words mixed up, and normally no one gets upset about it. However, in this nursery in Luton, England the staff took a misspelt word to be a sign of a child being radicalised. They called the little boys mom and showed her a picture of his drawing.
Mom realised that the mistake the boy had made was to write ‘cooker bomb’ instead of ‘cucumber’. The nursery would not accept the explanation, and referred the case to the government counter-radicalisation programme.
“I was baffled.” she said. “It was until I came home and spoke to my husband and he said: ‘Oh my gosh, she’s obviously thinking he’s saying cooker bomb.”
“She was adamant I had to sign it and I said, ‘well I’m not going to because I don’t agree with what you’ve written’, and I said,I’m not a terrorist, my son is not a terrorist’.”
After some discussion and consideration the council decided not to pursue it any further. There have been other cases where a child has misspelled a word. Recently a boy said he lived in a “terrorist” house, which he meant as a “terraced” house.
Teachers are obliged to report anything which leads them to think a child may be in the process of being radicalised. They will often report on things which are just normal, childish mistakes, made by innocent kids.
Teachers would rather report an incident, whether it turns out to be harmless, because they are scared of not doing their duty. They are basically scared of getting the decision wrong. If they do, Ofsted (The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) will criticise them for not being security conscious at school.
“Teachers are scared of getting it wrong. They think Ofsted is going to criticise them if they haven’t reported these things and you end up the boy making the spelling mistake or the boy saying something in Arabic that then gets reported on,” Alex Kenny from the National Union of Teachers said.
“Our evidence is anecdotal at the moment. Whenever we talk about it to people the sense that there’s confusion and a bit of fear around it is quite widespread.”
In a statement a spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “The prevent duty is entirely consistent with school’s existing responsibilities and good schools will already have been safe guarding children from extremism and promoting fundamental British values long before the duty came into force. We have published guidance on the prevent duty and made a wide range of materials and advice available to the sector though our educator against hate website.”
The mom was very upset as it was implied that her son may be taken away from her, unless she proved herself and the boy innocent. She admitted that she was extremely concerned that staff did not seem to be working with her, just intent on reporting what was an innocent mistake.
“Does that mean my kids will be taken away from me? As a mother that’s the worst thing anybody could say to you.”
“She said ‘Oh they might not be. You can prove yourself innocent.’”
“It was a horrible day.”John Oliver on Sunday criticized President Donald Trump’s latest week in office, saying nothing epitomized it more than his “bat-s— crazy press conference” on Thursday.
At one point, Trump’s first solo press conference as president found him going back and forth with a black reporter who asked whether he planned on including the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in discussions about his urban agenda. “I tell you what, do you want to set up the meeting? Do you want to set up the meeting?” Trump asked her. “Are they friends of yours?”
“The man is incredible,” said Oliver on Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight. “Because what hits you first there is the racism of assuming that all black people are friends, and then it’s not until later that you really appreciate the sexism of thinking all women are there to perform secretarial tasks for you. The guy packed so much into so little. In fact, his press conference was so unhinged, that many of the reporters’ companies had the same initial response.”
Oliver cut to a montage of anchors on several networks all saying “wow” after the conference ended. “Yes, wow indeed,” agreed Oliver. “A presidential press conference elicited the same reaction you get from people who just watched someone shoot fireworks out of his ass. Which, when you think about it, is actually fitting. Because whenever Trump speaks, what is it essentially other than just random sparks and flames, sputtering noisily out of a damaged ass—-?”
Earlier in the segment, Oliver addressed Trump’s comments about Sweden during a rally held in Melbourne, Florida, on Saturday. “You look at what’s happening,” Trump told the crowd on Saturday. “We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this?”
Trump later clarified his comments on Twitter, writing, “My statement as to what’s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden.”
My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2017
“It turns out there was no terror attack,” said Oliver. “Just a quick message to all other countries on Earth: In the future, you’re going to find yourself wanting to ask, ‘What is your president talking about?’ a great deal. And the answer is going to almost always be, ‘We have no f—ing idea.'”
Alluding to Trump’s penchant for watching cable news, Oliver said, “Sifting through Trump’s brain to see why he said something is now like examining a shark’s stomach to see what it ate.”
While the nation is glued to Trump coverage, many other “fascinating stories” have been “undercovered,” Oliver said. His list included the airport assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother; a Florida man accused of plotting to bomb Target stores; British Prime Minister Theresa May’s reactions to children’s LEGO Robot creations; and Stephen Schwartz, the U.S. ambassador to Somalia, giving Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi a “Make Somalia Great Again” cap.
Oliver then found himself on another Trump story: The president’s joint press conference with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, during which Trump said he would support a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “I’m looking at two-state and one-state [solutions],” Trump said during the conference. “And I like the one that both parties like. I’m very happy with the ones that both parties like.”
“What the f— are you talking about?” said Oliver. “The whole problem is, the people on each side want a one-state solution. Generally cannot agree on what state it should be. No one’s really expecting them to suddenly say, ‘Hey, we agreed on one state, and it’s Peru!'”
Oliver continued: “Here we are talking about Trump again because you cannot avoid him. In the past week alone, Trump designated the media as enemies of the American people; had his EPA-hating nominee for head of the EPA confirmed; lost his nominee for labor secretary and his national security advisor; and signed a bill undoing Barack Obama’s protections for the waterways from coal mining waste.”
Last Week Tonight airs Sundays at 11 p.m. ET on HBO.Tezlyn Figaro, the former national justice director for Senator Bernie Sanders, takes strong exception to remarks by Hillary Clinton about millennials.
During a private Virginia fundraiser, the Democrat presidential candidate reportedly dissed Sanders voters as living in their parents’ basement and said that Bernie Sanders was offering them what amounts to false promises, particularly in the context of student loan debt relief. At the same event, Clinton also described her political views as “center-left to center-right.”
Over the weekend, the hashtag #basementdwellers was one of the top trending items on Twitter.
The Vermont senator was Hillary Clinton’s insurgent, anti-establishment rival during the primaries and ultimately endorsed her after she locked up the nomination with the help of superdelegates. Clinton also recently characterized many Donald Trump voters as a “basket of deplorables” and irredeemable.
Sanders made the rounds on Sunday TV to downplay Clinton’s perceived condescending comments about his supporters, insisting that they should still vote for the former secretary of state on Election Day. “Of course it [bothers me], but we are in the middle of a campaign. Trust me. if you go to some of the statements I made about Hillary Clinton, we have real differences,” Sanders told CNN.
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Behind the scenes, things may be slightly different between the Clinton and Sanders camps, however. Team Clinton has canceled several Sanders-Clinton joint campaign appearances in Ohio and Wisconsin scheduled for this week. Sanders will apparently campaign for Clinton on his own in those states.
During a panel discussion on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel show last night, military vet Tezlyn Figaro delivered a strong message to Hillary Clinton about basement dwellers in the video embedded below.
“Well, I never thought I would vote for Senator Sanders either. I’m an independent fiscal capitalist. I supported him because he was saying at the time that he was against the establishment. And I have news for Hillary Clinton and everybody who supports her. I did not grow up in mommy’s basement in Oklahoma. The only time I was in the basement was when I was running from an Oklahoma tornado. I grew up with the shirt on my back at 18, went to Dallas with no car and no job, became a business owner with 300 paid employees. No one has ever gave me anything. I’ve never looked for anything for free. I never got anything out of this country that I didn’t earn while I served my time in the U.S. Air Force. So for her to say they we grew up in mommy’s basement, well what type of basement did Chelsea Clinton grow up in? Because in north side of Oklahoma City, her basement sure as hell was nicer than mine.”
Despite Bernie Sanders public support for Hillary, Tezlyn Figaro added that Sanders fans may not follow his lead into the voting booth.
“When [Hillary Clinton] says we’re believing in false promises, the only thing false about this election is the fraud of the policies that she continues to switch every other time. Remember, Bill Clinton said that people who believed in Obama believed in a fantasy. So this is a typical strategy that they use… but guess what, this generation has figured it out, and the only unfortunate thing is for her, when election time comes, they’ll be staying in the basement and sitting that one out.”
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Figaro also chided Bernie Sanders for “folding like a napkin” after Hillary Clinton’s basement dwellers remarks became public.
Chicago attorney Brunell Donald-Kyei, a former Bernie Sanders supporter and Barack Obama voter, is now an official with the Trump campaign’s diversity outreach coalition. The lifelong Democrat who ran for Illinois lieutenant governor explained in an interview that “I was a Bernie Sanders girl. Once… I saw how we were treated at the Democratic National Convention, I knew that I would not vote for Hillary Clinton, and the Trump Train just kept calling my name.”
Watch Brunell Donald-Kyei on WGN-TV:
Added: Watch what happens when an MSNBC anchor asks a group of millennial women at Longwood University, the site of tonight’s vice presidential debate, if they feel connected to Hillary Clinton:
[Featured Image by Matt Rourke/AP Images]As the East Coast recoils from Hurricane Sandy, the political news is of new states suddenly inundated with presidential campaign ads. First Wisconsin, then Pennsylvania, more recently Minnesota. Ann Romney is campaigning in Michigan, Bill Clinton in Minnesota.
All these are states Barack Obama carried by 10 points or more in 2008. Why is the electoral map scrambled this year?
One reason, which I wrote about last week, is that Mitt Romney seems to be running better in affluent suburbs than other recent Republican nominees. That's one reason he made big gains after the first debate in Florida and Virginia, target states where most votes are cast in relatively affluent suburban counties.
The tightening race in Michigan and Pennsylvania, which Obama carried by 16 and 10 points in 2008, seems to reflect a move toward Romney in the affluent suburbs surrounding Detroit and Philadelphia.
In contrast, Romney has been struggling in Ohio, where the Rasmussen poll released Monday is the first survey in three months that shows him ahead there.
Only one-eighth of Ohio's votes are cast in affluent suburbs. Traditional Republican strength there comes from small industrial counties where the barrage of Obama ads castigating Romney for opposing the auto bailout clearly had some impact.
Another significant shift from 2008 has come in what was once America's Northwest -- Wisconsin, Iowa and, perhaps, Minnesota.
These three states are part of what I call Germano-Scandinavian America, settled in large part by immigrants from Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
This region, which also includes the Dakotas and Nebraska, has always been the most pacifist, isolationist or dovish part of America.
Consider two elections 44 years apart. In 1944, both Iowa and Wisconsin voted for Thomas Dewey over Franklin Roosevelt. In 1988, both these states voted for Michael Dukakis over George H.W. Bush.
One time they were more Republican than the nation, the other time more Democratic. What links the two? Dewey's party was the more isolationist in the years leading up to World War II. Dukakis was one of the most dovish nominees of a party that has been dovish ever since Vietnam.
Obama had a big comparative advantage over John McCain on war and peace issues in this region in 2008. Obama was an early opponent of the Iraq war. McCain strongly supported it and urged the ultimately successful surge strategy before George W. Bush adopted it in late 2006.
Obama's comparative advantage on war and peace issues seems to be gone. His campaign and his convention boasted constantly of how he ordered the attack on Osama bin Laden.
The murder of our ambassador and three other Americans in Libya and the apparent failure to respond to cries for rescue undercuts the Obama narrative that the Muslim world is peaceful and friendly now that he is president. Turmoil and chaos abroad do not work in favor of an incumbent president.
On economic issues, Germano-Scandinavian America is not as liberal as many analysts think. Iowans like to boast that their state has the nation's lowest rate of credit card debt.
In Wisconsin, voters in June decisively rejected the public employee unions' all-out drive to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker. And Minnesotans in 2010 gave Republicans big gains in the state legislature and nearly elected as governor an inept Republican over a free-spending and well-known Democrat.
Previous presidents who have been re-elected have widened the electoral map by advancing policies that appealed to electoral blocs that they didn't carry before.
Ronald Reagan gathered in the votes of white Southerners and evangelical Protestants who went heavily for Jimmy Carter in 1976, and to a considerable extent stuck with him in 1980.
Bill Clinton appealed to the affluent suburbs by supporting welfare reform, talking up anti-crime legislation and proposing small but appealing initiatives like school uniforms.
Barack Obama and his campaign strategists did not take a similar course. The president did not change policies after his party was rebuked in the off-year elections, as Clinton did.
Obama campaign strategy has accordingly concentrated on holding states he carried in 2008, rather than seek new electoral ground.
Obama's strategists conceded Indiana early on and North Carolina more recently. Now, Florida, Virginia and Colorado seem headed to Romney, and Germano-Scandinavian America is up for grabs. Minnesota and Pennsylvania suddenly have come into play.
Team Obama gambled on reassembling his 2008 coalition despite the Republicans' strong showing in 2010. Maybe a losing bet.
Michael Barone, The Examiner's senior political analyst, can be contacted at mbarone@washingtonexaminer.com. His column appears Wednesday and Sunday, and his stories and blog posts appear on washingtonexaminer.com.Erno Rubik, known worldwide as the creator of the Rubik’s Cube, born July 13, 1944 in Budapest (Hungary), during the World War II. Son of a man of science (aerospace engineer) and a woman of letters (poet), Erno Rubik receives influences by both parents that can be seen during the rest of his life. Despite he starts sculpture studies, in 1967 is graduated by the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical College of Budapest, doing postgraduate studies in sculpting and interior architecture. Early in the decade of the 70’s he works as an architect, later to become professor of Interior design at the School of Applied Arts.
Rubik’s Cube as a teaching
Erno is passionate about architecture, which he describes as one of the most complex activities as it combines the features more characteristics of science, technology and art. In his work as a teacher, is convinced that education is the best way to discover and learn, through the constant search for new methods of teaching. And from that quest is how the Cube born.
“Space always intrigued me, with its incredibly rich possibilities, space alteration by (architectural) objects, objects’ transformation in space (sculpture, design), movement in space and in time, their correlation, their repercussion on mankind, the relation between man and space, the object and time. I think the CUBE arose from this interest, from this search for expression and for this always more increased acuteness of these thoughts.”
It is during the spring of 1974 when he has the idea of building a cube of interchangeable pieces. Although he initially thinks to build a 2×2 cube, finally he chooses to construct a 3×3 cube because in this cube the centers remain fixed. He tests different designs, including a failed design with elastic bands to hold the pieces together. In the final prototype pieces stay together because they fit with each other. In this way, he solves the problem of structural design which involved the cube for him, unable to imagine its future popularity as a toy.
Success and fame Rubik’s Cube
With the pleasant feeling of having built something original, something new, Erno Rubik starts to try to solve it. It is not easy. He even doubts if there is a method to solve the puzzle. He thinks he can rotate the faces randomly, but he realizes that the chances are nil. Finally, after more than a month studying the cube, he solves it.
On January 30, 1975 Erno requests a patent for the Rubik’s Cube, originally called the Magic Cube (Buvuos Kocka in Hungarian). The patent is granted in 1977, while the Cube is started to |
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Why wear our tie?
Get the Hand-Shake "I've never seen that knot before, what is it?"
Be remembered. "I was told to speak with someone, they couldn't remember your name but said you'd have a tie knot I wouldn't miss."
Look awesome.
Be taken seriously.
Humbly set yourself apart from the rest.
Exotic knots have been around for decades, but most men never knew of them. Now neckwear is having a resurgance as men want to humbly set themselves apart. This could be for a networking event, a convention, job interview, night on the town, wedding, I could keep going. How does it work?
First you select your knot and material. For the kickstarter limited edition tie, we are offering black silk ties with the Eldredge knot
Next we need your neck size, and your torso length from the knot to your belt buckle. This way we can manufacture the best tie and ensure you look like a gentleman
Finally we produce your tie, hand tie your knot, check it to ensure it's to our standards, sprinkle some cash on it, and ship it out.
Will there be other knots?
Of course! After the kickstarter we go into our other knots, all custom tied, made to order, and buckled under the collar.
The Cape
The Ediety
We've even gone as far as to link up with one of the BEST in the exotic tie knot world, Alex Krasny. TieBros and Alex have come together to create a new and unique Bow-Tie and NeckWear line!
F.A.Q
Is it dry cleanable?
YES. Unless you get oil on the tie (don't do that with any fabric) you're fine.
How long will it last?
A life-time. Because our knot is made permanent, you won't wrinkle the interfacing underneath. This is what causes that permanent squished area on the ties we all know.
What if the size is off?
That's our bad. Send it back and get the correct size.
Why the money "raining" during the video?
Buy our tie and you'll see. There was a purpose.
Do you have a referral system?
Yes. That will all be explained when you receive your tie.
So Why Kickstarter?
TieBros.Com is an American company born out of a garage...no seriously we're in a garage in North Syracuse NY.
When we first got the space
Cleaning it up with some chalk paint...
Having a LOCAL artist come in and deck out our wall before...
Every Part of our production is American. Even our packaging is produced in small-town America.
Earlville NY Packaging. Down to a skeleton crew, but still going strong
The Money raised by this kickstarter will go towards keeping our business in America. We need some better equipment and the ability to make some initial bulk purchasing orders.
From our first order....
First delivered TieBros tie, custom made for the gentleman
To our last, our ties will always be custom, high quality, hand crafted, and a new tool for you to set yourself apart.The first China-Russia e-commerce platform incubator has been opened in the China’s Heilongjiang Province, Interfax reported.
The purpose of the platform is to provide new enterprises with a public space with low cost distribution of resources, and simplified procedures for doing business.
"The Chinese-Russian e-commerce centre in Dongning was established by the industrial and trading company called Europe and Asia. It’s the first e-commerce incubator,” the chairman of Heilongjiang’s Association of Applied Economics, Zhang Chuntszyao said citing official sources.
Zhang Chuntszyao said e-commerce is growing between the two countries, and there could be 220 million parcels delivered this year. Almost 70 percent of the parcels come from China, she added.
The authorities of the Heilongjiang Province plan to establish five e-commerce platforms with Russia by 2020. They have already launched an ambitious project called Internet plus trade with Russia.
The e-commerce project is expected to bring annual trade with Russia up to 100 million yuan. It will involve dozens of Chinese trading companies, the creation of two cross-border payment systems, five warehouses near the Russian border in China, as well as four warehouses on the Russian side.
The province’s authorities intend to increase trade with Russia to $50 billion in the next 5 years and up to $70 billion by 2025.
Chinese online stores are the most popular foreign e-commerce platforms among Russian online customers. They have been actively expanding into the Russian market this year.
Three months ago the two countries started an online e-commerce platform called TradeEase which allowed Chinese shops to sell their goods online to Russian customers.Here she is folks… Courtney Dauwalter is the first runner across the first finish line at the Moab 240! She ran… Posted by Moab 240 mile Endurance Run on Sunday, October 15, 2017
Courtney Dauwalter, 32, was the first finisher of the Moab 240-mile Endurance Run.
The single-loop 383K passes through desert, canyons, slick rock, two mountain ranges surrounded by Canyonlands and Arches National Parks beginning and finishing in Moab, Utah. The Colorado resident completed the race in 57 hours and 52 minutes (that’s 157K per day), according to a statement posted to the race’s Facebook page that has since gone viral with more than 4,000 likes and 800 shares.
The race features 8,981m of ascent and equal amounts of descent.
“Here she is folks…Courtney Dauwalter is the first runner across the first [sic] finish line at the Moab 240,” the race wrote on Facebook. “She ran through 57 hours and 52 minutes of elevation and extreme temperatures. This 32-year-old crusher hails from Colorado and is an eighth-grade science teacher in her spare time. We are so proud and inspired by her amazing effort!”
According to the live tracker page, Dauwalter won by approximately 10 hours over second-place finisher Sean Nakamura.We’re just about a month after the Windows 7 launch, and wanted to show an early look at some of the work underway on Internet Explorer 9.
At the PDC today, in addition to demonstrating some of the progress on performance and interoperable standards, we showed how IE and Windows will make the power of PC hardware available to web developers in the browser. Specifically, we demonstrated hardware-accelerated rendering of all graphics and text in web pages, something that other browsers don’t do today. Web site developers will see performance gains and other benefits without having to re-write their sites.
Performance Progress. Browser performance involves many different sub-systems within the browser. Different sites – and different activities within the same site – place different loads and demands on the browser.
For example, two news sites might look similar to a user but have very different performance characteristics. Because of how the developers authored the sites, one site might spend most of its time in the Javascript engine and DOM, while the other site might spend most of its time in layout and rendering. A site that’s more of an “application” than a page (like web-based email, or the Office Web Apps) can exercise browser subsystems in completely different ways depending on the user’s actions.
The chart below shows how much time different sites spends in different subsystems of IE. For example, it shows that one major news site spends most of its time in the script engine and marshalling, while another spends most of its time in script and rendering, and the Excel Web App spends very little of its time running script at all.
Note that this chart shows the percentages of total time spent in each subsystem, not relative time between sites. It focuses on just the primary browsing sub-systems and doesn’t include “frame” functionality (like anti-phishing), or third-party software that’s running in the IE process (like toolbars, or controls like Flash). It also factors out networking since that’s dependent on the users network speed. Notice also that a site’s profile can change significantly across scenarios; for example, the Excel Web App profile for loading a file is quite different from the profile for selecting part of the sheet.
The script engine is just one of these browser subsystems. There are many benchmarks for script performance. One common test of script performance is from Apple’s Webkit team, the SunSpider test. The chart below shows the relative performance of different browsers on the same machine running the SunSpider test.
In addition to IE7 and the current “final release” versions of major browsers, we’ve included the latest pre-release “under development” builds of the major browsers. We’re just about a month after IE8 was released as part of the Windows 7 launch, and the version of IE under development is no longer an outlier.
It is worth noting that once the differences are this small, the other subsystems that contribute to performance become much more important, and perceiving the differences may be difficult on real-world sites. That said, we remain committed to improving script performance.
We’re looking at the performance characteristics of all the browser sub-systems as real-world sites use them. Our goal is to deliver better performance across the board for real-world sites, not just benchmarks.
Standards Progress. Our focus is providing rich capabilities – the ones that most developers want to use – in an interoperable way. Developers want more capabilities in the browser to build great apps and experiences; they want them to work in an interoperable way so they don’t have to re-write and re-test their sites again and again. The standards process offers a good means to that end.
As engineers, when we want to assess progress, we develop a test suite that exercises the breadth and depth of functionality. With IE8, we delivered a highly-interoperable implementation of CSS 2.1 and contributed over 7,200 tests to the W3C. Standards that do not include validation tests are much more difficult to implement consistently, and more difficult for site developers to rely on.
Some standards tests – like Acid3 – have become widely used as shorthand for standards compliance, even with some shortcomings. Acid3 tests about 100 aspects of different technologies (many still in the “working draft” stage of standardization), including many edge cases and error conditions. Here’s the latest build of IE9 running Acid3:
As we improve support in IE for technologies that site developers use, the score will continue to go up. A more meaningful (from the point of view of web developers) example of standards support involves rounded corners. Here’s IE9 drawing rounded corners, along with the underlying mark-up:
Another example of standards support that matters to web developers is CSS3 selectors. Here’s a test page that some people in the web development community put together at css3.info; it’s a good illustration of a more thorough test, and one that shows some of the progress we’ve made since releasing IE8:
Community testing efforts like this one can be helpful. Ultimately, we want to work with the community and W3C and other members of the working groups to define true validation test suites, like the one that we’re all working on together for CSS 2.1, for the standards that matter to developers. For example, this link tests one of the HTML5 storage APIs; some browsers (including IE8) support it today, while others don’t.
The work we do here, both in the product and on test suites, is a means to an end: a rich interoperable platform that developers can rely on.
Bringing the power of PC hardware and Windows to web developers in the browser. The PC platform and ecosystem around Windows deliver amazing hardware innovation. The browser should be a place where the benefits of that hardware innovation shine through for web developers.
We’re changing IE to use the DirectX family of Windows APIs to enable many advances for web developers. The starting point is moving all graphics and text rendering from the CPU to the graphics card using Direct2D and DirectWrite. Graphics hardware acceleration means that rich, graphically intensive sites can render faster while using less CPU. (This interview includes screen captures of a few examples.) Now, web developers can take advantage of the hardware ecosystem’s advances in graphics while they continue to author sites with the same interoperable standards patterns they’re used to.
In addition to better performance, this technology shift also increases font quality and readability with sub-pixel positioning:
96 point Gabriola on a Lenovo X61 ThinkPad at 100% Zoom using GDI (note jaggies):
96 point Gabriola on a Lenovo X61 ThinkPad at 100% Zoom: Direct2D (without jaggies):
Last week, Channel 9 interviewed several of the engineers on the team. You can find videos of the interviews here:
While we’re still early in the product cycle, we wanted to be clear to developers about our approach and the progress so far. We’re applying the feedback from the IE8 product cycle, and we’re committed to delivering on another version of IE.
Thanks,
Dean Hachamovitch
General Manager, Internet Explorer
Update 11/23/09 - The IE9 demo from PDC is now available. The IE content starts around minute 48.LGBT players, coaches and fans are always welcome to the BYU campus. Everyone should be treated with respect, dignity and love. Tom
SALT LAKE CITY — It was no surprise on Monday to see BYU end up here, in this place, where sports meet the politics of sexual identity. The issue isn’t about the university’s worthiness to join the Big 12. It’s not even about the theory that BYU could be left out because of a “compromise” between the presidents at Oklahoma and Texas.
Now it’s a matter of whether the Big 12 wants to deal with the political football called BYU, and which claim the conference wants to address: potential discrimination against sexual identity and gender identity or discrimination against deeply held religious belief.
It’s not hard to see why the Pac-12 passed on the Cougars. Surely it wanted nothing to do with this drama. For reasons other than football, politics could now derail the Cougars’ bid for big conference inclusion.
Though many BYU fans have privately predicted such issues would arise, Monday’s news was still jolting. Ever since the Big 12 announced in late July it was exploring expansion, the Cougars have been labeled the frontrunner. Obstacles such as Sunday play and TV rights had to be worked out, but none of that seemed insurmountable. This, though, might be. A Fox Sports report said LGBT advocacy groups have contacted the Big 12, recommending it not admit BYU, based on the LDS Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
The discouraging news for BYU is that the Big 12 is likely the Cougars’ last chance at power conference inclusion. The league is geographically workable, but it’s also one that could accommodate BYU’s conservative philosophy. Baylor and TCU both have ties to Christian religions.
That doesn’t mean those schools will be behind BYU. When it comes to conference expansion and the politics of sexual identity, the Cougars could be on their own.
While expansion considerations might still be debatable for the conference’s presidents, BYU’s honor code and LDS beliefs shouldn’t. Sexual orientation isn’t a factor in the honor code, nor is it in BYU sports. The Provo school has lived by its code since 1949 and done nicely: a Heisman winner, a national championship and numerous All-Americas and championships. Its overall sports program annually rates among the country’s best. But performance alone these days might not get the Cougars to a different place. With the NBA moving its 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, due to North Carolina bathroom laws, it’s clear no sports event is above controversy.
In the past, some athletes have suggested not competing in events involving BYU.
Thus the narrative goes: Any conference that includes BYU is allowing discrimination. But BYU has never kept visiting athletes from competing, regardless of sexual preference. It has drawn praise for decades regarding its treatment of visiting teams by the school’s officials and coaches. That won’t change.
BYU wants to compete on the athletic field, not in the arena of political discourse.
While BYU is defending itself against accusations of discrimination, it has never raised the issue of religious discrimination. School officials didn’t throw that out when the first round of conference realignment hit. Athletics director Tom Holmoe hasn’t played the religion card, despite difficulty scheduling games. He has just stayed with the explanation that it’s hard to be a football independent.
Meanwhile, terms like “homophobic” and “biphobic” — used in the letter to the Big 12 — might be sincere, but they are also calculated to eliminate BYU as an athletic entity. Power conference inclusion has been termed a must by BYU officials.
Historically, BYU’s coaches and administrators have been careful to show respect for opponents — including those currently in the Big 12. A snub on religious grounds would signal a lack of respect for BYU and the LDS Church, and what they believe. Thus the Big 12 is in a position to choose whether to conform to political demands or decline BYU, largely on a basis of beliefs. The latter is the wrong course to take as the conference begins its umpteenth remake.Once your up and riding fairly comfortably one of the first things you’ll look at is what exotic beach can you visit (and rip on). The choice is pretty mind boggling and it’s pretty difficult to know the pro’s and cons of one spot from another. While we’re not going to make an exhaustive list of all the spots the world has to offer (although we do have a bloomin good go at it), we will highlight some of the considerations you may make and talk about some of the more famous spots.
Before you go anywhere you need to decide what is your outcome and what you are looking for. Whether you’re a freestyler, a wave rider or just like riding up and down throwing the occasional jump will all vastly influence your choice of destination.
There are several things you might want to consider and we have a quick look at all of them here:
Flat Water: Often the benchmark of choice for most people because everything is so much easier on flat water. There are no waves to throw you off the board and and many locations flat water is found in waist deep lagoons which make getting back to your board after you come off as easy as standing up and walking. That said there are several reasons to be wary. Flat water is easy…much easier than even a bit of chop and this can mean frustration when moving back onto waves or even chop from flat water ad many of the tricks that were soooo easy now seem almost impossible. in our Tarifa centre we often find people coming from Egypt or Dakhla telling us they can ride only to find in Tarifa conditions they can’t even get the board on their feet. Conversely learning the other way around people have their heartache during the learning process but can then cope with anything Mother Nature throws at them.
Waves: Are generally sought out by the more experienced riders. Waves are a LOT of fun when you can handle them but try to tackle them too early and you’re setting yourself up for a world of pain. My advise is if you’re looking to get into wave riding start with small waves, a trip to Portugal for the uninitiated (or even a hardened kitesurfer) can be intimidating with its rocky bays, brutal rip currents and powerful waves. That said if you’re a hard core wave rider there are few better places on Earth.
Bump & Jump: Often offering the best of both worlds bump & jump location will often have small wind blown chop or small waves with flatter sections in between. Perfect for the all round rider who wants a bit of everything.
Want It All?
Note many locations will offer 2 or even all 3 of the above conditions depending on which beach you go or what time of year you go. Brazil for example has huge flat water lagoons and great wave riding action to be found within a stone’s throw of each other.
The Most Important Ingredient
There are several other obvious factors which will influence your choice of location the most obvious being wind!
Many locations (in fact most) have a definite season when it is windy. In Europe the more reliable winds are generally to be found in the summer there the thermal properties of the wind make them blow consistently day after day. As soon as it starts getting colder wind tends to brought in by the low pressures sweeping in from the Atlantic and becomes more difficult to predict. There are several exceptions to this Tarifa for example doesn’t really have a windy season…it’s just bloomin windy all year round, it’s wind being due to the unique topography there.
It is obviously of vital importance to know what the wind is expected to do at that time of year before you book your holiday. Many a friend of mine has been sunbathing all week as a result of getting this wrong. Some places are windy all year round and it’s just luck of the draw as to whether there’s wind during the time you’re there. It is important to remember that wind is NEVER guaranteed at any location and if you go with a few no wind plans in place you’ll never come back from you holiday desolate because the wind failed to perform…this for me is crucial.
Wind strength is another obvious factor which you need to consider before you go. A week in Capetown during their season when it’s regularly blowing 35kts requires a very different mindset and very different kites to a week in Kenya where typically the wind is much lighter.
Guaranteed Wind..Pull The Other One
As we mentioned earlier wind is never guaranteed and you might want to check out what other activities are on offer before you commit. If you’re fine chilling on the beach reading a book, great, but if you get hyperactive doing nothing then a few active non wind related past times in the general area are probably crucial.
Ok so having covered the basics where are these places?
Year Round Location List
January
Western Oz
Cape Verde
Cape town-South Africa
La Ventana – Mexico
Boracay – Philipines
Namibia
St. Louis-Senegal
Copal-Costa Rica
Mui Ne Bay-Vietnam
Auckland-NZ
Nashiro-Japan
Baja
Barbados
Kenya-mombasa
BVIs
Carmelo-Uruguay
Buenos Aires – Argentina
Hong Kong
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Yemen-Red Sea
February
Margarita
Western Oz
St. Louis-Senegal
Cape Verde
Melbourne
Hua Hin – Thailand
Cape Town – South Africa
La Ventana – Mexico
Boracay – Philipines
Cap Chevalier-Martinique
Zanzibar-Tanzania
Copal-Costa Rica
Mui Ne Bay-Vietnam
Belize
Florida-USA
Nashiro-Japan
Baja, Barbados
South Padre Island-(TX)USA
Esbjerg-Denmark
Cabarete
Bonaire-Carib
St. Lucia-Carib
Whitehaven-Whitsunday Islands
BVIs
Noordwijk ann Zee-Netherlands
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Yemen-Red Sea
March
El Gouna-Egypt
Cape Verde
St. Louis-Senegal
Cabarete
Margarita
Western Oz
Hua Hin – Thailand
Cape Town – South Africa
La Ventana – Mexico
Esbjerg-Denmark
Antigua
Goa
Cap Chevalier-Martinique
Zanzibar-Tanzania
Copal-Costa Rica
Mui Ne Bay-Vietnam
Belize
Florida-USA
Barbados
South Padre Island-(TX)USA
Bonaire-Carib
St. Lucia-Carib
Negombo-Sri Lanka
BVIs
Ibiza
Ireland
UK
Cape Hatteras-USA
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Yemen-Red Sea
April
Margarita
Western Oz
Hua Hin – Thailand
Antigua
Cap Chevalier-Martinique
Belize
Banff-Canada
Barbados
South Padre Island-(TX)USA
Safaga-Egypt
Bonaire-Carib
St. Lucia-Carib
Whitehaven-Whitsunday Islands
Negombo-Sri Lanka
Ibiza
Ireland
UK
Tarifa
Cape Hatteras-USA
Puclaro-Chile
May
Margarita
Antigua
Cape Hatteras-USA
Leucate-France
Essaouira-Morocco
Iraq
El Vaque-Venezuela
Ras Sudr – Egypt
Rhodes-Greece
Porto Pollo – Sardinia
Fuerteventura
Cabarete
Bonaire-Carib
St. Lucia-Carib
Whitehaven-Whitsunday Islands
Ibiza
Aruba-Carib
Tarifa
UK
Puclaro-Chile
Mancora-Peru
June
Fuerteventura
Tenerife
Cabarete
Raratonga
The Gorge – USA
Bol-Croatia
Foddini-Italy
Ponto de Oura-Mozambique
Seychelles
Maui-USA
Fiji
Essaouira-Morocco
Guincho-Portugal
El yaque – Venezuela
Rhodes – Greece
Levkada – Greece
Dakhla – Morocco
Corsica
Rhodes-Greece
Pirlanta-Turkey
Paramali-Cyprus
Porto pollo-Sardinia
Lanzarote
Bonaire-Carib
St. Lucia-Carib
Sri Lanka
Tarifa
Aruba-Carib
Puclaro-Chile
Mancora-Peru
July
Cabarete
Fuerteventura
Tenerife
Mauritius
Naxos-Greece
Raratonga
Leucate-France
The Gorge – USA
Pirlanta-Turkey
Bol-Croatia
Foddini-Italy
Seychelles
Solomon Islands
Maui-USA
Fiji
Tahiti
Essaouira-Morocco
Guincho-Portugal
El yaque – Venezuela
Rhodes – Greece
Levkada – Greece
Dakhla – Morocco
Corsica
Paros-Greece
Porto pollo-Sardinia
Lanzarote
El Gouna-Egypt
Safaga-Egypt
Sinai
Eilat-Israel
Paramali-Cyprus
Sri Lanka
Maui-USA
Aruba-Carib
Puclaro-Chile
Tarifa
Mancora-Peru
August
Cabarete
El Gouna-Egypt
Fuerteventura
Tenerife
Brazil
Mauritius
Cape Verde
Naxos-Greece
Raratonga
The Gorge – USA
Bol-Croatia
Pirlanta-Turkey
Foddini-Italy
Zanzibar-Tanzania
Guincho-Portugal
Seychelles
Solomon Islands
Polynesia
Maui-USA
Fiji
Tahiti
Essaouira-Morocco
Corsica
Rhodes-Greece
Paramali-Cyprus
Paros-Greece
Lanzarote
Safaga-Egypt
Eilat-Israel
Sinai
Sri Lanka
Maui-USA
Aruba-Carib
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Mancora-Peru
September
El Gouna-Egypt
Tucus-Brazil
Mauritius
Pirlanta-Turkey
Zanzibar-Tanzania
Seychelles
Solomon Islands
Polynesia
Sumbawa – Indonesia
Maui-USA
Madagascar
UK
Corsica
Ireland
Canada
Germany
Israel
Sinai
Noordwijk ann Zee-Netherlands
Puclaro-Chile
Tarifa
Mancora-Peru
Cumbuco Brazil
October
Tucus-Brazil
Western Oz
Sumbawa – Indonesia
Madagascar
New Caledonia
Chile
UK
Esbjerg-Denmark
Ireland
Buenos Aires-Argentina
Carmelo-Uruguay
Noordwijk ann Zee-Netherlands
Cape Hatteras-USA
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Mancora – Peru
Cumbuco – Brazil
November
Melbourne
Cape town-South Africa
Tucus-Brazil
Western Oz
Namibia
Sumbawa – Indonesia
Auckland-NZ
Madagascar
New Caledonia
Buenos aires-Argentina
Carmelo-Uruguay
Hong Kong
Leucate-France
Noordwijk ann Zee-Netherlands
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Cumbuco Brazil
December
Melbourne
Tucus-Brazil
Cape Verde
Western Oz
Cape town-South Africa
La ventana-Mexico
Namibia
Copal-Costa Rica
Mui Ne Bay-Vietnam
Auckland-NZ
Nashiro-Japan
Baja
New Caledonia
Boracay – Philipines
Buenos aires-Argentina
Carmelo-Uruguay
Monastir – Tunisia
Hong Kong
Leucate – France
Cape Hatteras-USA
Tarifa
Puclaro-Chile
Yemen-Red Sea* – means varies depending on the island or side.** – monsoon season this is the dry side of the island
Feel free to add you’re own suggestions in the comments below:Your host is Horatio Sanz. Sitting across the table from him, as always, is producer Chad Krueger. The Hooray Show is recorded in the lovely hills of Echo Park, CA. If you're reading this, we just started Season Six. Go back to any of them. It's cool. We're here. This is a Bro Bro Studios Production on the UCB Comedy Podcast Network. itsthehoorayshow@gmail.com
Season 3 kicks off with another car ride to a grisly Los Angeles murder site. This time Horatio Sanz, Jake Fogelnest and Kevin Dorff take you from Echo Park to Brentwood to visit the site of O.J. Simpson's former mansion and the Condo where Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were murdered. Somewhere in between, Courtney Love and Biggie's Hollywood landmarks appear and Blowfly's short lived career as a writer and performer for School House Rock gets involved. Brian Granillo drives the car while Chad Krueger rides shotgun with the recording equipment.President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his attacks on “politically motivated ingrates” he claimed failed to recognize the United States’ relief efforts in Puerto Rico.
“Outside of the Fake News or politically motivated ingrates,” Trump tweeted, “people are now starting to recognize the amazing work that has been done by FEMA and our great Military.”
He called the situation on the island, which suffered widespread devastation after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, “almost impossible.”
“We have done a great job,” Trump tweeted. “Thank you to the Governor of P.R. and to all of those who are working so closely with our First Responders.”
We have done a great job with the almost impossible situation in Puerto Rico. Outside of the Fake News or politically motivated ingrates,… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2017
…people are now starting to recognize the amazing work that has been done by FEMA and our great Military. All buildings now inspected….. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2017
…for safety. Thank you to the Governor of P.R. and to all of those who are working so closely with our First Responders. Fantastic job! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2017
Trump on Saturday blasted San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, whom he accused of “poor leadership ability,” as well as “others in Puerto Rico” who Trump claimed “want everything to be done for them.”
“The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump,” he tweeted.
Cruz on Friday pushed back on Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke’s characterization of recovery efforts in Puerto Rico as a “good news story.”
“Maybe from where she’s standing it’s a good news story,” Cruz said. “When you are drinking from a creek, it’s not a good news story. When you don’t have food for a baby, it’s not a good news story. When you have to pull people down from their buildings — I’m sorry, but that really upsets me and frustrates me.”
On Saturday, she tweeted, “The goal is one: saving lives. This is the time to show our “true colors”. We cannot be distracted by anything else.”Illustration by Joanna Eberts
Nuclear weapons contractors repeatedly violate shipping rules for dangerous materials
Los Alamos laboratory’s recent mistakes in shipping plutonium were among dozens of incidents involving mislabeled or wrongly shipped materials associated with the nuclear weapons program
5 a.m., August 1, 2017
Plutonium capable of being used in a nuclear weapon, conventional explosives, and highly toxic chemicals have been improperly packaged or shipped by nuclear weapons contractors at least 25 times in the past five years, according to government documents. While the materials were not ultimately lost, the documents reveal repeated instances in which hazardous substances vital to making nuclear bombs and their components were mislabeled before shipment. That means those transporting and receiving them were not warned of the safety risks and did not take required precautions to protect themselves or the public, the reports say. The risks were discovered after regulators conducted inspections during transit, when the packages were opened at their destinations, during scientific analysis after the items were removed from packaging, or – in the worst cases – after releases of radioactive contaminants by unwary recipients, the Center for Public Integrity’s investigation showed. Only a few, slight penalties appear to have been imposed for these mistakes. In the most recent such instance, Los Alamos National Laboratory – a privately-run, government-owned nuclear weapons lab in New Mexico – admitted five weeks ago that in June it had improperly shipped unstable, radioactive plutonium in three containers to two other government-owned labs via FedEx cargo planes, instead of complying with federal regulations that required using trucks to limit the risk of an accident.
Containers used to ship and store plutonium like this one were used to improperly ship material by air to California and South Carolina in June. Department of Energy
Before shipping the plutonium, Los Alamos failed to properly complete a checklist of dangerous goods that FedEx requires customers to fill out, according to the Energy Department. According to the initial explanation Los Alamos filed with the government on June 23, the lab used air transport because one of the other labs – located in Livermore, California ― needed the plutonium urgently. But that claim of urgency was false, the recipient told the Center for Public Integrity. “There was no urgency in receiving this shipment – this notion is incorrect,” Livermore National Laboratory spokeswoman Lynda Seaver said in an email message. The incident – which came to light after a series of revelations by the Center for Public Integrity about other safety lapses at Los Alamos ― drew swift condemnation by officials at the National Nuclear Security Administration in Washington, D.C., which oversees U.S. nuclear weapons work. It provoked the Energy Department to order a three-week halt to all shipments in and out of Los Alamos, the largest of the nuclear weapons labs and a linchpin in the complex of privately-run facilities that sustains America’s nuclear arsenal.
Nuclear Negligence examines safety weaknesses at U.S. nuclear weapon sites operated by corporate contractors. The Center’s probe, based on contractor and government reports and officials involved in bomb-related work, revealed unpublicized accidents at nuclear weapons facilities, including some that caused avoidable radiation exposures. It also discovered that the penalties imposed by the government for these errors were typically small, relative to the tens of millions of dollars the NNSA gives to each of the contractors annually in pure profit. How we got this story »
The lab ― which is operated and managed by an industrial consortium that includes Bechtel, BWXT Government Group, Inc., AECOM (since its 2014 acquisition of URS) and the University of California ― has since been allowed to ship things out only after specially scrutinizing every item, said Los Alamos spokesman Matthew Nerzig. “All of those involved from the individual contributor level up the management chain have been held accountable through actions that include terminations, suspensions, and compensation consequences,” Nerzig added, without offering details. But the documents show that Los Alamos, in particular, is a repeat offender in mislabeling its shipments of hazardous materials: In a previously undisclosed 2012 case, for example, it sent unlabeled plutonium ― a highly carcinogenic, unstable metal ― to a University of New Mexico laboratory where graduate students sometimes work, according to internal government reports. The plutonium was accidentally opened there, leading to a contamination of the lab that required cleaning by the university and disposal of the debris by Los Alamos.
Packages containing plutonium await shipment from a nuclear site. Los Alamos National Lab
Los Alamos told the government it was not primarily at fault because the shipment had originated elsewhere and been mislabeled before it reached the lab. But it acknowledged that its personnel should have checked the package more closely before sending it onward. In total, 11 of the 25 known shipping mistakes since July 2012 involved shipments that either originated at Los Alamos or passed through the lab. Thirteen of the 25 incidents involved plutonium, highly-enriched uranium (another nuclear explosive), or other radioactive materials. Some of the mislabeled shipments went to toxic waste dumps and breached regulatory limits on what the dumps were allowed to accept, according to the reports. In many instances, there were no consequences for the associated private nuclear weapons contractors. Responsibility for policing such hazardous shipments is fractured within the federal Transportation Department, with ground movements of nuclear weapons materials under the purview of the department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and air shipments policed by its Federal Aviation Administration. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which arguably has more experience with the handling and transport of radioactive materials than any other government entity, has no jurisdiction over nuclear weapons-related work by the NNSA or its contractors. Instead, the Energy Department (of which the NNSA is a semi-autonomous part) regulates all the sites on its own, as well as the contractors that manage them |
got a great sense of humour and I really fancy him because of it’. What you mean is ‘I fancy him and I show him I like him by laughing when I’m around him.’”
Indeed, mirth might be the primary way of maintaining relationships; she points to research, for instance, showing that couples who laugh with each other find it much easier to dissipate tension after a stressful event – and overall, they are likely to stay together for longer. Other recent studies have shown that people who laugh together at funny videos are also more likely to open up about personal information – paving more common ground between people.
Even the hilarity at the German man falling in the frozen swimming pool may have united the friends. “It’s interesting how quickly his friends start laughing – I think it’s to make him feel better,” says Scott. Along these lines, Robin Dunbar at the University of Oxford has found that laughter correlates with increased pain threshold, perhaps by encouraging the release of endorphins – chemicals that should also improve social bonding.
Scott is now interested in picking apart the differences between the “posed” giggles we might use to pepper our conversation – and the absolutely involuntary fits that can destroy a TV or radio broadcast, like this:
For instance, she found that the less authentic tones are often more nasal – whereas our helpless, involuntary belly laughs never come through the nose.
Her fMRI scans, meanwhile, have looked at the way the brain responds to each kind of laughter. Both seem to tickle the brain’s mirror regions – the areas that tend to mimic other’s actions. These areas will light up whether I see you kicking a ball, or if I kick it myself, for instance – and it could be this neural mimicry that makes laughter so contagious. “You are 30 times more likely to laugh if you’re with someone else,” she says. An important difference, however, is that the less spontaneous, social laughs, tend to trigger greater activity in areas associated with “mentalising” and working out other people’s motives – perhaps because we want to understand why they are faking it.
You may think it is easy to tell the difference between involuntary and more artificial laughs, but Scott thinks the skill develops slowly across the lifespan and may not peak until our late 30s. For this reason, she has recently set up an experiment at London’s Science Museum, where her team will be asking visitors of different ages to judge the authenticity of different clips of people laughing and crying. After all, she points out that crying is an infant’s primary way of communicating, whereas laughter gains more importance the older we get.
Although we may tend to dislike certain people’s “fake” laughs, Scott thinks it probably says more about us, and the way we are responding to their social signals, than anything particularly irritating about them. She tells me about an acquaintance who had frequently irritated her with a persistent, fluting, laugh. “I always thought that she laughed so inappropriately, but when I paid more attention to it I saw that what was odd was simply the fact I didn’t join in. Her laughter was entirely normal.” If she hadn’t disliked the person already, she says, she would have laughed away and wouldn’t have even noticed.
Why not listen to some of Scott's clips and judge your own abilities to read people’s laughter:
Beside probing the bonds in our closest relationships, Scott’s curiosity has also taken her to comedy clubs. “What’s interesting about laughter in the situation of stand-up is that it’s still an interaction,” she says. In a way, the audience is having a conversation with the comedian. “I’m interested in what happens when the audience starts laughing and how it dies away – whether are you in sync with people around you or whether you don’t care, because the experience is just between you and the person on the stage.”
Paradoxically, she says, comedians often find it easier to work in large venues, perhaps because the contagious nature of laughter means that waves of mirth can catch on more easily when there are more people. She recalls a video of comedian Sean Lock reducing the audience to fits of hysterics simply by saying the word “cummerbund” occasionally, thanks to the infectious laughter spreading through the audience.
So far, she has tried to equip audience members watching comedians with sensors to track the outbreak of laughter, with limited success – the audience froze under the attention. But she hopes to continue the work with a high-profile comedian like Rob Delaney, who may be able to break through the awkwardness.
Scott occasionally takes up the microphone herself at comedy nights in London, and I ask her if her insights have fed her stage persona? She disagrees that science has offered her a fast track to comic genius, though as I discover at a charity gig the following evening, she is very funny.
As her “Is this science?” T-shirt reminds us, her more uptight colleagues might disapprove of her flippant attitude – but then, Scott understands just how powerful a tool that laughter can be to express ourselves, and get people to listen. “Laughter seems trivial, ephemeral, pointless,” she says. “But it is never neutral – there’s always a meaning to it.”
Share this story on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.Former Democrat President Jimmy Carter jumped to President Donald Trump’s defense Wednesday, praising the New Yorker for not doing away with President Obama’s DACA immigration policy in one shot.
The 92-year-old Georgia Democrat said during a town hall event at Emory University that Trump deserves some credit, CNN reported.
“To give Trump some due, he hasn’t ended DACA yet,” Carter said to Emory’s first-year students. “What he’s said is he has given Congress six months to address the issue, which is long overdue.”
“It’s very difficult because when (President Barack) Obama had a Democratic House and Senate, he didn’t do it,” Carter added.
Early in September, President Trump announced that he intended to end Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but with the stipulation that his action would be postponed for six months to give Congress time to address the issue.
It was this delayed action Carter praised.
“I don’t think it’s a hopeless case. I think the pressure and the publicity that Trump has brought to the immigration issue may have stimulated both Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate to be more accommodating in this longstanding argument,” the ex-president said.
The “malaise” president also had some advice for his successor.
“I would say to promote human rights, to keep our country at peace, and to tell the truth,” Carter said. “I would like to see the United States of America, I’d say once again, become the foremost champion of human rights on earth.”
The former president and one-time peanut farmer also worried that the U.S. would become an “oligarchy.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.A secretive hacking group known as Wild Neutron has targeted a range of businesses worldwide including bitcoin companies, two top cybersecurity firms have reported.
Twin studies published by Kapersky Lab and Symantec state that the group, alternatively known as Morpho or Jripbot, has been involved in a number of high-profile attacks on companies like Apple, Google and Facebook, among many others.
While no specific firms were named, Kapersky released an infographic including bitcoin companies among a list of businesses targeted by the shadowy group.
The group, which the security firms suggest is not backed by any particular nation-state and appears to be focused on stealing corporate secrets, has also targeted jihadist forums, spyware developers and firms involved in finance, mergers and acquisitions and information technology.
Research director Costin Raiu said in a statement:
“Wild Neutron is a skilled and quite versatile group. Active since 2011, it has been using at least one zero-day exploit, custom malware and tools for Windows and OS X. Even though in the past it has attacked some of the most prominent companies in the world, it has managed to keep a relatively low profile via solid operational security which has so far eluded most attribution efforts.”
The group first emerged in 2013, and according to Symantec’s research, has targeted firms based primarily in the US, Canada and Europe. Kapersky reported that, as of now, the origin of Wild Neutron “remains a mystery”.
Images via Kapersky Lab, ShutterstockEoghan Stokes in action for the Ireland U19s against the Netherlands in 2014. Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO
CORK CITY ARE keen to secure the services of former Republic of Ireland U19 striker Eoghan Stokes after confirming over the weekend that Sean Maguire will leave the club this summer.
Maguire, who has scored 16 league goals in 17 appearances for the Leesiders this season, will join English Championship outfit Preston North End on a three-year deal at the end of July.
Having been with Leeds United since leaving St Kevin’s Boys at the age of 16, Stokes has been offered a one-year contract extension to remain at Elland Road for a sixth season.
However, City are hopeful of completing a deal for the 21-year-old as Leeds continue their search for a new manager following the recent departure of Garry Monk, who guided the club to a seventh-place finish in England’s second tier last season.
Stokes, who can also play in an advanced midfield role or in a wide berth, has scored regularly for Leeds at U21 and U23 level but is understood to be uncertain over his future at the club after being unable to make a first-team breakthrough.
The Leixlip native has attracted interest from elsewhere in the League of Ireland, as well as clubs in England. After signing a new one-year deal with Leeds last summer, Stokes became a target for Dundalk before the start of the 2017 SSE Airtricity League season. However, the two clubs were unable to agree a deal.
As they prepare to lose their leading goalscorer, Cork City have also been linked with Galway United striker Ronan Murray, Sligo Rovers playmaker Kieran Sadlier and ex-Dundalk forward Patrick Hoban, who’s looking for a new club after being released by Mansfield Town.
City moved 18 points clear at the top of the Premier Division on Friday night, with Maguire scoring a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over champions Dundalk at Oriel Park.
The 23-year-old striker had a €150,000 release clause in his contract with the Cork club, who announced on Saturday that they’ve agreed “an appropriate but undisclosed compensation package” with Preston.On Sunday, the road to Chael Sonnen's fight with Wanderlei Silva begins in a unique place. The Sonnen-Silva season of The Ultimate Fighter, taped for Globo in Brazil, will air worldwide only on UFC Fight Pass, it's new on-line paid subscription service.
A season that looked to be among the most anticipated in recent years is being used not only to promote a fight, but to jump start subscriptions to the service, which also includes a live fight card from England the day before.
After a promotional advertisement for the season, filed with Silva threats, Sonnen counters, and the beginning of a skirmish, aired on Fight Pass, an edited version on YouTube had 1.3 million viewers over the next 48 hours.
"As far as the incident with Wanderlei, there were many incidents," Sonnen said. "One of them has garnered more attention than the others. The guy was a complete struggle on a daily basis to work alongside."
Dana White noted that putting together a video was more deciding what to leave out than put in.
"We have a treasure chest of s*** from this show," said White via text message.
Ever the master at building a fight, Sonnen's tact with Silva is to say his Japanese success wasn't close to how it looked, and his UFC record is among the worst ever.
"Wanderlei's record is the single worst in the history of the UFC," he claimed. "That's not just the Zuffa owned UFC, but the SEG UFC as well. He currently has five wins and eight losses. That is the record. He's won his last two fights, so that means at one point he had three wins and eight losses. There's never been a guy that terrible in UFC."
Those stats aren't quite accurate. Silva, a legend in the Pride Fighting Championships where he was middleweight (in Japan at the time, that was the 93 kilogram class, or 204.6-pound weight class) from 2001 to 2007, currently has a 5-7 UFC record, and has won two of his last three fights. He defeated Cung Le and Brian Stann, both via second-round finish, and in between, lost a five-round decision to Rich Franklin.
The bout is between two of the most experienced fighters in the promotion, with the 36-year-old Sonnen having debuted 17 years ago, although it's been 12 years of fighting regularly. Silva, 37, in his 18th year of fighting professionally, first made a name for himself on the Brazilian circuit in a tournament in 1997.
In the Stann fight, one of the best of 2013, Silva came back from multiple first-round knockdowns, and Sonnen admits that was a good showing.
"I thought he looked very good and I think he's a dangerous guy," he said. "I'm not dismissing him. But he pulled the wool over people's eyes in Japan with that fake crap. I'll expose his real competitive history every opportunity I get. I outed him many years ago for those fights in Japan being fake. Time out, that referee's wearing an ear piece, it looks like Earl Hebner and his twin brother (two well known pro wrestling referees). Those matches aren't real. I had a teammates who told me the promoter comes in with $10,000 in cash and tells you how this match will go. After I outed him, I got support from (Gary) Goodridge, (Mark) Coleman and (Don) Frye saying Chael's right."
Fake probably isn't the right word to use on Silva's Pride career. After his first win over Kazushi Sakuraba, at the time a national sports hero, he had the right win at the right time to make a career. The Japanese mentality was that the fans there wanted a Japanese fighter, and preferably Sakuraba or another pro wrestler or famous name, to be the one to beat him on the big stage. The fact none of the chosen Japanese fighters were able to beat him led to his long period of domination.
Silva blew through mostly Japanese competition from 2001 to 2004, including facing Sakuraba two more times. But he also beat Rampage Jackson in two of the greatest fights of the era. His 18-fight undefeated streak, which included one draw and one no contest, ended against Mark Hunt, in a unlimited weight class fight that he gave up 76 pounds in.
"I was a struggling fighter sitting on my couch watching guys pretending to win and it p***ed me off," Sonnen said.
Sonnen, who admitted not being fond of traveling in the first place, had a number of struggles going to Brazil,. It wasn't just a foreign country where people spoke a different language and an entirely different culture, but it was a place where he was one of the most hated athletes alive a few years back when he used anti-Brazilian rhetoric to promote his two fights with Anderson Silva. Wanderlei Silva was playing off that on the show, telling Sonnen he needed to apologize for what he said, as shown in some previews.
"I saw the advertisement," said Sonnen. "It was tweeted to me. I liked it, too. It looked pretty good."
But it was a struggle at times being there.
"There were some challenges that came with that," he said. "We were at a strategic and competitive disadvantage due to me not speaking Portuguese and being able to communicate. That was a reality. That was a struggle. It was like the game `Charades.' You have to act it out. That's what I was doing throughout this whole experience. We got pretty good at our form of sign language."
He noted that despite what had been said previously, on the first day he got on the set with Jon Jones, he talked to him, using football as an analogy, since Jones has two brothers who play in the NFL.
"What would opposing coaches in football do? Do they play pranks? Do they vandalize? Do they harass each other? Or do they do the best job with their teams. He said, `I'm with you.'"
"With Wanderlei, that didn't work. I tried to have that talk many times. It didn't work."
But as far as Sonnen knows, while he's signed to fight Silva, the opposite is still not the case.
"I have no update, but I continue to poke him in the chest with the statement that he hasn't signed," said Sonnen. "I know he hadn't signed the last we had an update.
"My assumption, psychology wise, is if he had signed, he would make that announcement."IWC unveiled the watch, called DaVinci (a tribute to Leonardo), at the Basel Fair in 1985, with a whopping $25,000 price tag. The watch, if kept wound, would keep track of the day, date, month, year and phase of the moon accurately and without adjustment for the next 214 years. IWC employees took bets on how many DaVincis would sell at the Basel Fair. Many figured 10 to 15, given its price and the weak market for mechanicals. The most optimistic was 30. But IWC took orders for more than 100. The DaVinci convinced Blümlein that the tide was turning, that the classical mechanical watch would not drown in the flood of cheap quartz watches after all. Buoyed by its success, IWC decided to storm the horological Mount Everest. The company assembled a team to go where no watch producer had ever gone before: create a Grand Complication watch for the wrist.Image copyright AP Image caption Jamaican commuters say the authorities should now tackle other forms of disturbance, such as loud music on buses
Jamaica's public transport authorities have banned lay preachers from addressing commuters in public buses.
Jamaica is a predominantly Christian country, but many passengers have complained about the noise and disturbance.
Drivers have been instructed to politely warn religious ministers that they are no longer allowed to evangelise fellow passengers.
Preachers say the decision infringes freedom of speech and religion.
"I am all for evangelising, but they cannot use the bus as their platform," Hardley Lewin, managing director of the Jamaica Transit Company Limited said.
He told The Gleaner newspaper that commuters resent being a captive audience.
"I think this is what makes the bus an attractive mobile church. I suppose you cannot just get off because you have spent your money," said Mr Lewin.
Correspondents say lay ministers - many of them Christian evangelicals - have accepted the decision for now, but may decide to challenge it by citing Jamaica's constitution, which inludes the right "to manifest and propagate his religion".
Prominent evangelical pastor Herro Blair said preachers should have approached the public transport company before embarking on attempts to evangelise commuters.Google just sent out press invitations for a July 24th event to be led by Android / Chrome OS chief Sundar Pichai. The company isn't revealing what it plans to discuss next week, but one possibility is that we'll finally learn more about the next release of Android — version 4.3. Little is known about Google's upcoming Android revision, but we do expect it to include support for Bluetooth Smart (also known as Bluetooth low energy) devices. It also stands to reason that Google will bring the updated camera app first seen in the Google Play editions of HTC's One and Samsung's Galaxy S4 to the OS at large.
Minor UI tweaks aside, it's also been some time since we've heard substantial news on the Chrome OS front. Does Google have other surprises in store? We'll be on hand live starting at 9AM PT (12PM EST) to bring you any announcements as they happen, and Google also plans to broadcast the event via YouTube.Michael Flynn testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on "Worldwide Threats" in Washington, February 4, 2014. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is giving consideration to retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as a potential vice-presidential running mate, a Republican source familiar with the process told Reuters on Saturday.
For weeks Trump has conducted a high-profile canvassing of Republican political stalwarts as part of his running-mate search, but he has also made clear he is looking at what a military leader would bring to the ticket.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Flynn has emerged as a possibility, confirming reports in the New York Post and The Washington Post. The Trump campaign had no comment.
Flynn, though a fierce critic of Barack Obama, is a registered Democrat, according to The Washington Post.
The thinking is that Flynn, who has been a foreign-policy adviser to Trump, would be able to help Trump in the area of national security at a time of challenges abroad like the threat from Islamic State militants.
Trump is also considering a more conventional political choice for his running mate, such as former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, or New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Flynn was chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama from 2012 to 2014.
He has spoken in the past about wanting the US to work more closely with Russia to resolve global security issues.
Flynn told Russia Today in an interview published on December 10 that the US and Russia should work together to resolve the Syrian civil war and defeat Islamic State.
He was pictured seated at the head table just two seats away from Vladimir Putin at a dinner honoring Russia Today, a media network funded by Russia's government, reports Politico.
Flynn has a book coming out next week, cowritten with Michael Ledeen, titled: "The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies."
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Leslie Adler and Business Insider)JOSH Kennedy bagged five goals and Nic Naitanui made a successful return to competitive football in West Coast's 19-point win over Fremantle in a practice match at Patersons Stadium on Thursday night.
The Eagles made it three wins from as many starts in their first pre-season under new coach Adam Simpson, winning 13.8 (86) to 9.13 (67) in front of a healthy crowd.
Kennedy kicked just two of his five straight from set shots, benefiting from the relentless pressure the West Coast midfield and forwards put on Freo.
Naitanui, playing his first game since July due to a debilitating groin injury, started forward and spent time in the midfield, although did very little ruck work, after coming on as a sub late in the second quarter.
He made an impact after half-time taking a trademark leaping mark over a pack on the wing. He also laid a strong tackle and provided a brilliant shepherd on two Dockers chasing Dom Sheed. Eagles coach Adam Simpson said it could not have worked out better.
"Perfect, just what we wanted," Simpson said.
"Like we said before the game, get his minutes up, get through unscathed, and I think there's no injuries from anyone."
Simpson was wary that despite his team's win on the scoreboard, the Eagles were beaten comfortably in contested possessions and clearances.
"It felt a bit more like a round one than what it did a few weeks ago," Simpson said.
"I thought we battled well. We lost most KPIs that I value and we still won, that happens sometimes, but I wouldn't have thought if that happens consistently we'll have victories."
Freo's midfielders did find a fair bit of the football. Lachie Neale was again impressive for the Dockers gathering 27 touches while David Mundy and Michael Barlow were polished at stages through the middle.
Fremantle will have one concern ahead of round one though with Michael Walters reported for rough conduct after collecting Brant Colledge high late in the last quarter. Aside from that Ross Lyon was relatively pleased with his side's effort.
"For a practice match, it was an intense game," Lyon said.
"Really high level intensity from both teams. I was really quite pleased.
"The concern at half-time was our sloppiness, some fumbles and dropped marks, and it allowed them to score off some turnovers."
It was a scrappy opening term in the 36-degree heat. Both sides attacked each other with greater intensity than what was shown in their NAB Challenge clash and clean possessions were at a premium.
Kennedy kicked two goals for the term, one from a 50m penalty, the other a quick snap after a turnover.
The Eagles kicked clear in the second term with a five-goal-to-two quarter. Kennedy slotted his fourth from a set shot on the half-time siren to extend the margin to 19 points.
It blew out to 30 points midway through the third term as the Dockers struggled to break through an impressive Eagles press. Kennedy, LeCras, Jack Darling and Matt Rosa all kicked goals on the back of turnovers from the Dockers defence.
From there the sting went out of the game as the heat began to takes it toll. Matthew Pavlich spent the entire second half on the bench after being subbed out at half-time.
Star Fremantle midfielder Nat Fyfe missed his second straight game due to a slight knee issue, but Lyon confirmed both he and Hayden Ballantyne, who was rested due to a corked thigh, will line-up against Collingwood in round one next Friday night.
WEST COAST 2.2 7.5 11.6 13.8 (86)
FREMANTLE 3.2 5.4 7.8 9.13 (67)
GOALS
West Coast: Kennedy 5, LeCras 2, Sinclair, Cripps, Rosa, Darling, Sheed, Colledge
Fremantle: Sandilands, Walters, Barlow, Pavlich, Sheridan, Duffield, Hannath, Taberner, de Boer
BEST
West Coast: Kennedy, LeCras, Hurn, Priddis, Sheed, Rosa, Glass
Fremantle: Barlow, Sheridan, Hill, Neale, Mundy, Duffield
INJURIES
West Coast: Nil
Fremantle: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
West Coast: Naitanui replaced Lycett in the second quarter; Lycett replaced Sinclair in the third quarter; Colledge replaced Shuey in the fourth quarter
Fremantle: Taberner replaced Pavlich at half-time; Crozier replaced Suban in the third quarter
Reports: Michael Walters (Fremantle) reported for rough conduct on Brant Colledge
Umpires: Margetts, Dalgleish, Farmer
Official crowd: 12,000 approx at Patersons Stadium‘Chris Christie is loser’ was my alternate title. Not a quote, but it is the basic message from Rush Limbaugh on his show today: Obama does know what he is doing.
After a weekend of petty Republican back-stabbing, it’s about time someone showed the sense and backbone to say it.
It’s a four minute clip so far too much for a full transcript. If you can’t listen (although you really should try), here is the most important point:
“None of these Republican moderates will go there. And you want to know why? You want to know why? You want to know why they cannot agree that Obama is doing this on purpose? Very simple. They cannot agree that Obama’s doing it on purpose, they do not dare say that Obama is doing it on purpose because they have all worked with Barack Obama. In one way or another, every one of these governors, many of them, and even a lot of Republicans in the House and the Senate have worked with Obama to advance certain elements of the agenda. We have worked with Obama on the spending bills, we have worked with Obama or we want to on amnesty and immigration. There are some in the Republican side who want to work with Obama when it comes to issues in the so-called war on women. But when you have worked with Obama, when you have asked Obama to come to your state, and when you have embraced Obama and done everything you can to get assistance from Obama, well you can’t turn around and then say Obama is purposely trying to transform the country because it makes you look like an idiot.”
So dead on. And that jab at Christie was unmistakable. Limbaugh further states that there is not a single candidate in this primary who would, through inexperience, repeat Obama’s mistakes. Because they aren’t mistakes. They are what he intended, what he promised, and what he did.
For those pitching other campaigns, wake up. This, like Rubio’s remarks on abortion, is a fundamental issue, a fundamental point that should transcend petty self-interest in which Republican happens to win the nomination. If you want to attack Marco, hey by all means. It’s a primary.
But don’t dismantle a key argument that the conservative movement needs and is also, hey guess what, actually true.
That is what is so infuriating about the until-now wildly unpopular among conservatives Chris Christie and his remarkable new fan base of people who support other candidates. You’re attacking the messenger and the message even though it’s the correct message! What’s more, it’s a message that resonates with voters we need in the general, no matter which candidate wins.
Obama does know exactly what he’s doing. Obama has done what he has done to this country on purpose. He didn’t stumble through inadvertently driving the country to socialism. It’s literally what he set out to do. Sorry if that undercuts the argument no-chance-in-hell-of-winning Jeb Bush and his minions like Chris Christie want to sell about “inexperience”. Those are the facts. Get right, people.Republicans in Alabama will go to the polls Tuesday to choose their party’s candidate for the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions when he became President Donald Trump’s Attorney General. The incumbent candidate is Luther Strange, the former state Attorney General who has been holding Sessions’ seat on an interim basis — and who has Trump’s endorsement.
But the frontrunner is Roy Moore, a 70-year-old former Chief Justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court. He was suspended from his post last year, after bucking the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. On his campaign website, Moore says he was “upholding the sanctity of marriage as between one man and one woman.”
That’s one of his tamer statements. Here are some of his more incendiary remarks.
Roy Moore said homosexuality is tantamount to bestiality and should be illegal
Earlier this week, CNN dredged up an 12-year-old video of Moore on C-SPAN2, in which pundit Bill Press grilled Moore on his views on homosexuality.
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“Homosexual conduct should be illegal, yes,” Moore said.
He then made a remark likening homosexuality to having sex with animals.
“Do you know that bestiality, the relationship between man and beast is prohibited in every state?” he asked.
“You mean homosexuality is same thing as bestiality?” Press replied.
“It is a moral precept upon which this country was founded,” Moore told him.
He said ‘reds and yellows’ aren’t getting along
In a campaign speech last weekend, Moore decried the divisions between Americans today, lamenting that “we have blacks and whites fighting, reds and yellows fighting, Democrats and Republicans fighting, men and women fighting. What’s going to unite us? What’s going to bring us back together? A president? A Congress? No. It’s going to be God.”
“Reds” is historically a pejorative term for Native Americans and “yellows” is the same for people of Asian ancestry. Moore later defended his remarks on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/MooreSenate/status/909912213506359301
Moore suggested gay people shouldn’t be allowed to have children
In a custody dispute in 2002, when Moore was Chief Justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court, he ruled in favor of the allegedly abusive ex-husband of a woman who had since come out as a lesbian. The reason? “Homosexual behavior is crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one’s ability to describe it,” he wrote in his opinion, concluding that one’s homosexuality alone “would render him or her an unfit parent.”
He falsely said Barack Obama isn’t an American citizen
Last month, CNN reported that Moore was one of the many voices in the chorus of the “birther” movement — people who wrongly believe that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
“Now, I haven’t seen one thing in the press about this, and yet the President of the United States will not produce his birth certificate,” Moore said in 2009. “That’s very strange indeed. Why we don’t hear about it — because the press won’t report it.”
Moore wrote anti-abortion poetry
The aspiring Senator is also an amateur poet, as he demonstrated at a campaign rally last week. The website Talking Points Memo reports that he spoke out against the moral decline of the U.S., claiming that “we have child abuse, we have sodomy, we have murder, we have rape, we have all kind of immoral things happening because we have forgotten God.”
He then broke out in verse:
“Babies piled in dumpsters, abortion on demand,
Oh, sweet land of liberty, your house is on the sand.”
He called Islam a ‘false religion’
In a meeting with Alabama Republicans in July, Moore was asked by one attendee about Sharia law in the U.S. (The notion that Islamic law is a threat to the U.S. judicial system is a relatively old conspiracy theory.)
“I’ve seen a lot in the news about Sharia law, and Muslims demanding break times to do their prayers and wanting to have their laws oversee our laws, and I just wonder how you plan to deal with that,” the woman asked him, according to the Huffington Post.
“False religions like Islam who teach that you must worship this way are completely opposite with what our First Amendment stands for,” he replied.
Contact us at editors@time.com.We’ve been hearing for a long while now about the fabled Google tablet, presumably called the Nexus 7.
The 7-inch slate will be powered by Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 chip and will be manufactured by ASUS. Perhaps the most important tidbit we’ve learned so far about the Google tablet is its pricing, which will supposedly be in the $150-$250 range. Now that we’ve seen Nvidia’s Kai platform and Acer’s Iconia Tab 110, the $200 price tag seems increasingly probable.
The general consensus is that Google will launch the Nexus tablet at the Google I/O conference taking place in San Francisco at the end of June. But up until now, all we’ve got was speculations and circumstantial evidence.
Now, we are able to confirm to you that ASUS is indeed partnering with Google for the Nexus tablet. An ASUS representative, who wished to remain anonymous, told us during COMPUTEX that the Google tablet will come by the end of June, and that can only mean one thing – Google I/O.
Unfortunately, that’s all we were able to get from the rep, besides the assurance that “it will be awesome”. Not much news really, but it’s always good to hear it from an insider.
The next piece of info that we got is a little more specific. ASUS is in talks with US carriers to bring the Padfone stateside. The bad news is carriers hate it (somehow expected, those tethering fees are basically free money) and, so far, only AT&T is willing to give it a try. Things are going slow on this front, said the ASUS rep.
Moving on, the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700) is coming by the end of June in both a WiFi only and an LTE version, which will be picked up by AT&T. We suspected for a while that the Pad Infinity would come on AT&T, based on an appearance that the slate made on FCC. Now we know for sure. We’ve been told that Asus encountered production issues with upstream suppliers, but they are now solved and all the pieces are falling into place for the TF700 launch. The pad will go for $499 but we are not sure if that’s the price of the WiFi-only version or of the LTE version.
This summer is shaping up to be sizzling hot and ASUS’ creations are just a part of it. Don’t worry though, we don’t take vacations at Android Authority. We’ll be here to report on everything!"Exclusive" content will not be available through regular distribution. However, it will be available in limited supply at conventions, through contests, at our online web store, and online at the BGG Promo Store.
Customs: International shipping is a complex and complicated issue that has been the demise of several project creators. Because our game has such a low declaration value, it is likely international backers will face minimal import and customs fees. With an expected MSRP of $20 and $30, international backers are effectively paying $7 for shipping the basic game and $4 for shipping the deluxe game...
Multiple Copy Discounts: The size of our game allows us to ship two games in one flat rate box for most locations, which is the reason why shipping has even larger discounts for multiple game levels (we are passing on 100% of the shipping savings).
Timely & Fair: We believe we have found shipping options that are beneficial for both domestic and international backers. We have listed the additional amount of shipping underneath each post so that backers will know up-front how much they are paying. These amounts represent a discount from what we are actually paying for all locations, but we wanted to pass on as much savings as we can handle to our backers.
For an in-depth explanation of what the tokens are and how they work, check out the video from Dave's first PennyGem campaign.
We're working with Dave Howell, the creator of PennyGems, to create some truly fabulous add-ons for Imperial Harvest. PennyGems are "dazzlingly shiny, feel solid yet sensual to the touch, are very easy to pick up off a table (because of their raised edges), are non-skid, stack surprisingly well, have a nice weight to them, and are incredibly durable." We'll be producing these in a large enough batch that Dave has given us a solid discount on the final product, allowing us to sell a sheet of 80 labels (20 strawberry tokens and 20 victory points tokens) for just $15 as an add-on.
In Imperial Harvest, players take control of two opposing teams racing to collect the greatest number of Royal Strawberries. To be successful, each player must master the powers of their respective characters in order to quickly navigate the Imperial Gardens, evade enemy attacks, and collect |
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10. Dance Gavin Dance – Instant Gratification
[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
Holy shit. Hooooooooooooooooooly shit, you guys. Just picture me, sitting here, profound grin across my face as I read every single comment about Bring Me The Horizon coming in at #42…
Let’s just say I’m truly thankful to be able to join you today, all of us together again for another holiday season and the yearly Sputnikmusic Staff Top Ten. First up is… waiiiit. Album art with like, lots of overly-detailed small stuff happening inside a much, much larger frame? Do a double-take, if you want (search your feelings, you know it to be true…). What you’re looking at is unmistakably Dance Gavin Dance album artwork, and Instant Gratification, now a certified ‘Best of 2015’ record, is unmistakably a Dance Gavin Dance album (let the comments flow, guys… really, don’t hold back).
Over the past eight years, and despite all the (astounding) drama that has befallen the band, Dance Gavin Dance have managed to release an impressive six LPs: one that was okay, two that were great, one that was awesome (this one), and two that changed the game forever. Based on my recollection, the first five never even sniffed our Top 50, and yet, behold! In 2015, Instant Gratification lands right here, in our Top Ten. Hell, even its position (top of the page, first blurb to read, most overall views, etc.) is cause to celebrate. Consider this my bright, shiny ‘fuck you’ to Carrie and Lowell. Score one for high pitched clean vocals and their screamed counterparts. Score one for lyrics like “I came to show you my sack.” Score one for Jacob Royal Ocean.
What makes Dance Gavin Dance so special is the band’s intense commitment to its own irreverence. Over its (still reasonably short) timeline, and especially during this Tillian-era renaissance, we are all witnesses to a vision of a world without vision. There are those out there who would fault artists for this — for making music visceral first, meaningful second. Those people are the worst. Instant Gratification is, as its name would suggest, an effortless masterpiece. –theacademy
9. We Lost The Sea – Departure Songs
[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
We Lost the Sea couldn’t have written a better eulogy for Chris Torpy than Departure Songs. While none of the movements contained within explicitly pay homage to their former frontman, the collection of moving tributes feel every inch like a nod to their fallen friend. Continuing the band without replacing Torpy was a risky move on the surface, but there can be no question of whether it was the right move or not now. Departure Songs tips its hat to acts of great self-sacrifice and valour; acts committed by almost inconceivably brave men and women who did what they believed to be right in the face of catastrophe or the great unknown. The swirling delay on “A Gallant Gentlemen” provides the perfect backdrop to Captain Oates of the Arctic’s last moments; the Eastern European vibe which permeates “Bogatyri” pays homage to the three heroes of Chernobyl; and the crushing volleys and stirring samples of “Challenger” paint vivid pictures of fire, disaster and loss. Departure Songs is always about more than just the music. The stories spring into life, and along with the accompanying artwork for each song, a rich tapestry emerges, fully immersing you in the experience. Whether you imagine yourself to be in their shoes or simply watching from afar, it’s a genuinely moving experience, and it’s one of the finest post-rock albums of recent times. –Dan H.
8. Jamie XX – In Colour
[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
What allowed me to truly enjoy In Colour was when I eventually came to hear it not as a singular aesthetic statement, but rather as a diverse collection of pop-oriented dance tunes. Songs like “Girl” are based in such traditional melodic structures, but are packaged with such a glossy sheen and sidechained to the core in a way that brings to mind what Neon Indian’s been up to this year. Perception can change a whole lot, and it can even turn one of the otherwise cheesiest albums of 2015 into one of the slickest pop records, no problem. “Seesaw” is surely the best example of the kind of warmth Jamie XX is capable of sharing through song: brilliant, steady sunlight diffracted from a nearby windowpane. My favorite thing about this song is how its introduction steals the spotlight from “Sleep Sound” — snatches it, even.
And as any true color palette, In Colour offers hues of faded indigos and radiant oranges in tandem. “Good Times” makes phenomenal use of Young Thug’s charismatic fire behind the mic, and crosses the threshold of mainstream pop-rap with ease. And to this listener at least, “The Rest Is Noise” feels like the grandest song here – the kind of emotional journey that could take place on a long train ride, tranquil between steam engine huffs. It’s nice to hear possible influences here from the sonic dynamism of Jon Hopkins, who has an incredible grasp for flow and pacing within his own music. Jamie XX approaches pop here in the same way Hopkins and Coldplay do in “Viva La Vida” – waiting for the gift at hand to be boxed before wrapping it in brilliant, sequined gold ribbon. And this kind of “bigness” within pop music surely will be well-remembered throughout the years, which is why we’ll still be talking about Jamie XX in 2019 – his music gives off the impression that it’s just now beginning to undergo a change, subtle but worth paying attention to. In Colour suggests hints as to where his career will lead next, but the album never gifts us anything more than such ambiguities. –Jacob Royal
7. Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love
[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
The Olympia, Washington trio’s career arc has been a continuous ascent thus far, with every new album elaborating on the energy and intelligence of the previous one. No Cities To Love is no exception, the rare reunion record that captures the essence of the band, pointing at the possibility of vital future after an 8-year-long hiatus. Age has not made Sleater-Kinney’s sound any less ferocious. This is a 32-minute scorcher of an album that brims with fierce intensity. The album’s raging opener “Price Tag” condemns a culture dominated by consumerism amid a punchy noise rock arrangement, while “Surface Envy” is the trio’s statement of strength: “We win, we lose, only together do we break the rules.”
Every song boasts an irresistibly sweet melodic center that’s in stark contrast with sharp angular guitar riffs. The vocal interplay between Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein is in a class of its own, often recalling the trio’s riot grrrl beginnings. Drummer Janet Weiss blends into whatever style each song requires, which is not an easy feat considering how diverse the songwriting is. Whether it is the playful dance punk of “Fangless”, the summery pop of “A New Wave” or the blistering post-hardcore of “No Anthems”, the women sound rejuvenated exploring different styles with verve and brash rock swagger. No Cities To Love is a testament to their ongoing friendship, but also a reminder of how essential they are to the current rock scene. –Greg Fisher
6. Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness
[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
It’s the review format we all fear: a unique and well-loved artist “goes accessible” and the reader immediately jumps to the worst conclusion. Not only that, but we’re talking about Julia Holter – star of 2013 and long-time darling of the experimental pop sphere – and she’s singing love songs! You could even say she’s singing ballads! How could we ask for a greater set-up for catastrophe?
But this isn’t a disaster or a cynical attempt to translate critical adoration for more lucrative fame. Instead, Have You In My Wilderness marks another period of steady progression for an artist who has had every bohemian wrapped ’round her finger since 2012. Where Julia’s previous album, the typically erudite Loud City Song, toyed with a more dramatic pop sensibility, Have You In My Wilderness embraces it completely. What is lead-single “Feel You” but a stellar example of art pop done so deliciously right? Julia swoons over a chamber orchestra with well-known sensitivity and newly-revealed confidence – that anathematic cry of “Figures pass so quickly…” kicking off one of the most immediately affective choruses of 2015.
Julia approaches this expressionistic display with familiar eclecticism, so don’t expect an endless list of personal troubles because she has always been one to make full use of a storyteller’s license. From the saxophone solo in “Sea Calls Me Home” to “Everytime Boots”‘s jauntier strut, Have You In My Wilderness represents a bewildering array of characters individually crying out for another. By the time the title track rolls round to tie the album off, you can only be impressed by the sheer variation of Julia’s attempts to convey passion. “How Long?” is deep, yearning passion; “Night Song” is more contemplative passion; “Betsy On The Roof” is utterly unadulterated ballad passion. We might be completely passion-ed out were it not for the fantastic orchestral backing, tight production and new prominence of Julia’s voice all offering up a soundscape possible to drown in. With the heavy inclusion of strings, harpsichord and vocal/synthesiser washes, Have You In My Wilderness‘ charm is well earned.
This poppier sound has been a long time coming. Loud City Song was already a huge leap towards increased accessibility, and producer Cole M. Greif-Neil has continually helped to bring out the best of her want for “big-ness”. On paper it could have gone awfully, but what matters is what we’re left with: Have You In My Wilderness pays homage to her more experimental past while opening the gates even wider for more to join the cult of Julia Holter. –Jonny Hunter
5. Viet Cong – Viet Cong
[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
There have been two main narrative arcs in Viet Cong’s extremely eventful year, the first of which revolves around their desperately naïve choice of band name. As recently as the first week of December there were sizable sit-ins and protests outside venues where the four-piece were playing. This is completely understandable: the sight of white men appropriating and subsequently profiting off something which they have no visible physical or socio-political connection to seems like a relic of an era gone by. As their fellow Canadian Justin Trudeau might say: it’s 2015.
But the Calgarians’ perfect self-titled debut album – indeed, the real catalyst to all this controversy – is also worth spilling some ink over. The seven songs that make up Viet Cong were born on the road and subsequently recorded in a barn-turned-studio in rural Ontario. Some of the attendant claustrophobia from having to work in such close quarters has visibly rubbed off on the album, resulting in the mostly-happy development that the boys no longer sound like a Deerhunter formed north of the 45th parallel. “Pointless Experience” is a harried yet atonal slab of labyrinthine post-punk that invites all kinds of perplexed analysis: “If we’re lucky we’ll get old and die!” cries vocalist Matt Flegel from the song’s epicenter, proving that he can still be trusted to keep his central theses lean and digestible in his own acerbic way. Then there’s the phenomenal “March of Progress”, a courageous, fleet-footed number that continually shifts gears and sonics before laying down a midsection that The Piper at the Gates of Dawn-era Pink Floyd would tip their hats to. Nothing beats “Continental Shelf”, though: “Ice on the horizon / The skyline folding in / Nothing is beginning / Edges falling off of themselves / And the water is draining / Off the continental shelf” wails Flegel amidst a storm consisting entirely of electrified melancholy, tortured drums, and nihilistic basslines. It’s a testament to the staying power of Viet Cong that it has managed to rank so highly despite having had a year and about fifty tons of hate mail to be buried and forgotten in. When it comes to the quality of their music, at least, Viet Cong have managed to remain non-controversial. –Irving Tan
4. The Dear Hunter – Act IV- Rebirth in Reprise
[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
Surprised to see The Dear Hunter ranked this highly? Don’t be. Frontman Casey Crescenzo is an absolute madman, which is of course meant as a compliment. Even when he wasn’t keeping himself busy by furthering the Act series, he up and decided to record a collection of nine EPs (36 tracks) centered around various shades of the color spectrum. The guy’s idiosyncrasies rival that of Colin Meloy [The Decemberists] or Claudio Sanchez [Coheed and Cambria], although his eccentric nature is channeled less towards convoluted storylines and more towards elaborately composed album structures. For as over-the-top as his ventures typically are, though, he possesses rare enough talent to make even the most wildly clashing concepts fit together in perfect, seamless harmony. In fact, a case could easily be made that his work with The Dear Hunter currently stands alone at the pinnacle of modern progressive rock – a notion that the brilliant Act IV does nothing to dispute.
As perhaps the final installment in The Dear Hunter’s Act series, IV brings everything to the table. Even throughout the full-blown orchestral movements, poignant strings, and grandiose hooks that border on pop, there isn’t a single track that feels contrived or obligatory. From the oceanic metaphors found on “Waves” all the way through the charmingly self-indulgent “King of Swords”, it’s just one effortless and cohesive progression through some of the best material that The Dear Hunter have ever written. Even less obvious cuts, like the serene “Is There Anybody Here?”, demand to be heard due simply to the strength of the melodies and the band’s commitment to make each song as engaging as possible. You can tell that this was a record written for the fans, and that makes it a worthy and fitting successor to the opening trifecta. Wholly original and endlessly entertaining, Act IV has become the calling card by which we may forever identify The Dear Hunter. Until Act V that is, should we be so fortunate. –SowingSeason
3. Grimes – Art Angels
[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
While Carly Rae Jepsen might have the year’s most classic “pop” record, Kacey Musgraves the most old-fashioned, and Adele the most, uh, popular, nobody came as close to the sound of pop in 2015 than Grimes. If someone said they saw this coming, they were lying. While a song like “Oblivion” showed Claire Boucher’s hand as a pop songwriter at her heart, nothing in Grimes’ past catalogue indicated that she could be capable of the sort of maximalist, neon-lit electro-pop that Art Angels deals in spades. One could even call it mainstream-baiting – that synth hook on “Realiti” is straight out of the Calvin Harris-lite playbook – if it weren’t for the very Grimes-ian idiosyncrasies bubbling up throughout. If pop music is about dressing up your wounds and poisonous feelings into something that makes them easier to bear, like pressing the pus out of an infected wound, then Art Angels is the best, most cathartic disinfectant I heard this year. Consider the two-stepping jaunt of “California”, its almost blinding production sweetening up some truly poisonous, self-defeated lyrics, or “Flesh Without Blood” mourning the loss of a great friend with one of the most jubilant melodies of the year. I’m partial to the self-destructive love of “Pin”, propelled forward by a drum machine flurry, a guitar riff like an angry hornet and maybe the universal lyric on the record: “I was only looking for a human to reciprocate.”
What separates Grimes from her contemporaries and elevates Art Angels above the rest of the Hot 100 it so strongly makes a case for is Grimes’ total control over her own art. Taylor Swift gets plenty of (well-deserved) accolades for developing a distinct sound, but she has never written and produced an entire album like Grimes does here, confidently twisting and molding it just so, the result of months of painful do-overs and trashed sessions. That sort of discipline and vision makes the breadth of Art Angels feel so natural, from the soaring bubblegum of “Butterfly” and its resolute thesis – “if you’re looking for a dream girl / I’ll never be your dream girl” – to the absolutely batshit “Kill V. Maim”. In the hands of a less confident artist, that latter song would come off as grasping at straws; instead, Grimes effortlessly jumps through genres and tonal shifts as if a song about a time-travelling, gender-shifting Al Pacino-inspired vampire was a totally normal subject of a pop song in 2015. It’s a happy irony that a former champion of what could charitably be called a niche scene can put out such a decisively singular statement, with an aesthetic that walks hand-in-glove with modern pop music while pushing it ever so subversively somewhere new. She cemented herself as her a unique artist years ago – Art Angels is just the latest, best blueprint of Ms. Boucher’s idea of where pop music can go, what it can be. –Rudy K.
2. Sufjan Stevens – Carrie and Lowell
[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
Damn that Sufjan Stevens – he just always finds a way into our hearts, doesn’t he? Or maybe, more realistically, we’re always finding our way into his.
Carrie and Lowell follows a rich tradition of Sufjan ripping himself open and casting listeners into his hopes, doubts, fears, and joys. Though the pervasive electronic madness of The Age of Adz masked the pains of “articles of imminent death,” a maddened mantra of an unwell man’s unfulfilled desire “to be well,” and whatever beautiful psychosis “Impossible Soul” demanded as tribute for its generation, the album was about as personally intense a follow-up to Stevens’ brilliant footprints in Michigan and Illinois as could be made.
Yet Carrie and Lowell is as drastic as The Age of Adz, if not moreso, for shedding that mask (musically beautiful as it is) and tearing open the Sufjan of past and present at his most raw. Folk, the genre of choice for the multi-faceted Stevens, is the vehicle of this journey for the time-spanning experience, and the appropriate one, at that, for its naked, generational power. And, though Stevens allows rays of optimism to shine into the dilemmas surrounding his relationship with his mother, it is the correct vehicle for its power to accurately communicate and recall memory – most of it painful, or at least conflicted. And maybe even a little imperfect.
Perhaps the most powerful part of Sufjan’s storytelling on Carrie and Lowell – the dynamic that creates an empathetic link between listener and artist – is his way of pulling you into his own sense memories. So much that could be straightforward is instead conveyed through Faulknerian touch and taste and sound that “lemon yoghurt,” “Subaru,” “the video store,” et al. all become tangible experiences full of those conflicted emotions, ultimately culminating in the mourning of the loss of a should-be natural mother-son connection that was never truly forged.
But where a lesser man would deify or damn her, Sufjan presents Carrie as she was, or, at least, as she was to him. And instead we experience her as a person who has simply lived and acted, leaving the person we truly come to understand throughout the course of the album as none other than Sufjan Stevens – the genius musician, as human as any of us. –Thompson D. Gerhart
1. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
[Official Site] // [Spotify] // [Facebook]
Section 80 was full of glaringly obvious indications that Kendrick was a talented newcomer. The beats were sonically rich and Kendrick’s rapping was poignant, fluid, and deeply enthralling. It wasn’t his blockbuster hit, but it ingrained his name in the minds of indie hip-hop fans. Then, of course, good kid, m.A.A.d city came out, and not only did he rise in rank, but you can’t even partake in a conversation ’bout who’s the best MC without hearing at least one person sing praises for Kendrick. With the inclusion of Dr. Dre working his magic behind the mixboard, good kid, m.A.A.d city toned down the eclectic beats in favour of a smoother, subtly atmospheric West-Coast sound. Kendrick’s writing also sounded more refined and romantic, yet ripe with commercial appeal. To Pimp a Butterfly is a beast of a relatively different nature, though. It lacks the immediate, ear-hooking tunes that cemented good kid, m.A.A.d city as a favourite in the hip-hop community, but it proves Kendrick has reached creative nirvana. This is his masterpiece. The music is more progressive, with producers borrowing influence from various eras in urban music and shaping sounds into striking and virtuosic beats that wouldn’t sound too foreign in an album tailored by the likes of Madlib or Organized Noize. His lyricism still retains its cleverness, poignancy, and fluidity. His rapping also continues to display the versatile flow and unique accentuations he’s become revered for (the raspy, pissed-off spitting in “The Blacker the Berry”, the funky flow in “King Kunta”, the drunken higher-pitch in the second-half of “u”).
What I love about Kendrick’s lyrics, though, is the emotion. good kid, m.A.A.d city sounded so raw because Kendrick spared no gut-wrenching or soulfully confessional detail. It told the story of an adolescent struggling to maintain his sense of morality in the midst of the hedonism and crime-infested chaos that befouls his hometown. To Pimp a Butterfly follows a similar, “conceptual trajectory” by checking in on that same kid a few years later, and like a “behind-the-scenes” documentary, depicts him as an artist struggling to maintain his peace of mind. In good kid, m.A.A.d city, Kendrick dreamt of escaping the moral corrosion that plagues Compton, but in To Pimp a Butterfly he comes to the realization that the outside world isn’t any cleaner and people just as readily choose “Halle Berry” over “Hallelujah”. Racism, shallow materialism, spiritual malaise, music executives who treat artists like hos, Kendrick purges all concerns that emotionally exhaust him in this album and it’s not only moving, but makes for an unforgettable listen. –Hernan M. Campbell
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to our staff writers who participated in the voting and writing process: 204409, Athom, AtomicWaste, Brostep, Crysis, DaveyBoy, Greg., hernan, insomniac15, Irving, klap, Omaha, plane, SowingSeason, StrangerOfSorts, theacademy, VheissuCrisis, Voivod, Willie, Xenophanes, and yours truly. This feature requires an extraordinary amount of patience, dedication, and passion, and you all consistently deliver in spades. Thanks for not making me have a psychotic break.
As you can also tell, we greatly missed some of our colleagues and their input this year. I hope they return to us soon in good health and in good spirit.
Special thanks to Willie for the gorgeous album art and organizing everything on top of his intense ‘real world’ commitments. It’s oftentimes a thankless job, but this feature would fall apart without your guidance, attention to detail, and desire to do something worth doing and publishing something that is meaningful and aesthetically pleasing. To the reader: no matter your opinion on our Top 50, this feature – and the site as a whole – would be a colossal dumpster fire without Willie.
Kudos as well to 204409 for returning for the umpteenth year in a row to challenge us to utilize a methodology that truly showcased staff consensus. I also appreciate you volunteering your time to tabulate our results.
Thank you to our owner, mx, for paying the server bill and finding the time (when you can) to make the site experience an intuitive and pleasant one. We look forward to more site features next year, and as always, if you the reader have suggestions, feel free to drop us a line in the Community Forums.
I’d also like to acknowledge our contingent of contributing reviewers, whose expertise, energy, and commitment to opening new doors for our readers to explore cannot be understated.
Lastly: thank you to you as well. Whether you’re a longtime active participant, lurker, or stumbling upon our site for the first time through Google, Metacritic, reddit, or via some other delightful Interneting, we wouldn’t exist without your enthusiasm and love of music.
Stay tuned for more features, including the Users’ Top 50 Albums of 2015, in the coming days.
On behalf of all of us here at Sputnikmusic, I hope you have a delightful holiday season with friends and family, a Happy New Year, and that 2016 treats you with good luck, good health, and good spirit. –Jom
Previous | NextLet’s take a closer look at the current Atlanta flag.
The five basic design principles of a good flag, as outlined by Ted Kaye, vexillologist (the study of flags) and author of Good Flag, Bad Flag, are as follows:
Keep it simple. Use meaningful symbolism. Use two to three basic colors. No lettering or seals. Be distinctive or be relative.
At best, one could maintain that the Atlanta flag breaks three of these five basic rules. Let’s break it down:
1. KEEP IT SIMPLE
“The flag should be so simple that a child can draw it from memory.”
The municipal seal prominently featured in the center of the flag is complicated, intricate, and anything but but simple. More on this later…
Without the seal, the flag is somewhat simple…
2. USE MEANINGFUL SYMBOLISM “The flag’s images, colors, or patterns should relate to what it symbolizes.” While the flag itself has no meaning, the seal, with descriptive writing, does derive some symbolism. The city charter gives an apt description of the city seal: “The device thereon shall consist of an engraving of a phoenix rising from its ashes and the inscription, “Resurgens 1847-1865;” the word meaning “rising again,” the first date marking the year the city’s first charter was granted and the second date signifying the year of the beginning of the city’s rehabilitation after its destruction by the Federal armies in 1864.”
3. USE TWO TO THREE BASIC COLORS “Limit the number of colors on the flag to three, which contrast well and come from the standard color set.” There are two prominent colors: blue and yellow. The seal on its own is multicolored but for the purposes of the flag it has been flattened to yellow.
4. NO LETTERING OR SEALS “Never use writing of any kind or an organization’s seal.” One of the biggest, most fundamental problems with our flag is the city seal featured prominently at its center. Municipal seals are designed for pieces of paper. They are intricate and meant to be viewed inches from your face. When a seal is placed on a flag a hundred feet away flapping in the wind, the seal is rendered illegible and the flag unrecognizable, thus defeating the purpose of both seal and flag altogether.
5. BE DISTINCTIVE OR BE RELATIVE “Avoid duplicating other flags, but use similarities to show connections.”
An overwhelming majority of cities and states put their seals on their flags. This is neither creative nor distinctive.Maybe Zillow is right and the market is starting to slow down: In this month’s monthly rental rankings, depending on who you ask, prices saw a small increase or a dramatic decrease compared to last year.
We’re still among the top ten most expensive cities for rent in the United States by most accounts, though, so don’t bust out your celebration beverage of choice quite yet.
By Zumper’s rankings, Seattle is, like last month, the eighth most expensive for renting. They saw the biggest increase in one-bedroom rent—still only 1.6 percent compared to this time last year.
Two-bedrooms, by Zumper’s count, ticked up two percent month over month, but prices continued to drop year over year. Last month saw a year over year decrease of 6.6 percent; this month is 7.5 percent less expensive than this time last year.
Zumper was the only listing site to give us data on studio apartments. With a median price of $1,500, studios saw the biggest year over year increase out of anyone’s dataset, with a 6.4 percent jump.
Seattle just barely broke the top 10 in Abodo’s monthly ranking, but our increase ranked higher: A 6.7 percent jump in one-bedroom rent over the previous month means that, like last month, we had the fourth-highest increase in the country.
Year over year, though, it’s an even more dramatically different story. One-bedroom apartment prices have fallen a full 12 percent compared to this time last year, even faster than last month.
Two bedrooms are also down from this time last year per Abodo’s rankings, but by a little less: 7 percent.
Apartment List (AL) saw virtually no change from last month in Seattle’s rent—just a 0.3 percent increase overall. They saw a bigger increase year over year than other sites, though, with an overall increase of 5.4 percent.
We’re number 10 in AL’s national rankings, with a median rent of $1,650 for a one-bedroom.
For clarity, we’ve aggregated the three different listing site’s median rent calculations below. To keep things simple, we’ve included only year over year change.
How much did the rent change in May? Listing site Studo Year over year One-bedroom Year over year Two-bedroom Year over year National rank Listing site Studo Year over year One-bedroom Year over year Two-bedroom Year over year National rank Apartment List N/A N/A $1,690 N/A $2,290 N/A 10 Zumper $1,500 6.4% $1,850 1.6% $2,450 -7.5% 8 Abodo N/A N/A $1,575 -12% $2,034 -7% 10
AL zooms in on the rest of the Seattle metropolitan area so we can have a look at how Seattle compares to its neighbors.
Not much has changed here over the past couple of months: Bellevue has the highest median rent by a landslide, at $2050 for a one-bedroom.
The fastest-growing rental prices this month are in Kent, according to AL’s rankings, with a year-over-year increase of 9.7 percent.Suspended Zoroastrian Councilman at Center of Debate
The head of Iran’s judiciary has sided with proponents of banning religious minorities from local elections while the Rouhani government has reiterated their rights as citizens under the Constitution.
In his October 31 remarks, Chief Justice Sadegh Larijani said that the ban was the Guardian Council’s prerogative as the country’s highest authority in determining legislative compliance with Islamic principles.
“There’s nothing wrong with the decision of the Guardian Council’s theologians to investigate this issue from the point of view of Islamic law,” he said. “That’s their job.”
The Guardian Council is a body of six clerics and six jurists that vets laws and elections for conformity with Islamic principles.
For weeks, Iranian state officials have been debating the validity of the Law on the Formation, Duties, and Election of National Islamic Councils, which permits followers of all religions recognized in Articles 12 and 13 of the Constitution—Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism—to run as candidates in elections.
The dispute broke out in September 2017 following a ruling by the Administrative Court in the city of Yazd suspending Sepanta Niknam, a follower of the Zoroastrian faith, who was re-elected to the city council in May 2017.
The ruling was in favor of Ali Asghar Bagheri, a Muslim candidate, who lodged a complaint after failing to receive enough votes to win a seat in the council.
The court based its decision on the April 2017 declaration by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the ultra-conservative chairman of the Guardian Council, banning non-Muslims from representing Muslim-majority constituencies.
The judiciary chief’s decision to back the Guardian Council puts it at odds with Iran’s Parliament and government, which have opposed the ban.
“The Zoroastrian faith is one of our country’s officially recognized religions in the Constitution,” said a spokesman for the government of President Hassan Rouhani, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, on October 31.
“Zoroastrians enjoy the rights of citizenship and our laws allow them to exercise those rights,” he told reporters at a press conference.
“We are looking for ways to resolve this issue before it escalates further,” he added. “The president has asked the interior minister to look into this matter and hopefully come up with a solution.”
On October 18, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, the judiciary chief’s brother, condemned Niknam’s suspension as illegal and threatened to refer the dispute to the Expediency Discernment Council for arbitration.
“In my talks with Ayatollah [Ahmad] Jannati, the honorable chairman of the Guardian Council, I emphasized that local councils should be handled according to the law,” said Larijani in a meeting with a group of city councilors.
“If this matter is not resolved, we have no choice but to refer it to the Expediency Discernment Council for a final resolution,” he added.
According to Article 112 of the Constitution, the Expediency Discernment Council can issue final rulings when the Guardian Council and Parliament cannot agree on a piece of legislation.
On October 30, Guardian Council Spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodaei said the clerical body maintains the authority to reject any law it considers un-Islamic.
“If legislators have a different point of view, they have to follow legal procedures,” he said.
Asked for his reaction to accusations that the council was discriminating against minorities, Kadkhodaei said: “Don’t pay attention to such rants.”
On October 30, Zoroastrian member of Parliament Esfandiar Ekhtiari said he had discussed the issue with President Rouhani, who promised to find a solution.
A day earlier, Alireza Rahimi, the deputy leader of the Hope reformist faction in Parliament, called on Speaker Larijani and President Rouhani to ensure Niknam’s return to the Yazd City Council.
“If it is constitutional for religious minorities to participate in legislating for Muslims on a national scale in parliament, then there should be no legal problem with their membership in local councils,” wrote Rahimi in an editorial in the Mardomsarari daily newspaper on October 29.It is no secret to locals that South Medford is one of the best places to go in the Boston area for Italian food, but if you are a tourist, business traveler, or newcomer to the region, chances are you've never even heard of this close-knit neighborhood just west of Route 93. But South Medford indeed has a lot to offer, including everything from Sicilian bakeries to cozy restaurants to pastry and pasta shops to food markets/Italian delis. And it is this last category that is the focus here, with Bob's Italian Foods being considered by many to be one of the best places in Metro Boston to get sandwiches, pasta, Italian food supplies, and more.
South Medford is a compact area, with most of its shops and restaurants being concentrated at or near the intersection of Main Street and Harvard Street, but a short walk south will bring you to such places as La Cascia's Bakery and Italo Bakery (both of which have outstanding Sicilian pizza, by the way) while a short stroll north will bring you to Bob's. Unlike La Cascia's and Italo, Bob's is a bit more of a grocery store with all kinds of items found in its two aisles, including olive oil, anisette sugar, pine nuts, house-made pasta (the ricotta-stuffed rigatoni is marvelous as is the ravioli with smoked mozzarella and basil), cheese, sausage, Italian cookies, tomato sauce, olives, stuffed peppadews, and much more. As you reach the back of the market, it turns into more of a sub shop or deli, with people placing their orders for sandwiches, dinners, pizza, and other items, then wandering around the store (or waiting) while their orders are completed. The overall vibe of Bob's is that of an old-fashioned neighborhood store, with a friendly (and often funny) staff and a particularly nice feeling around the holidays when the store has a festive feel and seems quite a bit like a spot from another era.
The back counter at Bob's is where locals (and those in the know) come for some truly great meals to take home, and the list of highlights is a long one. Perhaps the best option of them all here is the sublime Italian sub, with their "Delux Imported Italian" being the one to get; this mind-blowingly-good sandwich includes top-line meats (options being mortadella, sopressata, and prosciutto), provolone cheese, diced pickles, hot peppers, tomatoes, and oil and vinegar, all in a warm and soft braided sesame seed roll. Other sandwich options are outstanding as well, with their eggplant parm, meatball sub (with some of the best house-made meatballs in the Boston area), Italian sausage, roast beef (and the marvelous roast beef and cheddar sub may be the way to go), an old-school potato, egg, and cheese sub, and an equally old-school grilled eggplant, roasted peppers, and provolone sub all being worth ordering. Bob's also sells pizza, and like its aforementioned neighbors, it is |
Angela Merkel, who has suffered domestic scorn after she initially tried to placate Cameron, is also keen to avoid any prolonged standoff.
The concern among European leaders is that Britain is moving inexorably towards an EU exit after 41 years of membership, even though Cameron has said that is not what he wants and there is no obvious reason for it to happen.
With some opinion polls showing that a majority of Britons would prefer to leave the club, and Cameron having promised an in/out referendum by the end of 2017 if he is re-elected next year, an inevitability is building that even a well organised and well financed campaign to stay in might fail to stop.For Today's new album Fight The Silence intends to do just that. After having been exposed to the realities of human trafficking, frontman Mattie Montgomery made it his mission to raise awareness and help with his band's next creative effort.
In a statement released with the debut of the title track's video, Montgomery explained that he had been shown this video and it sparked such a response (“I was sobbing, snot coming out of my nose, tears coming down my face,” Montogmery said) that he changed the direction of what would become Fight The Silence, stating, “I want the world to hear about this thing.”
Not only are the band bringing awareness through the content of the album, but they are also donating proceeds from the album and their current tour to the A21 Campaign to stop human trafficking.
Fight The Silence is out February 4 via Razor & Tie. Stream it here first below and tell us what you think.
Catch the band on tour now through March with Like Moths to Flames, Stray From The Path, The Plot In You and Fit For A King and on Warped Tour this summer:Donald Trump is Right to Cut Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts
Art is a bad investment: Donald Trump is right to cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and Public Broadcasting.
There. I said it.
And no, I’m not just some grouch who hates art. I love art.
In fact, I’m one of those stereotypical failed actors who ended up studying law.
On top of that, I actually think there’s a strong case to be made for funding public art—especially when it comes to government buildings. For example, I’d be willing to kick in more money if it meant the death of architectural brutalism.
Who wouldn’t?
But let’s be clear: that argument’s based on aesthetics, not economics.
When it comes to down to the bottom line, the left is wrong: art is a terrible investment. Here’s why.
Funding Public Art Is A Bad (Financial) Investment
The left says funding art makes economic sense for two main reasons.
First, they say that art has a stellar return on investment.
In fact, according to Patricia Harrison, the president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, “public media is one of America’s best investments.”
Artist David Byrne reiterates this assertion, claiming that the $741 million the federal government spends on the NEA generates $135.2 billion in spin-off investment and economic activity. For evidence, he cites a study conducted by the America For the Arts.
That’s right, according to the left, every dollar invested in the arts is really worth 182 dollars.
With a return on investment that high, it’s shocking that Wall Street hasn’t already bought up every single local theater in America.
And why not? It’s because the claim is totally bogus.
This is just a classic example of the broken windows fallacy—this is why Economics In One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt, should be required reading for every leftist.
What is the broken windows fallacy?
Pretend you accidentally smash someone’s window with a baseball. Now what?
He has to replace it, obviously. This means he has to buy a new window pane, it costs $1,000. This enriches the hardware store owner, who now has another $1,000 to spend. In turn, he buys a jacket for $500 and a new watch for $500.
See how that $1,000 has now turned into $3,000 in economic activity? And the cycle just keeps going.
But of course, this doesn’t make any sense, since the original $1,000 would’ve been spent on something else, rather than the broken window (maybe the owner would’ve bought the jacket for himself).
When you look at both sides of the equation, there is no economic gain (except you did lose a window, which reduced accumulated wealth).
The same logic applies to funding the arts.
Sure, when the government spends millions on a local theater, this will leverage spending around said theater.
However, that money came from somewhere: whoever paid the tax has less to spend on their end, so it’s an economic wash.
Likewise, the economic impact would’ve been the same if the government spent the money on welfare, or buying balloons—it’s simple wealth-redistribution, not wealth-creation.
That’s an important distinction to make.
Their second argument is that investing in art makes society more creative as a whole, and that we collectively benefit from a more creative workforce.
This is also a bad argument, because of something called domain-specificity: the human brain can become more creative in one area of life, without there being any meaningful spillover effects into other areas.
For example, an engineer who goes to the theater will not necessarily be any more creative than one who enjoys Sudoku puzzles.
And regardless of that, even if local art made people more creative, it would be much more cost-effective to invest in some sort of government-funded Netflix program, than run hundreds of local theaters.
Either way you cut it, art shouldn’t be justified in terms of money—if we support it, it should be for the pursuit of beauty, truth, and immortality.posted by TobiWanKenobi
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I sincerely ask all of you to stop this senseless farce
While this will become a large topic for many the voices who are the loudest are the team managers of ArtStyle's old teams. The following are highlights of the article available on ProDOTA.ru A Statement from the team manager of Na'ViAlexander '[B]ZeroGravity[/B]' Kochanowsk :He could not just come to the tournament or the team photo session in Kiev and don't even warn us about it. The man simply does not answer his phone or turned it off instead. He then, invented dozens of ridiculous reasons and blame the organization for everything.Now I am once again convinced of his dishonesty and incompetence in relation to cyber organizations.A Statement from the team manager of DTSMaxim '[B]XPEH[/B]' Dyakonyuk :DTS-Gaming, certainly gave Ivan a start in life in terms of DotA. It is with DTS he achieved a level that allowed him to become one of the best captains and players in the world. However, this did not prevent his escape from DTS 2010A year later, I decided to resume relations with Ivan. The result is well known to all. After speaking at a single LAN, Ivan completely froze, even though I knew that he simply "did not want to talk." Now I see the same situation with the M5. As they say, "Stop and make a stand!".From now on, the organization of DTS-Gaming, Portal prodota.ru and all future projects that are being prepared for launch in 2012 - are boycotting Ivan "[B]Artstyle[/B]" Antonov, his team and the organization in which he will act. We must show the community that there are certain rules of human interaction, to be followed.While the managers are having their say,Yaroslav '[B]NS[/B]' Kuznetsov speaks out against the decision. He had many things to say on the matter but what summarizes his thoughts the best is the last sentence he stated:[B][/B]This is very unfamilar ground for the world of Dota and just how this influences the conduct of players and teams in the future is as of yet, unknown. What is known is that if a player that has the accomplishments of ArtStyle, those accomplishments will not protect him from the expectations of sponsors, organizations, and the community.Three castaways were rescued on Thursday after a U.S Navy aircraft spotted the word ‘help’ spelled out with palm leaves on the beach of a remote Pacific Island, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The three men, who were not identified, were reported missing by family members on Monday when they failed to catch a flight on the Micronesian island of Chuuk, according to U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman, Melissa McKenzie.
The group reportedly were taking a skiff from between two Micronesian islands when something went awry.
"When they did not arrive for the flight, Coast Guard was notified," U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Michael McCandless told NBC. "We began coordination efforts, using a combination of assets. It was determined a Navy P-8 aircraft out of Japan would assist."
Four ships combed the area where the skiff was last reported until a U.S. Navy P-8 aircraft from Misawa Air Base arrived on the scene and began searching the area from above, the coast guard said in a statement.
The three men and their "makeshift sign" were spotted on Thursday and transported to a nearby island, McKenzie said.
Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.Share
We're nearing the halfway mark on 2017. In the world of Node.js developers and DevOps, we've had several great events already - DockerCon, Microsoft Build, JSConf EU, and a handful of others.
Looking toward the second half of the year, there's a bunch of events that I'm extremely excited for. I've collected eight of those events in this post - I know that there will inevitably be some truly awesome Node.js content at each of these events, and I wanted to share that context with you.
If you end up attending any of these events, be sure to keep an eye out for the NodeSource team. We'll be at most of them, but don't hesitate to reach out to us individually or on Twitter and say hello - the team is always happy to have a chat!
Node.js and JavaScript Events
NodeSummit
Details: Date: July 26-27, 2017 Location: San Francisco, California, USA NodeSummit Site
NodeSummit is an annual Node.js-focused conference in San Francisco, California. It’s a gathering of a bunch of both the individuals who have helped make Node.js what it is, in addition to the companies using Node.js at a, frankly, massive scale. NodeSummit was the first pure Node.js conference I ever attended, and it was a truly amazing experience.
Node.js Interactive North America
Details: Date: October 4-6, 2017 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Node.js Interactive Site
Node.js Interactive is the conference put on by the Node.js Foundation every year. Back for its third year in North America, the conference will be heading up North to Vancouver, British Columbia.
I am definitely excited for this year’s event - last year in Austin was a really great experience, meeting so many people from a variety of backgrounds, companies, and interests all converging around a single Node.js event.
JSConf Colombia
Details: Date: November 3-4, 2017 Location: Medellin, Colombia JSConf Colombia Site
JSConf Colombia is a community-run JavaScript conference in Colombia, focusing on the developer side of JavaScript. The lineup looks like it’s stacking up pretty nicely already, with some speakers who have some truly fantastic stories and experience to share.
If you’re interested in submitting a proposal for a talk, the JSConf Colombia CFP will be open until June 16th - go and submit a talk! The JSConf Colombia organizers are honestly some of the nicest, most friendly people I’ve ever known - I know they’d be happy to have you!
FinJS
Details: Date: June 13th, 2017 Location: London, England FinJS Site
FinJS is a super interesting conference focused on the use of JavaScript, Node.js, and related projects and tech in the Financial industry. The FinJS events take place in both New York City and London - that said, the next event will be on June 13th in London. While very niche, it’s a super interesting conference with extremely limited availability. At the time of writing, there are still tickets left - if you’re interested in going, be sure to get your tickets as soon as possible!
Developer & DevOps Events
Cloud Foundry Summit Silicon Valley 2017
Details: Date: June 13-15, 2017 Location: Santa Clara, California, USA Cloud Foundry Summit Site
The Cloud Foundry Summit is an event that’s focused on the deployment of applications at-scale with Cloud Foundry. Cloud Foundry is a platform-agnostic cloud that allows some abstraction of your cloud to a standardized platform.
Be sure to keep an eye out for the Node.js talks and workshops at the event - there’s an entire Node.js track, with a bunch of talks that look great. To see the full schedule of Node.js talks, check out the schedule and take a look at the Cloud Native Node.js track.
MongoDB World 2017
Details: Date: June 20-21, 2017 Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA MongoDB World Site
MongoDB World is the biggest event for users of MongoDB, globally. MongoDB and Node.js have been a combo that has been in use for a long time, with several standardized stacks (like MEAN and MERN) that feature MongoDB pretty prominently. MongoDB World is definitely going to be a good event for talks about Node.js and the surrounding ecosystem of tooling on the developer side.
AWS re:Invent
Details: Date: November 27th - December 1st, 2017 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA AWS re:Invent Site
AWS re:Invent is AWS re:Invent - it’s a truly massive conference with a ton of different focuses that you’ll definitely be able to get something from as a Node.js developer.
Even if you’re not deploying in production to AWS, there’s going to be talks and workshops that offer insight into deploying applications and services to production in the cloud as a modern platform for software development that will help you grow as a developer.
CloudNativeCon + KubeCon North America
Details: Date: December 6-8, 2017 Location: Austin, Texas, USA CloudNativeCon + KubeCon Site
CloudNativeCon (with KubeCon) is an event that pulls on every project of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (the CNCF) into one convention as a central place to learn and discover the tools - Kubernetes, Prometheus, OpenTracing, Fluentd, Linkerd, gRPC, CoreDNS, containerd, and rkt - that are becoming a more integral part of the modern cloud.
Just one more thing...
If you'd like to keep reading about Node.js, community, events, and the open-source project, we've got some great resources for you.
Be sure to tune in to our Community blog posts - we share a bunch of event news and recaps, like our Microsoft Build and DockerCon briefs, in addition to content around what's going on in the Node.js Community - like my Introduction to the Node.js Community Committee.
Additionally, if you’re interested in developer and DevOps tooling for Node.js, you should take a peek at NodeSource Certified Modules and NodeSource N|Solid. Both Certified Modules and N|Solid are tools we've build out to aid both developers and DevOps find and prevent issues with security, reliability, and insight into the full cycle of building applications and services with Node.js, from development to production.Two Crimean journalists, including a photo journalist who has worked with AFP, have been released by Right Sector paramilitaries near Zaporozhye in eastern Ukraine, two days after they were detained. The news was disclosed to ITAR-TASS by their editor.
Maria Volkonskaya, who edits the Russian-language Crimea Telegraph, where the pair are on the payroll, said that she managed to contact the phone of reporter Evgeniya Korolyova. Evgeniya told her that she had just been set free. Together with photographer Maksim Vasilenko the two are planning to return home by train immediately.
Conflicting information about whether the two had been freed had been circulating throughout Tuesday.
On Sunday, Korolyova and Vasilenko had been returning on a bus from the war zone near Donetsk, which is besieged by government forces, when a patrol made them disembark before taking them prisoner.
The Crimean Telegraph received a phone call from the detainees on Sunday night.
“Evgeniya was allowed one phone call, but it seemed that there were people watching her every word as she spoke, so she couldn’t say exactly where she was arrested. Asked if her life was in danger, she denied it, but specified that she was detained as a journalist, not an ordinary citizen,” wrote the daily.
The newspaper said that the pair were not on an editorial assignment, while Russia's Rossiya Segodnya news agency (formerly RIA Novosti) and AFP’s bureau in Moscow confirmed that Vasylenko had been working for them as a freelance photographer.
Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor-in-chief and head of Rossiya Segodnya, had called for the immediate release of the journalists held by Kiev.
“We demand the prompt release of the detained Russian journalists, including our freelance photojournalist, who performed his professional duty," Simonyan said. “Up till now the authorities of that country are silent about the fate of our photojournalist Andrey Stenin.”
Human Rights Watch had also called for the immediate release of Korolyova and Vasilenko.
“Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned about the welfare and safety of Korolyova and Vasilenko,” Rachel Denber, Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of HRW told RIA. “Before there were numerous reports of journalists kidnapped or militias DNR and LC, or the Ukrainian authorities. Now, according to media reports it is the Right Sector. If this is true, then it can only be regarded as kidnapping, because the Right Sector has no legal authority to detain people. If they are still holding Korolyova and Vasilenko, they should release them immediately.”
Ultra-nationalist Right Sector, which played a key role in the Maidan protests that deposed former President Viktor Yanukovich, has been operating several units of volunteers to fight against anti-Kiev militants in the east of the country.
The movement was accused of being behind the abduction of RIA photojournalist Andrey Stenin, who has been missing since disappearing in eastern Ukraine three weeks ago. Right Sector has denied responsibility.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has criticized the actions of both sides during the conflict, which has resulted in the abductions and illegal detention of dozens of journalists, and the deaths of at least four.
“Violence against journalists has a chilling effect on the whole society and cannot be tolerated. I call on the Ukrainian authorities to swiftly and thoroughly investigate these attacks and to do their utmost to ensure journalists’ safety,” OSCE Representative for Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic said in a statement last week.
There have been a number of attacks on members of the press, including lethal ones in Ukraine.
In the line of fire: Journalists killed and abducted in Eastern Ukraine
Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, Rossiya TV channel employees who were killed on June 17 in a mortar shelling of their position. Later that month a cameraman from Russia’s Channel One television, Anatoly Klyan, was killed by government forces in the eastern city of Donetsk. In May, Kiev's military assault of the East resulted in the tragic loss of life of Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli, who was hit along with his interpreter, Andrey Mironov, by Kiev mortar fire near the village of Andreevka.
Harassment of journalist in Ukraine has been widely condemned by the international community and Moscow. Yet attacks on the press have continued, many of whom have been abducted, tortured and released after the intercession of international community and social media campaigns.Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Monday led a mass prayer in solidarity with the victims of the terror attack in Kerem Shalom outside the Egyptian Embassy in Gaza in the backdrop of harsh accusations directed against the group following the attack.
Meanwhile, dozens of Egyptians protested outside the Israeli ambassador’s residence in Cairo calling on the Egyptian government to cut off relations with Israel, local media reported.
Related stories:
On Tuesday, Israeli officials decided to reopen the Kerem Shalom border crossing which was the site of Sunday's terror attack following a situation assessment. The crossing was closed Monday as part of the heightened alert.
Haniyeh leads prayer (Photo: AFP)
Hamas, on its part, is still trying to fend off accusations that it was involved in the deadly attack. Haniyeh has called for the establishment of a joint Hamas-Egypt security coordination committee and vehemently denied any Palestinian involvement in the attack. "It is not possible any Palestinian would involve themselves, participate or incite to kill our brothers, the Egyptian people," he said.
The Hamas leader made the statements during a second emergency government meeting following the attack. He said that Hamas is concerned with Egypt's security and stability. "Security in Egypt is security in Palestine – compromising Egyptian security is compromising Palestinian national security."
Prayers in Gaza (Photo: AFP)
Some in Egypt's fringes have called for heightened enforcement in the Rafah crossing and for action to be taken against Gaza, if need arises. Hamas in response raised alert at Gaza's borders and stopped the tunnels' activity.
Meanwhile, Haniyeh joined the Muslim Brotherhood in accusing Israel of orchestrating the attack. "The attack's method confirms some sort of Israeli involvement aiming to achieve political and security goals, cause tension on the border with Egypt and destroy joint efforts to end the Gaza blockade," he said.
Egyptian protesters in Cairo shared the sentiment. “It’s definitely Israel who is behind it," one protester said. "We demand the termination of any political relations with Israel,” said Ahmed El-Toni who referred to himself as an “independent activist.”
Egyptian newspaper al-Youm al-Sabaa reported that among the protesters in Cairo were members of Egyptian youth movements. Mohammed Fuzi, a member of the April 6 movement described the protest as symbolic and said that if their demands are not met, the various factions will coordinate steps to escalate their struggle.Sony's A3000 DLSR is cheap. Super cheap. It costs $400 paired with a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. These days, that's more or less the price of an advanced point-and-shoot camera from Canon, and it's considerably cheaper than Sony's badass RX100 II point-and-shoot. So what gives? And what's up with DSLRs?
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Sony is actually introducing two new cameras and some lenses today. Besides the a3000, we're also getting yet another refresh of Sony's mid-range NEX-5-series mirrorless camera. For more on the rest, see below.
The A3000 is compact, very inexpensive DSLR aimed at the shifting market of amateur photographers that prefer these cameras. DSLRs used to have more professional cachet than they do now, but the reality is that for the money, consumers who know better would more likely spring for a compact or a mirrorless camera (like the one we'll discuss below) instead of these larger cameras.
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Probably the camera's most striking feature besides its price tag is that it'll naturally accept smaller E-Mount (NEX) lenses rather than the A-mount lenses Sony DSLRs usually take. The A-mount lenses will work with an approved converter accessory.
The A3000 is very small, but aside from its size, the camera's specifications aren't shocking. Like the last batch of cheap Sony DSLRs, the camera features a digital viewfinder, a 20.1-megapixel APS-C sensor, and all of the on-body controls dials you'd expect from a DSLR including the all-important P/A/S/M mode dial. Despite its compact size, the camera retains it an electronic viewfinder just like its predecessors. For video, it shoots Full HD (1920 x 1080) video at either 24 or 60 frames per second.
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With and E-mount and an electronic viewfinder, you might start to wonder if the A3000 isn't just a mirrorless NEX camera in DSLR disguise. The truth is that line has been blurry for a very long time since Sony switched its DSLRs to "single-lens translucent" cameras to begin with. Can a camera with an electronic viewfinder be called a DSLR? You could argue that the company hasn't made a "true" DSLR in some time. I prefer to call this camera what it's trying oh-so-hard to be: a bulkier shooter for people who equate the bulk and form factor of the past with quality. (I look forward to debating this point in the Kinja below...)
The bottom line is that at $400, you're looking at a price tag that the competition from cameras like the $650 Canon SL1 just can't touch.
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Sony NEX-5T
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It seems like yesterday, we were hearing about a new NEX-5-series camera, but Sony is updating its line to add a couple of improvements to the shooter including NFC-aided Wi-Fi features and a new compact kit lens that'll make the camera more attractive to people who need their cameras tiny.
The NEX-5T will cost $700 with a slim 16-50mm power-zoom lens, or $550 alone. The lens isn't really new—we've seen it bundled with the NEX-6 before. We're honestly more excited about the connectivity improvement. The NFC-connect Wi-Fi feature allows you to bump and connect the camera to a compatible NFC device. This is long overdue—connecting to the Wi-Fi features has been entirely too complicated until now—and from our brief time trying out the NEX-5T, it seems like NFC could be at least part of the solution down the line.
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Besides these slight changes, the camera strongly resembles the NEX-5R. It stocks the same—or very similar—16-megapixel, APS-C guts. The overhauled, hybrid autofocus introduced last year. It's got a three-inch touch LCD panel on the back that flips 180-degrees to make taking selfies a breeze. It still shoots 1920 x 1080 video at a variety of frame rates, but not at 60 fps.
The key difference between the NEX-5 camera and the latest teeny tiny NEX-3 shooter is the Wi-FI connectivity and the touchpanel. The Wi-Fi just got a lot better on the NEX-5T, but given the great Amazon deals on the recent NEX-3N and last year's NEX-5R, you better think long and hard about whether that NFC is worth it to you.
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New E-Mount Lenses
In addition to expanding its E-mount into new territory with the A3000, Sony is expanding its line of lenses to make the system more accessible to people who are used to—or expect the massive lens ecosystems offered by Sony's competitors.
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A well-priced, wide-aperture, fixed-focal-length lens great for street photography—don't stand right on top of your subject because you won't be able to focus.By Jared Clinton (@JPDClinton)
After streaking to the Western Conference Final, the Toronto Marlies are hoping they’re not going to start sliding their way out.
With eight straight wins to start the Calder Cup Playoffs, it seemed like everything was clicking for the Baby Buds. While they were bombarded in game one, they pulled out a victory over the Texas Stars to take the series lead, but their porous defense came back to bite them in game two.
The hope was, especially with a team that had been on such an amazing run into the Conference Final, the Marlies would bounce back in game three at the friendly confines of Ricoh Coliseum. However, following a trend from the first two rounds, the team with the ever-important third goal pulled out the victory — that goal coming off the stick of the Texas Stars’ Travis Morin.
Morin, the regular season points leader and league MVP, struck with the game-winner just under a minute after the Marlies drew even on a TJ Brennan tally. It was just Morin’s fourth marker of the playoffs, but it couldn’t have come at a bigger time for the Stars, who’ve now taken the series lead back from the Marlies.
After a rough outing in game two, Marlies goaltender Drew MacIntyre withstood all eight of the Stars’ shots in the first period before allowing a second period marker to Radek Faksa. After allowing 50-plus shots in each of the first two games, the Marlies tightened up defensively, allowing 30 attempts on MacIntyre in game three.
Across the ice, Stars’ goaltender Christopher Nilstorp held off the Marlies’ extra-man attack and sealed the victory for his squad.
For the Marlies, it will be absolutely pivotal to knock off the Stars in game four if they’ve got any hopes of staying in the series. The problem, however, lies in stopping a balanced Stars attack, and trying to create zone time and shot attempts. Through the first three games, Nilstorp has only seen 69 shots. MacIntyre, on the other hand, has faced 131.
Game four goes tonight at Ricoh Coliseum, with puck drop slated for 7 p.m. ET.
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After two tight games, with each St. John’s and Wilkes-Barre pulling out a victory, the IceCaps offense finally exploded, while their defense held, with Michael Hutchinson earning the 30-save shutout.
Only down by two goals heading into the second period, the Penguins defense couldn’t hold fast. St. John’s capitalized, scoring early and often in the second frame, with goals coming from Eric O’Dell and Kael Mouillierat in the first seven minutes. Mouillierat’s marker, a goal coming on a 5-on-3 powerplay, gave the IceCaps an insurmountable 4-0 lead heading into the final frame.
With just a second left in the second period, Zach Redmond buried a Will O’Neill pass past Pens’ goaltender Peter Mannino, which signalled the end of Mannino’s night.
The fourth game of the Eastern Conference Final starts tonight at 7:05 p.m. ET, with the Penguins trying to take advantage of home ice and even the series at two games apiece.WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne will be making his way to Oberhausen, Germany for a match against Marius Alani this evening. The UK superstar was contacted last minute to perform at the event as Zack Sabre Jr was unfortunately unable to attend due to illness.
The full card for wXw’s historic 17th Anniversary event is now as follows:
Tag Team Match Jay FK (Francis Kaspin & Jay Skillet) vs. Monster Consulting (Avalanche & Julian Nero)
wXw Women’s Title Tournament Final Match Martina vs. Melanie Gray
Singles Match David Starr vs. Jurn Simmons
Singles Match Marius Al-Ani vs. Pete Dunne
wXw World Tag Team Title Match Ringkampf (Timothy Thatcher & WALTER) (c) vs. The Young Lions (Lucky Kid & Tarkan Aslan)
wXw Shotgun Title Match Ivan Kiev (c) vs. Bobby Gunns
wXw Unified World Wrestling Title Match John Klinger (c) vs. Ilja DragunovColleges across the nation are erecting ball pits to help students find an emotional safe space on campus to make friends or express themselves.
More than a half dozen campuses have set up the colorful play pits over the last year alone, Heat Street reports.
The ball pit trend comes as universities turn to offering coloring books to help students de-stress. The University of Southern California even hired a full-time “wellness dog” last week to help students cope with campus life. USC named the 2-year-old black lab Professor Beauregard Tirebiter.
As for the ball pits, they’re mostly utilized for a variety of campus observances on topics such as mental health, social justice, diversity, civility and inclusiveness. They are also offered as a safe venue for students to talk to each other and open up and make friends at welcome weeks or student socials.
The play pens are touted as something of a public service, often commissioned by student government associations or campus diversity and activity divisions. The idea being ball pits make students feel like a child again, breaking down barriers and helping them open up.
Part of the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s welcome week activities held last month included the “Meet a Vol, Have a Ball!” ball pit. “Conversation starters” were printed on the balls to help students talk and make friends.
The ball pit safe space trend on campus didn’t just start in 2016, it’s emerged over recent years.
In 2014 at Brandeis University, for example, its “Take a Seat, Break Down Barriers” effort boasted a ball pit filled with balloons. “Questions taped to balloons in the pit sparked conversations about social justice and helped to break down barriers and build understanding,” the university’s website states.
“The lighthearted and informal atmosphere created a neutral environment to talk about some heavy topics and learn more about others,” Brandeis organizers stated.
And at Brigham Young University that same year, the Student Advisory Council hosted a monthly “ball pit social” so students could hang out in the playpen and ask questions written on the balls to each other to increase communication, The Daily Universe campus newspaper reported.
Also in 2014, the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s springtime “Smile Week” hosted a “Take a Seat, Meet a Husker” ball pit.
“We want to encourage students to sit down with someone that they wouldn’t normally sit down with in the ball pit and make a new friend,” according to an organizer.
At Oklahoma State University last fall, the student activity board hosted a “Release Your Inner Child” event to help students “make friends and start conversations,” the O’Colly reported.
In April of this year, Susquehanna University’s Student Activities Committee hosted its first-ever inflatable ball pit party.
Campuses are not the only ones embracing ball pits, either.
Google has rolled out a ball pit as part of its visitor center. A San Francisco nonprofit also debuted the first-ever adult “ball pit bar” in March.
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IMAGE: YouTube screenshotIn the closing week of the campaign, Hillary Clinton’s campaign aims to highlight Donald Trump’s record of offensive remarks about women, releasing a new ad Tuesday that highlights some of the most memorable ones.
The spot runs clips of old Trump interviews. In one he says, “Putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing.” In another, he says “I can’t say that” when asked if he treats women with respect. The ad also notes the sexual assault allegations against him and contains the now-infamous 2005 Access Hollywood tape in which Trump he likes to “grab [women] by the p—y.”
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“Anyone who believes/says/does what he does is unfit to be president,” the spot concludes. The ad will run in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to the campaign.
This isn’t the first time the Clinton campaign has run an ad on this theme.
In September, it released an ad which overlaid some of Trump’s comments about women’s looks on clips of young girls appraising themselves in the mirror and asked, “Is this the president we want for our daughters?”
Write to Tessa Berenson at tessa.berenson@time.com.The mother of 10-month-old Hanen Tafesh, killed the day before in an Israeli air strike, mourns over her daughter’s body before her funeral in Gaza City, 16 November. Majdi Fathi APA images
Israel has shown no mercy in its bombing of the besieged and occupied Gaza Strip, as airstrikes and shelling entered into the fifth day on Sunday (see previous photostory documenting the run-up to and first days of the assault). Israel has reportedly approved the drafting of 75,000 reservists, though so far there has been no ground invasion.
With nearly 50 fatalities in Gaza since Israel’s breaking of a tenuous ceasefire on Wednesday, the World Health Organization warned on Saturday that Gaza’s hospitals “are overwhelmed with casualties from Israel’s bombings and face critical shortages of drugs and medical supplies,” according to the Reuters news agency (“Gaza hospitals stretched, need supplies to treat wounded: WHO”).
Reuters adds: “the WHO, quoting Health Ministry officials in Gaza, said 382 people have been injured - 245 adults and 137 children.” Gaza’s health facilities were already “severely over stretched mainly as a result of the siege of Gaza,” the UN organization said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian resistance groups fired more long-rage rockets towards Tel Aviv, and sirens were heard in Jerusalem for the first time. Gaza groups also fired short-range rockets, many of them intercepted by the Iron Dome system, according to Israeli media. Rockets were also reported to have been fired from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Three Israeli civilians were killed by a rocket fired from Gaza on Thursday.
Protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza erupted across the West Bank, where protesters clashed with Israeli soldiers. According to the Ma’an News Agency, five Palestinian citizens of Israel were detained at a protest in Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina neighborhood and ten persons were detained by Israel at protests in Gaza across the West Bank yesterday. Israeli forces also arrested protesters outside Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday.
Ma’an also reports that “dozens have been injured in clashes with Israeli forces, several seriously.” On Saturday two protesters were hit in the head with tear gas canisters at a protest at Ofer military jail near Ramallah, and a head injury was reported at a protest at Huwwara checkpoint near Nablus. A protester in the central West Bank village of Kafr Qaddum was seriously injured when a tear gas hit him in the head on Friday, and another protester was arrested at the same demonstration.
Solidarity demonstrations continue to be held in |
of Florida, SpaceX was back at it again Sunday, this time delivering 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. But extreme weather was a factor on Sunday, with fog enveloping the Falcon 9 on the launch pad. Luckily, it was not enough to affect its flight, and the mission went off without a hitch.
The successful launch and landing marked a momentous weekend for SpaceX, with the company performing drone ship landings at each end of the continent on its tightest launch schedule yet.
Just before the launch, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was tweeting that the launch would indeed be a little iffy. “Launch at 1:25 delivering 10 satellites for Iridium,” he posted. “Droneship repositioned due to extreme weather. Will be tight.”
Still, the weather didn’t turn out to be a major detriment as the Falcon 9 ascended the atmosphere, released its cargo, and began its descent towards the Pacific Ocean.
While Friday’s landing suffered from a cut out live feed due to the highest reentry force ever experienced by a Falcon 9, Sunday’s landing on the Just Read the Instructions drone ship fared much better. The rocket landed smoothly on the landing pad in a slightly stormy ocean, with an attached camera giving an amazing view of the descent.
The weekend doubleheader is a big win for SpaceX, which has been working towards the goal of launching rockets every two to three weeks. The launches essentially prove the company can achieve that goal and then some. SpaceX’s intention of increasing spaceflight, as well as optimize the use of reusable spacecraft, will add up to a more accessible, cheaper spacefaring future — also known as Elon Musk’s long game to get us all hanging out on Mars.
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Musk tweeted shortly after the launch that the newly-added fins on the Falcon 9 were working out better than anticipated. The titanium-made fins are meant to handle the heat of reentry better.
New titanium grid fins worked even better than expected. Should be capable of an indefinite number of flights with no service. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2017
Sunday’s mission sent a Falcon 9 upward to deliver satellites for Iridium, an American communications company that operates satellites all over the globe for worldwide voice and data communication. It was the second set of ten satellites that SpaceX has delivered for Iridium, with a total of 75 planned.
Back in the air, the SpaceX live stream — narrated by engineer John Insprucker, a man who sounded charmingly like a less hard of hearing Gordon Cole — took a 40-minute break before the second stage engine was restarted. Insprucker then walked viewers through the final moments of the second stage, as the ten satellites were deployed into orbit.
You can watch the entire launch and landing stream below.Getty Images
Even in July, you already know your home team's rosters inside out. You followed Twitter play-by-play of minicamp seven-on-sevens all through June and have subsisted on a diet of Who Will Make the 53-Man Roster? blog speculation for weeks.
The other 31 rosters...a bit hazier. With training camp approaching, it's the time of year for scanning stories about other teams and thinking, "Holy cow, I forgot they signed that guy!"
National analysts like me, who are supposed to look at the big picture (deflated footballs, unexpected amputations, courtroom melodramas) will also easily forget some details from the transaction whirlwind of spring. For us, this is cramming season. We don't want to show up at a training camp and say, "Gee, I thought you played for the Chargers."
Here are 10 acquisitions—or groups of acquisitions, in many cases—that didn't generate much national news back in March, when all eyes were on Chip Kelly and Darrelle Revis. In a few weeks, these overlooked players will start making a big difference for their new teams.
Dwayne Harris, Wide Receiver/Returner, Giants
Matt Ludtke/Associated Press
The Giants did not return a single punt in their final two games last season, calling for 10 straight fair catches instead. Odell Beckham Jr. and Rueben Randle waved for five fair catches each. Both were starters at that point, and with the Giants' Final Destination-level injury tendencies, head coach Tom Coughlin was probably happy that neither tried to return a punt, ran out of bounds and impaled himself on a down marker or drowned on the Gatorade table.
Injury risks aside, the Giants haven't returned a punt for a touchdown since 2009. Harris has two punt-return touchdowns in the last three years. He's also one of the best all-around special teamers in the NFL. Harris led the Cowboys with 10 special teams tackles in 2014 and nine (with two fumble recoveries) in 2013, per NFLGSIS.com. He can help prevent those coverage lapses that cause the blood vessels in Coughlin's forehead to start throbbing.
Harris also lined up all over the formation as a wide receiver during minicamp. He is fast and elusive, so he can certainly play a role as a screen-reverse-bomb package receiver. Or he could wind up starting once the Giants' injury demon claims (or reclaims) Beckham, Victor Cruz or Randle. But drive to the local hardware store and knock on all the wood you can find, Giants fans: If the team finally catches some good health luck, Harris will bring the "return" back to punt returns, and then some.
James Casey, Fullback/H-Back, Broncos
Michael Conroy/Associated Press
When you hire Gary Kubiak as head coach, you don't just hire Gary Kubiak. He comes equipped with the Kubiak custom-trim package, which includes tight end Owen Daniels, some zone-blocking offensive linemen and a fullback.
Daniels got plenty of attention when he signed with the Broncos. He drives the Kubiakmobile from city to city, and he will replace Julius Thomas as Peyton Manning's tight end.
Casey left Kubiakville for Chiplandia two years ago, joining the Eagles as a hybrid fullback and H-back after filling a similar role for Kubiak's Texans for four years. Casey is a fine run-blocker who caught 34 passes in 2012 and can still leak out of the backfield, catch a dump-off and rumble upfield for useful yardage now and then.
Casey split time with second-year tight end Joe Don Duncan at fullback in Broncos minicamp. The fact there was a fullback in Broncos minicamp is news in and of itself: Manning has worked exclusively in single-back offenses since he became Peyton Manning. Duncan is an interesting prospect—270 pounds of beef who went undrafted in 2014 due to a broken foot—but Kubiak and Manning need someone they can trust at fullback.
Casey knows the role, knows the system and will make one of the NFL's most interesting offseason transitions go a little more smoothly.
Jacob Tamme and Tony Moeaki, Tight Ends, Falcons
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
It's hard to exaggerate just how bad Falcons tight end Levine Toilolo was last year. He dropped six of the 49 passes thrown to him, according to Pro Football Focus. He averaged just 7.7 yards per reception, the second-lowest average of any wide receiver or tight end in the league with 30-plus receptions.
He made up for his inadequate receiving with terrible blocking: Pro Football Focus gave him a negative-11.9 grade as a run-blocker. Matt Ryan played with the best tight end in history during his best season; last year he was stuck with one of the worst tight ends in the league.
New Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan can live without Tony Gonzalez-level receiving chops, but a solid zone-blocking tight end is essential to his system. Moeaki, who once looked like a rising star for the Chiefs, is a quick-footed lateral run-blocker. He's also just fast enough to sneak down the field on a seamer or wheel route when covered by a slow linebacker.
You probably remember Tamme, Peyton Manning's late-career Dallas Clark surrogate. Tamme slipped to third on the Broncos' tight end depth chart last year and has just 34 receptions for 293 yards in the last two seasons. But he has also dropped just two passes in the last three seasons. He may not have another 67-catch season in him, but he won't drop a bunch of three-yard dump-offs, either.
The Falcons will get a big boost just by going from rock-bottom to around the league average at tight end. Moeaki and Tamme may be a long way from Gonzalez, but they fit the new offense and give Ryan a safety valve that's actually safe.
Sean Weatherspoon and LaMarr Woodley, Linebackers, Cardinals
Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press/Associated Press
According to Darren Urban of azcardinals.com, Weatherspoon looked and sounded like his old self in Cardinals minicamp: chirping during drills, jawing at teammates, dancing and generally playing the "upbeat leader" role.
He entered the 2013 season as one of the most promising young linebackers in the league, a rangy defender for a team that nearly reached the Super Bowl in 2012. But injuries—including an Achilles tear that erased the 2014 season—and a penchant for missed tackles made him expendable for a rebuilding Falcons team.
Woodley is just 30 years old but three years past his prime. He played just six games for the Raiders last year after a long career as a Steelers pass-rushing outside linebacker. Playing out of position at defensive end, he still showed some flashes as a pass-rusher—Pro Football Focus credited him with seven hurries in limited action—but was a liability against the run before a bicep injury shut him down.
It's up to head coach Bruce Arians and new defensive coordinator James Bettcher to revitalize Weatherspoon and wring out any sacks Woodley has left in him. Bettcher was Todd Bowles' outside linebacker coach for two years and has had success with John Abraham, another aging pass-rusher. Weatherspoon replaces Larry Foote, who missed tons of tackles last season and was easy to exploit in coverage.
Weatherspoon isn't exactly Brian Urlacher as a tackler, but coverage is his game. If Bettcher can put Weatherspoon and Woodley into situations where they can excel, the Cardinals will enjoy a low-cost upgrade to both the pass rush and short-pass defense.
The Cardinals are a veteran team coming off a playoff disappointment looking for cost-effective ways to take the next step. If reclamation projects like Weatherspoon and Woodley pay off, they'll be back in the postseason. They may even bring a quarterback with them this time.
Eddie Royal, Receiver, and Alan Ball, Cornerback, Bears
Charlie Riedel/Associated Press
The folks at Sports Illustrated singled out Royal and Ball in an article about the most underrated additions to the NFC North a few weeks ago.
Royal joins a receiving corps that swapped Brandon Marshall for rookie Kevin White in the offseason and got just 17 catches for 140 yards from No. 3 receiver Marquess Wilson last season. Royal has been perennially undervalued since his 91-catch rookie season set unrealistic expectations in 2008. He's an excellent slot-receiving craftsman, and the Chargers essentially signed two players to replace him (more on them later).
Look for Royal to receive more targets than White, at least early in the season.
Ball has generated far less attention, in part because the Bears signed Tracy Porter and the entire Giants safety corps in an effort to fix their secondary. On the one hand, Ball is 6'2", so we are supposed to make obligatory Richard Sherman comparisons each time we mention him. On the other hand, he played for the Jaguars the past two seasons. Ball was very good in 2013 and played well last season before suffering a bicep injury. He's a capable starter who could be an even better role player.
The Bears have Kyle Fuller locked in at one cornerback position and Porter penciled in at the other. Ball fits best as a corner/safety hybrid and matchup specialist, adding depth to a Bears secondary that has been thin and talent-poor for two years.
The Bears allowed themselves to get so bad at a handful of positions that they need to stabilize their depth charts before they can seriously rebuild. Royal and Ball will solve some critical issues, allowing youngsters like White and Fuller to properly develop.
Roy Helu Jr., Running Back, Raiders
Noah Berger/Associated Press
A young quarterback like Derek Carr needs a running back who can do a little of everything: handle the ball, do something with short passes besides fall forward and pass-protect. Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew did not provide that kind of running back support last year. Helu will provide it this year.
Helu led all running backs with 11.7 yards after catch last season, according to Pro Football Focus, so he can take Carr's short passes and turn them into productive gains. PFF gave him a negative pass-protection rating, but other than two sacks allowed against the Vikings, Helu has been steady in that role for years. He has averaged 4.4 yards per carry as a change-up back for his career, so he can churn out yards when Latavius Murray needs a breather.
The Raiders also signed Trent Richardson, and perhaps Richardson will learn this year to follow the medium-sized path in front of him instead of the extra-wide one along the sideline that only exists in his mind. Richardson and Murray will compete for the starting job, with Helu dialed in to the change-up role.
When tough roster cuts have to be made in August, bank on the guy who runs/catches/blocks/plays special teams to beat the would-be superstar with baggage every time. And while Helu may not help the Raiders reach the playoffs this year, he will help Carr reach his full potential.
Stevie Johnson and Jacoby Jones, Wide Receivers, Chargers
Gregory Bull/Associated Press/Associated Press
You remember Johnson: former Terrell Owens protege, not-quite superstar receiver with exceptional talent but a gift for pass-dropping and inconsistency. Johnson flirted with the Patriots in free agency before signing a modest three-year deal with the Chargers. It was an under-the-radar signing: After a disappointing 2013 season in Buffalo and a quiet 2014 season with the 49ers, Johnson is no longer close to an A-lister.
Johnson was actually very effective last season. He caught 70 percent of the passes thrown to him, according to Football Outsiders (35 of 50). Johnson finished 11th in the NFL in the Football Outsiders DVOA metric, which takes into account factors like third-down performance.
Johnson converted nine first downs on 13 pass targets. He had a rep for dropping perfect passes in Buffalo, but he dropped just two balls last year. He missed the final three games of 2014 with a knee injury, but he's still just 28 (29 later this month), so he's not as over the hill as you might think.
Johnson as a go-to receiver may not scare anyone anymore, but as a situational player, he can be a mismatch nightmare who either draws nickel cornerbacks in coverage or allows a niftier receiver to slide inside.
The Chargers will use him as the third receiver behind Keenan Allen and Malcom Floyd. With Antonio Gates serving a four-game performance-enhancing-drug suspension to start the year, Johnson may draw duty as the 3rd-and-medium target over the middle of the field. According to reports from minicamp, Johnson is dialed in and working well with Philip Rivers.
Johnson's presence will allow Jacoby Jones to concentrate on what he does best: returning kicks and punts. Jones now has nine career return touchdowns—10 if you count the Super Bowl—but he dropped five of the 17 passes thrown to him in 2014.
The Chargers got little out of their return game last season: Chris Davis' longest kickoff return went just 35 yards, and Keenan Allen (who is too valuable to regularly return punts) called 11 fair catches on 22 punts while sharing the job with the now-departed Eddie Royal.
Johnson may only catch another 35 passes, and Jones may be relegated to special teams, but they could take pressure off Allen so he can have the 100-catch season he is capable of. Not bad for a pair of low-cost, low-risk moves.
C.J. Mosley, Defensive Tackle, Dolphins
Alan Diaz/Associated Press/Associated Press
Skeptical Dolphins fans could be seen grumbling on Twitter and the bottoms of message boards after the Ndamukong Suh signing: Swapping Jared Odrick and Randy Starks for Suh was actually a $114 million downgrade! There was some legitimate reason for pessimism (besides the fact major free-agent signings always seem to backfire on the Dolphins). Starks and Odrick were an effective one-two punch at defensive tackle, and while Suh is great, two big tanks in the middle are always better than one.
The Dolphins made the right move by signing Lions rotation tackle Mosley as Suh support and insurance. Mosley spent the last two seasons spelling Suh and Nick Fairley, often on running downs, and making sure there was little drop-off in effectiveness in the middle of the Lions defense.
He recorded 2.5 sacks in part-time play last year and added 16 "successful" tackles on running plays, according to the Football Outsiders Almanac. A successful tackle results in a minimal gain for the rusher. For comparison's sake, Odrick had 19 successful tackles against the run last year, Starks 17.
Mosley will be back in his rotation role this year, with Suh and Earl Mitchell (last year's rotation tackle) as the starters. That's no downgrade: Mosley is just what the Dolphins needed to let Suh be Suh.
Perrish Cox, Cornerback, Titans, and Chris Culliver, Cornerback, Redskins
Nick Wass/Associated Press/Associated Press
So many players left the 49ers this offseason that it was easy to lose count. If a player did not retire suddenly and spectacularly, he wasn't going to attract much media attention. Culliver and Cox were an effective young cornerback tandem for the 49ers last year, but they slipped quietly away in free agency while teammates elbowed each other out of the way so they could file their retirement paperwork first.
Culliver, now in Washington, ranked fifth in the NFL at stopping opponents' complementary wide receivers, allowing just 6.2 yards per pass attempt, according to Football Outsiders. In other words, he's a great No. 2 cornerback, and he has the chops to be a pretty good No. 1 cornerback. The Redskins still have DeAngelo Hall in their secondary, as well as Bashaud Breeland, who had a rough rookie year but did show some flashes. They should be able to mix and match their corners in a way that keeps everyone comfortable.
Cox received a lower grade than Culliver from Pro Football Focus, which credits Culliver with allowing just a 50.7 percent catch rate, as opposed to Cox's 61.5 percent. Football Outsiders' internal database revealed part of the reason for the discrepancy: Cox handled many more of the 49ers' tougher wide receiver matchups.
In Tennessee, Cox joins Jason McCourty at cornerback, with former Titans starter Blidi Wreh-Wilson (who was severely overmatched last year) competing for a nickel role. Like the Redskins, the Titans should be able to create the matchups they want, and they will benefit from the jolt of experience.
Neither Cox nor Culliver is a headline-grabbing cornerback like Darrelle Revis. But capable, still-in-their-prime starters at cornerback aren't easy to find, and for beleaguered franchises like the Redskins and Titans, a little stability in the secondary can go a long way.
Tyrod Taylor, Quarterback, Bills
Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
Oh sure, you know all about Taylor now, after the Bills organization spent most of June making sure everyone heard that he was the dark-horse candidate for the starting job. But when the Bills signed Taylor on March 12, just days after trading for Matt Cassel, you probably didn't notice the move at all.
Now, Bills team website reporter Chris Brown is asserting that "Taylor clearly has the strongest arm of the three QBs in the competition." (With Cassel and EJ Manuel in the mix, that just means Taylor can throw 30 yards without a running start.) Head coach Rex Ryan told Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News that he tried to trade for Taylor when he coached the Jets.
With LeSean McCoy in the backfield and Sammy Watkins and Percy Harvin headlining the receiver corps, well, 30 passing touchdowns and six more rushing touchdowns are all but guaranteed. You had better select Taylor in the third round of your fantasy draft, lest you miss out on the sleeper of the millennium.
Oops, we jumped the gun a little there. Taylor has 35 career pass attempts and 27 rushes, with all of his production coming in either mop-up situations or brief Wildcat experiments. Taylor does have a 61.6 percent completion rate, 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions, plus 453 rushing yards, on his resume—his preseason resume from 2011 through 2014. Well, there is something to be said for a quarterback who sticks as a backup for a playoff-caliber team long enough to throw 211 preseason passes.
Taylor's rise to minicamp stardom may say more about the Bills' quarterback situation than it says about Taylor. Still, his acquisition created competition, and it demonstrated an aggressive approach to solving a perennial problem in Buffalo. That's what most of these "unnoticed" acquisitions are about: finding value, assembling role players, strengthening units and maybe, just maybe, unearthing a gem.
Projecting Taylor as the next Colin Kaepernick—or even as a starter—may be a little crazy, but one of those Bills quarterbacks is going to step into a huddle with Harvin, Watkins, Shady, Charles Clay and other outstanding playmakers. Better the winner of a wild-and-wooly competition than just the incumbent first-round pick or an off-the-rack veteran journeyman.
Mike Tanier covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.In 2016 Organizing Work Will Be the Key to Our Victory All Out for Democratic Renewal and
an Anti-War Government!
57th Anniversary of the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution
• Long Live the Cuban Revolution!
• National Assembly of People's Power Reiterates Fidelity to Principles and Ideals for Which Generations of Cubans Have Fought
• Central Committee of Communist Party Holds Twelfth Plenum
212th Anniversary of the Haitian Revolution
• Haitians Defend Historic Victory for Rights and Liberty
• Electoral Crisis Postpones Second Round of Presidential
Election to January 17
Turkish-ISIL Oil Trade
• Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Russia All Accuse Turkey of Smuggling Oil
- Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya -
In 2016 Organizing Work Will Be the Key to Our Victory All Out for Democratic Renewal and
an Anti-War Government! PDF
Today, as the year 2015 has come to an end and we usher in the New Year, people all over the world are yearning for a human society; a society where all human beings can flourish and the barbarities of the present conditions are a thing of the past. On this occasion, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) greets its members and supporters and all the workers, youth, students and seniors who battled so hard during 2015 to defeat the Harper dictatorship and war government. The aim of the broad masses of the people was and continues to be to end the anti-social offensive and nation-wrecking which are destroying the lives of the peoples at home and abroad. In this regard, great efforts were made to organize for people's empowerment. This work will continue throughout 2016, as the communist and workers' movement makes the building of Committees for Democratic Renewal and People's Empowerment a priority. As 2015 comes to a close, the utter barbarity of bourgeois civil society reveals itself more and more. While the problems facing the economy and the anachronistic constitutional and political arrangements are no fault of the people, the ruling elite have launched a brutal anti-social offensive. This offensive seeks to dispossess the peoples of everything that belongs to them by right at home while wars of aggression and occupation are launched against the peoples of other countries to effect regime change and covet what belongs to them by right. The destruction of productive forces on a mass scale is creating grave dangers for the world's people and the natural environment as well. Both at home and abroad what do we see? Do we see what we think is there, or shall we lift the veil of enforced ignorance by raising our concerns and sorting out what is happening in a manner that sorts out the problems in favour of humankind? Establish a Public Authority Consistent with the Needs of the Times! After deliberating on the achievements of the workers' and communist movement in 2015, CPC(M-L) has concluded that what is called civil society is a concept in tatters because all that is left of the public authority is its police powers. These police powers are outside the government of laws. A government of laws legitimizes rule; police powers do not. Police powers are used to decide who to punish and on what basis. They have a main role in maintaining the person of state which includes both government and police powers. It is done by ensuring compliance. The number one obligation of the state is to defend the well-being of the person of state. In fact, this is how what are called liberties are secured. In this equation the state takes the absolute position which explains why the elite keep discussing the need to strike the right balance between rights and security. It has nothing to do with upholding the rights which belong to the people by virtue of their being. The problem emerges, however, of how the rule can be legitimized when everything that concerns the relations which human beings must enter into in order to live is dictated from outside the government of laws? Far from legitimizing the rule, the unfolding events reveal that civil society is established and sustained by police powers. This in turn reveals that the peoples are no longer served by what is called a civil society. Calls by ruling elite to rewrite constitutions so that the police powers presently outside the government of laws are brought into a government of laws show the depths of irrationality which has gripped the minds and actions of the ruling elite in the imperialist heartlands. Their desperation to see the results they wish to attain come to life, no matter what, imbues their every word and deed with a madness beyond their control. This leads them to become ever more vengeful in seeking retribution when their irrational deeds do not meet with success. From the direction of the economy, to the laws which are used to declare what can and cannot be done, to the identity which defines us and the values we must espouse, the police powers and government, which together form the person of state, decide. Civil society's promise to provide equality, prosperity and peaceful relations within and between nations lies in tatters. The more elusive its promise becomes, the more the ruling elite speak in its name. This is what we see. Once it is revealed that the rights civil society was created to provide were defined by the police powers as property rights or to preserve property rights, it follows that modern definitions of rights are required on the basis that people have rights by virtue of being human. So too arrangements must be brought into being which favour the peoples, not the financial oligarchs whose rule is tearing society asunder and inflicting wars for the redivision of the world. And once all that is left of the public good is the police powers, where is the "good" which people want restored and to whom should they appeal to restore it? These are the challenges we must take up in 2016. Or are we to be driven mad by utopian liberal ideals of what might be if only we all espouse the right thinking and conduct ourselves in the right way? Can individual and collective rights be brought on par on the basis of expectations spun out of liberal illusions or will succumbing to liberal illusions provide a basis for individual and collective forms of punishment? Let Us Together Provide Society with a Modern Definition of Rights! What is the work we must accomplish in 2016? What does the New Year hold in store? How can we take up the major concerns of the peoples in a manner that provides solutions which open society's path to progress? CPC(M-L) thinks that a good starting point is to recognize that the problems which exist in fact reveal for all to see a glimpse of the new world which is striving to be born. For the New to come into being and problems to be sorted out, it is incumbent on the working class to raise the expectation that the economy must be organized to fulfill its responsibilities to the people and society. It must deprive monopoly right of its power to deprive the actual producers of what belongs to them by right. A new direction is required to solve the economy's fundamental problems and contradictions, and to mobilize the full power of the socialized economy, in particular the human factor/social consciousness. Finance capital cannot harmonize individuals and collectives and thus it increasingly resorts to exercising the power of public authority through police powers. But while police powers may permit robbery, they cannot sort out the problems of the economy. An economy is an integrated whole. For the economy to function an equilibrium must be established. Individual right cannot be reduced to a property right which must be provided with a guarantee no matter what. It requires at a minimum the recognition of the rights of the actual producers. Individual right must be defined on a new basis while collective rights must be put on par and both harmonized within the context of the general interests of society. These general interests are greater than the sum of its parts. The ruling elite with their sycophants, pundits, leading academic lights and monopolized media nonetheless blame their inability to sort out the fundamental contradictions at the base of the economy on the working class and people. They loathe their resistance and struggle for their rights and their very right to be. The more the contradictions inherent in the relations of production split the society asunder, the more irrational the elite become. Evidence of this is seen in the refusal to renew the political process so as to eliminate the role of power and privilege and permit the participation of the people in creating the conditions for their own living. It is seen in the promotion of fraudulent schemes, double standards and hypocrisy to cover up self-serving agenda. The increasing use of the courts, prisons and detention camps to keep the people in check and the deployment of police and armed forces to make the problems go away are acts of desperation, not acts of finding solutions to the problems which exist. Far from the people and their existence being the cause of the problems at home and wars abroad, the peoples' resistance gives rise to a forward-looking perspective and direction and a bright future. Actions which criminalize the workers and peoples for trying to solve the problems which face them and their societies reveal a criminal outlook which must also be opposed. Organizing Work Will Be the Key to Our Victory In 2016, CPC(M-L) thinks organization will be the key to our victory. The Party dedicates all its efforts to assist the working class to put on its agenda the necessity to develop its organization, thinking, practical politics and empowerment to attain a determining influence over the political affairs of the country and broad control of the economy in all the basic sectors. This entails depriving those who own and control great social wealth, the imperialist bourgeoisie and their state, of the power to deprive the working class of its empowerment and right to democratic renewal and a new direction for the economy. For the working class to become a dynamic Proletarian Front it must have its own organizational forms, theory and practical politics. To move forward, the communist and workers' movement must look to itself and what it needs to do to accomplish its tasks within the objective conditions. To succumb to the siren song of convincing the imperialist bourgeoisie to change and behave in a pro-social manner is not an option. Change comes when the social class which produces the wealth society depends on for its living is organized and pursues its own independent politics, theory and actions with analysis. This year, CPC(M-L) is also putting its full weight behind efforts by Youth for Democratic Renewal to make sure a political climate prevails across the country. The youth will organize themselves to oppose attempts to liquidate the people's political movement on the basis of post-modern irrationality and incoherence. Volunteerist programs which claim to deliver progressive solutions while the right to conscience and behaviour of those who do not agree to fall in step are criminalized must be opposed. Only by involving everyone in political forums where people raise their concerns and sort them out and enlightened solutions are discussed can the conditions be created whereby the youth can organize a bright future for themselves. In 2016, let us work to establish a public authority consistent with the needs of the times! Let us work so that society provides itself with a modern definition of rights! In 2016, All Out for Democratic Renewal and an Anti-War Government!
57th Anniversary of the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution Long Live the Cuban Revolution!
Toronto
Celebration of the 57th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution
Saturday, January 9, 2016 -- 6:00 pm
For poster, click
Casa Maiz, 1280 Finch Ave. W. (East of Keele), Unit #204For poster, click here Organized by: Toronto Forum on Cuba, Juan Gualberto Association of Cubans in Toronto, CCFA-Toronto and others
For information: http://www.torontoforumoncuba.com
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) joins the Cuban people and people all over the world in celebrating the 57th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. On the occasion of this important anniversary, the Party sends militant revolutionary greetings to the legendary leader of the Cuban people Comrade Fidel Castro, to Comrade Raúl Castro who is boldly leading Cuba through the complexities and difficulties at this time to fortify the Revolution and ensure the people's well-being, and to the Cuban people, whose outstanding achievements at home and abroad are celebrated by the world's peoples as their own, with many more yet to come. Since January 1, 1959 when the Cuban revolution triumphed, Revolutionary Cuba has accomplished great things on all fronts of life and work. It has done this despite the brutal, inhuman blockade of the U.S. imperialists designed to starve the people, crush their efforts to create a human-centred society and defeat the Revolution. This year's anniversary comes in the context the ongoing renovation and consolidation of Cuba's socialist economy and the important developments taking place in the year since diplomatic relations were re-established with the U.S. While the return of all the Cuban Five anti-terrorist heroes to their homeland and other developments are historic and important achievements, the main impediment to the proper development of Cuba's economy and the full normalization of relations continues to be the U.S. criminal blockade. The blockade must be lifted immediately! CPC(M-L) calls on everyone to go all out in 2016 to deepen the friendship between the Cuban and Canadian peoples and see to it that the U.S. blockade is finally brought to an end. Long Live Revolutionary Cuba! National Assembly of People's Power Reiterates
Fidelity to Principles and Ideals for Which
Generations of Cubans Have Fought
On December 29, the Sixth Ordinary Session of the Eighth Legislature of the National Assembly of People's Power was held, the second of its biannual meetings. In plenary, deputies approved the 2016 National Economic Plan and the State Budget, which were looked at in detail in permanent parliamentary commissions in the three days prior to the plenary. Remarks by President Castro The President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, in his speech to close the session, stated that the history of Cuba's Revolution is full of glorious chapters in the face of challenges, risks and threats. President Castro noted that despite the economic crisis and the U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by four per cent in 2015 and will continue to grow in 2016, albeit at a slower pace. President Castro noted that the number of foreign tourists visiting the country this year rose to 3.5 million; the highest number recorded to date. He also reaffirmed the Cuban government's intention to honour its commitments resulting from the agreements reached in the renegotiation of the country's debt. Regarding the issue of relations with the U.S., President Castro stressed that Cuba has repeatedly advised the U.S. government that in order to normalize bilateral relations, the blockade must be lifted. "The essential thing now is that President Barack Obama uses with determination his vast executive powers to modify the implementation of the blockade, which would give meaning to what has been achieved so far and permit solid progress to continue," he said. President Castro also reiterated that the territory illegally occupied by the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo must be returned. He also reaffirmed that in its relations with the U.S., "Cuba should not be asked to abandon its independence nor renounce the principles and ideals for which generations of Cubans have fought for a century and a half." A related matter addressed by the Cuban president was the plight of thousands of Cuban migrants left stranded in Costa Rica en route to the U.S. Cuba has long demanded that the U.S. end the politicization of its migration policy that encourages illegal, unsafe and disorderly migration. Last month, Nicaragua closed its border and prohibited an influx of people attempting to enter the country. Guatemala and Belize quickly followed suit after Mexico said it would also refuse them entry, arguing that its current migration laws would prohibit such a move. However, an agreement with the Costa Rican government was made December 28 to relocate the thousands of Cubans. According to a release from Costa Rica's Presidency, the countries agreed to conduct a pilot exercise to fly out some of the Cubans to El Salvador, where they would be put on buses to cross Guatemala and enter Mexico, Prensa Latina reports. "Our government has been in contact from the very beginning of this situation with the region's governments, searching for a suitable and quick solution, as Pope Francis has also called for, and taking into account the difficult circumstances of the migrants," said Castro. Remarks by Other Cuban Leaders With the forthcoming celebration of the January 1 anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution, Esteban Lazo, President of the National Assembly, acknowledged the people's |
delay could be tolerable, but missing data isn’t.
Similarly, a network may guarantee equal bandwidth distribution among its users. Every router in a data network has its own memory bank, called a buffer, where it can queue up packets. If one user has filled a router’s buffer with packets from a single high-definition video, and another is trying to download a comparatively tiny text document, the network might want to bump some of the video packets in favor of the text, to help guarantee both users a minimum data rate.
A router might also want to modify a packet to convey information about network conditions, such as whether the packet encountered congestion, where, and for how long; it might even want to suggest new transmission rates for senders.
Computer scientists have proposed hundreds of traffic management schemes involving complex rules for determining which packets to admit to a router and which to drop, in what order to queue the packets, and what additional information to add to them — all under a variety of different circumstances. And while in simulations many of these schemes promise improved network performance, few of them have ever been deployed, because of hardware constraints in routers.
The MIT researchers and their colleagues set themselves the goal of finding a set of simple computing elements that could be arranged to implement diverse traffic management schemes, without compromising the operating speeds of today’s best routers and without taking up too much space on-chip.
To test their designs, they built a compiler — a program that converts high-level program instructions into low-level hardware instructions — which they used to compile seven experimental traffic-management algorithms onto their proposed circuit elements. If an algorithm wouldn’t compile, or if it required an impractically large number of circuits, they would add new, more sophisticated circuit elements to their palette.
Assessments
In one of the two new papers, the researchers provide specifications for seven circuit types, each of which is slightly more complex than the last. Some simple traffic management algorithms require only the simplest circuit type, while others require more complex types. But even a bank of the most complex circuits would take up only 4 percent of the area of a router chip; a bank of the least complex types would take up only 0.16 percent.
Beyond the seven algorithms they used to design their circuit elements, the researchers ran several other algorithms through their compiler and found that they compiled to some combination of their simple circuit elements.
“We believe that they’ll generalize to many more,” says Sivaraman. “For instance, one of the circuits allows a programmer to track a running sum — something that is employed by many algorithms.”
In the second paper, they describe the design of their scheduler, the circuit element that orders packets in the router’s queue and extracts them for forwarding. In addition to queuing packets according to priority, the scheduler can also stamp them with particular transmission times and forward them accordingly. Sometimes, for instance, it could be useful for a router to slow down its transmission rate, in order to prevent bottlenecks elsewhere in the network, or to help ensure equitable bandwidth distribution.
Finally, the researchers drew up specifications for their circuits in Verilog, the language electrical engineers typically use to design commercial chips. Verilog’s built-in analytic tools verified that a router using the researchers’ circuits would be fast enough to support the packet rates common in today’s high-speed networks, forwarding a packet of data every nanosecond.
“There are a lot of problems in computer networking we’ve never been able to solve at the speed that traffic actually flows through the network, because there wasn’t support directly in the network devices to analyze the traffic or act on the traffic as it arrives,” says Jennifer Rexford, a professor of computer science at Princeton University. “What’s exciting about both of these works is that they really point to next-generation switch hardware that will be much, much more capable — and more importantly, more programmable, so that we can really change how the network functions without having to replace the equipment inside the network.”
“At the edge of the network, applications change all the time,” she adds. “Who knew Pokémon Go was going to happen? It’s incredibly frustrating when applications’ needs evolve years and years more quickly than the equipment’s ability to support it. Getting the time scale of innovation inside the network to be closer to the time scale of innovation in applications is, I think, quite important.”NativeScript is a framework that allows web developers to leverage their web development skills to build native mobile apps for Android and iOS(And later Windows Phone as promised by the nativescript team).So thanks to NativeScript if you can use JavaScript and CSS you can build a native mobile app.
Unlike hybride mobile frameworks such as Ionic or any Cordova based framework,NativeScript doesn't use web views but the rendering engine of the target native platform which means you get the same performance as any other native app.
What NativeScript tries to do is bridging the gap between the two worlds of hybride and native mobile apps,it takes the best of the two worlds and mixes it into one platform but how does NativeScript achive that?
The reuse of web skills,mainly JavaScript and CSS.
The use the rendering engine of Android or iOS (Thus no need for a web view and no performance issues).
So thanks to NativeScript :
You can build a mobile app that's 100% Native,you can call native api directly from the target native platform SDK or any third party library so there is no limitation compared to a native app built by native platform languages (Java or Swift).
You can build cross platform apps with nearly the same/or sometimes the same code base.
You have powerful tools at your hand,JavaScript,TypeScript,Angular 2.
You can use NPM/Node.js modules in your app but only modules which don't require or depend on some browser API like the DOM.
You can use a subset of CSS to style your app UI.
You have no web view so no performance issues related to web views.
You can re-use CocoaPods and Gradle packages.
You can share the code between mobile and web apps.
Angular 2 and NativeScript?
Angular 2 is the newest JavaScript framework built by Google.It's the successor of Angular.js( version 1.x) but was rewritten completly from scratch.Unline Angualr.js Angular 2 can be used outside of web browsers and doesnt' require the DOM so it can be leveraged to build applications for other platforms like Desktop or mobile devices and not just the web.
NativeScript doesn't require Angular 2 and you can use it to build your mobile application with only plain JavaScript but if you know Angular 2 why missing the power given to you to build mobile apps.
Setting up NativeScript
So after getting some basic information about NativeScript lets start by installing it.As any other awesome tool nowadays NativeScript uses Node.js so you need to have it installed in your system,otherwise you can follow this tutorial on how to install Node.js
Next you need to install the NativeScript CLI from npm(nodejs packager manager),just enter the following line of commands in your Windows command prompt or Linux/Mac terminal
npm install -g nativescript
If everything goes without any installation issues you'll have two equivalent commands available at your disposal to work with NativeScript which are as you can guess nativescript and tns(Telerik NatievScript).Using one of these commands and its related subcommands you can scaffold,build and run your NativeScript based mobile application.
Please note that native development requires special setup depending on your target platform,for example for Android you need to have Java installed and Android SDK and an optionnal android emulator if you are not intending to use a mobile device,during developement,for testing.For iOS you need a MAC OS and you need XCode installed.
After installing the native development platform required tools you can vereify if you are ready for developing with NativeScript using the following command
nativescript doctor
If you get “No issues were detected” then you are ready to go.
Building your first mobile app with NativeScript
So go ahead and start your terminal or command prompt then scaffold your first mobile project using nativescript cli
nativescript create myApp --appid "com.techiediaries.myapp"
--appid is used to specify the application id
If you want to create an app based on Angular 2 add --ng switch
nativescript create myApp --appid "com.techiediaries.myapp" --ng
go ahead and cd into your app directory
cd myApp
If you execute ls you should get a directory structure similar to
All your work should be done in app where you can put your app common and platform specific code and files.
After adding you code you need to prepare your project for a target platform (Android or iOS) by executing the following command
nativescript prepare android ( for Android ) nativescript prepare ios ( for iOS )
The prepare command does no magic it just copies the platform specic content to each platform specific subdirectory in platforms directory so you make sure each paltform gets only its specific assets.
Next you need to add target platforms to your project so you can build your mobile application,to do that just execute the following command :
nativescript platform add android nativescript platform add ios
Now you can build your app with
nativescript build android nativescript build ios
Afer bulding your app you should find your app package in
platforms → android → bin (The APK for Android)
platforms → ios → build → emulator (Emulator build (APP) for iOS)
platforms → ios → build → device (Device build (IPA) for iOS)
You can also deploy your project to a device to test it during development with
nativescript deploy android nativescript deploy ios
If you don't have a physical device at hand for testing you can use an emulator and you can run your app in the emulator using
nativescript emulate android nativescript emulate ios
To avoid using all these commands you can use the run command which takes care of running the three commands prepare, build, and deploy for you
nativescript run android nativescript run ios
Or to run in emulators
nativescript run android --emulator nativescript run ios --emulator
When developing you need to see your changes on the fly and fast,so you need to livesync with
nativescript livesync android nativescript livesync ios
Which works either if you are using an emulator or the actual device.NativeScript will take care of synchronizing your changes with your app just make your changes and be ready to see the result on your emulator or physical device connected via an USB.
Building The User Interface of your mobile app
As we mentionned before,NativeScript uses the native layout renderer of the target platform (Either Android or iOS).It is different from hybride mobile frameworks so you application doesn't execute in a webview and you have no html tags to build your app ui instead you use a NativeScript specific XML based language that gets converted to Android or iOS specific layout language
NativeScript layouts
NativeScript has many layouts.A layout is a sort of a container which allows you to place ui elements/components.Different layouts has diffrent algorithms for placing elements,you can use any layout you choose depending on your needs:
The Absolute layout
This layout uses absolute coordinates (left,top) to place elements.
To use it you need to import the AbsoluteLayout module
import absoluteLayoutModule = require ( "ui/layouts/absolute-layout" ) ;
The Grid Layout
This layout uses rows and columns to place any component.
You need to import the GridLayout module with
var layout = require ( "ui/layouts/grid-layout" ) ;
The Stack layout
This layout places elements stacked either horizontaly or vertically.
To use it you need to import the StackLayout module with
var StackLayout = require ( "ui/layouts/stack-layout" ).StackLayout;
The Dock layout
This layout places elements at the edges (left,top,right,bottom,)
To use it you need first to import the DockLayout module using require
import dockModule = require ( "ui/layouts/dock-layout" ) ;
The Wrap layout
This layout place ui components next to each other(Horisontally or vertically ) when space is available.You can set the orinetation to be horizontal or vertical as you need.
To use you need to require the WrapLayout module with
import wrapLayoutModule = require ( "ui/layouts/wrap-layout" ) ;
You have two options,either create your layouts using NativeScript xml ui language or JavaScript code.For example lets create a simple grid layout with some Labels.
With XML
<Page> <StackLayout orientation = "vertical" > <Button text = "Click Me" /> </StackLayout> </Page>
The same layout can be created with JavaScript/TypeScript code
var StackLayout = require ( "ui/layouts/stack-layout" ).StackLayout; import enums = require ( "ui/enums" ) ; var stackLayout = new StackLayout () ; stackLayout.orientation = enums.Orientation.horizontal; var btn = new Button () ; btn.text = "Click Me" stackLayout.addChild ( btn ) ;
Can I use existing NPM/Nodejs modules in my NativeScript app
The short answer is Yes you can.As long as the module doesn't depend or rely on a browser specific api like the DOM for example
Using popular packages such as lodash or moment.js is very straighforwrd all you need to do is installing them and then require them,the process is very straightorward :
First you need to go inside your project directory and install the npm module via normal npm install command :
npm install --save node-uuid
And then in your app code require it and start using it normally
var uuid = require ( 'node-uuid' ) ;
After building your project with :
nativescript build <platform>
The ClI will copy all modules inside of nodemodules folder to platforms/ /assets/app/tns modules.
The MVVM pattern
MVVM stands for Model-View-ViewModel and it is an architectural pattern like MVC or Model-View-Controller.In fact MVVM is just a variation of the MVC architecture which replaces the Controller component with a ViewModel compenent that adds features such as two data binding,the viewmodel is an observable object that observes the model and signal the changes on the model to the view so it updates itself.
MVVM helps keep the user interface and app logic separated. Using NativeScript with vanilla JavaScript requires you to understand how a MVVM pattern works and how to use it.
Using existing native Android/iOS librariries with NativeScript
NativeScript allows you to use native platform librariries in your NativeScript app code without so much effort,all you need is some tweaking and configuration and then the api is ready for you to call from JavaScript code.
Installing NativeScript plugins from NPM
Install the plugin from NPM using the CLI:
tns plugin add nativescript-physics-js
NativeScript with TypeScript
Instead of vanilla JavaScript you can choose to use TypeScript to build your mobile application with NativeScript,you just need to install via (make sure you are under your project directory)
nativescript install typescript
And then you can start using it.
If you don't know what TypeScript is? then it's just a strongly typed superset of JavaScript created by Microsoft which adds OOP (Object Oriented Programming) features to JavaScript.lots of TypeScript features were added to JavaScript 2015/EcmaScript 6 and other features planned to be added in the next version es6+.
NativeScript with Angular 2
Angular 2 is the latest version of Angular which is a javascript framework for building applications,unlike angular.js(1.x) Angular 2 can be used to build applications outside the web browser since it is independent from the DOM.Angular 2 can be used to build mobile and also desktop applications with native like speed and performance.
References
The documentation for NativeScript
The NativeScript API reference
NativeScript Project RoadmapNintendo has released a new update for Hyrule Warriors, version 1.4.0, which increases the maximum warrior level to 150 and allows players to carry up to 999 of a single type of material. The latest patch also adds new mixtures to the Apothecary and new medals. In addition, users can now receive amiibo presents by touching an amiibo to the Wii U GamePad while on the title screen to get a random bonus. An amiibo can grant only one present a day, and up to five presents can be obtained by using five different amiibo.
The Twilight Princess pack has also been released, making it possible to play as Midna in her true form and use the Mirror of Twilight. Priced at $7.99, the DLC pack allows players to use the Copy Rod weapon when playing as Zelda. It also introduces a new Adventure Mode map and new costumes for Link and Zelda. Hyrule Warriors is available in stores and on the Nintendo eShop for Wii U.Nintendo UK has announced that Super Mario Kart will be hitting the European Wii U Virtual Console later this month — March 27th, to be precise.
What's more, as part of a special promotion in the run up to the release of Mario Kart 8, if you download Super Mario Kart you will receive a £5.49 discount on the price of the Wii U sequel, which is due to hit Europe on May 30th. You'll have until June 30th to take advantage of the offer, and the usual caveats apply — you'll only get the discount if you purchase the digital version of the game via the Wii U eShop, and both purchases must be made on the same Wii U system.
The game that started it all, Super Mario Kart originally launched on the SNES back in 1992. "To play it today is every bit as enjoyable as it ever was," is what we said when we reviewed the Wii Virtual Console release back in 2009. "Sure the graphics and sound may have dated, but the core gameplay is still top notch." It's worth noting that this is the US version of the game, and will run at a silky-smooth 60hz.
Will you be investing in this title when it hits the Wii U Virtual Console? What do you think about the chance to save some cash on Mario Kart 8 at the same time? Share your feelings with a comment."That blast came from the Death Star! That thing's operational!"
–Lando Calrissian
Star Wars™: Rebellion is nearly here, and it is coming fully armed and operational!
If you had ever hoped to find the whole Galactic Civil War condensed into a single game and a single box, this is it. Star Wars: Rebellion is scheduled to arrive at retailers a week from Thursday, and when you pick up your copy, you can take command of either the entire Galactic Empire or the fledgling Rebel Alliance. More than that, by picking up an early copy of Star Wars: Rebellion, you gain the opportunity to take part in the action of Rebellion: Week One. All week long, when you play your games, you can report your results and see how they help to shape the ongoing struggles between Imperial and Rebel forces.
First, however, you will want to learn the game, and to that end, you can now download the rules!
Witness the Firepower
"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station."
–Emperor Palpatine
Star Wars: Rebellion is a big game. You have fleet battles, secret missions, and political gambits. You have two rival militaries vying for the hearts and minds of citizens throughout the galaxy and calling upon the resources of dozens of planets. You have Death Star Plans and Jedi training. You have probe droids scouring the galaxy to find the hidden Rebel base.
Over the course of our previews, we saw how these many different concerns play out over the course of a game round. Although we also demonstrated how everything traces back to your leaders and their influence, the Galactic Civil War is still massive, and there is still a lot to absorb. Accordingly, for your convenience, the rules for Star Wars: Rebellion have been divided into two separate rulebooks.
The Star Wars: Rebellion Learn to Play booklet (pdf, 17.2 MB) serves as your introduction to the game. It is intended to lead you quickly into and through your first battles. The Star Wars: Rebellion Rules Reference (pdf, 5.8 MB) is not intended to teach you the game, but it serves as an indexed resource that addresses and clarifies all rules questions that might arise over the course of your games.
Once you download these documents, it is recommended that you read through the whole Learn to Play booklet before you play your first game, and then you may find it best to use the prescribed First Game Setup and save the advanced rules for a later session. In this way, you can focus less on the additional rules and more on the heated conflicts at the heart of your battles for the fate of the galaxy!
Advanced Rules
"The Force is with you, young Skywalker. But you are not a Jedi yet."
–Darth Vader
Once you have played a few games and mastered the basic rules, you will likely appreciate the ways in which the game's rules and its flavor work together to weave deeply engaging play experiences, loaded with narrative drama. Some of these experiences may line up with the films; others may lead your Galactic Civil War in other directions. For example, you might discover the Rebel base on Hoth, only for the Rebels to fire their ion cannon and make their escape. Or you might witness Emperor Palpatine successfully luring Luke Skywalker to the dark side of the Force. Either way, you are almost certain to be swept up by the tension and the larger-than-life stories that all begin with your assignment of your leaders.
The advanced rules outlined in the Learn to Play booklet carry these thrilling, narrative moments even further and lend further distinction to each of your heroes or villains. While the advanced setup challenges you to respond to the task of starting with different systems each game and permits you to make tactical decisions about the deployment of your units from the outset, the main adjustment in advanced play is the way that you handle action cards.
You use action cards in the basic game, but only in order to recruit new leaders. Then, after you have recruited your leader, you remove the action cards that you drew from play, placing them back in the box. However, each of these cards also features an ability that you can use in advanced play. Instead of putting them back in the box, you hold onto them and can play them at the appropriate time. Accordingly, if you choose to recruit Han Solo with The Millennium Falcon card, you can immediately trigger the card's ability to attach the Millennium Falcon ring to Han, which provides him the ability to rescue a captured leader after he succeeds at a mission.
Most action cards, however, do not give you attachment rings, and only a small percentage of them need to be played immediately. In fact, there are four triggers for when an action card can be used: Assignment, Start of Combat, Immediate, and Special.
Assignment: The card is used during the Assignment Phase. Instead of assigning a leader to a mission, a player can flip the card faceup and resolve its ability.
The card is used during the Assignment Phase. Instead of assigning a leader to a mission, a player can flip the card faceup and resolve its ability. Start of Combat: The card is used immediately after step 1 (Add Leader) of combat.
The card is used immediately after step 1 (Add Leader) of combat. Immediate: The card must be used as soon as the player gains the card, either during setup or after choosing it when recruiting a leader. The card is immediately revealed and resolved.
The card must be used as soon as the player gains the card, either during setup or after choosing it when recruiting a leader. The card is immediately revealed and resolved. Special: The card is used when specified on the card.
Notably, because your action cards only provide their benefits when used in conjunction with one of the leaders they depict, the action cards that you draw in the advanced game may very well end up influencing the leaders you recruit. For example, if the opportunity arises to recruit a new leader and you draw Good Intel and Proceeding as Planned, your first instinct may be to recruit Colonel Yularen for his three Intel icons, space tactic value of two, and ground tactic value of two. But recruiting either Yularen or Soontir Fel would leave you unable to target one of the leaders shown on Proceeding as Planned, meaning you would not be able to play it and would lose the ability it grants you to search the project deck for the Construct Death Star mission.
On the other hand, if you recruited Moff Jerjerrod, you could play Proceeding as Planned in the next activation phase to take the Construct Death Star mission into your hand, use it the next round to place the Death Star Under Construction miniature in a system of your choice, and begin building a second Death Star.
In the end, the use of the game's advanced rules and the addition of its action cards serve to further reinforce the thematic and cinematic aspects of Star Wars: Rebellion, even as they further enhance your leaders' uniquity and importance. After all, Luke Skywalker is not just a Rebel leader with three mission icons and two tactics in both space and ground battles; he is the Son of Skywalker who can Seek Yoda to receive his Jedi training, and he is the Rebel ace who struck a One in a Million blow against the Galactic Empire by firing the shot that exploded the Death Star. In the advanced game, these elements make an even greater impression, even as your action cards provide you even more tactical options and sneaky ways to disrupt your opponent's best laid plans.
Play Your Part in Rebellion: Week One!
"Impressive… most impressive."
–Darth Vader
The Galactic Empire needs you! So does the Rebel Alliance!
Star Wars: Rebellion is scheduled to arrive at retailers next Thursday, and we invite you to celebrate the first shots in the Galactic Civil War by jumping in, playing with your friends, and reporting your results. From Thursday through Monday April 10th, we will collect your results and add them to our constantly changing heat map. See which areas have fallen under Rebel control. See where the Empire has asserted its might and established order.
Over the course of Rebellion: Week One, we want you to be a part of the greatest board game battles in the history of the Star Wars galaxy, and at the end, we plan to report which leaders and which missions saw the greatest success, as well as how many planets the Death Star manages to destroy. We also want to share some of your favorite moments, so be sure to report the most exciting and fateful moments from your games. How will the galaxy come to life on your tables? We want to know.
So get ready! Thursday the 31st, the Rebellion begins!**Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.**
On the roster: Don’t kid yourself, the polls are usually right - Grassley: Release material from Clinton probe - Ed Rendell says Clinton Foundation should be shut down if Hillary wins - Audible: The Lady’s not for turning - Worst Swedish fish ever
DON’T KID YOURSELF, THE POLLS ARE USUALLY RIGHT
If Donald Trump and his campaign really don’t believe that he is behind in the presidential election, then they are much worse off than even the polls would indicate.
The magic meme moment for this phase of the campaign came Thursday in a CNN interview where a Trump adviser face planted when he tried to game the polls.
Informed that his campaign was losing, Trump lawyer Michael Cohen retorted, “Says who?” When told that it was the verdict of the polls, Cohen sneered, “Which polls?” The answer that has been ricocheting around the media: “All of them.”
And they all really do.
Certainly, Trump’s new campaign manager, pollster Kellyanne Conway, knows the truth. So, one would assume that others in the campaign are aware of Trump’s deficit, which currently stands at about 9 points in an average of reliable polls.
If the numbers hold, it would be the worst popular vote defeat since 1984, so whatever individual polls indicate, there is lots of ground to be made up.
The candidate this morning tweeted, “They will soon be calling me MR. BREXIT!” an apparent reference to the botched polling of the U.K. referendum on leaving the European Union. The message in Trump’s tweet and reinforced by his supporters far and wide is that the polls are simply wrong.
It’s no mystery why the campaign doesn’t like what the polls say, but are Trump and his campaign and supporters doing the right thing in questioning their accuracy?
Yes, the polls in Britain were wrong, but this isn’t Britain and this isn’t a low-turnout referendum. This is the dadgum presidency. And the polls on the presidency have been consistently correct for generations.
For your primer on the validity of polling, read Nate Silver’s treatise on the topic. His conclusion is that in lower turnout elections, polling can be more challenging, but when it comes to the big Kahuna, polls have done a good job. The most glaring error in presidential polling, the 1948 election, was not just in the relative infancy of public opinion work, but the result of a special set of circumstances.
If you choose to believe that this is the year in which the polls are all wrong, you may have also thought that Mitt Romney was going to win in 2012. He didn’t and, for now, Trump isn’t.
When Romney’s campaign starting spitting mumbo jumbo about the polls being wrong, it was late in the race and the Republicans were only too ready to grasp at straws. But on election night, the verdict was clear. Pollsters had done their jobs well, but the GOP hadn’t.
Disputing the polls in August is something different. Losing candidates usually blow off polls because they don’t want their supporters to give up hope. A little of this gamesmanship is part of almost every election cycle. The epitaph of every losing campaign might read, “The only poll that matters is on Election Day.”
But 82 days is a long time to be whistling past the graveyard.
One wouldn’t expect a campaign to say that it was losing, or at least not to emphasize the point. But it is not good practice to invite supporters to ignore reality. Doing so also allows a campaign to ignore reality itself.
As we have discussed, Trump needs the race reset in order to be competitive. Pooh poohing the polls a bit, but making ready for a comeback is one thing. Pretending that the polls aren’t real is quite another. If Trump and his campaign do not level with voters, and stop with the stuff about Twitter followers and rally sizes, the eventual falloff will be even greater.
Big rallies and active social media accounts are certainly good measures of the intensity of voters, but terrible metrics for overall sentiment. It would be like gaging the temperature of your home by sticking your head in the freezer.
The heartbreak that followed 2012 for Republicans was made much worse for those who were not forced to confront reality sooner. It may have been too late in Romney’s case for the truth to set him free, but that is not so this time.
With more than 11 weeks to go, Trump could certainly close that gap or Clinton could collapse in the polls. But if he is living in an alternate reality, there would be no incentive for Trump to change direction.
Comebacks are hard, but not that rare in presidential politics, as we’ve in 1948, 1980, and 1988. Pretending that one is not necessary, though, is no way to get a comeback started.
TIME OUT: BUT, IT’S CHOCOLATE
Slate talks about how Roald Dahl’s whimsical works always involve food and the perils of those who overindulge: “Roald Dahl wrote swirling sugar fantasias, palaces of chocolate, and a floating, dripping den of peach flesh. He wrote frothing chocolate waterfalls and gravity-negating fizzy drinks…Dahl's feasts are his imaginative aristeias. At the same time, Dahl’s most whimsical confections are always paired with torments for those who can’t resist them. Overindulge—drink from the forbidden chocolate river—and, whoops, you are Augustus Gloop torpedoing toward the fudge boiler. Dahl’s culinary flights of fancy are matched by endlessly inventive brutality toward those who eat too much, the Bruno Jenkinses and the Augustus Gloops (Gloop with its terrible smack of formless, spreading flesh).”
Flag on the play? - Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions
SCOREBOARD
Average of national presidential polls: Clinton vs. Trump: Clinton +9.2 points
Generic congressional vote: Democrats +2.8
GRASSLEY: RELEASE MATERIAL FROM CLINTON PROBE
The Hill: “Some material that the FBI delivered to Congress regarding its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server could be made public, according to a new report…A ‘substantial amount’ of what the FBI sent to Congress appears to be unclassified, meaning it could potentially be released publicly, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. ‘If it isn’t classified, it ought to be public,’ Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley(R-Iowa) told the Post. Grassley is calling for Senate officials to separate classified and unclassified material but said it may take a significant amount of time to do so, according to the newspaper.”
Clinton Foundation reportedly hired cyber security firm for possible hack - Fox News: “The Clinton Foundation reportedly hired an outside cyber security company to look at its servers after possibly being hacked. Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Wednesday that no files from Hillary and Bill Clinton’s organization have surfaced in the public. One of the sources and two other U.S. security officials told the news agency that the hackers appeared to have used ‘spear phishing’ techniques to get access to the foundation’s systems.”
Ed Rendell says Clinton Foundation should be shut down if Hillary wins - The Hill: “Former Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Pa.) says the Clinton Foundation should be disbanded if Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is elected to the White House. ‘I definitely think if she wins the presidency they have to disband it. I know it’ll be hard for President [Bill] Clinton because he cares very deeply about what the foundation has done,’ Rendell, a Clinton ally, told the New York Daily News.”
PLAY-BY-PLAY
New Clinton ad pushes Trump to release tax returns - ABC News
Larry Sabato’s prediction map puts Clinton above 270 electoral votes for the first time - UVA Center for Politics
Kaine attends fundraisers in deep red states - Politico
Kasich to return to N.H., bring operation back together - Cleveland Plain-Dealer
More swing state polls show Clinton ahead - The Hill
Romney pitches Rubio to donors as a way for GOP to keep the Senate - WashEx
David Drucker explains why some GOP insiders are nervous over Trump camp changeup - WashEx
Meet Steve Bannon - Bloomberg
AUDIBLE: THE LADY’S NOT FOR TURNING
“But I will not lie to you about the state of this race. I won’t do it. No amount of peer pressure digital or otherwise can move me.” – Dana Perino on Twitter responding to polling critics who say the polls aren’t predictive.
FROM THE BLEACHERS
“Here’s one college educated white voter who isn’t abandoning Trump’s candidacy. Wow, Chris. Each day you’re sounding more and more like the Washington establishment. Get over it. I feel like I’m reading a Mitt Romney blog. Disappointing.” – Bob Daignault, Lebanon, Ohio
[Ed. note: I expect millions of college-educated white voters will cast ballots for Trump this fall. The question is: will there be enough in an electorate of perhaps 135 million. Trump is outperforming prior GOP nominees among white voters without college degrees, which gives him some slack on the side of more educated and typically more affluent voters. But right now it’s not enough, particularly among college-educated white women – a group that split fairly evenly in the past two elections but now favors Clinton by a margin of as much as 30 points.]
“Thanks for the consistently GREAT insights and analyses. Apparently Republicans have drunk the cool aid of ‘form over substance’ (‘Process over Policy’) along with the vast majority of center-left Democrats. If (when?) Trump goes down in flames, it will be because almost everyone has made ‘The Perfect (we can see) the enemy of the Good (we cannot see).’ At the end of the day, this is what is sweeping America into the dust bin of history…(important) substance has been completely replaced by a preoccupation with (smooth) form. Teddy Roosevelt (and George Orwell) are turning over in their graves.” – Eric Hutchins, Santa Barbara, Calif.
[Ed note: Very kind of you to say, Mr. Hutchins. Puts me much in mind of the great line from G.O.:“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”]
“I think it is now abundantly clear that Donald Trump both exaggerated his personal wealth, and misled voters about his commitment to self-fund. While Mrs. Clinton and her PAC’s have spent $100-million on advertising, Trump not a dime. Matching her would have meant spending 1/100 of his alleged $10-billion dollar fortune. Who wouldn’t allocate that to achieve one’s dream job? Can we be honest? He never had as much as he claimed, nor is he inclined to opening his wallet. It was all a sham.” – Richard Jacobson, Wilmington, Del.
[Ed. note: Trump is certainly rich. How rich is something of an open question, and certainly he has inflated public perceptions of his fortune by valuating his “brand” at as much as $6 billion. But there’s no doubt he funneled tens of millions of dollars into his successful primary bid. A larger question for Trump is how to make his brand as a rich guy work in the general election. Like the previous Republican nominee, it has turned into a liability.]
Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.
WORST SWEDISH FISH EVER
Fox News: “Jaws may not be the only one salivating as you splash. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, a cousin of the piranha reported to go after swimmer’s testicles has been found in coastal waters between Sweden and Denmark. And fish experts are warning locals to stay aware -- in order to stay whole. ‘Keep your swimwear on if you’re bathing in the Sound these days -- maybe there are more out there!’ Henrik Carl, a fish expert at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, told Swedish news site The Local. ‘They bite because they’re hungry, and testicles sit nicely in their mouth,’ Carl added…Yikes!”
AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“On almost every issue abroad, the opponent is the one who would benefit if something bad happens. The incumbent, which is Hillary, would be the one who would suffer. But there is one exception, that’s Russia…” -- |
. While the first-team guys are more likely to mail it in, you can guarantee that third stringers and guys trying to cling on to an NFL team- whether it’s the one their with or if they’re trying to put up for other teams that might be watching – will be playing their hearts out for that chance.
That goes for rookies and veterans alike who are looking for a chance to either nail down either a starting spot, a spot on the 53-man roster, or even just a spot on the team’s practice squad.
The drama is high when you look at things from purely a personnel perspective as opposed to a wins and losses perspective.
With that in mind, it’s unfair to say the games don’t matter, because they certainly do at the individual level even though the result is unimportant.
4. The First Quarter And Almost All Of Game 3 Matter
If you’re strictly looking to watch your favorite players or the league’s biggest stars the preseason still has you covered! For much of the first half, or at the very least the first series or the first quarter of the first two games of the preseason, the NFL’s biggest stars will be on the field competing against one another.
Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers, Antonio Brown, Adrian Peterson, Julio Jones… the list goes on and on. First team units up against first team units trying to figure things out before the games really matter.
Then in the third game of the year it’s more than a half of real football as teams take this game almost as seriously as their opening game of the season.
The fourth game of the preseason… not so much. But hey three out of four ain’t bad.
5. It’ll Whet Your Appetite For The Regular Season
Think of the the preseason as being the warm up band when you go to see your favorite band in concert. Sure, you don’t know any of their songs, don’t really care all that much about them, and they’re really just there to kill time until your favorite band takes the stage, but, on occasion, they actually have something to offer.
Maybe you hear that one song that resonates and makes you a fan. Or maybe you even hear a song that you vaguely recognize and it gets you amped up.
Sometimes, preseason games will have stellar plays made by unheralded players, big hits, late-game drama… you know, things you usually have to wait for the main act – or the regular season – to get a glimpse of.
But the point is, folks, there is some good football here for the taking. It may not be the regular season, or anything close to it most of the time, but football is football and ready or not, here it comes.
Bryan Altman is, for some reason, an unabashed fan of the Rangers, Jets and Mets. If he absolutely had to pick a basketball team it would be the Knicks, but he’d gladly trade them for a championship for any of his other three teams.
Questions or comments? Feel free to follow Bryan on Twitter or send him an email.President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks about the choice facing women in the upcoming election, Friday, Oct. 19, 2012, at a campaign event at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Given my religious right background I'm one of the president's most unlikely fans. Maybe that's because I know the alternative-- from the inside. I fear the alternative to the president -- far right loons of the Tea Party/evangelical religious right ilk -- and have never felt I had the luxury of being an armchair lefty critic demoralizing Obama's supporters because he's the only person who stands between the village idiots and us.
Before he'd served even one year President Obama lost the support of the easily distracted left and engendered the white hot rage of the hate-filled right. But some of us, from all walks of life and ideological backgrounds -- including this white, straight, 60-year-old, former religious right wing agitator, now progressive writer and (given my background as the son of Francis Schaeffer a famous evangelical leader described in my book Crazy For God) this most unlikely Obama supporter -- stuck with our president.
Why? Because he is succeeding against the tallest odds ever maliciously and stupidly stuck in the way of any American president by the most vicious and unpatriotic crew of malcontents, racists, snobs and fools to ever try and take a president down.
Obama's steady supporters will be proved right. His second term will be glorious. Then Obama's critics on the left and right will be remembered as easily panicked and prematurely discouraged fools at best and shriveled hate mongers at worst.
The Context of the Obama Presidency
Not since the days of the rise of fascism in Europe, the Second World War and the Depression has any president faced more adversity. Not since the Civil War has any president led a more bitterly divided country. Not since the introduction of racial integration has any president faced a more consistently short-sighted and willfully ignorant opposition -- from both the right and left.
As Ryan Lizza writes in the New Yorker:
"Obama didn't remake Washington. But his first two years stand as one of the most successful legislative periods in modern history. Among other achievements, he has saved the economy from depression, passed universal health care, and reformed Wall Street."
Here is what President Obama faced when he took office:
An ideologically divided country to the point that America was really two countries
Two wars; one that was mishandled from the start, the other that was unnecessary and immoral
The worst economic crisis since the Depression
America's standing in the world at the lowest point in history
A country that had been misled into accepting the use of torture of prisoners of war
A health care system in free fall
An educational system in free fall
A global environmental crisis of history-altering proportions (about which the Bush administration and the Republicans had done nothing) and that today's Republicans have lied about as they serve their oil/coal company masters
An impasse between culture warriors from the right and left
A Republican Party bet on obstructing him even when it cost the country
A huge financial deficit inherited from the terminally irresponsible Bush administration...
And those were only some of the problems sitting on the president's desk!
"Help" from the right?
What did the Republicans and the religious right, libertarians and half-baked Tea Party racist conspiracy theorists -- that is what the Republicans were reduced to by the time President Obama took office -- do to "help" our new president (and our country) succeed? They claimed that he wasn't a real American, didn't have an American birth certificate, wasn't born here, was secretly a Muslim, was white-hating "racist", was secretly a communist, was actually the Anti-Christ, (no kidding!) and wanted "death panels" to kill the elderly.
They not-so-subtly called for his assassination through the not-so-subtle use of vile signs held at their rallies and even a bumper sticker quoting Psalm 109:8. They organized "tea parties" to sound off against imagined insults and all government in general and gathered to howl at the moon. They were led by insurance industry lobbyists and deranged (but well financed) "commentators" from Glenn Beck to Rush Limbaugh and billionaire agitators like the Koch brothers who literally tried to buy the government.
"Help" from the left?
The left's lack of faith became a self-fulfilling "prophecy" in lost voter enthusiasm -- snipe at the president and then watch the poll numbers fall and then pretend you didn't have anything to do with it.
What did the left do to help our newly elected president? Within weeks some of them excoriated the president because they disagreed with the bad choices he was being forced to make regarding a war in Afghanistan that he'd inherited from the worst president in modern history. They pissed and moaned on MSNBC, Alternet, Huffington Post et al because the president didn't do everything he wanted to do soon enough. People like Paul Krugman second guessed everything President Obama did, until -- belatedly -- a few folks like Krugman backtracked after President Obama's list of huge accomplishments became hard to argue with.
Others on the cranky left (like Bob Woodward who said President Obama was "Arrogant, aloof, and unprepared" in his book The Price of Politics) stood up and bravely proclaimed that the president's economic policies had "failed" before the President even instituted them. Others said that since all gay rights battles had not been fully won within virtually minutes of the president taking office, they'd been "betrayed"!
Those that had stood in transfixed legions weeping with beatific emotion on election night in 2008 turned into an angry "disappointed" leftist mob saying how discouraged they were that they'd not all immediately been translated to heaven the moment Obama stepped into the White House. Where was the "change"? Contrary to their expectations they were still mere mortals!
"Governing"?! What the hell does that word, uh, like mean?"
The president's critics left and right all had one thing in common: impatience laced with little-to-no sense of history. Then of course there were the white, snide know-it-all commentators/talking heads who just couldn't imagine that maybe, just maybe they weren't as smart as they thought they were and certainly not as smart as their president. He hadn't consulted them, had he? So he must be wrong!
Meanwhile back in the reality-based community among other things President Obama had as listed by the Daily Kos:
1. 3,680,000 private sector jobs created since the end of the Bush Great Recession ref ref
2. Expanded government's fight against fraud in Financial ref, Federal Contractor ref and Health Care areas ref
3. $2,000,000,000,000 in deficit reduction ref
4. He saved the economy from ruin (until the Tea Party took over Congress) with a stimulus that was as large as possible given the political realities ref
5. Saved the US Auto Industry ref, ref
6. Health Care Reform ref
7. Reduced military spending by $500,000,000,000 ref
8. Wall Street Reform ref ref ref
9. Leaned on the banks to recover almost all "bailout money" with interest ref ref
11. Killed Osama Bin Laden ref
12. Killed a whole generation of al Qaeda leaders ref
13. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; Instituted equal pay for women. ref, ref, ref
14. Expanded funding for the Violence Against Women Act. ref
15. Support's states' right on medical marijuana ref
16. Repealed "Don't ask don't tell" refref
17. Appointed more openly gay officials than anyone in history. ref
18. Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. ref
19. Changed HUD rules to prohibit gender and sexual orientation-based discrimination in housing ref
20. Publicly expressed support for the right to enter into a same-sex marriage. ref
21. Ended the war in Iraq ref
22. Toppled Gadhafi without an American casualty ref
23. Invested in college students: 1) by repeatedly increased funding for student financial aid, and at the same time cut the banks completely out of the process. ref ref ref 2) by reforming student loan program, to make it possible for students to refinance at a lower rate. ref and 3) by overseeing an expansion of the Pell Grants program, to expand opportunity for low income students to go to college. ref
24. Fast-tracked regulations to dramatically increase fuel efficiency standards ref ref
25. Strengthened the bond between clean energy and commerce by overseeing establishment of an Energy Partnership for the Americas, to create more markets for American-made biofuels and green energy technologies. ref Oversaw the creation of an initiative that converts old factories and manufacturing centers into new clean technology centers. ref
26. Pushed through a tax credit to help people buy plug-in hybrid cars. ref
27. Turned America toward native sources of renewal energy Ordered energy plants to prepare to produce at least 15% of all energy through renewable resources like wind and solar, by 2021. ref (As you can see, Republicans are trying hard to kill it.)
Who actually has failed?
The Americans that can't see the beginning of a miracle of national rebirth are the failures. It's right under our jaded noses!
Who failed are the smart ass ideologues of the left and right who began rooting for this president to fail so that they could be proved correct in their dire and morbid predictions. Who failed are the movers and shakers behind our obscenely dumb news cycles that have turned "news" into just more stupid entertainment for an entertainment-besotted infantile country.
The future looks good
After Obama has served two full terms, (and he will), after his wisdom in moving deliberately and cautiously with great subtlety on all fronts -- with a canny and calculating eye to the possible succeeds, (it will), after the economy is booming and new industries are burgeoning, (they will be), after the doomsayers are proved not just wrong but silly: let the record show that not all Americans were panicked into thinking the sky was falling.
So when are President Obama's critics, people like Paul Krugman (from the left) and Mitt Romney (from the right), going to offer President Obama an apology?
Both have often loudly predicted that he made the economy "worse" and was putting America on the wrong economic path. Both are being proved wrong by the economic comeback we are in. I mention them not to pick on Krugman, who I respect, or even on Romney (who I regard as vapid and bought and paid for by corporate interests) but to make a point: President Obama is going to have the last laugh on his critics, no matter what ideological spectrum they hail from.
President Obama is succeeding in spite of the fact that he's been up against a Republican Party willing to destroy the economy in order to destroy him.
As the New Yorker notes:
"Two well-known Washington political analysts, Thomas Mann, of the bipartisan Brookings Institution, and Norman Ornstein, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, agree. In a forthcoming book about Washington dysfunction, 'It's Even Worse Than It Looks,' they write, 'One of our two major parties, the Republicans, has become an insurgent outlier--ideologically extreme, contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime, scornful of compromise, unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science, and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.'"
The president keeps proving himself smarter than his detractors
President Obama will win a second term 2012. And four years later all that will be remembered about his critics is that they were impatient, deluded and wrong.NEW YORK — Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Oscar-nominated actor and celebrated author whose plays chronicled the explosive fault lines of family and masculinity in the American West, has died. He was 73.
Family spokesman Chris Boneau said Monday that Shepard died Thursday at his home in Kentucky from complications related to Lou Gehrig’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
The taciturn Shepard, who grew up on a California ranch, was a man of few words who nevertheless produced 44 plays and numerous books, memoirs and short stories. His 1979 play “Buried Child” won the Pulitzer for drama.
His Western drawl and laconic presence made him a reluctant movie star, too. He appeared in dozens of films, and was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in 1983’s astronaut drama “The Right Stuff.”
Shepard recently starred in the first season of the Netflix series “Bloodline” as the patriarch of a prominent Florida Keys family who try to keep a web of secrets from destroying their lives.
Shepard and his former wife, actress Jessica Lange, lived in Stillwater for about nine years. The pair was often spotted around town and their children attended Stillwater schools.
The couple put their estate on the market in 2004 and it was later sold.
In Stillwater, the couple blended in “just like anybody else,” said former Mayor Jay Kimble.
“You’d see them in the bookstore, you’d see them at the post office,” Kimble said. “They were about as normal a people — despite being famous — as you could imagine. They were just normal parents, normal couple, living a normal life in a normal town.”
Shepard was a “cool guy” and a “kind and devoted father,” said Kimble, who used to live down the street from him.
“One of my favorite memories of him is when he was sitting in our house and playing honky-tonk blues on our piano,” Kimble said. “Every board in the house was smiling and dancing.”
Once, Shepard and Lange’s son, Walker, climbed high up in the maple tree outside Kimble’s house.
“We’re sitting on my front porch, and Walker yells down from a tree: ‘Hey, Dad, look at me!’” Kimble said. “He was 60 feet up in the air! I would have started screaming … but Sam was super calm. He said: ‘I see you. Come down here a minute, I want to talk to you.’ The kid comes down, and he said: ‘Don’t be climbing trees without asking permission first.’ There was no negative commentary or whatever. He was just matter-of-fact — there was no blame or judgmental stuff.”
Pioneer Press reporter Mary Divine contributed to this report.Iran’s Guardian Council has found that the number of votes cast in 50 Iranian cities exceeded the number of people entitled to vote.
Iranian State media reported that the additional votes “could be over 3 million and the council could at the request of the candidates re-count the affected ballot boxes.”
While the claim has been widely reported in Western media as well, far little analysis has been done on the numbers claimed in the report. A crunch of the numbers suggest that the number of fraudulent votes could be much, much higher than 3 million, but let me explain the math.
Voter turnout at the Iranian election was reported to be 85% (ref), a historic high in a country where voting is not compulsory. There are anywhere from 46 million eligible voters according to Iran’s Interior Ministry, to over 51 million according to Iran’s Center for Statistics (ref.)
Now the 3 million votes identified by the Guardian Council are votes cast above 100% of eligible voters, and yet turnout is reported at 85%. See the gap now?
Turnout figures are reported on a country wide average basis, and aren’t available on a city or polling booth basis (least not in English or via an easy to identify source.) We also don’t know which cities or ballot boxes were affected, but we can make some estimates.
An additional 3 million votes would mean that an additional 6.5% of votes were cast on top of the 100% mark based on the Interior Ministry number of 46 million eligible voters. If turnout was the average 85% in the effected cities, that would mean that up to an additional 6.9 million fraudulent votes may have been cast on top of the 3 million figure, bringing the total to 9.9 million votes.
Now the bad news is that 9.9 million doesn’t allow for the gap between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi, which was 11.3 million votes, but there could be more.
The 85% turn out figure is strange on a couple of fronts. Yes, there’s obviously a mood for change in Iran, but there’s some irregularities as well. The figure was first reported by Iran to be 70% (ref) until it was revised up to 85%. Both figures are historic highs as well, with voter turnout at the last round of voting in Iran in 2005 hitting only 48% (ref). 85% isn’t impossible, but could the additional 15% above 70% have been added to cover up even more widespread voting fraud?
If the actual turnout was 70%, the figures shift around, and presuming all fraudulent votes went to Ahmadinejad, Mousavi comes out at around 4 million votes ahead, and that of course would be game over.
Other sites are claiming that the Iranian Government simply made the figures up (and there’s some decent arguments in favor of that theory), but what if they didn’t just make the numbers up, but tried to cover themselves by stuffing the ballot box with physical votes for Ahmadinejad, after all, if you can show physcial votes, it’s easier to defend against claims of fraud. But what if they didn’t get it right, and over stuffed the ballot boxes, resulting in the 3 million votes they’ve admitted to today? Given the situation in Iran, it’s not impossible that this scenario may have taken place.
Update: a thought: we’re taking turnout figures as being accurate, but we can’t back those up, and if the election was rigged, so to could have been the reported turnout figures. We know turnout was high in Tehran due to the media coverage, but what if the real figure Iran wide wasn’t even 70%? What if it was something closer to 50 or 60%? the bigger the gap between actual turnout and reported turnout becomes, the bigger the fraud. It’s not inconcievable that in at least some Iranian cities, actual turnout could even have been below 50%.Hyperinflation has struck again, this time at ground zero of the most sensitive geopolitical conflict in ages: Iran. EA WorldView reports:
An EA source reports that a relative in Tehran ordered a washing machine for 400,000 Toman (about $240) this week. When he went to the shop the next day, he was told that --- amidst the currency crisis and rising import costs --- the price was now 800,000 Toman (about $480). Another EA source says that the price of an item of software for a laptop computer has tripled from 50,000 Toman to 150,000 Toman within days.
And so the opportunity cost for the Ahmedinejad regime to preserve its status quo gradually grinds to zero, as the entire economy implodes (courtesy of a few strategic financially isolating decisions) making further escalation virtually inevitable, in a 100% replica of the US-planned Japanese escalation that led to the Pearl Harbor attack, and gave America the green light to enter the war.
Summary of McCollum's 1940 memo.
h/t L0gg0lKraigg Brathwaite has been reported for a suspect bowling action following the first Test against England at Edgbaston.
Brathwaite, the opening batsman who bowls part-time offspin, sent down six overs for six runs in England's innings. He will now be required to undergo testing within 14 days but is allowed to continue to bowl in international cricket until the results are known.
He has 12 wickets in Test cricket including a haul of 6 for 29 against Sri Lanka in Colombo although he is far more important to West Indies for his adhesiveness with the bat - he is the only member of the current squad with more than 2000 Test runs. He made a duck in the first innings at Edgbaston but scored 40 in the second before being trapped lbw by Moeen Ali.Letters: 'Music Curator' Diplo
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
It's time for your comments and, today, they're about Diplo.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EXPRESS YOURSELF")
DIPLO: (Singing) Express yourself. Express yourself. Express yourself. Express yourself. Express yourself. Release your (unintelligible).
CORNISH: My conversation with the world famous DJ this week sparked a conversation among listeners at NPR.org. The gist of that conversation was this: Many of you expect smart music coverage from us about classical releases, jazz certainly, even the work of a 14 accordion orchestra.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORNISH: But Diplo is not the kind of music that some of you expect or want to hear from ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CORNISH: Lance Glousky(ph) of Guadalajara, Mexico, is not alone when he writes: The staff of NPR seems mostly like sane adults. Why can't they use some taste when choosing this stuff? Could anyone really like this music without being on amphetamines at a rave?
And G.Q. Lewis(ph) from Charlotte, North Carolina, writes: I typically don't provide negative feedback, but perhaps we've grown apart. NPR, where are you now? Where did you go? I miss my old friend.
Well, as we said, there was a conversation online and there were Diplo defenders. Among them, Chris Thompson(ph) of Rochester, New York, who writes: I find it hilarious that you people are tuning in to a show called ALL THINGS CONSIDERED and getting upset at the fact that they're considering all things.
We also took some flack for our interview yesterday about big cutbacks at the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Jerry Shiles(ph) of Catonsville, Maryland, writes: While I sympathize with the 200 employees who lost their jobs at the Times-Picayune recently, I was disturbed by your guest's comment that it was like Katrina without the water. It is amazing how millions of people have lost their jobs, yet only when journalists suffer does it become a true tragedy.
Your report also made it seem that the fact that 100 of the jobs lost were from the newsroom was especially tragic. This, in spite of the fact that these individuals probably have more education and better job prospects than the 100 individuals who worked in other areas. One of the reasons the media often has a bad reputation with the public is its extreme myopia regarding itself.
Thank you for your comments. Please write to us by visiting NPR.org and click on Contact Us.
Copyright © 2012 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.There are lots of diverse sorts of dentists, each one with their own specialty. When you’re here, you’ll locate a friendly, caring dentist and staff. Though orthodontists work with folks of all ages, the majority of patients are young kids and teens. At our dental clinic, we’ve got dentists who focus on different dental specialties. While that’s vital to cosmetic dentists, they specialize in many of unique treatments intended to boost the look or aesthetic of your teeth. Boise dentist, Dr. Mike Simms, is devoted to supplying the very best comprehensive dental hygiene in Idaho.
In the event the dental problem is happening at a time once your family dentist isn’t available, you’ve got other measures it’s possible to take. There are many problems related to dentures and bridges. Please browse through our site and remember to get in touch with us in case you have any questions or would love to schedule an appointment. We’ll answer your questions and we’ll listen to your concerns. Please don’t hesitate to call us in case you have any extra questions.
Quite often the patient might not even don’t forget the therapy. Because of this, your principal physician will need to inspect the bump, find its root cause and help develop a particular treatment program, including the usage of corticosteroids to reduce inflammation or antimicrobial mouthwash. Look at Your Coverage Sometimes, it’s not only the doctor which you want to take into account. Dental Public wellness Clinics These clinics can be found in most cities to the other side of the U.S., and they’re supposed to provide affordable health care to a lot of low-income families and individuals. Fortunately, we’ve identified some amazing clinics in the Boise region.A Sudanese refugee “carded” by police in Moss Park was randomly stopped, unlawfully arrested, and twice punched in the face by a Toronto police TAVIS officer who “took the law into his own hands and administered some street justice,” a Toronto judge has ruled.
All details in this story are from the judge’s ruling.
Myers found that Elmardy — who sued Const. Andrew Pak and the Toronto Police Services Board — had endured an unlawful arrest and search, an assault by Pak, and then was left handcuffed outside in -10C weather with an unzipped jacket and no gloves for up to 25 minutes, for no apparent reason.
Calling the conduct of six police officers “shocking,” Ontario Superior Court Justice Frederick Myers awarded Mutaz Elmardy $27,000 in damages stemming from a January 2011 incident that began when the then 38-year-old man — an “innocent member of the public,” Myers said — was stopped by police while walking home from a mosque.
Const. Pak could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Mark Pugash, spokesperson for the Toronto police, said a recent probe by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director found Elmardy’s complaints against Pak were unsubstantiated.
“That police officers shattered Mr. Elmardy’s feeling of the law strikes at the rule of law itself and requires condemnation by the court.”
“Perhaps one has to experience corrupt government and lawlessness to consciously feel the well-being that comes merely from being present in a country in which the rule of law matters and all are equal before and under the law,” Myers wrote in his May 7 decision.
Myers wrote that he was moved by this desire and compelled to condemn the police actions that have disillusioned Elmardy.
At the trial, Elmardy testified that he left Sudan for Canada in 2005, believing he would have rights here like everyone else. He said he came to the country “to feel the law.”
The Star could not obtain the OIPRD decision. Rosemary Parker, spokesperson for the OIPRD, said that because of privacy legislation, the agency only comments on decisions that have found serious misconduct and where a hearing was held.
“The legal responsibility to investigate the complaint was carried out by the OIPRD,” said Pugash, meaning no further probe was required.
An investigation that finds a complaint unsubstantiated will not be made public, she said. “You won’t ever receive it from us.”
David Gourlay, who represented Pak and the police services board, said no decision has yet been made about an appeal of Myers’ ruling.
Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, did not want to comment extensively on the ruling until an appeal decision was made, but noted the civilian probe exonerated Pak.
“We are concerned about the comments in the decision, but the OIPRD did clear this officer after a lengthy investigation,” he said.
The “carding” incident — when officers stop, question and document people not suspected of a crime — occurred on Jan. 15, 2011, as Elmardy was walking near Shuter and Parliament Sts. after evening prayers at his mosque.
Pak was then assigned to the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy team, known as TAVIS, a provincially funded unit aimed at combating gun violence. Pak testified that he stopped Elmardy after he “seemed to follow” his police car as he was driving by.
According to the ruling, Pak thought he should speak to Elmardy and run his name through the computer because of a “hunch” that he might have bail or other conditional sentence issues.
The officer testified that TAVIS is responsible for self-generating work, including investigating, talking to people, showing a presence in the community, and carding people in high-risk areas. Pak said that he tried to fill out as many cards, known as 208s, as he could, to show he was interacting with people as required in his position, according to the ruling.
Elmardy claimed at the trial that Pak asked him where he was going, prompting him to ask why he needed to know. The officer testified that Elmardy was immediately uncooperative and swore at him, displaying verbal aggressiveness that the officer said typically tells him the person did something wrong.
Shortly after Pak stopped the car, a physical fight ensued. Pak claimed he believed Elmardy had a weapon, based on his stance and the fact that his hands were in his pockets, and went to arrest him. Elmardy said his hands were in his pockets because he had no gloves.
Elmardy said Pak then punched and kicked him, causing bruising and swelling to his face and injuries to his abdomen. Myers found Elmardy “exaggerated” his injuries, but ruled that Pak punched him twice in the face. Elmardy was then left lying on his back on what he claimed was an icy deck for up to 25 minutes while officers ran his name, a detention Myers said was unjustified.
“The police had no right to detain Mr. Elmardy for carding alone. Nor does the act of walking outside with one’s hands in his pockets on a cold night in Toronto in January near Moss Park provide a reasonable basis to suspect that a person is carrying a weapon.”
Though Myers defended the officers’ right to speak with members of the public, he also said Elmardy has a right to decline to speak to the police, even in a hostile manner.
“One who is not being investigated for criminality is allowed to walk down the street on a cold night with his or her hands in the pockets and to tell inquisitive police officers to get lost without being detained, searched, exposed to sub-zero temperatures, or assaulted.”
Myers lambasted Pak, his cruiser partner and four other officers on scene for apparently not knowing this.
“It is therefore important for (the Toronto Police Service) and Constable Pak to hear it from the court, and to hear it in a manner that bespeaks the court’s disapproval and shock that such conduct might be considered acceptable in 2011,” Myers wrote.
Elmardy claimed in his lawsuit that he was racially profiled, but Myers found there was no evidence that the decision to stop him was based on his race. He also said his decision made no findings on the constitutionality or wisdom of “carding.”
“Whether carding is a useful policing policy or just serves to increase the risk of hostile interactions between police and innocent members of the public, as appears to have occurred in this case, is beyond my ken.”
Andrew MacDonald, Elmardy’s lawyer, said his client showed “tremendous courage,” challenging police on a case where there were no independent witnesses and no video documenting the incident. In the end, “he got the message that the courts do care.”Ever since “Guillermo del Toro: At Home With Monsters” –the massive exhibit at Los Angeles County Museum of Art– was announced, fans have gone crazy about the opportunity to see, in the flesh, some of Guillermo del Toro’s most valued works of art from his personal collection. In a similar fashion to the feeling of awe provoked by the publication of his journals in Cabinet of Curiosities (2013), cinephiles have been longing to walk into the labyrinthic mind of one of the finest moviemakers of our times. From August 1st to November 27th, the exhibit will be open to the public at LACMA, with at least two different tour stops to follow during 2017: Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
The three museums behind “At Home With Monsters” –LACMA, MiA, and AGO– are what is usually labeled “encyclopedic museums”, which means they house collections from different times, subjects and countries. Therefore, working together with Guillermo del Toro for this exhibition made perfect sense: “Del Toro’s thinking is also like that in that he draws from so many historical traditions and cultures, and different kinds of objects and histories. So it was a way for us to show a contemporary artist of our time who has got a range of reference that can encompass a whole museum”, says Britt Salvesen, co-curator of the exhibit. Most of the displayed pieces come from del Toro’s personal collection at Bleak House, but there is a portion for each venue that will be different. “He has selected objects from our collections to integrate with his own”.
To lots of us, Bleak House is the embodiment of Guillermo del Toro’s mind, and so we dream of walking through its doors and into a never ending collection of awesome. However, that pleasure is not at our hands, so LACMA is making an effort to showcase this collection in a fitting way. “We want to create a setting for the exhibition that at least has a hint, a flavor or sensibility of Bleak House”, Salvesen adds. “We worked together to find a way to transform the museum, so that we can house his collection, but it also can’t be exactly like his house, for practical purposes. But we found a good meeting point, because it definitely will bring a different kind of experience than the conventional art installation”.
According to Britt Salvesen, the museum was partly inspired by the Crimson Peak exhibit at San Diego Comic-Con in planning the structure for “At Home With Monsters”. “That gothic period that del Toro is so attached to is partly about architecture and space. Structurally we were aiming to build something that had a bit of a gothic feeling, and also a floorplan that has a bit of a clockwork and labyrinth feeling, so that you can have a core element that is an evocation of del Toro’s study, with thematic libraries around it, like Bleak House does”. As such, both symbols pervade the sections in which the collection is displayed: Childhood and innocence; Victoriana; Rain Room; Magic, Alchemy, and the Occult; Movies, Comics, and Pop Culture; Frankenstein and Horror; Freaks and Monsters; and Death and Afterlife.
Having a conventional structure and curatorship wouldn’t be possible for this exhibit. Salvesen reflects on the chances of a linear organization for this collection: “That wasn’t going to be the most satisfying way to do this, to start with Chronos and go through to Crimson. The innocence and death dichotomy are obvious bookends in a way, starting and ending points, but they are also key in all of his films. And then a theme like Frankenstein, because he’s very attached to the novel and the James Whale film, but also for him Frankenstein means so much more about art, about the human condition, about doing something new and noble out of discarded materials. It was a way to take a culturally familiar image such as Frankenstein’s monster and then explore how this particular artist continues to be inspired by it. That it’s not a superficial thing for him, but that it is a philosophy in a way”.
Following through with Guillermo del Toro’s way to look at art and creation, LACMA has included in “At Home With Monsters” works from every walk of art. “Another reason we wanted to bring this exhibition to the museum is to respond to del Toro |
since the grand opening of Tokyo DisneySea in 2001. When complete in 2020, Tokyo’s Fantasyland will feature a new Beauty and the Beast-inspired area that will transport guests into Belle’s quaint village complete with a new dark ride attraction, merchandise location, live indoor theater, and restaurant.
Nearby, guests will be able to step into the world of ‘personal healthcare companion’ Baymax on an attraction inspired by Big Hero 6 in Tomorrowland. Finally, visitors will be able to walk through Minnie’s design studio in Toontown before meeting the famous mouse herself.
For a preview of the new Tokyo Disneyland expansion, watch this concept video, followed by a few of our favorite videos from the resort:(Reuters) - A Connecticut police officer has been indicted on a charge he violated a tasered suspect's civil rights after being caught on videotape appearing to stomp the downed man's head and neck, federal prosecutors said on Friday.
Clive Higgins, a 12-year veteran of the Bridgeport Police, was due in court on Friday to be arraigned on the felony charge of using unreasonable force during the 2011 arrest, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Connecticut said in a statement.
If convicted, Higgins, 48, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
In May 2011, two Bridgeport police officers were chasing Orlando Lopez-Soto's van on suspicions that he had a gun. The officers called for backup, and Higgins responded, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Lopez-Soto ditched his car and fled into a nearby park, where he was tasered by one of the pursuing officers.
In a widely circulated amateur video, the two officers, Elson Morales and Joseph Lawlor, can be seen kicking the victim repeatedly while he is on the ground. Then Higgins arrives in his cruiser, gets out and appears to stomp the downed suspect around the head and neck.
Morales and Lawlor pleaded guilty in June to misdemeanor civil rights charges stemming from the assault. As part of the plea deal, they agreed to resign from the police force.
"The use of unreasonable force during an arrest is not only a clear violation of an individual's civil rights, but also gravely undermines the community's trust in law enforcement," U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly said at the time.
In January 2013, Lopez-Soto filed a civil lawsuit against all three officers. The parties settled out of court, Lopez-Soto's attorney Robert Berke said. The Connecticut Post reported that the city agreed to pay Lopez-Soto $198,000 over the incident.
The Post also said that Lopez-Soto was serving five years in prison after being convicted on weapons and drug possession charges, as well as for failing to appear in court.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in New York)WASHINGTON — The $4 trillion budget that President Obama released Monday is more utopian vision than pragmatic blueprint for his final years in office, but buried in the document are kernels of proposals that could take root even with a hostile Republican Congress.
In his penultimate budget, Mr. Obama proclaimed victory in the long climb from deep recession and said the time had come to loosen the strictures of austerity to invest in the nation’s future, laying out a plan likely to shape the 2016 presidential contests. He relies on large tax increases, on corporations and the wealthy, to finance efforts in education, infrastructure construction and work force development that he says have waited far too long.
“I want to work with Congress to replace mindless austerity with smart investments that strengthen America,” the president declared on a visit to the Department of Homeland Security. He said he would not accept spending bills that maintained tough budget caps he agreed to in 2011, nor would he loosen budget controls on military spending without relaxing them for domestic programs.
But hidden in some of his most ambitious proposals to diminish the wealth gap and remake the corporate tax code are areas of potential compromise that nod to Republican ideas: an expansion of the earned income credit for the working poor, a revitalized Pentagon budget, and a surge in spending on roads, bridges, airports and other infrastructure, financed by a new tax rate on foreign corporate profits.April 25, 2016 - Construction workers Antonio Trejo (left) and Francisco Guillen guide a massive section of the iconic blue siding into place at the site of the IKEA store under construction near Interstate 40 and Germantown Road. The $64 million, 271,000-square-foot store on 35 acres is on schedule to be completed this fall. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal)
By Tom Charlier of The Commercial Appeal
The IKEA store under construction in Cordova will be powered by Tennessee's largest rooftop solar energy array, the Swedish home-furnishings retailer announced Thursday.
Atlanta-based Hannah Solar will begin installing 4,424 photovoltaic panels atop the roof this summer, with completion expected well before the store's scheduled opening in late fall. No cost estimate was provided for the project.
Covering 250,675 square feet, the solar array will generate 2 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually for the store, IKEA said. The clean energy production will replace the estimated 1,406 tons of carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas associated with climate change — that would be released through the generation of a similar amount of power through conventional means.
IKEA, which is pursuing a goal of being energy independent by 2020, has solar panels atop 90 percent of its U.S. locations generating a total of 40 megawatts of power. It also owns 104 wind turbines nationwide.
"We are excited about furthering our sustainability commitment with solar panels on the future Memphis store," Lars Petersson, IKEA U.S. president, said in a prepared statement. "At IKEA, we have a mission to create a better everyday life for the many, and IKEA Memphis can add to this goal with Tennessee's largest rooftop solar array."
The Memphis IKEA store is being built on 35 acres on the southwest quadrant of the Interstate 40-Germantown Parkway interchange.
The announcement of IKEA's rooftop array comes less than a month after officials outlined plans for Tennessee's largest overall solar project — a $100 million facility featuring 580,000 panels to be built on a 400-acre site in Millington.The Overhead Shoulder Rotation Quandary
by Derrick Blanton
One thing I noticed very early on in my training journey is that people move and lift stuff differently. Even the top lifters in the world rarely do it exactly the same way. I find myself constantly making mental notes on different lifting strategies.
As you might imagine, I also spend a ton of time studying the coaching techniques, rationales, and cues of the most prominent names in S&C; and then trying to tie it all together with my “in the trenches” observations and firsthand experiences.
Every now and again, I see a disconnect between the “right way” to do a lift, and effective “real world” expressions of loaded movement. Of course, then I obsessively go about trying to figure out the root of the discrepancy!
Take the shoulder, and what constitutes the safest, most congruent position as it arises overhead.
Don’t worry, we are not going to dive back into the scapular “shoulder packing” debate; enough already with that one. Rather, let’s discuss this concept of rotation at the shoulder, specifically external rotation. (FWIW, external rotation when initiated at the proximal shoulder does indeed have a close relationship with ‘shoulder packing’, as externally rotating the shoulder also fires the lower traps pretty hard as a stabilizer. But let’s stay on point here!)
The Evolution of “Torque”
MobilityWOD savant Kelly Starrett is probably the most current and well-known proponent of externally rotating the shoulder to provide maximum overhead stability. As a best selling author, and de-facto leader of Crossfit movement principles, KS is one of the most influential movement teachers in the business.
Note that this external rotation technique is not a small detail riding the outskirts of the MWOD curriculum, but rather an overriding motor learning philosophy for the shoulder (and hip) joint: “creating maximal torque through the system”. This includes being able to rotate the wrists internally, while dissociating up the chain and keeping the shoulder in external rotation.
And long before there was a “Supple Leopard”, there was an “Evil Russian”, a brilliant technician by the name of Pavel Tsatsouline, who championed a similar concept in the form of “corkscrewing” the shoulder. And yes, even before Pavel, you may have heard your local meathead at the fitness center telling you to “break the bar”, “show your armpits”… you get the idea.
So without question, this is an idea that has substantial weight behind it. Pardon the pun.
Here comes that pesky real world disconnect, though, and it’s actually a little reminiscent of the prescribed “toes forward” SQ technique, (also intended to maximize ‘torque’): look around and you will see plenty of strong, well trained lifters, even elite strength athletes, not only not doing this…but in fact, often doing the exact opposite.
Granted, this gets tricky to discuss; complicating matters is whether you are using a straight bar to ‘torque’ off of, or dumbbells or rings which allow the shoulder and arm to rotate freely. Let’s give it a try, though, considering first, overhead down.
Pulling Down from Overhead
Most lifters, beginner to advanced, when performing a pull up or pull down that allows for natural freedom of motion at the wrist, elbow, and shoulder (rings, TRX, or Free Motion pulldown, etc.), will naturally adopt this rotational strategy: Internally rotate up, externally rotate down.
Here is my go-to guy for excellent form, Steven Trolio:
In other words, they start pronated ‘pull up’, and finish ‘neutral hammer grip’, or even further into a fully supinated ‘chin up’ position.
Sure, go ahead and test yourself right now.
Now watch the same lifter this time on a fixed bar, and they will basically try to approximate the same action, torquing off the bar, screwing the shoulder in the socket on the way down, elbows turning to face forwards. So far, so good!
(Less frequently, you will see the bodybuilder with the elbows pointed outwards, flared wide, staying in internal rotation, and performing pure adduction, rather than extension. For some reason, this guy usually has some kind of massive, hellacious back. But I digress.)
Many will point to the fixed bar forcing internal rotation as a shoulder risk, and advocate using the rings, to “let the shoulder move naturally”, i.e. supinate, or externally rotate.
Here’s the thorny question: When they are on the rings and allowed to move naturally, why then do they “re-internally rotate” on the way back overhead, into the “broken” position?
It’s internally rotate up, externally rotate down. This pattern recurs with many a lifter, both pressing and in this case, pulling.
Maybe this technique lines up the lats into a stronger extension pattern. If so, why not just stay in pure extension ‘neutral’ the whole time?
Maybe they want to use more bicep to help as the lat runs out of steam. Sure, but again, why not go back to the top in neutral, at least? Why go all the way into internal rotation as you reach the top position? You don’t have to. You’re on the rings, remember.
It seems that as the humerus elevates, it “wants” to simultaneously internally rotate, even when it doesn’t have to due to a fixed bar. With 360-degrees of motion, many just naturally allow the shoulder to unwind back on the negative into the overhead position of pronation, and thus internal rotation.
Again, are they “broken”?
Pushing Upwards from Down Below
Let’s reverse the action. Have you ever heard of the Arnold Press? It’s a modified shoulder press named after, ah heck, you know who it’s named after! Let’s see it in action:
We see that the Arnold Press starts with an externally rotated shoulder which again spirals medially in the capsule (internally); this time as the press heads to lockout. Same pattern as above, whether we are pressing or pulling, it’s externally rotate down, internally rotate up.
This is contradictory!
But hey, what the heck does Arnold know, silly bodybuilders, right? Their goals are muscle building, not joint safety, per se.
Except I don’t know about you, but when I do the Arnold Press, it feels like an incredibly safe, natural, and congruent movement.
How about just a regular, good old fashioned dumbbell press? Here’s Ben Bruno, one of the hardest training guys I’ve ever seen. Also a pretty prolific author, coach, and exercise inventor. Bruno is battle tested, and innovative. How does he go about pressing a pair of dumbbells overhead?
There it is, that same pattern again! The shoulder rolls to the inside as the press locks out, and reverses on the way down. And not to belabor the point, but once again this is within the context of a free motion, dumbbell movement. Any style of rotation is possible.
So why is he doing it this way?
The further you dive into this murky swamp, the more perplexing it gets. Let’s move on to the barbell where the grip is fixed. Olympic weightlifters go overhead all the time; it’s in their bylaws! A cursory search finds both XR and IR rotational techniques coached and performed.
The Chinese weightlifting team is currently the dominant force in the sport. These guys probably pack their shoulder blades down nice and hard, and externally rotate their humeri, and….uh…hmmm…
What say you, 2005 world champion Dmitry Klokov? “Show the armpits”? Or try to make the “elbows face back”?
We now officially have ourselves a legit conundrum here.
Fred and George
Finally, meet Fred Koch and his skeleton, “George”. In this video, Fred and George suggest that internal rotation provides for a stable shoulder as the arm rises. Pay special attention to 1:10 – 1:55, and watch what happens to George’s humeral head. It internally rotates.
Thank you Fred and George!
Me personally? I like the XR-up technique when I am doing an aggressive pec minor stretch, or pullover exercise. But when I press a barbell overhead, or do OHSQs, the internal rotation feels so much better as to make it a non-issue.
Trying to supinate my shoulder while driving a heavy barbell up feels like it is going to tear my infraspinatus off the bone. It also seems to force the elbow in front of the bar, compromising its direct leverage. With the elbows not aligned directly under the bar, the lift morphs into a supra-maximal standing “skull crusher” tricep exercise.
On the other hand, when I cooperate with my body, roll the shoulder internally, the elbows end up right under the bar opposing gravity directly. As a nice side effect, the OHPR turns into a fantastic lateral delt move, as internally rotating the shoulder exposing the ‘cap’ to the load. However, this is not a “muscle targeting” technique. This is a “my body wants to do it this way” technique, and my body usually wins these arguments!
To be clear, I can certainly see how others might have different shoulders and different experiences. I also see how a supination moment as part of a larger rotator cuff tug of war might better help keep the shoulder wedged in the capsule.
But this is different than an actual elbow turning, supinating action, that if you somehow don’t achieve, then you’ve allegedly compromised the efficacy of the kinetic chain!
So is this a corrective solve, a blanket prescription on how to raise the arms under load, or a try it and see how it feels kind of deal?
At any rate, forcing square pegs into round holes to match theory is probably not going to end well.
The best that I can make sense of this disconnect between theory and sometime practice is that the shoulder complex, much like the hip complex, may turn out to be more individually “complex” than previously thought.
Scientific and anecdotal feedback, please.Baker Hughes reports U.S. rig count down 6 to 940 rigs
Baker Hughes (BHGE) reports that the U.S. rig count is down 6 rigs from last week to 940, with oil rigs down 4 to 759, gas rigs down 2 to 180, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 1.
The U.S. Rig Count is up 451 rigs from last year’s count of 489, with oil rigs up 353, gas rigs up 99, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 1.
The U.S. Offshore Rig Count is up 1 rig from last week to 17 and unchanged year-over-year.
The Canadian Rig Count is up 3 rigs from last week to 217, with oil rigs down 6 to 115 and gas rigs up 9 to 102.
The Canadian Rig Count is up 71 rigs from last year’s count of 146, with oil rigs up 31 and gas rigs up 40.
OIL PRICES
Oil is higher and gasoline futures jumped as traders braced for Hurricane Harvey’s impact on the U.S. refining hub on the Gulf Coast. Harvey’s approach has depressed demand for crude with about 1 million barrels of daily refining capacity already shut.
Brent for October settlement gained 38 cents to $52.42 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
West Texas Intermediate for October delivery is up 15 cents to $47.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
STOCKWINNERS
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This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.Growing Trend to Deny Fracking Waste
An increasing number of New Jersey municipalities are passing local measures to stop the importation of wastes produced by oil and gas drilling. The Red Bank, New Jersey, council passed an ordinance to ban fracking waste, following Highland Park, New Jersey, which passed a similar ordinance just a few weeks prior. Red Bank became the fourth state municipality to ban the dangerous waste, along with Elizabeth and Edison. South Brunswick is also expected to pass a fracking waste ban by the end of the year. An ordinance in Milltown, spearheaded by Councilwoman Doriann Kerber and the Milltown Environmental Commission, will get its first reading in December.
Highland Park Council President Susan Welkovits states, “Highland Park marks another important move forward in preserving our environment and protecting public health. This is not a symbolic gesture by any means. The threat and costs of environmental pollution from fracking wastes are too great, not just for Highland Park, but for all of New Jersey. We hope that other communities will follow Highland Park’s early support and work together for the long-term success of our environment. The decisions we make today must benefit our future generations, not burden them.”
These ordinances aim to address gaps in regulation that exist on a federal and state level that allow out-of-state fracking wastes into New Jersey. Fracking waste has been confirmed to have entered Deepwater, Carteret, Elizabeth and South Kearny, and was largely untreated and unregulated. In South Kearney, radioactivity levels in fracking waste were so high that they violated the company’s permit. In 2009 and 2010, about 1.4 million gallons of improperly treated wastewater collected from fracking wells were released into Delaware waters through the commercial side of the DuPont wastewater plant in Deepwater. New Jersey has about 70 wastewater treatment plants above drinking water intakes on the Passaic River and another 60 sewage treatment plants exist above drinking water intakes on the Raritan River.
Red Bank Council President Kathleen Horgan says, “Red Bank is proud to have safeguarded our residents from cancer-causing chemicals and radioactivity of fracking wastes that find their way into our communities from neighboring states like Pennsylvania. There is genuine concern that these wastes could end up in our water supply, and I urge all New Jersey municipalities to stand together and pass ordinances banning fracking wastes from their communities.”
Red Bank Councilman Edward Zipprich notes, “Red Bank is a community that prides itself on our natural resources such as the Navesink River. Meanwhile, the acceptance of fracking wastes, whether being mistreated at facilities that can’t handle it or being spread on our roads, threatens that. These wastes pose significant public health risks and risks to the resources of our borough.”
The fracking waste ordinances specifically prohibit the treatment, discharge, disposal, application to roadway or storage of wastewater, wastewater solids, sludge, drill cuttings or other byproducts from natural gas exploration or production using hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas and oil exploration and production has been found to use a variety of contaminating chemicals and materials.
The fracking drilling technique uses vast quantities of water mixed with chemicals and sand pumped into shale formations at high pressure to fracture the rock and extract oil or gas, with millions of gallons of contaminated water flowing back out of the well and contaminated rock and cuttings left over. Liquid and solid oil or gas wastes often contain constituents that are dangerous to human health and the environment, including carcinogenic materials. These constituents can include corrosive salts, oil and grease, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds and naturally occurring radioactive materials such as radium-226 and radium-228.
Conventional treatment facilities are not equipped to treat the complicated mixture of chemicals, heavy metals, volatile organics and radioactivity found in fracking wastes, which could allow contaminants to be discharged into public rivers and streams, harming drinking water supplies for downstream communities and aquatic life. The brine from fracking is used on roads to melt ice or keep down dust, but the chemicals used could run off onto school playgrounds, residential properties and farmland, and can ultimately contaminate rivers, streams and underground aquifers that feed local drinking water supplies.
Nearly 30 years ago the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considered whether oil and gas development waste should be regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, but decided not to regulate them. Thus, there is no federal requirement for disclosure of what are considered secret and proprietary mixes of fracking fluids, making the full threat of fracking wastes unknown and more difficult to treat. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection lacks sufficient tracking and regulation on oil and gas wastes that enter New Jersey. In September 2012 and again in August 2014, Governor Christie vetoed statewide legislation that would have prohibited fracking wastes in the state.
A spokesperson for Food & Water Watch states, “The oil and gas industry is taking advantage of loopholes in the law that allow fracking waste to be treated as if it’s not hazardous waste. Because of this, fracking wastes have already found their way into New Jersey, and due to lax oversight, we don’t even know where it’s all going. It is now up to local governments to stand up for the health and safety of their communities. Leaders in Highland Park, Red Bank, Milltown, and South Brunswick have had the foresight to see this as the emerging health issue that it is.”
Rita Yelda is a senior organizer for Food & Water Watch, a consumer advocacy organization. For more information, visit FoodAndWaterWatch.org.
Thanks for reading! Please leave us a comment, and share this page with your friends!SEATTLE — The Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle announced Tuesday that it reached a $12.1 million settlement involving 30 claims of sexual abuse by members of the Christian Brothers order, which operated The Briscoe School in the Kent Valley and Seattle’s Bishop O’Dea High School.
The most recent cases in the settlement are nearly 30 years old, with some dating back nearly 60 years, the archdiocese said.
The settlement was funded by archdiocese insurance programs.
A teaching order, the Christian Brothers operated The Briscoe School, a boarding and day school for boys in the Kent Valley, beginning in 1914.
The order also staffed and managed Bishop O’Dea, an archdiocese high school, from its opening in 1923.
“I deeply regret the pain suffered by these victims,” Archbishop J. Peter Sartain said in a news release. “Our hope is that this settlement will bring them closure and allow them to continue the process of healing.”
In lawsuits filed in King County Superior Court, the plaintiffs alleged both the Christian Brothers and the Seattle Archdiocese failed to protect them from known abusers.
Approximately 10 cases had been filed against the Archdiocese at the time of the Christian Brothers bankruptcy in April 2011, but that number tripled after the bankruptcy court ordered that notice be given to potential abuse survivors in Seattle.
According to Seattle sexual abuse attorney Michael T. Pfau, the settlement will put an end to an ugly chapter for the Archdiocese involving these two schools, and will help bring closure to both the Archdiocese and his clients: “The Archdiocese, under the leadership of Archbishop Sartain, did the right thing and acknowledged the tremendous amount of pain and suffering that our clients, their families, and our community have endured. This settlement is the first step in allowing all parties to focus on the future.”
Pfau said he and his law partner, Jason Amala, during the litigation uncovered dozens of records that illustrate the abuse problem. For example, Pfau said, 11 of the men claimed they were sexually abused by former O’Dea teacher Edward Courtney, who court records show had been removed from four schools for abusing children before he was transferred to O’Dea.
Just a few months after arriving in Seattle in September 1974, one of the men complained to his older brother that Courtney had sexually abused him. The complaint prompted the man’s older brother to meet with a vice principal of O’Dea who assured him the situation would be handled. However, Courtney was not removed from O’Dea until 1978, even though records show O’Dea officials had continued to receive reports that he was sexually abusing children, Pfau said.
Another five of the men claimed they were sexually abused at O’Dea by former teacher G.A. Kealy, who students openly referred to as “Feely Kealy,” Pfau said. In a 1963 letter, the O’Dea principal, Matt Popish, asked for Kealy to be transferred from O’Dea because of “the complaints parents had made to Bishop Gill about him.” Popish noted “the Bishop suggested to me that it would be better for all concerned if he were not to be around.” Two of the men alleged they had told Popish about the abuse, but claimed nothing was done to protect them or other students.
Pfau said that about half of the plaintiffs alleged they were abused at Briscoe, including a number who attended the school in the final years before it was sold in 1969.
The archdiocese said that anyone who has knowledge of sexual abuse or misconduct by a member of the clergy, an employee or volunteer of the Archdiocese of Seattle is urged to call the archdiocese hotline at 1-800-446-7762.About
AUTO-ARCHIVES and PETER DARLEY
The Auto-Archives Automotive & Motor Sport Library and Research Center, is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization in Littleton, Colorado. The mission of the archive is to preserve and document the rich history of the automobile, and provide both a physical and virtual resource for the study of the past, present, and future of the automobile, in all its forms. Formed four years ago, Auto-Archives plans to become one of the major collections of automobile related materials in the world.
As well as over 65,000 automotive books and magazines from all over the world, the Archive currently has a large volume of; Race Event Programs, Race Media/Press Packs, Car Brochures & Press Releases, Auction Catalogs, Vehicle Workshop Manuals, Scale Models, Automotive & Motor Racing Posters, Original Autographed items and Automotive related Memorabilia. All items in the archive are either owned by Auto-Archives or on long-term loan. The Auto-Archives Photographic Library holds over 61,000 images from the photographic archives of Peter Darley, Ian Catt and William Taylor, along with the Motor Racing collections of Classic Team Lotus and the Polygon Gulf Collection. All photographic images held in the archive are held under license with full copyright agreement from the copyright holder.
As part of our ongoing commitment to further the development of the 'Archive' into a world-class facility, Auto-Archives would like to publish a book of unseen images from the archives of renowned motor racing photographer Peter Darley, titled 'Pit & Paddock'. Auto-Archives will work with award winning independent automotive publisher Coterie Press to create a historically significant, 256-page, large format (12x12in), hard-back book that captures the drama and atmosphere behind the scenes at race circuits in the UK and Europe in the 1960s and early 70s, thus enabling the Archive’s materials to be shared with an ever growing number of people. We at Auto-Archives strongly believe that any collection of such significantly historic material should be shared as much as possible.
Peter's first book, the widely acclaimed 'Jim Clark: Life at Team Lotus' was published back in 2007, and is now a sought after collectors item. This new volume of his images, 'Pit & Paddock' is sure to become another milestone book on motor racing, and a certain sell-out. Auto-Archives is already open to all automotive journalists, car clubs, researchers and fans, to view the collection, research using the archive, or simply 'hang-out' with like-minded people like you. If you are interested in more information on Auto-Archives and its mission, please e-mail us on library@auto-archives.org.
THE BOOK
The Standard Edition Book
Pit & Paddock will feature over 240 stunning black & white images of life in and around the paddock at ten race circuits (Brands Hatch, Clermont Ferrand, Crystal Palace, Goodwood, Jarama, Monaco, Monza, Oulton Park, Silverstone, and Snetterton). Featuring drivers such as Dan Gurney, Phil Hill, Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt, along with many iconic race cars from the 60s and 70s (Cobra, Brabham, Lotus, Ferrari and Jaguar to mention just a few) the book will show how racing really was back then.
Pit & Paddock will give the reader an insight into life off the track and behind the scenes at race meetings throughout Europe. These unique never before seen images will portray a world that is sadly long gone. Produced to the highest production standards, this stunning book steers clear of images of the cars on track, and zooms in on the real world of the mechanics, drivers and owners from this iconic period of motor racing.
The Foreword to the book has kindly been written by good friend of Peter Darley, Lord March. Lord March is hugely respected as the creator of both the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival, and the Goodwood circuit is one of the tracks featured in Pit & Paddock. Lending their support to the project, both Dan Gurney and Sir Jackie Stewart have agreed to sign a restricted number of special, Limited Edition Art Prints of themselves, that were taken back in the early 60s by Peter at Goodwood and Snetterton respectivly.
THE REWARDS
In order that this project can move forward, we need your support. Your role in making a pledge is vital. Our intention is to offer something special to anyone who makes a pledge to support this project, and we are confident that all of those who pledge will be more than happy with the wonderful gifts they receive.
There are three levels of book available to supporters of Pit & Paddock. The STANDARD EDITION book is a 12x12in, 256-page, Hardback book with a heavy-weight cover, packed with over 240 stunning black & white images. The author-signed and numbered LIMITED EDITION of Pit & Paddock comes in a Royal blue, cloth-covered slipcase foil stamped with the P&P logo. The deluxe, leather bound PUBLISHERS EDITION of Pit & Paddock is also signed and numbered by the author as well as the director of Auto-Archives, author and Photographer William Taylor, and is presented in a luxury cloth-covered, clamshell case also foil stamped with the P&P logo.
The Leather Bound Boxed Publishers Edition
As a Kickstarter backer know that you are receiving Pit & Paddock at a low, special supporter price. Afterwards, when it is officially published price will increase. Furthermore, to our Kickstarter backers, you will receive your special Pit & Paddock book long before the general public. For instance a certain Amazon is advertising our book. How they will receive our book is beyond us. Here at Auto-Archives, we cherish our backers and everyone who are supporting us.
In addition to the three different levels of book available to those of you who make pledges, we have selected a number of images from the book and made them available to you. The twelve images shown below have been printed in two different sizes, 12x10in and 20x16in. For those of you who select a pledge level that include these prints, you can choose to receive any image (or images) from the selection. Some pledge levels will receive all twelve in the larger size!
#01 - Jim Clark,
#02 - Jack Brabham
#03 - Phill Hill
#04 - Denny Hulme
#05 - Chaparral 2F
#06 - Chris Amon & Jackie Stewart
#07 - Bruce McLaren
#08 - Ferrari Dino 206S
#09 - Jack Sears
#10 - Cobra Coupe
#11 - Jaguar XKSS
#12 - Sir John Whitmore
The two special signed Limited Edition prints of Dan Gurney and Sir Jackie Stewart we mentioned earlier, and which are available in several different pledge packages, are a rare opportunity to own a piece of history. These highly distinctive, 20x16in Metallic finish, black & white art prints, will also be signed by the photographer Peter Darley. Auto-Archives would like to offer their thanks to Dan and Jackie for supporting the Pit & Paddock project by signing these wonderful images. The various levels of support pledges are designed to offer the opportunity for all Historic Motor Racing fans to have the chance to be involved in this exciting project and own a piece of history.
For the ultimate historic motor sport fans, our top level pledge will receive an incredible print, a 6ft x 12ft vinyl display banner, ideal for any garage wall or mancave that features seven (almost life-size) drivers that include two World Champion drivers Brabham and Hill, and two future champions Hulme and Rindt, all waiting on the grid prior to the 1967 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. Left to right, the drivers are: Gurney, Brabham, McLaren, Ginther, Hulme, Rindt, Hill (Graham).An attempt by a developer to pass off a Muskoka boathouse as an airplane hangar to skirt environmental regulations has been quashed by a judge. “(I)t looks like a boathouse, and at all material times it was utilized only as a boathouse on a lake,” Ontario Superior Court Justice Stephen O’Neill ruled.
This image submitted by developer Paul Bak shows a Cessna float plane docking in a structure that he insists is an “aerodrome,” not a boathouse. A judge ruled this month that Bak’s “aerodrome” designation was an invalid attempt to get around environmental rules about boathouses on Lake Rosseau. ( Paul Bak ) This image submitted by developer Paul Bak shows a Cessna float plane docking in a structure that he insists is an “aerodrome,” not a boathouse. A judge ruled this month that Bak’s “aerodrome” designation was an invalid attempt to get around environmental rules about boathouses on Lake Rosseau. ( Paul Bak )
“We were delighted by the decision,” said Seguin Township Mayor David Conn. Paul Bak’s application to build a boathouse on Lake Rosseau’s environmentally protected shoreline was first rejected by the municipality in 2008. That didn’t stop him from building the structure with a 1,000-square-foot upper-level living area, despite a stop-work order, according to O’Neill’s ruling. When the boathouse was almost finished, in 2012, Bak filed an application with Transport Canada, claiming it was actually an “aerodrome” to house a plane. If successful, federal regulations for such a structure would have trumped local zoning that protects the shoreline.
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Bak said he will appeal the decision, which ordered the structure’s demolition within 90 days. “I fly a windsock. It will accommodate a Cessna float plane. To me that’s kind of the short and sweet of it,” he said. “I own and I operate an aerodrome.” But the judge’s decision states that Bak, “does not own a plane nor does he have a pilot’s licence.” The decision also states that a Cessna 182 (float plane) would not fit in the building and that pictures taken in the summer of 2012 “show boats and watercraft moored inside the structure.” A promotional video for Bak’s property from last year shows a sumptuous lakeside manor, complete with several shots of the tree-lined vista and a floating structure referred to as the “boathouse.”
Subsequent advertisements for the property labelled it an “aerodrome” and “float plane hangar.” The court decision mentions a 2011 real estate sales listing for the cottage that describes a “floatplane hangar/aerodrome” to be built on the property.
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But the judge grounded the plan in his Oct. 2 decision. The judge stated Bak purchased the property on Lake Rosseau “to tear down the old cottage, build a new cottage and construct a single-storey boathouse,” and that the person who prepared the boathouse’s building plans “knew nothing about airplanes and undertook no investigation of plane sizes.” Speaking Thursday from his home in Etobicoke, Bak said the structure is meant “primarily” for the storage of float planes, and provided photos of it holding a small amateur-built ultralight C-GREZ plane. Bak added that Lake Rosseau is a getaway for wealthy cottagers who use float planes, many of whom he knows through his work as a homebuilder. As the property developer, his plan is to sell the “aer |
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I've gotten a ton of tweets and emails about Oath of Ajani, and most start with a curve of Thraben Inspector into Oath of Ajani (pump Thraben Inspector) into Gideon, Ally of Zendikar on Turn 3 and Nissa, Vital Force on Turn 4. While this curve is doubtlessly powerful and playing planeswalkers a turn early can be a good way to win a game of Magic, the thing is that you can already do this with Servant of Conduit. In fact, I think that if you goal is to make your planeswalkers cost one less, Servant of the Conduit is almost certainly the most powerful option—far better than Oath of Ajani.
The upside of Servant of the Conduit is twofold. First, Servant of the Conduit is an actual creature that can attack and block, so in the late game, it gives you much more value than Oath of Ajani, which just sits on the battlefield and does nothing. Second, and most importantly, Servant of the Conduit makes other things cost one less mana as well, and even if you are playing a deck with several planeswalkers, it's likely you'll want to cast some removal spells or creatures like Ishkanah, Grafwidow or Archangel Avacyn to defend your planeswalkers. Servant of the Conduit helps you cast these cards; Oath of Ajani does not. Of course, Servant of the Conduit has some downsides as well, in that it dies to creature removal, but it seems likely that its upsides make it the better option in everything but extremely dedicated (e.g., like 15+ planeswalker) decks.
While the mana it produces is narrow, Oath of Ajani has some upside as well. First, it's difficult to kill thanks to being an enchantment. While most decks will have creature removal, not very many will have a way to kill an enchantment, especially in the main deck. Second, there are also some weird situations where Oath of Ajani can produce two mana in a turn (for example, you cast a Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar on Turn 5), but these situations are rare and probably not a real reason to play the card. However, the biggest upside of Oath of Ajani is that it can put counters on your creatures, which is something that Servant of the Conduit can never do.
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For Oath of Ajani to really be good, the "put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control" ability needs to be relevant. Simply making Thraben Inspector into a 2/3 isn't enough to play it over the most flexible Servant of the Conduit. While the fact that Collective Effort—another more flexible card that can pump your team while also killing an Emrakul, the Promised End or Fevered Visions—is in the format and hasn't seen any play is another vote against Oath of Ajani being good, I do think that if you can build a deck that can go wide enough to make the "pump your team" mode relevant sometimes, while still playing enough planeswalkers to make the mana-reduction part of Oath of Ajani powerful, then the legendary enchantment has a chance to be good.
The point of all this is that if you just want to make your planeswalkers cheaper, there are better options than Oath of Ajani in Standard. If you just want to put counters on your team, again, there are better options available in Standard. As such, to make Oath of Ajani good, you really need to be able to take advantage of both halves of the card, which means the potential homes of Oath of Ajani are limited to things like GW Tokens or possibly Abzan Fabricate. Rather than being a card you can jam into any deck or even any planeswalker-heavy deck, Oath of Ajani has a very narrow purpose in a very specific and focused deck. This is not another Oath of Nissa, which is good in a wide variety of strategies; it's closer to Oath of Gideon, where you need a very specific build for it to be worth a slot in your deck.
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Feb. 1, 2017, 8:12 PM GMT / Updated Feb. 2, 2017, 2:24 AM GMT By Corky Siemaszko
The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to confirm ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as the next secretary of state.
The vote in favor of President Trump's pick for the key cabinet post fell mostly along partisan lines, with Republican lawmakers who have voiced concerns like Senators Marco Rubio, John McCain and Lindsey Graham joining fellow GOP members in affirming the nomination.
Tillerson needed a simple majority — 51 senators — for confirmation. The final vote was 56 in favor, 43 against.
Three Democrats voted in favor of Tillerson, including Senators Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, and Mark Warner. Angus King, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, also voted in for Tillerson.
Tillerson was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence with Trump by his side during a ceremony in the Oval Office later Wednesday. Trump praised Tillerson for his experience and said the new secretary of state was "respected all over the world," according to a transcript released by the office of the White House press secretary.
"You bring the unique skills and deep, deep insights — and I’ve gotten to see it firsthand — into foreign diplomacy our nation needs to foster stability and security in a world too often trapped — and right now it’s trapped — in violence and in war," Trump said of Tillerson.
Former ExxonMobil executive Rex Tillerson testifies during his confirmation hearing for Secretary of State before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Jan. 11, 2017. Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images
It was Tillerson's contacts with Russia and strongman Vladimir Putin that raised alarms among some Republicans. Among other things, Tillerson was given the Order of Friendship award by Putin.
But after a sit-down with the skeptical senators, McCain said he would back Tillerson.
"Listen, this wasn't an easy call, but I believe when there's doubt, the incoming president gets the benefit of the doubt," McCain said earlier this month on ABC's "This Week."
Rubio was holding out on support out of concerns that Tillerson refused to say that he would support the continuation of sanctions against Russia over their aggression in Ukraine — and because Tillerson refused to say he would support sanctions against Moscow for meddling in the U.S. presidential election.
Amnesty International said "the eyes of the world" will be on Tillerson.
"As Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson’s priority must be human rights," the group said. "However, during his confirmation hearings, he seemed to balk at acknowledging governments that we have long known to turn a blind eye toward human rights. His previous business deals have shown that he has no qualms about working with regimes with appalling human rights records.”Colombia’s ministers of agriculture and the interior joined a diplomatic mission to Tunja, the capital of Boyaca on Thursday, to negotiate with protest leaders and attempt to calm the most pressing situation facing the country since national protests broke out Monday.
MORE: Who in Colombia is striking against the government and why?
In four days of protests that have, so far, seen well over 100 demonstrations nationwide and a reported 98 arrests and 82 injured police officers, the most violent clashes between the government and protesters across the country occurred in the department of Boyaca, where roads in and out have been effectively closed off since late Tuesday.
MORE: Million taking part in Colombia’s anti-government protests: Organizer
By Wednesday, the combination of violence and economic paralysis had gotten so bad the governor of Boyaca declared a state of emergency, calling on President Juan Manuel Santos to negotiate with the protesters. But even from the start of Monday’s coordinated national strikes, things have been particularly tense throughout the department.
In an interview with Colombia Reports, Luz Dary, an organizer for the Boyaca agricultural movement, said that well before road blocks were set up in parts of the department, the government was deploying “totally exaggerated” and “inhumane” force to intimidate protesters.
“They chase us, and follow us, even into our houses […] and they come in, and break glass, break everything, throw gas — to them it doesn’t matter if there are children or seniors. If we take pictures, they take those, too, and break our phones or our cameras. They’ll look through our cars. They destroy those, too: the cars. And if we are in them, they’ll take us out and beat us in the street.”
Dary said having witnessed the police break into homes without cause and set property on fire, beat peaceful protesters for no reason and employ excessive force and tactics banned by human rights laws to deal with roadblocks.
“We are asking for international human rights groups to come here and help protect us, to see what is happening,” said Dary, who claims that despite various calls for its assistance, the government human rights body Defensoria del Pueblo has yet to establish a presence in Boyaca.
Her statements match the picture being painted by other groups, which describe a steady escalation into all-out armed repression of protesters.
According to a Marcha Patriotica human rights report published earlier this week, five buses and several private cars filled with protesters were detained by police forces on their way from Tunja to nearby Bogota, where they were intending on joining Monday’s demonstrations.
12 farmers were injured later that same day protesting along the side of the road from Sogamoso to Tibasosa.
Monday afternoon, members of the alternative Colombian media and human rights watchdog groups observing the protests in Boyaca denounced having received death threats from the Umbita municipal police force. In La Germania, another municipality in Boyaca, farmers injured in nighttime clashes with the police went untreated, as national army troops reportedly prevented ambulances from gaining access to the protesters. Several more farmers were hospitalized late that night, claiming anti-riot police (ESMAD) forced them out of their trucks while they were sleeping on the side of the road, beat them severely, stealing their possessions and later attempting to prevent them from receiving treatment; pictures showing bloodied faces and head contusions were posted on Facebook in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Since then, the situation has only intensified.
The government’s public response to the situation has been consistent. In what has become a recurring theme across the protest spectrum, local and national authorities have attributed rock-throwing and road blocks to outside militarism, claiming that the Boyaca protests have been “infiltrated by student extremists” who need to be met with appropriate force.
Since even before protests started, however, organizers have almost unanimously rejected this argument, speaking out against what they feel is the government’s attempt to criminalize legitimate protest movements and provide justification for unlawful government aggression. Now, the protesters say they have indeed been infiltrated, only not by the FARC or radical students.
In various parts of the country, protesters have captured and subsequently returned covert military operatives, who they claim infiltrated peaceful protests in the interest of initiating violence.
In Boyaca, organizers allege the police have used neutral organizations to penetrate road blockages and attack protesters.
“The [government forces] use cars from neutral bodies,” said Dary, “ambulances, aid cars and things like that. We let them through, and they come out and attack us. Now we don’t know who to let pass, because we are worried it will be ESMAD in disguise. And if we stop a car, or make people get out of a car, [government officials] blame us for that, too.”
In a radio interview Thursday, protest organizer Cesar Panchon acknowledged that protesters have resorted to road blockages and other methods the government has warned are illegal. He did, however, deny that protesters were involved in the burning of several trucks the government has been using as an example of social terrorism, and called on Colombian media outlets to do a better job representing the protesters’ account of the situation, which he says has been filled with “gross human rights violations”.
President Juan Manuel Santos, said Panchon, “threw gas on the fire” when he told reporters late Monday that the protests did not have “the expected magnitude”. The government, he said, has encouraged violence by authorizing aggressive force, repeatedly refusing to dialogue with protesters in the months leading up to August 19th and leaving previous agreements made after peaceful negotiations unfulfilled.
MORE: Colombia’s Farmer Protests ‘Not Of The Expected Magnitude’: Santos
Panchon, who claims to have been accosted by police, from whom he escaped, on his way to speak in front of the Colombia’s Congress Thursday, rejected the idea that the farmers in Boyaca were acting of anything but their own accord, promising he would not let opposition political leaders from the Polo Democratico –who contacted him before the August 19th strike date — take over the local protest movement, and saying that despite $21 million in unpaid subsidies, Boyaca’s farmers “need agricultural policy [reforms], not money”.
Moreover, the government, said Panchon, “has given [protesting farmers] some vicious beatings. They’ve stabbed peasant farmers, shot them, broke cars, stolen money and cellphones.” Videos of protesters throwing stones, which have been reproduced by major Colombian media outlets and highlighted by the government, “dont show everything”, he said.
“People here aren’t used to these types of abuses, so if we are taking any reprisals, it’s for the treatment we have been given.”
With conflicting accounts from protesters and the government, it’s difficult to determine in retrospect which party is originally responsible for the dark tone the Boyaca protests have taken. But Panchon and Dary’s statements regarding human rights violations match reports from agriculture organizers and alternative media sources covering rural issues.
Marcha Patriotica, an opposition political group that plays an integral role in the national agricultural movement’s negotiating and organizing team (MIA), has been monitoring and recording the human rights situation since the start of the protests, and reports that ESMAD forces began resorting to brutal extra-judicial methods starting as early as Monday afternoon, lending credence to similar reports from alternative media outlet Prensa Rural.
A second human rights report released Wednesday on the Marcha Patriotica website chronicles a series of disturbing incidents, providing names, times and locations of what it portrays as characteristic abuses of power on the part of the government.
According to the the document, ESMAD forces have been invading homes across Boyaca — and across the entire country — destroying or stealing possessions, burning motorcycles and cars, beating unarmed civilians and using tear gas and excessive force on children and the elderly.
In one particularly troubling case, Maria Urbano Cardenas and her two-year-old daughter were reportedly hospitalized, after an ESMAD team broke into her house and attacked her using tear gas. Urbano, who is four-months pregnant, is at severe risk of losing her baby, according to the report.
Colombia Reports has been unable to verify any of the individual incidents mentioned in the Marcha Patriotica document, but the use of excessive force by the government has been corroborated by various news sources covering the Boyaca situation and other similar ones across the country, as well as firsthand testimony.
Congressman Carlos Andres Amaya, for example, one of Boyaca’s representatives in Colombia’s House, told reporters that he was attacked and beaten while attending a legal, lawful protests of his constituents Monday.
“We were all sitting [on the side of the road],” he said, “eating some soup they had prepared that afternoon, when the ESMAD came, and without asking anything nor speaking to any leader, started attacking all of us.”
The voice of another representative, Humphrey Roa Sarmiento, appears on a video taken by protesters of a phone call between him and one of the protest leaders, in which the organizer details a long list of unprovoked violence and human rights violations on the part of the ESMAD and other government forces, including beatings, break-ins, robberies and death threats, the likes of which appear in reports from the Marcha Patriotica and Prensa Rural.
At this point, it is unknown how many protesters have been injured, but there have reportedly been at least two shootings and three stabbings, none of which were lethal. Additionally, Dary claims that her local farmers union knows of eight cases of missing persons, whom she fears have been killed.
More certain is the overall state of the department, which has seen almost its entire, largely agriculture and transport-based, economy smothered by closed roadways and protesting farmers. Gas is only being sold to ambulances and police vehicles. Bus and cargo lines connecting northeast Colombia with Bogota have been shut down. An estimated 185,000 gallons of milk are spoiling every day, costing approximately 8,000 dairy-farming families almost $1,000,000 a week. Businesses, too, have been taking grave hits, as they’ve had to excuse workers unable to commute, or close their operations entirely. A single bus company, for example, claims to be losing $368,000 a day from road closings.
Police have lifted several road blockages, but as soon as they manage to do so, protesters spring up on another road, or another part of the same one, and the department remains almost completely closed off to the outside world. Unless the government manages to clear roads soon, moreover, Bogota, which has already seen some increases in food prices due to the trucker strike, and has already shut down much of its regional bus service, could begin to feel the effects of the protests.
MORE: Church’s encouragement not enough to bring government to negotiate with striking truckers
The government, which had previously said it would not fold under strike pressure or in any way deal with protesters while road blocks are in effect, has sent two of its highest officials to negotiate an end to the protests in Boyaca. But the national agriculture movement’s negotiating team, which has still yet to receive formal contact from the Santos administration, has said it will fight the government’s efforts to avoid dealing with the unified front directly, and Boyaca organizers have indicated nothing short of substantive agricultural reform will be enough to lift their strike and end protests.
“Until the government presents a clear answer to the protests,” said Dary, “we’re not going to lift the road blockages. I repeat, we’re not going to lift the road blockages.”
Boyaca
Sources(JTA) — Liberal Jewish groups have opposed a Trump administration ruling that says employers who claim providing contraception in their health care coverage violates their religious or moral beliefs do not have to do so. An Orthodox group said the rules were in line with accepted practice.
The exceptions to the Affordable Care Act’s promise of no-cost contraceptive coverage were announced Friday by the Health and Human Services Department.
The new rules broaden the entities that may claim religious objections to providing contraceptive coverage to include both nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies.
Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, in a statement called the rollback of the contraception mandate “an egregious assault on women’s rights.”
“This decision has been falsely characterized as a win for religious liberty. It is not,” he said in a statement. “In fact, it undoes a rule that delicately balanced religious liberty and conscience claims with the compelling interest of ensuring all women have access to reproductive health care. A woman’s right to control her own body should not depend on her employer. We staunchly oppose this decision.”
The National Council of Jewish Women also came out against the ruling in a statement by CEO Nancy Kaufman.
“The Trump Administration has once again chosen religious interests over women’s health,” she said.
“There are differing religious views on the use of contraception, and it should be up to women to decide on whether and when to use contraception based on their own beliefs and needs. By allowing employers with religious or moral objections to deny coverage of birth control to its employees, the beliefs of an employer are once again being held in higher regard than the religious and moral beliefs of the employee. On this most-personal decision, no woman should be forced to abide by the religious views of her or her insured spouse’s employer.”
In a series of tweets, the Orthodox Union’s Washington director, Nathan Diament, said the rules comported with practices under both Republican and Democratic presidents, implying that the deviation was under President Barack Obama, who restricted religious exemptions.
The Trump Justice Department, in its guidance, Diament noted, “cites workplace religious freedom guidance from Bill Clinton. So much of what’s in the guidance memo is straightforward interpretation of existing statutes and [Supreme Court] decisions.”
Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc Jewish Action, in a statement called the rollback of the birth control coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act by the Trump Administration “pandering to the religious right.”
Cotler also called it “an attack on women across the country and a distortion of the concept of religious freedom.”
“By placing the religious beliefs of business owners and corporate executives above those of their individual employees,” she said, “the administration is undermining the very First Amendment freedoms they claim to be safeguarding.”
“Jewish Americans believe in a society where all people have their health care needs met, and that includes reproductive health care. We will continue to work with our allies in faith communities nationwide to advocate for affordable, comprehensive birth control for all Americans.”
The Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that it was illegal to require the providing of contraception for employees on “closely held corporations” such as Hobby Lobby, the craft store chain. Its Christian owners had objected to paying to provide several kinds of the birth control that must be covered under the Affordable Care Act.I Introduction
Several recent studies have examined whether the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11, 2001 (9/11) affected the labor market outcomes of certain minorities, not only in the US (e.g. Davila and Mora 2005; Kaushal et al. 2007; Orrenius and Zavodny 2009; Rabby and Rodgers 2011), but also in other countries such as Canada (Shannon 2012), Australia (Goel 2010), the UK (Braakmann 2010; Rabby and Rodgers 2010), Sweden (Aslund and Rooth 2005) and Germany (Braakmann 2009; Cornelissen and Jirjahn 2012). These studies on minority outcomes are based on two assumptions concerning the impact of 9/11 on majority groups. First, that the 9/11 attacks had a direct and significant enough impact on individuals′ attitudes, resulting in an increase in discriminatory behavior toward immigrants as a group or certain minorities. Second, the terrorist attacks in the US are assumed to have caused negative international spillover effects to public sentiments toward minority groups in other countries. The existing empirical literature relies on evidence from aggregate time trends that indicate, for example, dramatic increases in hate crimes against Muslims in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, not only in the US but also beyond its borders. Overall, it is unsurprising that a large‐scale terror event such as 9/11 fueled acts of anti‐immigrant or anti‐Muslim aggression and hostility. However, it remains to be seen whether these events caused attitude shifts among the wider society and whether such an impact was uniform across all types of individuals. This study offers the first empirical analysis to test the causality of the direct relationship between a major event such as the 9/11 terror attacks and individual immigration‐related attitudes, controlling for aggregate time trends.
Besides documenting whether the events of 9/11 resulted in attitudinal changes toward immigration outside the US in a European country, this analysis contributes more generally to the literature concerned with the extent to which people's opposing views about immigration are driven by factors other than economic self‐interest. This question is scientifically as well as politically highly relevant in view of skill shortages and population aging in most Western societies, which make immigration an increasingly important issue. If policy makers aim to avoid anti‐immigrant attitudes among the wider population, the choice of adequate policy measures depends crucially on whether such attitudes are mainly triggered by economic or rather racial concerns. Several recent studies have consistently found a significant and positive relationship between education or skill levels among individuals and their views about immigration (e.g. Mayda 2006; O'Rourke and Sinnott 2006; Scheve and Slaughter 2001). While these findings have been interpreted as a reflection of labor‐market dynamics, where low‐skilled workers are most opposed to low‐skilled immigration due to realistic fears about labor market competition, other scholars have questioned this interpretation. For example, Citrin et al. (1997); Dustmann and Preston (2007); Hainmueller and Hiscox (2007, 2010) and Card et al. (2012) find that a large component of the effect of education on individual attitudes toward immigration is associated with differences in cultural values and beliefs rather than with fear of labor market competition. This empirical literature typically relies on cross‐sectional comparisons and faces the empirical challenge of disentangling individual non‐economic and economic concerns. Hence, it is difficult to claim causality.
The contribution of this paper to this strand of literature is twofold. First, utilizing the 9/11 events as an exogenous, non‐economic shock allows to isolate non‐economic drivers of immigration‐related attitudes, identifying the extent to which cultural prejudice and intolerance play a role in attitude formation in the absence of a realistic threat of economic competition. Furthermore, this study offers exploratory evidence on the potentially moderating role of education in this context. Second, exploiting intra‐individual variation in attitudes over time represents an important contribution to the literature on anti‐immigrant attitude formation which to date has been exclusively based on cross‐sectional comparisons. In fact, this is the first study to examine non‐economic determinants of immigration‐related individual attitudes in a longitudinal setting.
Using panel data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel (SOEP) allows to examine the impact of the 9/11 attacks on the attitudes of German residents in a quasi‐experimental setting. In particular, I exploit the fact that annual survey interviews are randomly completed throughout the year, in comparing the attitude levels of pre‐ and post‐9/11 respondents in 2001, and relating these attitudes to the respective attitude levels of the same respondents one year prior. This setting provides a powerful quasi‐experiment to estimate the causal impact of the terror attacks on the attitudes of the German population toward immigration. 1
Furthermore, I examine two types of immigration‐related attitudes – individuals′ concerns over immigration and people's concerns over xenophobic hostility – presuming that the former is mainly associated with evaluations of immigration policies and perceived consequences for the host country, while the latter is more likely related to ethnic prejudice or discrimination (Bauer et al.; Ceobanu and Escandell).
Indeed, I find a non‐negligible immediate shift to more negative attitudes toward immigration among German residents as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. At the same time, the attacks resulted in decreasing concerns over hostility toward foreigners. Moreover, I find no evidence of the 9/11 events causing similar changes in individuals′ worries about job security, overall economic development or crime in Germany, which confirms the non‐economic nature of the 9/11 shock on immigration‐related attitudes. Hence, these results confirm the importance of cultural prejudice in driving immigration attitudes and emphasize that public attitude shifts can be potentially triggered by major events such as the 9/11 attacks even in absence of a credible economic threat.
Further investigation shows that the 9/11 events equally affected the attitudes of males and females, young and old individuals as well as people residing in regions with a relatively high or low concentration of foreigners. However, a significant 9/11 impact on attitudes toward immigration is mainly prevalent among respondents with below‐average education levels, while I find no evidence of a significant attitude shift among highly educated individuals. These results are consistent with a moderating role of education in the attitudinal response to the 9/11 attacks. Yet, in terms of concerns about xenophobic hostility, both high‐ and low‐educated respondents reacted equally strongly to the attacks with lower worries about hostility. This might be interpreted as evidence for the limited potential of education to universally shield from non‐economic attitude shocks.
The paper is organized as follows. The next section provides a brief summary of existing evidence on negative attitude shifts in the aftermath of 9/11 as well as previous findings concerning the general importance of non‐economic factors in immigration‐related attitude formation. In Section III, the data and the employed empirical strategy are introduced. Section IV details the results of the empirical application for Germany, and Section V concludes.House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., condemned attacks by members of Antifa against conservative demonstrators over the weekend in Berkeley, Calif., calling the violence a "sad event."
"Our democracy has no room for inciting violence or endangering the public, no matter the ideology of those who commit such acts," Pelosi said in a statement Tuesday evening. "The violent actions of people calling themselves antifa [sic] in Berkeley this weekend deserve unequivocal condemnation, and the perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted."
Thirteen people were arrested and five others were injured Sunday after more than 100 black-clad, hooded protesters with masks and weapons attacked and overwhelmed the peaceful demonstrators.
"They came with black masks, they carried weapons, they were pounding people down with their fists and feet," University of California-Berkeley College Republican Ashton Whitty told Fox News' "The Story with Martha MacCallum" Monday night. "I knew I had to get out of there."
"Everything was great until Antifa showed up," Whitty added.
"In California, as across all of our great nation, we have deep reverence for the Constitutional right to peaceful dissent and free speech," Pelosi's statement continued. "Non-violence is fundamental to that right. Let us use this sad event to reaffirm that we must never fight hate with hate, and to remember the values of peace, openness and justice that represent the best of America.
Pelosi, who represents a district in neighboring San Francisco, had been criticized for not condemning the Antifa violence as forcefully as she had warned about the potential for unrest at a Patriot Prayer rally that had been planned for Saturday.
The House's top Democrat had repeatedly slammed the National Park Service as "misguided" for allowing the rally, saying she had "grave concerns" about the "public safety hazard" NPS would create by "permitting a white supremacist rally" in the middle of Crissy Field in San Francisco.
The Patriot Prayer rally was canceled and founder Joey Gibson blamed Pelosi and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee for falsely labeling the organization as a hate group and inciting extremists to violent disruption.
"How long are you going to stay silent on Antifa? Because in their silence, it’s almost like they’re using Antifa to their benefit—to attack free speech,” Gibson told Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" in an interview, during which he called out Pelosi and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Gibson's supporters said the Berkeley police failed to protect the handful of right-wing supporters who showed up at the park Sunday afternoon by allowing the black-clad demonstrators to take over the city park without opposition.
Several demonstrators tried to stop the violence and helped the assault victims escape while others screamed for the beating to stop.
Berkeley's mayor, Jesse Arreguin, had previously spoken out against Antifa, saying that the group should be classified "as a gang."
"They come dressed in uniforms," Arreguin said. "They have weapons, almost like a militia and I think we need to think about that in terms of our law enforcement approach."
Fox News' Brooke Singman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.Roman Reigns Booed: WWE Star Says Critics 'Have No Clue,' Discusses Criticism By Fans [VIDEO]
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on Feb 02, 2015 09:25 AM EST By Mike Smollins on Feb 02, 2015 09:25 AM EST
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30-man Rumble Match winner Roman Reigns was booed heavily at the Royal Rumble as he went on to win from the 19th draw, but just getting a reaction from the crowd is fine with him.
Update on Brock Lesnar Possibly Returning To The Octagon
Reigns spoke with Sam Roberts on his podcast and talked about getting a lot of love and hate from different people and being okay with it.
"I see all my criticism. I'm in a position now where I get a ton of love, which is great, and a ton of criticism, which is great," Reigns told Roberts. "As long as people are talking about me, that's all that matters to me. The people who are critiquing and bashing me, they're making me more relevant. I would think if you didn't want me around, just don't talk about me. But, they make it even more overwhelming. Noise is noise. That's the thing."
Bray Wyatt's Cryptic Tweet on SmackDown Possibly About The Undertaker
He continued: "I'm all about being opinionated and speaking up for what you like, which is what we have now with social media. I don't believe in like CM Punk 'I'm the voice of the voiceless.' That's crap. People are talking and being heard all over the world. You put something on the Internet and people will read it - whether you're a famous celebrity or Joe Schmo. I read all these stuff, but people have to consider that I'm not writing or don't go out there and create the whole show. I'm a performer. I go out there and perform to the best of my abilities."
Despite the WWE Universe being behind stars such as Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler, the WWE is pushing Reigns into the main event of WrestleMania 31 against Brock Lesnar.
Reigns discussed the WWE being behind him as he prepares to wrestle for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on March 29 at Levi's Stadium in California.
"It's one of those situations where obviously the company does what the company does and the fans do what they do," he said. "And that's what's so great. So, the fans have to realize as opinionated as you want it, the company is the same way. The company is going to do what they want to do, fans are going to do what they want to do, and hopefully at the end of the day I'm just the guy getting rich."
Lastly, Reigns discussed his critics and the legacy he wants to leave behind in his career.
"The majority of critics are people who have no clue what they're talking about, been in a wrestling ring, been a public speaker, and wouldn't even lock up with me. They would have no clue what to do. So, for them to critique or ever say anything about any performer is asinine and just blows my mind."
He added: "My goal is hopefully make everyone happy and be satisfied with the product that I've created. People don't realize is I created a product - a Superman punch - and taken a spear and made it my own. There's a lot of things that I've done that I've created, so there's a lot of opinions that I have that I'm not going to budge on."
For more coverage, follow us on Twitter @SportsWN and Like Us on Facebook
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Residents spend night in school hall as army disposal personnel work on unexploded 500lb bomb unearthed on building site in east London
Hundreds of families in east London were spending Monday night in a school hall as army disposal experts worked to defuse an unexploded second world war bomb.
The bomb was discovered by contractors at a building site in east London at around 12.45pm, leading to the introduction of a police hazard zone and the initial evacuation of 150 people from houses and business.
Ministry of Defence (MoD) experts arrived at Temple Street, Bethnal Green, at around 5pm to defuse the 500lb device and have continued to work through Monday night.
The hazard zone was extended to 200 metres, meaning more families were evacuated to a Bethnal Green academy where Tower Hamlets council set up a rest centre.
A council spokesman said: “After discussions with the army, the London fire brigade and the Metropolitan police we have agreed to extend the exclusion zone to 200 metres.
“We understand that this will cause inconvenience for a lot of residents. We urge residents to look at alternative places to stay for the night. We do have an operating rest centre at the Bethnal Green academy – where we will be providing beds, food, drinks, and wash bags.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Families evacuated from their homes spend the night in an emergency centre
An MoD spokesman said: “A specialist military bomb disposal team from 11 EOD Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps are on site in Bethnal Green and are assisting the police with the ongoing incident involving a [second world war] German aircraft bomb that was discovered earlier.”
Earlier this year the squadron defused similar historic bombs in Bermondsey and Wembley.
Several roads remained closed on Monday night as police warned of significant traffic disruption and Transport for London said there was no impact to Tube or overground services but four bus routes were being diverted.
London fire brigade group manager Pat Goulbourne said: “We’d advise that people avoid the area during [Tuesday’s] rush hour and use alternative routes.”
Police have advised motorists to avoid several roads including: Old Bethnal Green Road, Warner Place, Squarres Street, Bethnal Green Road, Cambridge Heath Road and Hackney Road.They say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
The phrase is perhaps truer the further you venture away from the massive casinos along the strip and into the neighborhoods of this fast-growing metro area. This is the side that tourists, gamblers and bachelorettes don’t see—the real Las Vegas.
While most of Las Vegas might go unnoticed by your typical traveller, more and more people are calling Sin City home. From 2000 to 2014 Las Vegas has had the second largest amount of population growth among metros with more than two million people, expanding at an average annual |
and Fury Road is a blockbuster, then you, me, and all the other men (and real women) in the world will never be able to see a real action movie ever again that doesn’t contain some damn political lecture or moray about feminism, SJW-ing, and socialism.
That and you can expect Hollywood to further condition young women to be like “Imperator Furiosa” and not Sophia Loren. In the meantime, if you want to watch a real action flick I recommend watching “Kelly’s Heroes” instead.
Read More: The Most Disgusting Thing A Slut Can SayQuestion asked by gophersaurus
Answer:
This is old and random and it was supposed to end differently. Basically it’s late and I have a Chinese oral exam on Tuesday but wow I really wanted to finish this. Enjoy! (and im sorry it took so long D:)
“Olaf? What’re you doin’ here, Bud?”
Anna knelt down in front of a young boy, perhaps six years old, who had picked up one of the padded children’s books from a shelf. Despite the fact that Anna had only finished reading aloud to the children a few minutes ago (her story-time was the most popular out of all the volunteers!), Olaf had already gotten a fair way through the pages, slowly enunciating each word. When she addressed him, he pushed his too-big glasses back up his nose and looked at her with wide eyes.
Olaf was Anna’s favourite out of all the kids she read to. He was quiet and courteous, always making sure to raise his hand if he wanted to ask something. He and his mother (a gorgeous lady. All tight pencil-skirts and neat blonde hair) stopped by regularly, but she was usually waiting for her son after story time). Actually, more often than not they were some of the first out the door (but only after Olaf had given Anna a hug goodbye).
But, Anna hadn’t received her hug because Olaf hadn’t left. Instead, he gave her a shrug. “Mommy had to go see someone,” he said. “His name is Mr Kai and even though he has all these boring books on helping people he’s really nice.”
Anna grinned. “Books that help people aren’t boring!” Olaf closed his own book and screwed his nose up.
“But these ones are massive.” He enunciated the word by stretching out his hands. “They’re really old and they don’t have any pictures. She says its about custer- custo- custard law so she gets to spend all her time with me…”
Anna stared blankly at Olaf for a few seconds, mind trying to process both what he was saying, and what it meant. Olaf blinked at her until she gathered (at least partially) her wits. This was a can of worms she neither expected nor wanted to get into – she was studying theatre, not civil law! She inhaled silently.
“Well,” she began, unsure of where she was going, “How about we go and find her and see if she can give you some custard, huh?“ What the actual fuck Anna what are you saying?
Olaf shrugged, but he stood up anyway. Putting his book back on the shelf (even in the right spot, Anna noticed with a smile), he grasped her hand and began leading her around the library.
“Now, what can you tell me about your mom?” she asked, as if she hadn’t noticed the woman each and every time she walked in. God, those hips in her high-heeled business shoes. The first time Anna say her, she almost began salivating over the copy of The Faraway Tree she was reading. Luckily, she’d caught herself in time.
“Umm… she’s super pretty! And tall! And she has a really big smile even if she seems really grouchy. She says it takes two cups of coffee for her happy bar to fill up, but I know I can make it go faster with a hug…”
Anna nodded while Olaf continued to speak. It wasn’t long before he was talking about his favourite soft toy (a snowman named Marshmallow. “Obviously,” he’d said, with more sass than Anna had ever heard from a pre-schooler) and how it had been a present from his mother the first Christmas they stayed together.
But then Olaf fell silent and Anna got a little worried. She glanced down only to find the young boy frowning, worrying his lip between his teeth.
“What’s up, Olaf?” she asked. He gave another little shrug.
“Mama doesn’t like talking about it,” he said, as though that offered any explanation at all. But, It wasn’t Anna’s place to push.
Looking up, she wondered, briefly, if Olaf’s mother had left – perhaps to get a coffee or something. She was just about to suggest returning to the children’s section when she spotted a familiar flash of snow-white hair. The owner was sitting at one of the tables, alone, bent low over a book. She had quite a sizeable pile next to her. Anna was impressed.
She also half expected Olaf to call out to her, and was surprised when he didn’t. Instead he just did a little jump and looked at Anna, his finger pressed against his lips. She nodded, and followed close behind him as he began to tiptoe forward.
He was right behind his mother when he shouted, “Boo!”. And she shrieked.
“Olaf!” she scolded, as soon as she’d caught herself. The other patrons had glanced around at the sound, and Anna could see a bright red flush crawling up her cheeks. “Olaf, this is a library!” He grinned sheepishly and climbed onto her lap.
“Wotcha reading?” he asked. “Anna read us about a magic pancake,” he grinned. It was only then that his mother seemed to realise that there was another adult standing within her periphery. If anything, the blush became more pronounced, and she jumped up, holding her son secure in her hands.
“I’m so sorry about Olaf!” she began to apologise. “He doesn’t know his own voice sometimes…”
Anna waved it off with a smile. “Nah, he’s cool. He’s actually like, the best kid we’ve got, believe it or not. You’re doing a good job raising him.”
At that, the other woman beamed, turning the expression to her son. Olaf had rested his head on her shoulder and was watching the two adults with a sort of detached fascination. His mother gave a little cough and jostled him, getting comfortable, before looking back up.
“Would you feel… amenable to letting me buy you a coffee?” she asked slowly, eyes flickering between Anna’s own. “I mean, I basically use this place like a childcare centre. Something to just say thank you for taking care of my son…”
And now Anna was the one blushing. She had to actively force it down because no, this was just someone being nice. No one actually asked for dates anymore, anyway – her own lack-luster love life proved that. “Wow and I don’t even know your name,” she blurted. The other woman’s eyes widened a fraction before a single, perfect eyebrow lifted.
She held out her hand. “I’m Elsa,” she said. “Elsa Arendelle. And you already know Olaf…”
Both women glanced to the boy, whose eyes had shut. His chest rose and fell gently with each breath, and his hand had curled into a loose fist on Elsa’s chest.
“You should probably get him home to bed,” Anna commented. Elsa gave a small nod of agreement.
“Yeah… Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, um, Anna, was it?” When Anna nodded, she flashed a brief smile. “Anna. Are you free this time next week? We can go after the story time. If- if you want.”
“Oh yeah, definitely! Next week would be great!”
“Perfect,” came the gentle reply. “I guess I'll… see you then…” she said, trailing off.
Anna gave a small wave. “Bye!”
Elsa gave a jerky nod before she was on her way out. Anna watched her until she had disappeared behind a bookcase before turning around, fighting the smile that threatened to rise to her face.
It only got worse when her eyes fell once again to the pile of books that the young woman had collected. Stepping forward, she reached down and flipped closed the one that Elsa had been reading from.
This time, she had to bite her lip to keep the smile at bay.
The last book she had expected Elsa, the quiet, business-like mother of her most well-behaved story time participant to be reading, was one that Anna herself had read (though many years prior). But, she thought, looking down at the Calibri-fonted title splashed across a rainbow background, it was never too late to discover yourself.Animal shelters in the San Joaquin Valley are inundated every year with thousands of rescued dogs, cats and even pigs. But what happens to the animals that no one seems to want? While some shelters may euthanize, others go to great lengths to keep them alive. One group of animal rescuers has found a creative solution to a supply and demand problem.
Listen to the report here
It’s almost 11 p.m. in an industrial zone of south Fresno. A small back lot near Highway 99 is dark except for the headlights of a van with tinted windows. Hooded figures load up the van with plastic crates. One opens the door to survey the cargo.
“Hello everybody,” she shouts, as dozens of tiny tails wag against their crates and excited barking fills the air. “The condo is ready!”
Brenda Mitchell is co-founder of Animal Compassion Team in Fresno, and she’s here with a troop of other animal shelter workers. Their cargo? Chihuahuas. They’re rescues, strays and fosters being sent off to a new life.
“We have Lisa, Flower, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Poochini...” says Mitchell, reading their names off a roster. “That’s all of them.”
Out of the thousands of animals rescued in the Fresno area each year, says Mitchell, chihuahuas wind up staying in shelters longer than practically any other breed.
“They’re not getting adopted here,” she says. “It’s one of the hardest breeds that we have to find homes for here in the Valley. Pit bulls and chihuahuas.”
So this late-night maneuvering is her solution. The dogs are being packed up and driven to San Francisco for an early-morning flight. It’s part of an ongoing program that transports unclaimed chihuahuas out of the Valley and into areas where tiny dogs are in short supply. In four years, the program has relocated over 1,400 Fresno chihuahuas. It’s a sum that wasn’t easy to reach—because their new homes are in Minnesota.
“It’s quite a production to load up 40 chihuahuas and fly them across the country,” Mitchell says, “but it’s always wonderful to load em up and see em go and then to see the happy faces on the other end from the wonderful people there.”
A shipment of around 40 chihuahuas goes out every six weeks or so. Before the dogs fly, veterinarians like Cindy Karsten from UC Davis travel to Fresno to evaluate the dogs’ temperaments and medical conditions.
“For these guys, the biggest things are their teeth, heart murmurs, knees, eyes,” she says. “We’ve got a lot of eye issues this trip.”
Karsten thought of the idea for this program when she was working in the area a few years ago.
“The whole reason it started is because I was at Clovis, and they had some chihuahuas that have been here over a year, and I was like, ‘this is insane,’” she says.
She's from the Midwest and she knows how much people there want tiny dogs. So she founded this program with the non-profit group Compassion Without Borders. They coordinate the flights and raise the money to make it all happen. It’s cheaper than you might think—costs only include gas to and from the airport and around $60 for each dog to fly in cargo. All the labor is done by volunteers.
“It's worth it to us, you know,” Karsten says. “I love it.”
Once the dogs reach the Midwest, Sally Thornton says Minnesotans are just clamoring for them. Thornton is with the Animal Humane Society, which distributes the arrivals to five shelters in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. She says, for most of their animals, it takes around 10-12 days to be adopted.
“But when the California chihuahuas get to the adoption floor, I would say most of the time they're adopted within a few hours to about 3 days,” she says.
And they go home with owners like the Ludwigs.
“This is Señor Pico, this is Lovella, and this is Sally T. She was the thousandth Chihuahua that was adopted,” says Analise Ludwig, pointing during a Skype call to three tiny dogs snuggling with her on a blanket—something she says they love to do.
She and her husband Nic have two kids and three California chihuahuas. Ludwig says they fell so in love with their first, Pico, that they stalked the Animal Humane Society’s website for new arrivals and decided to bring home two more.
“[Nic] was even given the job of standing outside the humane society on a blistering cold day to make sure that we were the first people to get an opportunity to adopt Sally T because I had already fallen in love with her,” says Ludwig.
Brenda Mitchell and the other Fresno volunteers say knowing the dogs are going to good homes is what helps them say goodbye. And besides, by that point, it’s already time to rescue the next wave of chihuahuas.NASA's intent is to show how the astronauts lived, rather than how they died. As such, there are no pictures in the "Forever Remembered" exhibit of Challenger breaking apart in the Florida sky nearly 30 years ago or Columbia debris raining down on Texas 12 years ago.
Since the tragic re-entry, Columbia's scorched remains have been stashed in off-limits offices at the space center. But NASA had to pry open the underground tomb housing Challenger's pieces — a pair of abandoned missile silos at neighboring Cape Canaveral Air Force Station — to retrieve the section of fuselage now on display.
The exhumation was conducted in secrecy. Everything about the exhibit, in fact, was kept hush-hush during the four years it took to complete the project, out of respect to the dead astronauts' families.
June Scobee Rodgers had never seen an actual remnant of her husband's destroyed shuttle, Challenger, until previewing the exhibit just before its low-key opening at the end of June.Tips for travelling in New Zealand EMERGENCY SERVICES
In small towns around New Zealand, the fire departments are volunteer. When there is an emergency, the volunteers are summoned by the air raid siren…Do not worry, New Zealand is not being bombed!
For Fire/Ambulance/Police services in New Zealand call 111.
CLIMATE Be sure to bring plenty of sunscreen!!! The burn time is usually around 11-14 minutes on a summer day (that is with or without clouds!). Also, no matter what time of the year you visit, you can plan on experiencing four seasons in one day. Summer months can often bring winter-like weather and winter can offer stunning blue skies and warm days.
PACKING The one thing to remember when packing your clothes is layers. Since the weather can change from sunny and hot, to bitterly cold all within one day, bring casual clothes that can be layered. No matter what time of year you visit, be sure to bring T-shirts, shorts, a sweater and one waterproof & windproof jacket. Whether you are travelling in the summer or winter, you can never predict the weather in this semi tropical South Pacific country.
ELECTRICITY The electrical power here is 230 volts. We recommend that you purchase an adaptor in your country of origin to convert to New Zealand voltage.
DRIVING IN NZ Although the rental cars here have radios, there are many areas that do not receive radio transmission. You may want to bring some cassette tapes or CD’s for music.
The key to driving in New Zealand is knowing the little towns that are on the way to your final destination. Although we supply you with directions, be sure to look at the maps and be familiar with the towns along the route. The road signs in New Zealand are vague, so be sure you know the towns that are on the route to your ultimate destination.
New Zealand Police are also very stringent on speeding. The speed limit on open roads is 100kms per hour. If you exceed this, there is a high chance that you will get either picked up by highway patrol or caught on a speed camera (often hidden). If this happens, expect to receive a ticket and a fine.
INSECTS & ALLERGIES We do not have any poisonous spiders, dangerous animals, or any snakes. But if you have hay fever or allergies be sure to bring appropriate medicines for yourself. There are lots of pollens, seeds and dust here.
Two words “bug repellent”! If you are going to the beach, sometimes there are sand flies. If you are visiting Fiordland there are definitely sand flies!
Most accommodations in New Zealand do not have screens on the windows. Please do not leave un-screened windows open at night.
TELEPHONE SYSTEM Most pay phones in the country require a telephone card (like a credit card). We suggest you purchase one upon arrival athe airport so you have one with you at all times in case you need to make a call from the road or in town. You may choose to rent a mobile phone for the duration of your trip. See www.vodarent.co.nz to reserve your phone.
CUSTOMS DECLARATIONS Be aware that you can not bring any fruit into New Zealand. If your hiking boots or shoes have dirt on them you must tell customs control prior to clearing customs. We are a remote country with no poisonous bugs or snakes and it is very important to our country that it is kept that way. Please read the NZ Customs booklet so you are aware of the rules. The fines are quite high if you bring anything prohibited into the country – accidentally or not.
BANKS All cities and most small towns have a bank and/or ATM (automated teller machine). These ATM’s allow you to access your bank accounts through the star, star plus, cirrus and many other major automated systems. This helps to cut down on the need to bring large amounts of cash while travelling.
BARS AND RESTAURANTS New Zealand bars and restaurants are now totally smoke free. It is against New Zealand law to smoke inside these establishments. If you wish to smoke you will need to be prepared to be outside.
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY Something very important to remember is that in New Zealand you are your own judge of what is prudent and safe. You are totally responsible for your own safety. If you go on a boat, plane, or guided walk make sure you feel confident. If you get hurt, lost or crash there is not the opportunity for litigation for compensation here. The same thing applies when you are driving a car. If someone hits you then ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) takes care of your medical and your insurance covers your car. There is basically a no fault attitude. It is actually a very refreshing way to live, you are not paranoid about a possible lawsuit at every turn, but you must be intelligent with your decisions.
SAFETY If you are walking across the street be warned cars have the right of way! They do not slow down. Be careful also to make sure you are looking in the correct direction of the traffic flow before crossing.
AIRPORT DETAILS Airport departure tax - as you prepare to leave the country, be sure that you have $25 per person.
LAUNDRY SERVICES All Hotels and most Motels and B&B’s offer laundry service. It is inexpensive and allows you the opportunity to bring fewer clothes (and have room for more shopping).
TIPPING Tipping is not customary in New Zealand. However, if you feel someone has provided an exceptional service by all means tip! It is so worth the surprised look and appreciative smile. A 10% tip is average for worthy service.WAUKESHA — A search underway on this Thursday, October 6th for a Waukesha County Jail inmate has ended. FOX6 News has been told J. Dustin Palubicki turned himself into the police department after he was mistakenly released.
According to officials with the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department, J. Dustin Palubicki was released in error on Thursday morning around 9:15 a.m. from the Waukesha County Jail.
Palubicki, known as Dustin, was in custody since since September 3rd for a paternity matter.
He was released on Thursday after his commitment with Waukesha County was complete, however, he is currently wanted in Forest County for nonpayment of child support.
Dustin is described as a 36-year-old white male, who is 6′ tall and weights 160 pounds. He has green eyes, brown hair with a short cut, a receding hair line and is currently wearing a full trimmed mustache and beard.
He was last seen wearing a dark T-shirt with some type of graphic on the back, blue jeans that are ripped at the knees and dark tennis shoes with white soles.
Palubicki has several tattoos with the most noticeable one being on his neck.
Sheriff’s officials had no reason to believe there was any danger to the community.The Virginia deadline for independent presidential petitions, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties, is August 26. The state received four petitions that may have enough valid signatures: for Rocky De La Fuente, Gary Johnson, Evan McMullin, and Jill Stein. Because most of the Johnson signatures were turned in early, the state has already determined that Johnson petition is valid. The state is still working on checking the Stein, McMullin, and De La Fuente petitions.
The Constitution Party submitted a petition, but it has already been held not to have enough valid signatures, because the number of signatures was below 5,000, and the requirement is 5,000. The Independent Green Party turned in a petition for Gail Parker, but it only has 4,312 signatures, so it is not valid.
Since November 1997, the only ballot-qualified parties in Virginia have been the Democratic and Republican Parties.As the state assembly election nears, and as the state medical education department is hurriedly trying to implement the Maharashtra government’s proposal to allow homoeopaths to practice modern medicine, the Advocate General has thrown a spanner in the works.The AG, Darius Khambata, has made it clear that the state must seek permission from the centre before moving on the issue.The state cabinet had this January, decided to allow homoeopaths to practice allopathy provided they complete a year-long course prescribed by Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik.A large number of homoeopaths had demonstrated at Azad Maidan demanding such a privilege. The Maharashtra Medical Council and Indian Medical Association had opposed the proposal and are waiting for the final notification of the state government so that they can move court.The medical education department, under whose jurisdiction the matter fell, was earlier headed by NCP minister Dr Vijaykumar Gavit. But after he was sacked from the post, the party handed over the department to deputy CM Ajit Pawar. A close relative of union minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar is a member of the Maharashtra Homoeopathic Council which has been actively persuading the state government to allow its members to practise allopathy.Last week at a meeting attended by Ajit Pawar, chief secretary J S Saharia and medical education secretary Manisha Mhaiskar, Khambata clearly told them that permission of the union government would be required for such a proposal.Sources in state government said Medical Council of India 1956 guidelines did not allow any medical course to be initiated without prior approval from MCI and government of India. As this would take a lot of time, the state would not able to allow homoeopaths to practise allopathy before the assembly polls.Khambata refused to comment on the issue. Chief Secretary J S Saharia said: “Khambata had reservations about the proposal. He will now submit a report to us.”For the first time since he emerged covered in blood from a boat in a Watertown backyard, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will appear in federal court Wednesday in Boston to face charges that he used weapons of mass destruction to kill three people and wound more than 260 others at the Boston Marathon.
Tsarnaev, who is also accused of killing an MIT police officer, faces 30 federal criminal charges, including use of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death and bombing of a place of public use resulting in death. Authorities allege that the 19-year-old was inspired by Al Qaeda publications and that he left a confession in the boat justifying the bombings as payback for US military action in Muslim countries.
Seventeen of the charges carry the possibility of the death penalty, which hasn’t been applied in Massachusetts in 66 years and has been banned here for state cases since 1984. But because Tsarnaev is charged under federal law, he could face death for his alleged crimes.
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The other charges against Tsarnaev carry the possibility of life in prison.
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The appearance of the former University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student is expected to be brief and under heavy guard. It should answer questions about the extent of injuries he sustained during a firefight with police the night before he was captured and how much he has recovered over the past 2½ months. His older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the alleged mastermind of the bombings, died after the confrontation with police in Watertown.
Related Links Coverage: The Marathon bombings
Prosecutors said they expect a packed courtroom at US District Court on Wednesday afternoon. They have set aside seats for victims, and because of limited capacity, they may use a lottery to decide who gets in the courtroom. They are providing an overflow room for victims to watch the proceedings on closed-circuit television.
Several victims who were wounded in the bombings said they have no interest in attending either the arraignment or the trial, which may not begin for more than a year.
Patricia Campbell, whose 29-year-old daughter Krystle died when the first bomb detonated a few yards from the finish line, said she and her family are still weighing whether to go to the South Boston courthouse. “I don’t know if I want to be there,” she said. “It’s not like there’s anything I can do to him.”
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A longtime opponent of the death penalty, she has been rethinking her position in recent weeks. “Under the circumstances, an eye for an eye feels appropriate,” she said. Only three people have been executed under the federal death penalty since it was reinstated in 1988.
Campbell said she mostly hopes to learn what would possess anyone to plant bombs in a crowd of people who had done nothing more than come to cheer for others, an act of good will and love.
“Why would someone spoil such a day that so many people worked so hard for?” she said. “I just don’t understand it. You can’t have feelings to do something like that — only hate.”
As much as she would like to see Tsarnaev face justice, she intends to move on. “I miss Krystle deeply. You still expect her to come in the door,” she said. “But you have to accept the things you can’t change.”
Susan Girouard, whose 20-year-old daughter Sarah suffered shrapnel wounds to her legs after the first bomb exploded, said no one in her family wanted to travel from their home in Falmouth, Maine, to see Tsarnaev.
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“We aren’t giving the legal process much thought at this point,” she said. “I just hope justice is served.”
She said her daughter has largely recovered from the injuries to her legs but is still suffering from a ruptured ear drum.
“What I just can’t understand about this is how a young boy can live here in the United States and have someone twist his mind to do something like that,” she said. “I don’t get it.”
The family of 8-year-old Martin Richard, the youngest of the three people killed by the bombings, does not plan to attend the arraignment, said family spokesman Larry Marchese. Martin’s 7-year-old sister, Jane, lost a leg when the second bomb went off. Their mother, Denise, lost vision in one eye and suffered burns. Their father, Bill, sustained shrapnel wounds, burns to his legs, and hearing loss.
“The Richard family remains focused on healing and recovery, which has been an ongoing process for all of them,” Marchese said.
According to the indictment, released last month, Tsarnaev allegedly wrote a confession in the boat that acknowledged “it is forbidden” in Islam to kill innocent people. But prosecutors say he justified his actions because the “US government is killing our innocent civilians.”
“I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished,” he allegedly wrote. “We Muslims are one body; you hurt one, you hurt us all. Stop killing our innocent people, we will stop.”
The indictment alleges that sometime before the bombings, Tsarnaev downloaded extremist Islamic propaganda from the Internet, including material that directed Muslims against giving their allegiance to governments that invade Muslim lands and writings by Anwar al-Awlaki, the American citizen who became a senior operative in Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen and who was killed in a 2011 drone strike.
At a press conference last month, US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said it would be up to US Attorney General Eric Holder whether to seek the death penalty. “There are a number of different levels of review,” she said at the time, adding that her office will seek input from victims’ families before making a recommendation to the attorney general about the death penalty.
The federal charges also include malicious destruction of property resulting in death, and conspiring to do those crimes, as well as use of a firearm during and in relation to a violent crime, and carjacking resulting in serious injury, federal prosecutors said.
Tsarnaev, who was hospitalized at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center after his capture on April 19, will be escorted by deputies from the US Marshals Service from a locked medical facility for male prisoners at Fort Devens.
His arraignment is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and seats will be set aside for the general public, prosecutors said.
David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @davabelMumu
In one of the outlying streets of Moscow, in a gray house with white columns and a balcony, warped all askew, there was once living a lady, a widow, surrounded by a numerous household of serfs. Her sons were in the government service at Petersburg; her daughters were married; she went out very little, and in solitude lived through the last years of her miserly and dreary old age. Her day, a joyless and gloomy day, had long been over; but the evening of her life was blacker than night.
Of all her servants, the most remarkable personage was the porter, Gerasim, a man full twelve inches over the normal height, of heroic build, and deaf and dumb from his birth. The lady, his owner, had brought him up from the village where he lived alone in a little hut, apart from his brothers, and was reckoned about the most punctual of her peasants in the payment of the seignorial dues. Endowed with extraordinary strength, he did the work of four men; work flew apace under his hands, and it was a pleasant sight to see him when he was ploughing, while, with his huge palms pressing hard upon the plough, he seemed alone, unaided by his poor horse, to cleave the yielding bosom of the earth, or when, about St. Peter's Day, he plied his scythe with a furious energy that might have mown a young birch copse up by the roots, or swiftly and untiringly wielded a flail over two yards long; while the hard oblong muscles of his shoulders rose and fell like a lever. His perpetual silence lent a solemn dignity to his unwearying labor. He was a splendid peasant, and, except for his affliction, any girl would have been glad to marry him... But now they had taken Gerasim to Moscow, bought him boots, had him made a full-skirted coat for summer, a sheepskin for winter, put into his hand a broom and a spade, and appointed him porter.
At first he intensely disliked his new mode of life. From his childhood he had been used to field labor, to village life. Shut off by his affliction from the society of men, he had grown up, dumb and mighty, as a tree grows on a fruitful soil. When he was transported to the town, he could not understand what was being done with him; he was miserable and stupefied, with the stupefaction of some strong young bull, taken straight from the meadow, where the rich grass stood up to his belly, taken and put in the truck of a railway train, and there, while smoke and sparks and gusts of steam puff out upon the sturdy beast, he is whirled onwards, whirled along with loud roar and whistle, whither--God knows! What Gerasim had to do in his new duties seemed a mere trifle to him after his hard toil as a peasant; in half an hour all his work was done, and he would once more stand stock-still in the middle of the courtyard, staring open-mouthed at all the passers-by, as though trying to wrest from them the explanation of his perplexing position; or he would suddenly go off into some corner, and flinging a long way off the broom or the spade, throw himself on his face on the ground, and lie for hours together without stirring, like a caged beast. But man gets used to anything, and Gerasim got used at last to living in town. He had little work to do; his whole duty consisted in keeping the courtyard clean, bringing in a barrel of water twice a day, splitting and dragging in wood for the kitchen and the house, keeping out strangers, and watching at night. And it must be said he did his duty zealously. In his courtyard there was never a shaving lying about, never a speck of dust; if sometimes, in the muddy season, the wretched nag, put under his charge for fetching water, got stuck in the road, he would simply give it a shove with his shoulder, and set not only the cart but the horse itself moving. If he set to chopping wood, the axe fairly rang like glass, and chips and chunks flew in all directions. And as for strangers, after he had one night caught two thieves and knocked their heads together--knocked them so that there was not the slightest need to take them to the police-station afterwards--every one in the neighborhood began to feel a great respect for him; even those who came in the daytime, by no means robbers, but simply unknown persons, at the sight of the terrible porter, waved and shouted to him as though he could hear their shouts. With all the rest of the servants, Gerasim was on terms hardly friendly--they were afraid of him--but familiar; he regarded them as his fellows. They explained themselves to him by signs, and he understood them, and exactly carried out all orders, but knew his own rights too, and soon no one dared to take his seat at the table. Gerasim was altogether of a strict and serious temper, he liked order in everything; even the cocks did not dare to fight in his presence, or woe betide them! Directly he caught sight of them, he would seize them by the legs, swing them ten times round in the air like a wheel, and throw them in different directions. There were geese, too, kept in the yard; but the goose, as is well known, is a dignified and reasonable bird: Gerasim felt a respect for them, looked after them, and fed them; he was himself not unlike a gander of the steppes. He was assigned a little garret over the kitchen; he arranged it himself to his own liking, made a bedstead in it of oak boards on four stumps of wood for legs--a truly Titanic bedstead; one might have put a ton or two on it--it would not have bent under the load; under the bed was a solid chest; in a corner stood a little table of the same strong kind, and near the table a three-legged stool, so solid and squat that Gerasim himself would sometimes pick it up and drop it again with a smile of delight. The garret was locked up by means of a padlock that looked like a kalatch or basket-shaped loaf, only black; the key of this padlock Gerasim always carried about him in his girdle. He did not like people to come to his garret.
So passed a year, at the end of which a little incident befell Gerasim.
The old lady, in whose service he lived as porter, adhered in everything to the ancient ways, and kept a large number of servants. In her house were not only laundresses, sempstresses, carpenters, tailors and tailoresses, there was even a harness-maker--he was reckoned as a veterinary surgeon, too,--and a doctor for the servants; there was a household doctor for the mistress; there was, lastly, a shoemaker, by name Kapiton Klimov, a sad drunkard. Klimov regarded himself as an injured creature, whose merits were unappreciated, a cultivated man from Petersburg, who ought not to be living in Moscow without occupation--in the wilds, so to speak; and if he drank, as he himself expressed it emphatically, with a blow on his chest, it was sorrow drove him to it. So one day his mistress had a conversation about him with her head steward, Gavrila, a man whom, judging solely from his little yellow eyes and nose like a duck's beak, fate itself, it seemed, had marked out as a person in authority. The lady expressed her regret at the corruption of the morals of Kapiton, who had, only the evening before, been picked up somewhere in the street.
"Now, Gavrila," she observed, all of a sudden, "now, if we were to marry him, |
42 well in the state senate. He is a tenacious advocate who works well with others and these traits will make him an effective senator and voice for a new generation of progressive Georgians,” states the press release.
Since he started campaign in December, Williams raised more than $150,000, according to disclosure reports. He has more than $104,000 cash on hand, according to the latest disclosure reports filed in March.
Parent raised nearly $170,000 after declaring her candidacy in January and has about $140,000 cash on hand, according to her March disclosure report.
Parent, as a former state representative, has picked up endorsements from such Democratic power players as Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, Gov. Roy Barnes, state Sen. Nan Orrock, and state Rep. Karla Drenner.
Drenner, the first openly gay person elected to the General Assembly, said she was backing Parent because they worked together when Parent was a state representative. Drenner also said the sexual orientation of a candidate was not a reason to support that candidate.
Williams has picked up endorsements from political heavyweights including former Atlanta City Council President Cathy Woolard, former state Senator Jimmy Paulk, Atlanta City Councilmember Kwanza Hall, former Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd, DeKalb County Clerk of Superior Court Debra DeBerry, Decatur City Mayor Jim Baskett, Decatur Mayor Pro Temp Kecia Cunningham as well as Georgia Equality and the national Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.
Williams told GA Voice if elected he would propose legislation to repeal Georgia’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.Hasbro’s new full-length animated movie Equestria Girls will have its world premiere at the L.A. Film Festival in June, followed by a 200-theater rollout nationwide.
Directed by Jayson Thiessen and produced by Sarah Wall, the new movie follows the adventures of the popular My Little Pony characters, reconceived as teenagers in high schools. The plot finds Twilight Sparkle entering an alternate world in pursuit of her stolen crown. Transformed into a teenage girl, she must survive her biggest challenge — pony high school!
Hasbro has retained the Hub series’ creative talent, animation style and message of friendship to stay faithful to the original property.
“We are responding to the desire by our fans to experience the brand in more ways,” said John A. Frascotti, Hasbro’s chief marketing officer, in a recent New York Times article. “They imagined themselves as which pony they would be or which pony they identified with the most.”
“Our goal is to stay true to who those characters are,” said Meghan McCarthy, the head writer for the project, adding that the high school setting allowed for new storytelling possibilities. “It’s new but still an extension of our mythology.”
The movie — titled My Little Pony: Equestria Girls — will be released on DVD on August 6 by Shout! Factory, followed by a television debut on the Hub network in the fall.Microsoft is becoming a company of laser focus under Satya Nadella, and today the CEO emailed staff with a new mission statement and outlook for the 2016 fiscal year. Nadella's message, obtained by GeekWire, is optimistic but also straightforward and honest, and he acknowledges that Microsoft will face difficult decisions in the coming months. "Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more," he wrote in the memo. "This mission is ambitious and at the core of what our customers deeply care about. We have unique capability in harmonizing the needs of both individuals and organizations. This is in our DNA."
Nadella has given Microsoft a clear, straightforward focus
Much of the letter echoes things Microsoft's CEO has already said publicly. Microsoft's focus is mobile. Its future is in the cloud. Nadella aims to put Microsoft's productivity services on as many devices as possible, and he wants to see the company lead all competitors in the advancement of cloud computing. "We will need to innovate in new areas, execute against our plans, make some tough choices in areas where things are not working, and solve hard problems in ways that drive customer value."
Nadella doesn't spell out which of Microsoft's products or services may be impacted by those "tough" decisions, but the company's mobile phone unit, which for years has struggled against Android and iOS, certainly sticks out. "Windows Phone" and "Windows Mobile" never once appear in the 1,500-word note, though Nadella does highlight mobile as integral to Microsoft's goals.
But Nadella's latest peek into the future is far more positive than it is sobering. He seems genuinely thrilled with the coming launch of Windows 10. "We have approached Windows 10 with a growth mindset and obsession for our customers," he said. "We aspire to move people from needing Windows to choosing Windows to loving Windows." Making diversity a bigger piece of Microsoft's corporate culture is another goal for fiscal 2016:
The world is diverse. We will better serve everyone on the planet by representing everyone on the planet. We will be open to learning our own biases and changing our behaviors so we can tap into the collective power of everyone at Microsoft. We don’t just value differences, we seek them out, we invite them in. And as a result, our ideas are better, our products are better, and our customers are better served.
The full letter is at GeekWire. Read it over and one thing is abundantly clear: Satya Nadella's Microsoft is only just beginning what he paints as a monumental shift that will result in "magical" collaboration. "We stand in awe of what humans dare to achieve, and we are motivated every day to empower others to achieve more through our technology and innovation."Uber
A US judge has warned Uber that its self-driving car program could be halted by a lawsuit it's embroiled in.
Uber is battling it out with Waymo, the self-driving car unit of Google's parent company, Alphabet, and the ride-hailing company's key witness said Thursday that he intends to plead the Fifth and not testify in the case, according to Bloomberg.
That witness, Anthony Levandowski -- who is Uber's head of autonomous vehicles -- said that testifying could open him up to criminal prosecution. The US Constitution's Fifth Amendment protects individuals against self-incrimination.
Judge William Alsup replied that testimony or not, Uber could still be slapped with preliminary injunction.
"If you think for a moment that I'm going to stay my hand because your guy is taking the Fifth Amendment and not issue a preliminary injunction to shut down what happened here, you're wrong," Alsup said in a closed hearing on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.
Uber has self-driving car pilots in Pennsylvania, Arizona and California. An injunction against the company could affect all three of these projects.
Waymo filed its suit against Uber in February, and the original complaint read like a spy novel.
Levandowski, a former Google employee, helped develop the company's lidar technology, a key component for self-driving cars that uses lasers to detect objects in a car's environment. Before leaving Google to found Otto, a self-driving trucking company, Levandowski allegedly downloaded 14,000 "highly confidential" files to a hard drive.
The suit says San Francisco-based Uber benefited from the information after it bought Otto last year. Waymo said it learned of the alleged theft after a supplier accidentally emailed a Waymo employee a diagram of Uber's lidar dashboard.
The lawsuit, being heard in the District Court for the Northern District of California, also complicates the already difficult relationship between the two companies. GV, Alphabet's venture capital arm, invested in Uber in 2013. It was one of the firm's most high-profile deals.
As high profile as the legal battle is, Uber hopes parts of it will take place outside of public view. The company last week filed a motion to request that the disputes around trade secrets be resolved in private arbitration instead of a public court. The hearing to decide this matter is scheduled for April 27.
The hearing for Alsup to decide whether to impose the preliminary injunction against Uber is set for May 3.
During the closed hearing on Wednesday, Uber lawyer Arturo Gonzalez told Alsup that "we're going to demonstrate to you that we are not using any of these things that they say he may have taken," according to Bloomberg.
Uber said it plans to release its first public response and to lay out its case next week.
"We are very confident that Waymo's claims against Uber are baseless and that Anthony Levandowski has not used any files from Google in his work with Otto or Uber," said Angela Padilla, associate general counsel at Uber.
Virtual reality 101: CNET tells you everything you need to know about VR.
Tech Enabled: CNET chronicles tech's role in providing new kinds of accessibility.In the immediate aftermath of the San Bernardino, Calif. massacre on Dec. 2, 2015, major media outlets, including the New York Times, reported that the Department of Homeland Security had failed to adequately monitor attacker Tashfeen Malik’s social media postings about her support for “violent jihad.” This narrative quickly gained traction, though it was soon proven to be false, as acknowledged by FBI Director James B. Comey when he said two weeks after the attacks: “So far in this investigation we have found no evidence of the posting on social media by either of them at that period of time and thereafter reflecting their commitment to jihad or to martyrdom. I’ve seen some reporting on that.”
Yet, the veracity of this reporting did not appear to matter to other political figures, including presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, who errantly told CNN in March 2016, “If you look at the San Bernardino terrorists, the female terrorist had publicly posted on social media calls to jihad. And yet the Obama administration, in yet another nod to political correctness, refused to even to look to social media.”
Coming at a time of heightened incitement against Muslims and refugees during the 2016 presidential election cycle, false claims about the social media postings of the San Bernardino attackers intensified pressure on federal authorities to escalate their dragnet surveillance of online activities. Now, at least one government agency, DHS, is moving to aggressively expand its powers to collect and monitor the social media information of people seeking to enter the United States through the visa waiver program. Civil liberties advocates say the plan is a human rights disaster that will come down hardest on Muslims, Arabs and people of color.
DHS announced in late June that it proposes to monitor and collect social media and other online information about millions of people seeking to enter the U.S. through the visa waiver program, which allows some foreign nationals from designated countries (currently numbered at 38) to travel to the country for tourism or business for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa. The agency would accomplish this aim by modifying key documents—ESTA and Form I-94W—to include a line that states, “Please enter information associated with your online presence—Provider/Platform—Social media identifier.”
DHS claims that the addition, which would be under the purview of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, will “be an optional data field to request social media identifiers to be used for vetting purposes, as well as applicant contact information.” The agency asserts, “Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections by providing an additional tool set which analysts and investigators may use to better analyze and investigate the case.”
But Rachel Levinson-Waldman, senior counsel for the liberty and national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice, told AlterNet that the proposed change is alarming and potentially far-reaching. “The concern that stands out the most is the chilling effect that this could have,” she said. “The request is so vague; it asks for information about social media and online presence, but there is no definition of what that means. This gives enormous discretion to Customs and Border Protection officers who are looking at information and asking travelers for that information. Any traveler who is coming to the country and thinks he or she might be asked for it, even if it is not officially a requirement, might reasonably think, 'I should be very careful about what I am posting online.’”
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In a public statement released Monday, more than 30 civil liberties organizations echoed these concerns, arguing that, “the scale and scope of this program would lead to a significant expansion of intelligence activity.” Their warning was one of many issued as part of a two-month public comment period that closed Monday. DHS is reconsidering heightened social media screenings after previously rejecting a 2011 proposal, according to an MSNBC article by Ari Melber and Safia Samee Ali. For this latest proposal, DHS is required to solicit public input, but the ultimate decision-making power lies with the government agency.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, National Day Laborer Organizing Network and other groups expressed concern that DHS will further expand the federal government’s spying powers. “DHS collection of online identity information is an intelligence surveillance program clothed as a customs administration mechanism,” they wrote. “All of the information collected through ESTA is shared, in bulk, with U.S. intelligence agencies and can be used to seed more intelligence surveillance unrelated to the applicant’s eligibility for a visa waiver. It is likely to be used to augment existing lists and databases for tracking persons of interest to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, with consequences for innocent individuals swept up in those programs.”
According to comment submitted by the ACLU, the proposed change could open the door for the collection of millions of social media users, as well as “the collection of personal information on the tens of millions of social media contacts of those individuals.”
Meanwhile, there is reason to believe that, in practice, such a policy would disproportionately expand surveillance of Muslims and Arabs. “The risk of discrimination based on analysis of social media content and connections is great and will fall hardest on Arab and Muslim communities, whose usernames, posts, contacts, and social networks will be exposed to intense scrutiny,” declared the human rights organizations in their joint statement. “Cultural and linguistic barriers increase the risk that social media activity will be misconstrued.”
Such fears are not hypothetical. The visa waiver program already discriminates against people based on national origin by excluding those hailing from countries the U.S. deems at greater risk of “terrorism.” For example, the state department website explains that “nationals of VWP countries who have traveled to or been present in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen on or after March 1, 2011” are ineligible to enter the country under the program. Earlier this year, the U.S. government provoked outcry after it implemented sweeping changes to its visa waiver program that expand discrimination against people of Iraqi, Iranian, Sudanese, and Syrian descent.
Levinson-Waldman said it is troubling that baseless narratives in the aftermath of the San Bernardino massacre likely contributed to a proposed change that itself is based on false assumptions. "The notion that you can look at somebody's online presence and know what their ideology is, what their risk level is, that is so questionable,” she said. “We are talking about 38 countries with multiple languages and nuances of communication. This is so easy to get wrong. This is so ripe for misinterpretation.”More than twenty thousand people have committed to protest Hillary Clinton’s likely nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia — and that number is quickly growing.
The protesters are united in their support for Bernie Sanders, as well as their opposition to “a fraudulent Hillary nomination,” according to the group’s website.
Their leaders have set up a Facebook group — titled Occupy DNC Convention — to organize housing and transportation.
Protesters are encouraged to read documents shared within the group. One document is titled “Civil Disobedience Training.” Another is titled “Health and Safety at Militant Actions” and includes tips on first-aid and withstanding teargas.
One document, titled “Why ‘Occupy DNC Convention’?” explains the protesters’ mission: “we are contesting Hillary’s nomination on the grounds of fraud, voter suppression, and corruption. We show them who we want.”
The group’s leaders have set up a PayPal account and are requesting donations to help fund the demonstrations. The protesters say they simply will not accept a Hillary nomination but at the same time are committed to nonviolence.
They’re even prepared to lose the general election if Sanders isn’t the nominee: “If they nominate her anyway, we show them they did not ‘win’ for we will not be voting for her in [November].”
To date, more than 22,200 protesters have joined the group, which has received a permit to protest from the City of Philadelphia. The city has issued several permits for what look to be massive pro-Sanders protests throughout the convention.
Some groups are planning to protest the DNC even without a permit.
One smaller group of black activists, the Philly Coalition for Real Justice, has planned a “resistance march” against the Democratic party for allegedly breaking its promises to black voters. Local news coverage describes the group as an affiliate of Black Lives Matter but the activists declined to either confirm or deny that fact.
The activists’ Facebook event says, “The Democratic Party has consistently betrayed their promises to the Black community and the 2016 presidential election is not going to be any different.”
“We must capitalize off of this moment with one goal in mind; and that is to resist the capitalist and racist power structures that allow white supremacy and capitalist oppression to flourish,” the activists claim.
At the DNC, they plan to introduce “our own Declaration of Independence and the People’s Constitution, one that liberates us from the corruption of American politics.”
Follow Peter Hasson on Twitter @PeterJHassonThis is my first time ever writing fanfiction, so constructive criticism is welcome. This is a series of one shots loosely based of an old writing prompt on the RWBY reddit, so every story will vary greatly in content but end with some variation of the phrase "they had nothing left to say."
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY in any way, shape, or form. RWBY and all its characters belong to Roosterteeth. This is purely non-profitable entertainment.
AN: Before you begin I want to be clear that this following chapter is intended to show a platonic/familial relationship between Ruby and Qrow, and does not promote the romantic pairing of the two in any way.
Qrow walked out onto the training field and looked at his would-be opponent. "I can't help but think it is too soon for you to be sparring me kid," he said.
"Aw, I've been training for an entire year uncle Qrow, I'm ready!" Ruby pouted. Damn those eyes, he could resist her when she was pouting like this. Even back when she was a kid she would always manage to guilt trip him into getting the cookies from the top shelf. She's only refined her technique since.
"well, fine then," he said in jokingly angry voice, taking a swift swig from his flask. "But don't say I didn't warn you!"
"YAY, thank you uncle Qrow!" Ruby said, jumping up and down gleefully. She quickly stopped when Qrow shook his head in mock impatience and began making his way to the exit. Feigning a calm and serious attitude that quickly broke down to a huge smile, she got into a readied position and unraveled her weapon, Crescent Rose. As she got into battle position, Qrow could only stare at the scythe. He could still remember clearly the days she had spent making that weapon...
"No kiddo, not there. Unless you want this thing to break apart the very first time you fire it."
As Ruby made the corrections and continued about making the final adjustments to the handle of her own nearly finished scythe, Qrow sat to the side and watched her. He stepped in whenever he had to, if she made some subtle mistake or was about to make a potentially lethal one. But by and large he, like all Signal teachers, left her to her own devices. They were there to guide their students, not solve all their problems. In a world filled with Grimm, understanding how your own weapon worked from the ground up for maintenance and repair was the least that could be expected of any competent huntress.
He started in his seat when Ruby rapidly turned around. "Finished!"
Wow, he hadn't even realized he'd zoned out. Well, back to work. "Okay then, stand up and show it to me." She stood and picked up the scythe to pose, but Qrow immediately saw a problem. In a most un-Ruby like way she seemed— timid. She held it gingerly, maybe even fearfully, and made sure to keep the scythe pointed outward, as far away as possible— even though Qrow had taught her to do the exact opposite. Oh boy, this wouldn't do.
He shook his head, "sit back down Ruby." Once she had down so he leaned in and said, "give me your hand, Ruby." Taking her hand in his before she could respond, he moved it close to the scythe and ran it along the length of the blade. "This weapon is yours Ruby, do you know what that means?"
"Uh, what does it mean uncle Qrow?"
"It means that it is your lifeline in a world filled with danger; that no matter what anyone else does, it will be with you through thick and thin; and that it will a great companion… but only if you prove you are willing to be its companion." He moved her hand towards the edge of the scythe and ran it over the sharp edge, so lightly that even without aura it would be unlikely to draw blood, "And the best way to start is to have faith it won't hurt you." He looked her in the eye, "You have to become so familiar to every crook and cranny, so that you can recognize it in your sleep... Holding it may be scary now, but dedicate time to learning you weapon and you'll be wielding it with an ease that matches any of those heroes from those books you love so much."
Ruby put on a resolved face. "Okay, uncle Qrow."
He smiled slightly and ruffled her hair. "So before I reteach you those scythe techniques with your new best friend, you should name it right?"
She stared at the red weapon on her lap. "Well.. I was actually thinking about..."
"Crescent Rose and I are gonna kick your butt uncle Qrow!" Ruby said happily.
"Ha, not today kid," Qrow replied, flicking his hand to activate his weapon's scythe mode. They both got into position and Qrow couldn't help but admire how far Ruby has come. The girl too afraid of her own weapon to wield it was gone, for she now carried Crescent Rose with ease, a tender yet firm grasp on its handle and an easygoing, balanced stance— the striking image of confidence. It was the pose of someone who loved what they did, who had confidence born of practice, and a bond with their weapon born or time and genuine affection: the stance of a true Huntress.
Seeing it, he was filled with too many emotions for him to count, let alone identify. Pride for how far she has come, dread for how close she was to walking the path of a huntress, joy from the infectiously happy and adorable smile on her face, and grief from her uncanny resemblance to her mother, Summer… Yet, despite all these feelings, he couldn't find anything to say to her, to this girl who had come to matter so much to him. He had thought he had abandoned any fanciful notions of a family long ago, impossible due to the nature of his missions for Ozpin— but he'd be damned if, after all this time, he didn't care for Ruby like his own daughter. There was too much he wanted to say at that moment: too many words occurred to him, yet none did, all at the same time. Even the usual playfully joking banter they made eluded him.
So he simply looked her in the eyes and prepared his scythe to attack.
Ruby was bursting with excitement. After so much time she finally had a chance to prove herself. She had admired Qrow for so long, first as the funny uncle then, once she entered Signal, as the hunter he was. And then he had helped her along with her dream so much— She could still remember clearly the weeks he had spent helping her build Crescent Rose, and the advice he had given her when they had finished. She would never have been able to build, much less use, Crescent Rose if it wasn't for him and if she treasured it, well, it was because of the precious memories it held of their time shared. It feIt was like she was in a dream, finally getting to actually fight him.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find anything to say. For quite possibly the first time in her very energetic life, words failed her. How could she possibly capture everything she felt in words? Saying a single sentence right now felt like an impossible task, even more grueling than any of the harsh training sessions Qrow had put her through.
So she also raised her scythe to attack, and when their eyes met the uncle and niece— no, these two best of friends, realized the truth. It wasn't that words hadn't failed them: they had simply progressed beyond the need for words. They could see how much they cared for each other, that they shared a bond far too deep for any words to ever hope to capture, and knowing that was enough. So, scythes swinging, they launched themselves forward and initiated the duel. After all, there was nothing left to say
Well, there you have it, my first ever fanfic. Again, I welcome any constructive criticism. If you are hoping for more, I do intend to continue and have several ideas from which to do so, but with finals coming up and my own innate laziness I have no idea when I will get around to updating.In the early 1990s, the state was under a federal court order to reduce overcrowding, but instead of releasing prisoners or loosening sentencing guidelines, the state incentivized the building of private prisons. But, in what the newspaper called “a uniquely Louisiana twist,” most of the prison entrepreneurs were actually rural sheriffs. They saw a way to make a profit and did.
It also was a chance to employ local people, especially failed farmers forced into bankruptcy court by a severe drop in the crop prices.
But in order for the local prisons to remain profitable, the beds, which one prison operator in the series distastefully refers to as “honey holes,” must remain full. That means that on almost a daily basis, local prison officials are on the phones bartering for prisoners with overcrowded jails in the big cities.
It also means that criminal sentences must remain stiff, which the sheriff’s association has supported. This has meant that Louisiana has some of the stiffest sentencing guidelines in the country. Writing bad checks in Louisiana can earn you up to 10 years in prison. In California, by comparison, jail time would be no more than a year.
There is another problem with this unsavory system: prisoners who wind up in these local for-profit jails, where many of the inmates are short-timers, get fewer rehabilitative services than those in state institutions, where many of the prisoners are lifers. That is because the per-diem per prisoner in local prisons is half that of state prisons.
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In short, the system is completely backward.
Lifers at state prisons can learn to be welders, plumbers or auto mechanics — trades many will never practice as free men — while prisoners housed in local prisons, and are certain to be released, gain no skills and leave jail with nothing more than “$10 and a bus ticket.”
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These ex-convicts, with almost no rehabilitation and little prospect for supporting themselves, return to the already-struggling communities that were rendered that way in part because so many men are being extracted on such a massive scale. There the cycle of crime often begins again, with innocent people caught in the middle and impressionable young eyes looking on.
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According to The Times-Picayune: “In five years, about half of the state’s ex-convicts end up behind bars again.”
This suits the prison operators just fine. They need them to come back to the “honey holes.”
Furthermore, the more money the state spends on incarceration, the less it can spend on preventive measures like education. (According to Education Week’s State Report Cards, Louisiana was one of three states and the District of Columbia to receive an F for K-12 achievement in 2012, and, this year, the state, over all, is facing a $220 million deficit in its $25 billion budget.)
Louisiana is the starkest, most glaring example of how our prison policies have failed. It showcases how private prisons do not serve the public interest and how the mass incarceration as a form of job creation is an abomination of justice and civility and creates a long-term crisis by trying to create a short-term solution.
As the paper put it: “A prison system that leased its convicts as plantation labor in the 1800s has come full circle and is again a nexus for profit.”DONCASTER, United Kingdom – It is perhaps an awkward thing for me to write given my role in supporting Nigel Farage at the last general election, but it is unavoidable given the major flash points that have occurred at UKIP’s conference today. Those who were wishing the party’s internal tensions had melted away may be disappointed as Farage loyalists and ‘NEWkip’.
But things aren’t perhaps what they seem, especially if you’ve read about the issue in any of the establishment media today. Two points to note:
THE ARRON BANKS vs. DOUGLAS CARSWELL BUST UP
There’s no love lost between these two, it’s true. Douglas has always disliked Banks for being a hardline, immigration-centric Eurosceptic. He’s also been scathing about Douglas’s friends in the Conservative Party such as Daniel Hannan MEP.
Banks was quoted today as having said “Whoever Ukip decide to endorse [for the referendum campaign], it will be hard for the electoral commission to say no to that and Carswell will either have to leave or do the same … If it comes to the crunch, the whip will be removed from him or something else will happen.”
Carswell and Banks allegedly clashed in a corridor, with the MP for Clacton asking the £1m donor why he was threatening to have him deselected. Banks is reported to have simply replied, “Stay classy, San Diego” – a reference to the film Anchorman.
But Mr Carswell is said to be fuming about the incident, and shouted across the hall at Banks, “You can’t deselect me.”
Carswell was then seen working his way around the press room briefing against Mr. Banks – a tactic he is well acquainted with.
Which brings us onto the next incident…
NIGEL SAID DOUGLAS HAS LOYALTIES TO HIS TORY MATES
As I understand, he did indeed say that. But it wasn’t supposed to be a jab at the MP. Nigel was reflecting at the time on the pace of the European referendum campaign from the ‘Out’ side, and remarked that Douglas may have been frustrated with the pace that some of his old colleagues who remain friends are operating.
This has of course resulted in a number of journalists furiously tweeting, writing copy, and reporting the comments on broadcast outlets without establishing context.
The truth is Nigel was actually sympathising with Douglas, understanding his position of being caught between old friends in the slow-paced, big-C Conservative Party ‘out’ movement, and the fast pace of the Banks-led Eurosceptic campaign.
So before you go believing all you read today, remember this… the establishment press is here to cause and fuel tensions. As far as I’m aware, Nigel meant Douglas no harm at all. Though the same probably can’t be said for Mr Banks, who is keen for the Clacton MP to fall in line behind his party, instead of trying to take it in a new direction.Time was, vitamins were used mostly in hospital wards to treat malnourishment: vitamin B3 for pellagra, vitamin C for scurvy, vitamin D for rickets. Now, though,
we gulp down pills for a performance boost—or at least a sense of control over our health—and the $28 billion dietary-supplement industry has been happy to oblige. But it’s hard to prove the benefits of supplements, because that’s exactly what they do: They supplement. For most users, this means that a pill will contribute only tiny improvements. And that in turn means evidence of those gains is likely to be drowned out by statistical noise, whether a scientist is studying cancer prevention or exercise enhancement.
In general, you should just get your nutrients from food. But if you are looking to prevent disease or increase performance, evidence—both positive and negative— is trickling out of the lab. In the matrix below, we plot how well a few supplements actually work against the strength of the evidence for or against common claims. Decide for yourself if that spendy pill is worthwhile.The "hacker" who impersonated quarterback Kevin Glenn on Twitter could not have picked a worse time to commit the crime.
On the very first day Ottawa was able to bid on CFL free agents, he indirectly told every player in the league that RedBlacks’ headquarters is infested with "lying snakes" and, intended or not, the ramifications could have damaging, long lasting affects.
The "hacker" who impersonated quarterback Kevin Glenn on Twitter might not have realized the paranoia that exists in the nation’s capital, where the character of past owners, managers and coaches has been assassinated by ridicule that played a role in the demise of the previous, local pro teams. He might not have even known about the sullied reputations of the Rough Riders, in their darker, later years, or the Renegades, in their short stay. Likely, there was no dastardly master plan of sabotage. He probably wasn’t thinking about painting OSEG, Marcel Desjardins and Rick Campbell with a similar brush.
But unless there’s a line up of talented players with a particular fondness for inactive reptiles – or unless the RedBlacks have a plan to change their name to the Lying Snakes at Monday’s 67’s game, when they will also trot out their new mascot for the first time – what he did was put a distinct black mark on the fledgling organization.
And what he could be punished for is defamation of character.
What CFL free agents need to know is the RedBlacks are owned by a group of locally grown millionaires who are determined to do things right. And while it’s still very early in the game, there have been no missteps, and that includes the hiring of their football personnel.
The "hacker" who impersonated quarterback Kevin Glenn on Twitter very likely doesn’t even exist. As of Wednesday, somebody had posted 477 thoughts on the account @qterback5 that had not been deleted, so we have to assume it was the RedBlacks pivot himself.
A veteran of the sport he plays, 477 tweets makes Glenn a rookie at this particular bit of social networking. And rookies make mistakes.
I’m no judge but I do play one in the newspapers, and I think I know who’s guilty of dodging the truth here.
There’s little doubt that someone in the organization told Glenn he’d be the starter when he was picked in the expansion draft, just as Glenn, who feels he has never received the respect he deserves, can’t be blamed for being angry over the RedBlacks signing of Henry Burris.
At the same time, the RedBlacks can not be faulted for landing Burris as a free agent last week, either. They saw an opportunity to strengthen themselves at the most important position on the team, and they took it.
Given how much trouble the Renegades had locating a decent QB, the move is in fact a strong one.
Glenn is an experienced pro and he has to act like one now. Human nature instincts can not come into play in this case. He was the No. 1 guy right through January, but now he’ll to prove he deserves the job with his play in May and June.
He should be busy preparing for the challenge, and if he really needs to rip the organization, he has to do it in private, face-to-face situations.
From what we are led to believe, the RedBlacks only had minimal interest in wide receiver Nick Moore (who signed Tuesday in Winnipeg) and defensive end Keron Williams, the free agents to whom it’s believed the "lying snakes" message was intended. Talk before the market opened up had Ottawa keen on Winnipeg wide receiver Akeem Foster and Hamilton linebacker Jamall Johnson.
The RedBlacks did make a splash Wednesday by signing former Blue Bombers cornerback Jovon Johnson, but Foster signed in Edmonton and Jamall Johnson agreed to a deal with the Calgary Stampeders.
You have to hope they headed west for the right reasons, that they didn’t consider Ottawa but then were scared off by the "lying snakes" comments.
You also have to hope other free agents will consider their source.
Twitter: @sundonib
my twitter has been hacked. I’ve kept quiet about my situation in Ottawa for weeks now, so why would I post something like that. Cont — Kevin Glenn (@qterback5) February 11, 2014While Ankara’s post-putsch crackdown on Gulenists is increasingly called into question — most recently by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself — the purges are now expanding to Kurdish quarters accused of backing the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a designated terrorist group. Days after some 11,000 teachers were suspended with a single decree last week, the government ousted two dozen elected Kurdish mayors, raising the specter also of company seizures and property confiscations. Such measures may have largely subdued the Gulenists, now labeled by Ankara the Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization (FETO), but can they produce the same results against the PKK and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which Ankara sees as the PKK’s political extension? Is the government fanning tensions at a time when bloodshed in the Kurdish-majority southeast is already a daily occurrence?
When it comes to the rule of law, Turkey’s record has never been spotless, but the measures employed since the July 15 coup attempt have sparked an alarm that compares to no other period in the past.
Armed with emergency-rule powers, the authorities have put tens of thousands of people behind bars, including hundreds of businesspeople who saw their properties confiscated, and dismissed more than 60,000 public servants, with the |
the number of bugs as a derivative of the quality of the software, keeping in mind popularity and availability, I'm not sure the text of particular UI widgets in the bug tracking system even has the whiff of a usuable metric. Talk about data-driven programming!)
Of course, that doesn't work, and (if anyone actually tries the release candidate -- they're universally buggy, so why would you?) people report bugs, and all the project wanted to do was finally release a new version of the software, and so it's time to stop doing everything else and fix all of the bugs without making any other changes to the system.
If you're very unlucky, or if your project manager is actively hostile or didn't understand the sentence in Dr. Royce's paper which says "This does not work", this is the first time a separate QA group has seen the software.
Preventing Change at All Costs
The goal of a release candidate is to be completely boring. Nothing should happen. Users and testers should discover no bugs. Nothing should go wrong. If anything, you should lose weight, look ten years younger, and drive a nicer car.
The point of having release candidates at all is so that the final, eventual, we-really-did-it release will be that boring. Rumor has it that China will hand-deliver a lovely fruit basket to the Dalai Lama if this ever happens.
Projects with release candidates often create a branch in their source code repositories to represent a stable point for development. For "stable" read "nothing can ever change, unless it's to fix a bug, and then it's only the most minor change possible." In other words, stability (does the software build, does it meet customer needs, does it work?) is less a goal for day-to-day development than it is for the once-in-a-blue-moon crunch time when someone realizes that software that you never release to customers is worthless.
The reason for creating a stability branch is so that developers can continue to develop software without worrying about those pesky concerns... yet. There's always time later to fix things. You can see this attitude in bug triaging and bug fixing. "This bug isn't very important. We can downgrade its severity. This bug is too hard to fix the right way. Let's just hack around it."
Of course, developers have to wait to hear back from QA -- and in organizations with a strong barrier between dedicated QA and developers, you won't see developers looking for their own bugs. Developers will go off and build the next big wad of code to cram into a pending release right before the next release candidate branch branches.
Imagine the tangle of merging from branch to branch. Imagine the work involved in unraveling minimally intrusive hacks and fixing bugs the right way. Imagine the arguments from a developer who wants to run off and write new code and hates to hear that code he wrote six to eighteen months ago could never have worked, and a QA person who knows that he'll lose this argument and get chewed out for the shoddy quality of the release.
At just the time when a project's quality needs to increase, the management structure of the project acts to depress its quality by hiding bugs, splitting development efforts, and actively preventing feedback on efficacy and suitability.
My favorite bad example comes from Perl 5, where all development takes place on a branch called bleadperl. Another branch represents code which will become Perl 5.10.1, and likewise Perl 5.8.10 or Perl 5.6.3 or whatever (Perl 5.8.10 is unlikely, but this development antipattern held for the 5.8.x series). The person in charge of releasing a new stable version of Perl spends a day or so every week merging changes from bleadperl to maintperl. A significant percentage of the work invested in a new stable release of Perl is manually merging patches already committed between branches.
If this person falls behind or goes on vacation, the differences between bleadperl and maintperl increase, and the time to produce a new stable version of Perl increases.
(Now imagine if all development took place on branches and only merged to trunk when they were stable; suddenly there's an extra day a week available for Perl 5 development.)
Backwards Day
If you'd never seen software development before, you might think that the normal rules of life do not apply here. Unfortunately, they do -- it's the results of this software process that go wrong.
If you don't know if your software works, why are you releasing it?
If you're not sure if your software meets customer needs, why are you releasing it?
If your developers can't keep the software stable, why should you believe that they'll stabilize it later?
If you play games in your bug tracker, why should anyone trust it?
If you can only guess if a release is worth using, why would anyone use it?
Why are so few people asking these questions about their projects?Cerebral blood volume and metabolism of oxygen decline as part of human ageing, and this has been previously shown to be related to cognitive decline. There is some evidence to suggest that polyphenol-rich foods can play an important role in delaying the onset or halting the progression of age-related health disorders such as CVD and Alzheimer's disease and to improve cognitive function. In the present study, an acute, placebo-controlled, double-blinded, cross-over, randomised Latin-square design study with a washout period of at least 14 d was conducted on twenty-seven, middle-aged (defined as 45-60 years) volunteers. Participants received either a 60 ml dose of Montmorency tart cherry concentrate (MC), which contained 68·0 (sd 0·26) mg cyanidin-3-glucoside/l, 160·75 (sd 0·55) mean gallic acid equivalent/l and 0·59 (sd 0·02) mean Trolox equivalent/l, respectively, or a placebo. Cerebrovascular responses, cognitive performance and blood pressure were assessed at baseline and 1, 2, 3 and 5 h following consumption. There were significant differences in concentrations of total Hb and oxygenated Hb during the task period 1 h after MC consumption (P≤0·05). Furthermore, MC consumption significantly lowered systolic blood pressure (P≤0·05) over a period of 3 h, with peak reductions of 6±2 mmHg at 1 h after MC consumption relative to the placebo. Cognitive function and mood were not affected. These results show that a single dose of MC concentrate can modulate certain variables of vascular function; however, this does not translate to improvements in cognition or mood.Last Wednesday evening, shortly after 6pm local time, around 90,000 homes and businesses in South Australia were deliberately disconnected from the electricity grid for up to an hour. In what is becoming a familiar pattern, this event provoked politicians and political actors to release a stream of claims and counter-claims about what happened and what should be done about it.
So why did it actually happen? At the start of the day, electricity was being supplied by a combination of wind power, the two interconnectors from Victoria, and a modest amount of local gas generation. As the day heated up (the temperature in Adelaide hit a maximum of 42℃), demand grew, wind generation fell away, and the volume of electricity supplied by gas generators increased rapidly.
Half-hourly total state electricity consumption reached its maximum for the day between 5.00pm and 5.30pm, by which time rooftop solar was supplying about 9% of the total. This is a very common pattern on hot days in the state.
As the sun went down, total consumption went down but solar generation went down faster. This is also very common and in theory there is more than enough capacity to meet this level of demand from gas-fired generators plus the interconnectors.
In practice, however, not all of South Australia’s gas generation was available on the day, meaning that it was not sufficient to meet demand. This happened shortly after 6.30pm local time, not helped by the fact that the maximum temperature arrived very late in the day, boosting the demand for after-work air conditioning.
Switched off
To prevent potentially widespread damage to the entire system, which might have triggered even more widespread blackouts, the Australian Energy Market Operator exercised its authority to instruct SA Power Networks (the local “poles-and-wires” distributor) to start a series of rolling disconnections of blocks of consumers – a tactic known as “load-shedding”.
Unfortunately, although the demand was only lowered by 3%, it affected a large number of consumers. It was about 40 minutes before the underlying demand had fallen to the point where available sources of generation could supply all the electricity that was required, at which time all customers were reconnected.
There are two reasons why this was deemed necessary. First, the peak demand for grid electricity was the highest for three years. Second, the amount of gas generation available on Wednesday was about 20% less than the nominally available capacity. Had the full capacity been available, the blackouts would have easily been avoided. It is this fact that has particularly angered the South Australian government, which is once again facing political derision for failing to keep the lights on.
The largest single part of the unavailable capacity is 240 megawatts – roughly 8% of the state’s total gas generation – at Pelican Point power station. Pelican Point is the highest-efficiency, lowest-emission thermal power station in South Australia. But nearly two years ago its owner, the French multinational Engie (which also owns the Hazelwood coal station in Victoria), announced that the rising cost of gas had made it too expensive to run at full capacity. Since then Pelican Point has operated only intermittently, and never at more than half of its nameplate capacity.
What a gas
High gas prices are the direct result of the huge demand for gas by the three export LNG plants at Gladstone, in Queensland. Gas that might notionally have been used to supply electricity for South Australians is instead being shipped to customers in Asia.
Meanwhile, smaller amounts of nominally available gas-fired electricity were also offline in South Australia on Wednesday. We are unlikely to know why until the official reports on the incident are published.
More importantly, however, making more gas generation capacity available is only a short-term fix and does not seriously address the changes needed to maintain, in the words of the National Electricity Objective, a secure, reliable and affordable supply of electricity.
What kinds of changes will be required? A good starting point would be to acknowledge the role that rooftop solar is already playing in reducing peak demand for electricity from the grid. On Wednesday, the peak demand for grid-supplied electricity was about two hours later and 4% lower than it would have been if no one had solar panels.
The need for load-shedding could have been completely avoided with the help of technologies that are already available for power consumers to reduce their own demand. For more than a decade, demand-side participation (which gives consumers more influence over the timing and quantity of their own electricity use) and direct load control (which involves reducing specific customers’ demand at certain times) have both been talked about, reported on, trialled, and instituted in only a desultory way. They have never been taken seriously by either industry participants or their regulators.
Large-scale electricity storage has emerged only recently because of significant cost reductions. These are just some of the likely components of a low-emission, 21st-century electricity supply system.
Almost the only positive action which governments have taken on these matters in recent times has been to establish the review by Chief Scientist Alan Finkel. The real test for the politicians will be whether they understand and act decisively on what Finkel and his colleagues have to say.South Korean politicians have condemned the psychological warfare conducted by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in the 2012 presidential race that was aimed at manipulating voters in an attempt to secure now-impeached Park Geun-hye’s victory.
On Thursday, an internal probe of the South Korean spy agency revealed that from 2009 to 2012, the NIS instructed 30 teams to bombard social media with messages to help shape public opinion in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election.
Read more
The probe accuses former NIS chief Won Sei-hoon of organizing the smear campaign involving anti-North Korea psychological warfare units to influence the 2012 election in favor of Park Geun-hye, who ended up winning. The teams also engaged in a campaign to criticize rival candidate Moon Jae-in.
“The teams were charged with spreading pro-government opinions and suppressing anti-government views, branding them as pro-North Korean forces’ attempts to disturb state affairs,” the internal NIS probe revealed, as quoted by Financial Times.
It is alleged that the campaign hired civilians and used as many as 3,500 social media accounts to support the conservative party.
A spokesman for former President Park, who is now standing trial on corruption and abuse of power charges after being impeached, claimed that the NIS inquiry launched in June is politically motivated.
Read more
“The NIS says it will dissociate itself from politics but it is meddling in politics again by starting this probe,” Kang Hyo-sang of Park’s opposition Liberty Korea Party said in a statement.
Political parties across the spectrum have criticized the spy agency’s election meddling.
“Though it is just the tip of the iceberg, it is very shocking,” Kim Hyun, a spokesman for the ruling Democratic Party, told reporters, as cited by Yonhap. “Those involved in the case must come forward and tell the truth.”
“It is clearly the NIS’ unlawful political intervention,” Kim Yoo-jung from the center-left People’s Party said. “(Those responsible) should pay the price for unpardonable illicit acts.”
Park won the 2012 election with 51.6 percent of the vote to Moon Jae-in’s 48 percent.In this photo released by official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says his country will respond if U.S. legislation imposing sanctions on people involved in Iran's ballistic missile program becomes law. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — House and Senate Republicans have worked out a deal to move quickly on a package of new financial sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, clearing the way for Congress to send the far-reaching legislation to President Donald Trump.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement late Wednesday that he and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy had reached an agreement that removed the last obstacle to passing the bill. The measure hits the three U.S. foes with additional penalties.
The House had overwhelmingly approved the legislation Tuesday, 419-3. But Corker had objected to including the sanctions targeting Pyongyang in the legislation. He wanted to keep the North Korea penalties in a separate bill that the Senate would consider. But Corker dropped his objections. He said the Senate will “move to approve” the House-passed bill after receiving assurances the North Korea sections would be fine-tuned at a later date.
“Going forward, the House has committed to expeditiously consider and pass enhancements to the North Korea language, which multiple members of the Senate hope to make in the very near future,” he said.
The sanctions against Moscow are punishment for its meddling in the 2016 presidential election and its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria. According to the bill, Trump would be barred from easing the Russia sanctions without first getting permission from Congress, a demand that could imperil his bid for better relations with Moscow.
A version of the sanctions legislation that only addressed Russia and Iran cleared the Senate nearly six weeks ago with 98 votes.
“Not a word of the North Korea bill has been looked at over here. Not a word,” Corker told reporters earlier on Wednesday as he explained his concerns.
But House lawmakers fired back, noting that the House had decisively passed a North Korea-only sanctions bill in May, yet the Senate never took that bill up. They added that it’s all the more important to push ahead with the North Korea sanctions following a report that U.S. intelligence officials believe Pyongyang will have a reliable, intercontinental missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon as early as next year.
“That is why the House added the previously House-passed North Korea sanctions bill — which has been languishing in the Senate for over two months — to the Senate bill,” said Matt Sparks, a spokesman for McCarthy.
Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he and other Democrats had no objections to making the North Korea sanctions part of the overall package.
“There’s nothing in the bill that I find problematic,” he said. “I hope we pass it the way it is.”
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Contact Richard Lardner on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rplardnerThe following is taken from Lawrence Reed's excellent book Real Heroes.
Question: If you could go back in time and spend an hour in conversation with ten people—each one separately and privately—whom would you choose?
My list isn’t exactly the same from one day to the next, but at least a couple of the same names are always on it, without fail. One of them is Marcus Tullius Cicero. He was the greatest citizen of the greatest ancient civilization, Rome. He was its most eloquent orator and its most distinguished man of letters. He was elected to its highest office. More than anyone else, Cicero introduced to Rome the best ideas of the Greeks. More of his written and spoken work survives to this day—including hundreds of speeches and letters—than that of any other historical figure before AD 1000. Most important, he gave his life for peace and liberty as the greatest defender of the Roman Republic before it plunged into the darkness of a “welfare-warfare” state.
Cato Institute scholar Jim Powell opened his remarkable book The Triumph of Liberty: A 2,000-Year History, Told Through the Lives of Freedom’s Greatest Champions with a chapter on this Roman hero—a chapter he closed with this fitting tribute: “Cicero urged people to reason together. He championed decency and peace, and he gave the modern world some of the most fundamental ideas of liberty. At a time when speaking freely was dangerous, he courageously denounced tyranny. He helped keep the torch of liberty burning bright for more than two thousand years.”
Who wouldn’t want to have an hour with this man?
Father of the Country
Cicero was born in 106 BC in the small town of Arpinum, about sixty miles southeast of Rome. He began practicing law in his early twenties. His most celebrated case required him to defend a man accused of murdering his father. He secured an acquittal by convincing the jury that the real murderers were closely aligned to the highest public officials in Rome. It was the first but not the last time that he put himself in grave danger for what he believed to be right.
In 70 BC, ten years after his victory in that murder trial, Cicero assumed a role uncommon for him—that of prosecutor. It was a corruption case involving Gaius Verres, the politically powerful former governor of Sicily. Aggrieved Sicilians accused Verres of abuse of power, extortion, and embezzlement. The evidence Cicero gathered appeared overwhelming, but Verres was confident he could escape conviction. His brilliant defense lawyer, Hortensius, was regarded as Cicero’s equal. Both Verres and Hortensius believed they could delay the trial a few months until a close ally became the new judge of the extortion court. But Cicero outmaneuvered them at every turn. Verres, all but admitting his guilt, fled into exile.
Cicero’s speeches against him, In Verrem, are still read in some law schools today.
Roman voters rewarded Cicero with victory in one office after another as he worked his way up the ladder of government. Along the way, the patrician nobility of Rome never quite embraced him because he hailed from a slightly more humble class, the so-called equestrian order. He reached the pinnacle of office in 63 BC, when, at age forty-three, Romans elected him coconsul.
The consulship was the republic’s highest office, though authority under the Roman Constitution was shared between two coequal consuls. One could veto the decisions of the other, and both were limited to a single one-year term. Cicero’s coconsul, Gaius Antonius Hybrida, was so overshadowed by his colleague’s eloquence and magnetism that he’s but a footnote today. In contrast, Cicero emerged as the savior of the republic amid a spectacular plot to snuff it out.
The ringleader of the vast conspiracy was a senator named Lucius Sergius Catiline. This disgruntled, power-hungry Roman assembled an extensive network of fellow travelers, including some fellow senators. The plan was to ignite a general insurrection across Italy, march on Rome with the aid of mercenaries, assassinate Cicero and his coconsul, seize power, and crush all opposition. Cicero learned of the plot and quietly conducted his own investigations. Then, in a series of four powerful orations before the Senate, with Catiline himself present for the first, he cut loose. The great orator mesmerized the Senate with these opening lines and the blistering indictment that followed: “How long, O Catiline, will you abuse our patience? And for how long will that madness of yours mock us? To what end will your unbridled audacity hurl itself?”
Before Cicero was finished, Catiline fled the Senate. He rallied his dwindling army but was ultimately killed in battle. Other top conspirators were exposed and executed. Cicero, on whom the Senate had conferred emergency power, walked away from that power and restored the republic. He was given the honorary title of Pater Patriae (Father of the Country).
“I Shall Not Tremble”
But Rome at the time of the Catilinarian conspiracy was not the Rome of two or three centuries earlier, when honor, virtue, and character were the watchwords of life. By Cicero’s time, the place was rife with corruption and power lust. The outward appearances of a republic were undermined daily by civil strife and a growing welfare-warfare state. Many who publicly praised republican values were privately conniving to secure power or wealth through political connections. Others were corrupted or bribed into silence by government handouts. Cicero’s voice was soon to be drowned out amid political intrigue, violence, and popular apathy.
In 60 BC, Julius Caesar, then a senator and military general with boundless ambition, tried to get Cicero to join a powerful partnership that became known as the First Triumvirate, but Cicero’s republican sentiments prompted him to reject the offer. Two years later and barely five years after crushing Catiline’s conspiracy, Cicero found himself on the wrong side of senatorial intrigue. Political opponents connived to thwart his influence, resulting in a brief exile to northern Greece.
He returned to a hero’s welcome but retired to his writing. Over the next decade he gifted the world with impressive literary and philosophical work, one of my favorites being De Officiis (“On Duties”). In it he wrote: “The chief purpose in the establishment of states and constitutional orders was that individual property rights might be secured.... It is the peculiar function of state and city to guarantee to every man the free and undisturbed control of his own property.”
Politics, however, wouldn’t leave Cicero alone. Rivalry between Caesar and another leading political figure and general, Pompey, exploded into civil war. Cicero reluctantly sided with the latter, whom he regarded as less dangerous to the republic. But Caesar triumphed over Pompey, who was killed in Egypt, and then cowed the Senate into naming him dictator for life. A month later, Caesar was assassinated in the Senate by pro-republican forces. When Mark Antony attempted to succeed Caesar as dictator, Cicero spearheaded the republican cause once again, delivering a series of fourteen powerful speeches known as the Philippics.
Cicero’s oratory never soared higher. Antony, Cicero declared, was nothing but a bloodthirsty tyrant-in-waiting. “I fought for the republic when I was young,” he said. “I shall not abandon her in my old age. I scorned the daggers of Catiline; I shall not tremble before yours. Rather, I would willingly expose my body to them, if by my death the liberty of the nation could be recovered and the agony of the Roman people could at last bring to birth that with which it has been so long in labor.”
Antony and his fellow conspirators named Cicero an enemy of the state and sent the assassin Herennius to take him out. On December 7, 43 BC, the killer found his target. The great statesman bared his neck and faced his assailant with these last words: “There is nothing proper about what you are doing, soldier, but do try to kill me properly.”
With one sword stroke to the neck, the life of the last major obstacle to dictatorship was extinguished. At that moment, the fivehundred-year-old republic expired, too, to be replaced by an imperial autocracy. Roman liberty was gone. On the orders of Antony, Cicero’s hands and head were severed and nailed to the speaker’s platform in the Roman Forum. Antony’s wife personally pulled out Cicero’s tongue and, in a rage against his oratory, stabbed it repeatedly with her hairpin.
Powell reports in The Triumph of Liberty that a century after the ghastly deed, the Roman writer Quintilian declared that Cicero was “the name not of a man but of eloquence itself.” Thirteen centuries later, when the printing press was invented, the first book it produced was the Gutenberg Bible; the second was Cicero’s De Officiis. Three more centuries after that, Thomas Jefferson called Cicero “the first master of the world.” And John Adams proclaimed, “All the ages of the world have not produced a greater statesman and philosopher” than Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Giving His Life
For nearly five centuries, the Roman Republic bestowed upon the world a previously unseen degree of respect for individual rights and the rule of law. The unwritten Roman constitution boasted features we would recognize today: checks and balances, the separation of powers, guarantee of due process, vetoes, term limits, habeas corpus, quorum requirements, impeachments, regular elections. They were buttressed by the traits of strong character (virtus) that were widely taught in Roman homes. When the republic expired, the world would not see such wondrous achievements on a comparable scale for a thousand years.
To the moment of his assassination, Cicero defended the republic against the assaults that he knew would send Rome into tyranny. Some might say Cicero’s labors to save the Roman Republic were a waste of time. He gave his life for an ideal that he was able to extend tenuously for maybe a couple of decades.
But if I had an hour with Cicero, I would thank him. I would want him to know of the inspiration he remains to lovers of liberty everywhere, more than two millennia after he lived. I would share with him one of my favorite remarks about heroism, from the screenwriter and film producer Joss Whedon: “The thing about a hero is, even when it doesn’t look like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, he’s going to keep digging, he’s going to keep trying to do right and make up for what’s gone before, just because that’s who he is.” And that is exactly who Cicero was.
Lawrence W. Reed is the president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and the author or editor of several books, including Excuse Me, Professor: Challenging the Myths of Progressivism. This excerpt is taken from his new book Real Heroes, available now at the ISI bookstore.
Complement with the economist who rebuilt Germany following World War II, and the man who volunteered to Auschwitz under cover.Arsenal Football Club is pleased to announce that defender Hector Bellerin has signed a new long-term contract.
The 18-year-old right back has impressed since his arrival from Barcelona in 2011, with the skilful Spaniard playing 52 times and scoring five goals for Arsenal youth sides to date.
Having begun his career as a midfielder, Hector has dropped into a full-back role since joining the Gunners. His pace and attacking flair remain a strong part of his game, with a stellar performance in the NextGen fixture last term against CSKA Moscow one of many highlights. The young defender’s consistency earned him call-ups for the first team last season - he was named in Arsène Wenger’s squads for the Capital One Cup matches against Reading and Coventry City.
Hector earned his first international call-up for Spain Under-17s in March 2012, and is currently on duty with the Spain under-19 side, competing in the 2013 European Under-19 Football Championship in Lithuania.
Everyone at Arsenal looks forward to Hector’s continued development and contribution to the Club.With most major U.S. theater chains opting to drop or delay “The Interview,” Sony Pictures Entertainment is weighing releasing the film on premium video-on-demand, according to an insider.
That would allow the studio to recoup some of the film’s $42 million budget and tens of millions in promotion and advertising expenditures. It would also enable the studio to experiment with the potential of VOD, something it has been hesitant to do at the risk of angering major exhibitors. Traditionally, films must wait 90 days before they are released on home entertainment platforms.
In the case of “The Interview,” the decision may have been made by the exhibitors themselves. The majority of the country’s ten largest circuits — a group that include AMC, Regal, Cinemark and Carmike — will not show the film when it debuts on Dec. 25th.
Sony still plans to make the film available to theaters on Christmas day should they choose to exhibit it, the insider said. Talks of a possible premium VOD release are preliminary. No plan is in place yet nor has a decision about possible pricing been made. It is one of several options being debated.
Related DOJ to Bring Charges Against North Korean Citizen for Sony Hack Lionsgate Vice Chairman Says Premium VOD Could Happen in 12 Months
Sony has been reeling for weeks since hackers broke into the studio’s computer system and stole internal documents, email messages, film budgets, spreadsheets detailing top executive salaries and the social security numbers of thousands of employees. The documents and records were subsequently leaked online, setting off a firestorm of media coverage.
Tuesday’s message accompanied another data dump. It threatened violence on theaters that showed “The Interview” and people who attend screenings.
“The world will be full of fear,” the message reads. “Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.)”
“The Interview,” starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, is a comedy about an assassination attempt on North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. There has been speculation that the country may be involved in the hacking as retaliation for the film, though it has denied involvement.
Theater owners are primarily concerned with being held legally responsible if any violent attack were to take place or if the message inspired a copycat assault. There are also worries that a possible attack might depress the overall box office during the Christmas holidays – historically one of the busiest times of the year for moviegoing.BY: After the original game, we wanted to follow it up. (This was before my time on the project, by the way.) So folks at PopCap spent a lot of time prototyping new ideas. Nothing really stuck until the team prototyped the Plant Food system. The team felt like this was the mechanic that preserved a critical element of the game – the charm and whimsy of the original characters – and gave it a new dimension. That kicked off actual production, and everything fell into place after that. And by “falling into place” I mean, all the sweat and tears that is game development.
BY: I’m the Senior Producer. Game development is a collaborative process – designers come up with ideas and systems, the artists come up with a visual world, and the programmers implement it. Inevitably, there are more things we want to do, than we have time to do. Sometimes this means that we have to make hard decisions on what to cut and what to keep. Producers work to make those tradeoffs, and keep things aligned with the product vision and the schedule. We work across all the disciplines, and with the business folks, to make sure we know how things are going at all times, to raise warning flags, and to solve problems.
PTB: What is your background and role at PopCap? What were your responsibilities on PvZ 2?
After years of speculation and old fashioned waiting, fans of PopCap's famed Plants vs Zombies are finally enjoying the sequel, Plants vs Zombies 2: It's About Time, now that it's arrived exclusively (for now) on the App Store for the iPhone and iPad. The new game keeps the core experience of lovable plants lashing out at invading undead hordes while adding new mechanics such as the plant food boost option, touchscreen-based power-ups for quick zombie extermination, and a pack of new plants with their own unique attacks. Time travel sets the stage for a series of levels based around eras such as ancient Egypt and cowboy adventures in the wild west. It's not all smiles and sunshine, though; the most controversial aspect of Plants vs Zombies 2 has to be the inclusion of paid upgrades bought with real money instead of in-game coins. The plants have gone freemium allowing PopCap and publisher Electronic Arts to offer the game as a free download with the expectation/hope that players will kick in a few dollars for additional plants and enhancements. PopCap Senior Producer Bernie Yee recently had the chance to sit down and answer some of my questions about Plants vs Zombies 2, and I asked series superfan and my Power Button podcast co-host Blake Grundman to kick in his questions as well. Here's what Bernie had to say about the free-to-play aspects, elements left on the cutting room floor, when the game will come to additional platforms, and so much more.
PTB: How did the freemium aspect come into play?
BY: The market’s changed; we wanted to be on mobile devices, and the best way to reach players was to make it free to play. PvZ is a game that reaches an unusually broad audience – parents playing with their kids on their laps, to World of Warcraft gamers. We WANT to reach everyone, because PvZ is really a beloved game. We decided to go F2P, but we wanted to do it the PopCap way.
PTB: How do you address the biased criticism based on folks that misunderstand how PvZ 2 implements microtransactions?
BY: It’s easy: play the game. Just play it. We don’t put in any of the energy mechanics or hard pay walls that other games implement. You can experience over 95% of the game without paying for a thing, including completing all three worlds. Yes, you have to earn stars, but earning stars means playing familiar levels with all new victory conditions. A level that was pretty easy all of a sudden becomes a new challenge when you have to lose no more than 2 plants and not use a lawnmower. But you can do it – and have fun doing it. And earn stars.
Crazy Dave is your guide through time in search of a delicious taco from the past.
BY: Oh man. Like every game, we had to cut things to get the game done and shipped! But unlike a lot of other games, PvZ 2 is a service – that means a lot of stuff that got left of the cutting room floor actually will come out later! In fact, in my opinion, the best world is yet to come. No offense to the designers who did the first three, but even the first playable of the next world is so good.
PTB: What was the most challenging part of development?
BY: Expectations. PvZ is like those old Bugs Bunny or Simpsons cartoons – they appeal to so many different people, and they all get something else out of it. And it’s so beloved. We did not want to be the team that screwed it up; we didn’t want to be the team that changed it too much, or changed it too little. We want to keep all the original fans happy, and we want to make sure all the new players love it even more. And so far, the critical reception has been fantastic. As have the fan response.
PTB: Aside from free-to-play mechanics, what helps differentiate PvZ 2 from the original?
BY: There are three things we really rallied around, design-wise:
Plant food. If you know what happens when Mario gets the mushroom, you know what happens to your plants when they get Plant Food. A sunflower erupts in a shower of suns; a pea shooter straps on an army helmet and lets loose a machine gun barrage of peas. It’s super pleasurable to watch each plant’s unique power. Power ups. PvZ really hit its stride when it arrived on touch devices, and we wanted to take advantage of the interface from the beginning. It’s super satisfying to pinch a zombie – literally with your fingers – and watch its head pop off. Or touch the screen and watch lightning arc out of your fingertip to fry the undead. We’re off the lawn – we take the player to different eras, which allows us to really expand the visual design of plants and zombies. Each world has a unique mechanic, sandstorms, raiding parties, movable mine carts – that make each theme look AND feel unique.
PTB: Can you give any hints as to additional worlds in the pipeline? Any worlds that you would like to explore that you are currently not working on?
BY: You’ll have to wait for future announcements! I can tell you that the best is yet to come.
PTB: Are there any timelines in place to bring the game to other platforms? Android at least, in the short term?
BY: Other platforms are definitely planned. You’ll hear about it soon!
PTB: What was it like trying to live up to the expectations of fans of the original game?
BY: Oh man, so hard. I’m a huge fan of the original game – in fact, PopCap and PvZ was one of the only job opportunities that I moved my family for! But the entire team are huge fans. We were our own worst critic. And I have to say, the team is fantastic. Everyone was on the same page, we all shared a vision together. A team like that can move mountains.
Ancient Egypt features zombie mummies and new plants such as the bonk choy.
BY: Both, really. Some will be huge events, some will be smaller updates.
PTB: How hard was it to strike a balance between charging consumers for content and not turning them off with microtransactions?
BY: We had a design commandment |
5. (A special hardcover edition collecting all the stories is in stores Aug. 26.)
Nicholas Hoult's Nux and Charlize Theron's Furiosa get backstories in three "Mad Max" comic-book prequels. (Photo11: Jasin Boland, Warner Bros. Pictures)
It's an important project for the director, who worked on the comics with Mad Max screenwriter Nico Lathouris and storyboard artist Mark Sexton. "They're a huge influence on modern culture," Miller says, "and this is the first opportunity of taking something I've worked on and having them rendered in comics. That's a big deal for me."
The Fury Road movie begins in the middle of a lot of characters' lives, so to present a cohesive and authentic post-apocalyptic world, Miller worked out various backstories for his actors and their roles. For example, he told Hoult the tale of how Nux got his name and became a War Pup as a young child that is featured in the first Mad Max comic.
So, too, did Miller regale Keays-Byrne with the history of Col. Joe Moore, the militant leader of a private army and motorcycle gang when "The Fall" happens, and through oil and water wars, how the man who would be the Immortan built an armada and ultimately finds his place as ruler of the Citadel.
The Immortan's "the last fascist, feudal moron," says production designer Colin Gibson. "For me, he was the last white man on Earth, and partly the reason for why we were screwed."
"Mad Max" director George Miller grew up a big comic geek in Australia. (Photo11: Kevin Winter, Getty Images)
While grand stories and comics are just now coming together in a project for Miller, 70, they've been major aspects of the filmmaker's life since he was a kid growing up in a rural, remote part of Queensland, Australia.
"Comics are part of my lifeblood," Miller says. When he was younger, though, "they were illicit. You couldn't take them to school, and your parents thought if you were reading comics you were somehow not getting an education."
But Miller also started to draw them himself, he adds. "I always hung out with the kid in the class who was the best (artist), and obviously that had a huge influence on me and the aesthetic."
A tattooed wordsmith tells stories of the prime players of "Fury Road." (Photo11: Vertigo Comics)
Miller reveals that he has two more stories, a novella and a screenplay, to one day add to the Mad Max mythology, which began with 1979's original Mad Max and kicked off a trilogy starring Mel Gibson.
"It's a very seductive world to work in because you are working in allegory: Everything is reduced so the story can become timeless," says Miller, who realized doing the first movie that Max fits a universal archetype. "When you read Joseph Campbell, you realize what he is: He's a character who predates cinema and is almost in all folklore, the wanderer in the wasteland searching for meaning.
"You can take these stories and the subtext seems to pour out of them almost unburdened," the filmmaker adds. "That's always an exciting thing to do. They won't go away and they almost feel like imaginary friends in your head, filling your dreams."
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Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1EexbjMThe Florida Gators will be without two starters in the 2015 Birmingham Bowl on Saturday as interim head coach D.J. Durkin announced Wednesday that wide receiver/kick returner Andre Debose and defensive tackle Darious Cummings will not be with the team, ending their Gators careers.
According to Durkin, Debose is healthy and eligible for the game but decided to mutually part ways with Florida prior to the contest. Cummings is suspended for the bowl for a violation of team rules.
“We had two guys not make the trip with us – Darious Cummings and Andre Debose. Those will be two guys that won’t be participating in the game. Darious Cummings was a violation of team rules and Andre, it was just kind of a decision he made and a mutual agreement that he would be moving on with his career,” explained Durkin.
A five-star prospect expected to be a breakout star for the Gators, Debose ends his career never coming close to living up to the hype. The sixth-year senior missed the 2009 and 2013 seasons due to injury but nevertheless accounted for just 540 yards on 30 receptions with four receiving touchdowns (all in 2011) for his playing career. He was able to flash his athleticism for Florida in the return game, however, tying an SEC record and setting a school mark with four kickoff return touchdowns; Debose also returned a punt for a touchdown in 2014.
“Andre’s been here six years and done a lot of great things for the Gators. He and I have a good relationship,” Durkin added. “We’ve been here. We joke he’s as old as some of the coaches, and we’ve been here a long time together. Sometimes things just work out that way. He’ll be fine and so will the Gators.”
People people don't be so salty. I love my team and my team loves me. They know where my heart is and that's all that matters. #GatorNation — Andre DeBose (@bose45681) December 31, 2014
Cummings transferred to UF from East Mississippi Community College ahead of the 2013, playing in 22-of-23 games over the last two seasons. He started six contests as a junior and 10 games in 2014, recording 45 total tackles (eight for lost yardage) with three sacks, six quarterback hurries, an interception, a forced fumble and three pass defenses.
Florida’s opponent in the Birmingham Bowl, the East Carolina Pirates, will be without two defensive starters as nose tackle Terry Williams and safety Domonique Lennon were ruled ineligible, head coach Ruffin McNeill announced on Sunday.
“Our kids have done a phenomenal job, and I’m very thankful to them for that,” Durkin said of UF’s bowl preparation. “You can easily see that going a couple different directions and they haven’t. They’ve responded and practiced and played and met and done everything we’ve asked, just like we were going to play for a championship. That says a lot about our kids and our staff as well. Those guys have handled it really well. We got a great group of people to work with around us.”
The Gators and Pirates will square off at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, at noon on Saturday with the game set to air live nationally on ESPN.Tel Aviv’s LGBT film festival narrowly survives a bid by Israel's culture ministry to have it shut only to face funding discrimination
Tel Aviv’s International LGBT film festival, known as TLVFest, barely survived an attempt by the Israeli ministry of culture to shut it down.
While TLVFest has for now been saved, Yair Hochner, its founder and director, told Gay Star News, it faces funding discrimination which threatens its future.
TLVFest is the Middle East and one of Asia’s largest LGBT film festivals and will celebrate its 8th anniversary in June 2013.
The festival takes place each June at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and the Tel Aviv LGBT Community Center, offering public screenings of films with no Israeli distribution.
It also provides an essential space for meeting between local as well as foreign filmmakers, panel discussions, awards for LGBT Israeli films and a monthly screenings throughout the year.
Speaking with GSN, Hochner explains: ‘The chair of the Israeli Film Council (IFC) which is part of the ministry of culture and sport wanted to shut us down by inserting a criterion that would have us lose all our funding.
‘The IFC proposed, to change its film festival funding criteria to only support festivals with budgets of NIS 500,000 (US$ 134,331 € 100,736), ours is ten times smaller.
‘Fortunately the bid failed, at least for now.
‘However, we now face a problem of discrimination in terms of funding.
‘TLVFest, which is in fact a large event, screening 144 films last year, receives up to four times less funding compared to festivals of a similar size.
‘It is even discriminated compared to festivals classified by the IFC as ‘small’ (up to 25 films screenings), which receive on average between NIS 10,000 to 50,000 ( US$ 2,687-13,433, € 2,015-10,074) more funding than TLV LGBT Film Festival.
‘The problem is that we have an IFC chair who is lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank and is a devout religious Jew, he naturally has very little sympathy to the LGBT community.
‘I am even more fearful of what will happen after the February elections [to the Israeli parliament], just imagine if the IFC’s directory will be dominated by religious ultra-orthodox or some extreme right wing politicians?
‘The minister of culture, Limor Livnat, says she is a friend of the LGBT community and made impressive pro-gay pre-election promises, with respect, I’d like to see her take more action and less words.
‘Our politicians are very quick to talk about Tel Aviv and Israel as a gay friendly place yet they do little to help concretely LGBT rights or cultural projects like TLVFest’.
Hochner is hoping that an annual fundraiser, scheduled for tomorrow (16 January), will be enough to keep the festival alive.
The fundraiser will feature New York’s independent filmmaker, Jonathan Lisecki’s film ‘Gayby’, which is about a straight woman and gay bachelor who decide to bring up a child together.Charlene Wells and Eamon Parkes found out she was pregnant on the same day she gave birth to their son Carlo Parkes-Wells.
Most expecting parents have nine months to prepare themselves, but for one Nelson couple, a life-changing surprise happened literally overnight.
Charlene Wells, 28, and Eamon Parkes, 31, had no idea Wells was pregnant when her severe abdominal pain was revealed to be the onset of labour.
"I was pretty shocked. I thought it was kidney stones or something," Wells said.
Marion van Dijk "Most people have eight or nine months to prepare. We had about nine hours."
She arrived at Nelson Hospital about 9am on Thursday morning where she was quickly told by staff that she was 40 weeks pregnant and due to deliver.
Following a 12-hour labour, Carlo Leslie Parkes-Wells arrived at 11.55pm, weighing a healthy 7.9 pounds (3.58 kilograms).
Wells had no idea she was pregnant. She had experienced some lower back pain but attributed it to long hours on her feet at her job as a sous chef at Stoke's Turf Hotel.
MARION VAN DIJK Eamon Parkes said the surprise birth had been "the talk of the town".
Because her placenta had been resting at the front of her stomach, Wells never felt any kicking or movement.
"[Hospital staff] were trying to rule it out at first. I normally bike a lot so I thought I had just put on a couple of pounds from a sleepy winter," she said.
Parkes said the surprise birth had been "the talk of the town".
"They say it's more common than you think, but it's not common for Nelson. It's one of those stories you read from overseas.
"You're trying to get your head around your normal everyday life and then this little man enters the mix.
"Most people have eight or nine months to prepare. We had about nine hours."
The birth has hugely altered the lives of the couple who will live solely off Parkes' income as a Pak'nSave baker for the next three months as Wells settles baby Carlo into a routine.
They have the added pressure of needing to move out of their current Exeter St home in three weeks time when it is sold by the owner.
Friend Janaya Te Tomo posted a plea for help on Facebook and said she was astounded by the generosity of around 30 Nelsonians who donated goods.
"There are people out there who don't have children but say 'I'll buy a pack of nappies'.
"We have got everything from prams, to nappies and clothes. You name it, we've got it. Some of the stuff is still brand new with tags on," Te Tomo said.
The couple said the support from the wider community alone, as well as from friends and family has been incredible.
Friend Richard Lee found out about the surprise pregnancy from Parkes on Thursday afternoon.
"He calls me and goes 'are you sitting down?' and I said yes, and then he spent five minutes taking the piss, and then he said Char was in labour," Lee said.
"Eamon's never been one to say 'I want a family', but he was like'mate, I'm over the moon'."
Wells and Parkes had been together for nine years, but had not considered having children.
With Christmas fast approaching, Parkes said Carlo's birth was "the best present I could ever ask for".
The family is hoping to relocate to Richmond when their tenancy expires.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Batumi: One Square Mile of Georgia
The glitzy Black Sea resort of Batumi is visible proof of Georgia's ambition to westernise and shake off its Soviet past.
A golden Ferris wheel is built into the side of one modernist skyscraper. Fountains spurt in time to French pop music blaring out of speakers dotted along the promenade. At night the whole city is lit up purple, blue and red, like an out-of-control Christmas tree.
Subtle, Batumi is not.
A decade ago the city was a dingy and impoverished corner of the former Soviet Union. Today, it is a brash gambling town of bright lights and flashy casinos.
Welcome to the Las Vegas of the Black Sea.
In fact, gambling can be seen as the ultimate incarnation of Georgia's ultra capitalist aspirations: fast bucks, low regulations and big risks.
Ambitious experiment
It has helped Batumi become a booming destination for tourists from nearby Turkey, where gambling is illegal.
According to the manager of the Peace casino, 95% of his customers are from Turkey.
He estimates that the casino business and the money gamblers spend on holidays in Batumi provide about a quarter of the local budget.
Turning Batumi into a Georgian Monte Carlo is the most visible sign of an ambitious experiment to transform this country.
Image caption Batumi's buildings are as inventive as they are impressive.
That experiment began after US-educated lawyer Mikhail Saakashvilli, who led the 2003 Rose revolution, became president at the age of 37 and embraced all things Western.
Democratic reforms swept the country, petty corruption was wiped out and Western aid and investment flooded in.
In his office, President Saakashvili used to show visitors a model of a futuristic metal tower, topped with a space-age metal globe, which he had helped design.
Today, known as the Alphabet tower, it stands on Batumi's boulevard, dominating the skyline.
Minority rights
For Mr Saakashvili, this city is a gleaming symbol of Georgian success. But the glitzy new face of Batumi has a flip side.
During a decade of untrammelled power, high-level corruption and cronyism within the Saakashvili government grew.
"The contracts handed out for a lot of these infrastructure projects involved more money than the real cost of the buildings," says local politician Parmen Jalagonia, pointing to the flash new towers around us.
Image caption President Mikhail Saakashvili, seen here enjoying a toast with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, has modelled Georgia's economy on that of the US
Many poorer and older Georgians felt ignored and left out of Mr Saakashvili's US-style turbo-capitalist economy.
While Mr Saakashvili remains president, his government was ousted from power in elections last year. For many in Batumi, that has raised hopes of a change.
"Everyone is really hoping things will get better. And everyone thinks that the new government will improve things," says Sveta Shuskaya, who earns between $3 and $12 a day selling flowers and nuts that she grows in her garden.
But although the new government has promised to improve the lives of the poor, there are fears the country may be becoming less tolerant.
Batumi is a test bed for Mr Saakashvili's brand of Western capitalism. And that not only includes American-style cut-throat free markets but also means promoting European attitudes of tolerance towards minority groups.
Under President Saakashvili's government, laws were passed guaranteeing rights for other religions. But some now fear those rights may be eroded under the new administration.
And it's in Batumi that this aspiration could face its biggest test.
This region is home to Georgia's largest community of Muslims, who've been here since the 16th Century, when the area was part of the Ottoman empire. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Georgian Orthodox Church became an increasingly important part of the newly-independent state and of Georgia's national identity.
Most Muslims here feel humiliated, because their Georgian identity is being questioned. Eter Turadze, Journalist
Muslim Georgians started converting back to Christianity but today around 30% of the population is thought to follow Islam.
Confrontation
Outside Batumi's main mosque, Muslims gather for Friday prayers. The mosque is full, so mats are laid outside on the street, and about a couple of dozen Muslims kneel down to pray.
Suddenly an angry man, attracted by our camera, starts shouting at me: "When people pray here, we all have to hear it!" he screams jabbing a furious finger in my face. "Is that fair?"
He says he works next door and is outraged at having to hear the sounds of Muslims praying on Fridays. His rights are being undermined, he shouts.
Image caption Batumi's fountains dance in tune to the music.
Since the new government took over in October there have been at least three small protests in this region against Muslims.
"If Muslims practise their faith openly, then the majority population attacks them," says Eter Turadze, editor-in-chief of the region's main newspaper.
"Most Muslims here feel humiliated, because their Georgian identity is being questioned," she adds.
Keen to join the EU, President Saakashvili's government had strongly defended minority rights.
But some supporters of the new government say this is a Western concept, which undermines Georgian identity, traditionally defined by some as white, Christian and heterosexual.
Ten years into its capitalist makeover Batumi has been absolutely transformed.
But the challenge for Georgia's new government is how to preserve the tolerant attitudes of the Saakashvili era while at the same tempering its excesses.Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
Everyone’s favourite lion Simba will come out as gay in the upcoming live-action remake of The Lion King, Disney has confirmed.
The upcoming reboot of the beloved Disney film will closely follow the plot of the original 1994 movie, with young lion Simba forced to flee after his father Mufasa is murdered by Simba’s evil uncle Scar.
However, following the success of Beauty and the Beast’s gay moment, there will be a key twist to the plot to bring the film up to date with the modern world.
Speaking exclusively to PinkNews, a source close to the production revealed that Simba will be gay in the upcoming remake.
According to the source, Simba realises that he is gay during his teenage years after chancing upon same-sex couple Timon and Pumbaa in the wilderness.
In order to accommodate the new plot, Simba’s childhood friend and eventual girlfriend Nala has been replaced with the male lion Naji.
Our source wouldn’t give too much away, but hinted at a happy-ever-after ending for Simba and Naji after they return to the aptly-named Pride Rock.
A Disney spokesperson confirmed the LGBT storyline will be central to the film.
They said: “After the massive commercial success of Beauty and the Beast, we want to make a clear commitment to diversity and LGBT equality in all of our future films.”
The Disney spokesperson continued: “We think audiences around the world will fall in love with our retelling of Simba’s story.”
A top name director has been tapped by Disney for the remake, which is being filmed in Africa using a combination of real lions and CGI.
The film will include revamped and re-gendered versions of tracks from Sir Elton John’s original Oscar-winning soundtrack including ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’. The musician is also believed to also be penning a number of new songs for the production.
Campaigners have long called for LGBT characters to be reflected in more blockbuster films.
However, the plot is likely to stir extreme criticism from the anti-LGBT lobby.
Contacted for comment, a spokeswoman for One Million Moms told PinkNews the group would protest the release of the “ungodly” film.
The homophobic group added: “This is just a sick attempt by Disney to indoctrinate our children. Everyone knows that there’s no such thing as gay lions.”
Despite their claims, homosexuality has been observed in hundreds of species.
The recent live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, included a minor gay plot arc featuring villainous sidekick LeFou.
The character, played by Josh Gad, appeared infatuated with his evil boss Gaston throughout most of the movie. However, after cutting ties with Gaston, LeFou was later shown dancing with another man at a party.
Disney was praised by LGBT rights groups for refusing to cut the scenes from Beauty and the Beast. The Malaysian branch of Walt Disney said that the film, which was due to be shown in cinemas, had been postponed due to an “internal review”.
And the multi-billion-pound animation company has now barred the film from being shown by any cinema in the country after it found out censors had cut the film’s gay scene.
Though the character, Le Fou, is only seen fleetingly dancing with another man, it was enough to upset Colorado Republican Gordon Klingenschmitt.
Klingenschmitt, who until this year sat in the Colorado House of Representatives, took to his talk show Pray In Jesus Name to claim that “demonic spirits” are using the film to “recruit children into sin.”
A petition for more LGBT inclusion in family entertainment already has thousands of supporters and you can sign it too!
The new Lion King is scheduled for release next year on June 31st.The “old stone church” in Cape Breton has been placed on Heritage Canada's top 10 list of endangered places and the group looking to save the church says it’s thrilled.
The Diocese of Antigonish had issued a tender for St. Alphonsus Church's demolition in the spring, along with St. Joseph in New Victoria and St. Agnes in New Waterford.
However the Stone Church Restoration Society, a community group formed to save the church, got a reprieve, saving St. Alphonsus from the wrecking ball.
The group wants to buy, restore and open the 98-year-old former Roman Catholic church in Victoria Mines as a historic tourist attraction.
Melanie Sampson, the society's spokeswoman, says Heritage Canada's interest is wonderful.
“I think it means a lot to the people here on Cape Breton island, as well as people in the rest of Canada. It means that people want to see this building remain standing,” she said.
Rod Gale has been fighting to save the church since it was closed seven years ago. He says the national attention is a game changer for them.
“It takes it to a completely different level. This church, this building, not only is it important to us in Cape Breton, but it's been recognized as being important to all of Canada,” he said.
Heritage Canada says its list has become a powerful tool in the fight to make landmarks not landfill.
Sampson says they have until Oct. 31 to make their pitch to the diocese to give the much-loved building a new life.The audit process forms part of the League’s monitoring of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), created in 2012 and designed to increase the quantity and quality of homegrown English players. The categorisation system permits the best-ranked academies more contact time with young players and ensures their development teams participate in the elite competitions at youth level.
The news comes after another season of trophy success for our youngsters. Our Under-18s claimed a third successive triumph in the FA Youth Cup, and a fifth win in seven years. We also retained the UEFA Youth League, a Champions League-equivalent for the Under-19 age group.
Both titles were won with teams almost entirely English; all 15 players involved in the Youth Cup final were England-eligible, while only four of the 25 to feature throughout the entire European campaign were not homegrown.
Those facts demonstrate the success of a switch in recruitment to local youngsters, identified through the development centre programme and signed as Under-9s, the earliest age a young player can commit to a club. First team debutants last season Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori, as well as Ruben Loftus-Cheek, are all graduates of that pathway.
Neil Bath, the club’s head of youth development, recently outlined the need for constant improvement to ensure our programme remains at the forefront of the game. A new permanent indoor facility at the training ground is due for completion in September, while there has also been an emphasis placed on coach development.
Joe Edwards, youth team manager for the past two seasons, will spend the 2016/17 campaign working with the club’s loans department, allowing last term’s assistant Jody Morris the opportunity to step up as lead coach, assisted by former youth team captain Ed Brand. In the younger age groups, James Simmonds is another Academy graduate now turning his hand to coaching and he will spend this season working with Frank O’Brien and Jon Harley with the Under-15 and Under-16 groups.
Elsewhere, Under-21s assistant and former Blues defender Andy Myers has taken on a first team coaching role in the Eredivisie with Vitesse Arnhem. His position at Chelsea will be taken by Ian Howell, who moves up from the Under-13s.I used to throw around the label “anti-Mormon” like it was going out of style (speaking of style, will this “style” colloquialism ever go out of style? Good grief, BHodges, the 7th grade called and it wants its simile back. [This analysis of my rhetorical style could start getting out of hand really fast. Notice my strange use of the third person? There are about three people left in the world who can get away with such bravado. Karl Malone, Macho Man Randy Savage, and Elmo]).
Anyway, I’ve found that the term “anti-Mormon” sets off alarm bells amongst folks I’m otherwise trying to converse with. I like to avoid allowing the cows to get out through the holes I leave in the rhetorical fence, so I’ve cut down on its usage in order to keep conversations corralled. I’ve seen people accused of invoking “anti-Mormon” like a voodoo chant to ward off critical thinking. I’ve also seen certain anti-Mormons claim the term isn’t fair because, after all, it’s Mormonism they’re against, not Mormons. So for many reasons the term can stop, rather than facilitate discussion.
A while back I was impressed with a blog post containing useful “types” of anti-Mormonism. I think the types are great for helping people recognize that perhaps things aren’t so black-and-white in terms of being pro or anti, but keeping the anti-Mormon label as part of the descriptor is still going to raise objections. Also, the term risks being watered down. Do I want to roll around McCarthy-esque with a label maker and a cigar, slapdashing my way through internet debates? Maybe next week. For now, not really.
I personally try to use the label carefully by restricting its referents to the counter-cult fulltime exposers of the evils of Mormonism (think Ed Decker). The sort of irrational polemic folk who are more interested in winning a battle than reaching an understanding. So time spent, quality of argument, motive for engagement, are some of the most important factors for me. Anti-Mormonism is something that is enacted more than espoused from this view.
But I just can’t shake the idea that yes, Virginia, there really are anti-Mormons out there. “Anti,” against, “Mormon,” the religion, the doctrine, etc. I don’t object to being called “anti-torture” or “anti-Linkin Park,” I wear the labels with a certain pride. But that’s just me. So how to deal with the fact that I really do believe in anti-Mormons? I explain it when I use it, and I use it for a specific end: not to end debate but to identify the type of debate I am experiencing at the time with the hope of shaming, er, convincing, the other person to consider changing their strategy, or at least to help them understand why I can’t take them seriously from an intellectual standpoint. I hope I don’t use it as an “insult,” but sometimes hopes are just hopes.
I’ll tell you how I use it right now and you can tell me how you use it (or why you object to it. Of course, we’ll know you’re anti-Mormon if you raise questions about what I am about to say, so play at your own risk).
I personally try to use the label carefully by restricting its referents to the counter-culting fulltime exposers of the evils of Mormonism (think Ed Decker). The sort of irrational polemic folk who are more interested in winning a battle or a soul than reaching an understanding with me. I can expect double-standards, irrationality, quote-mining, and a strange smell (if we’re talking in person). Ok, not the smell. (Not every time, anyway.)
So for me I take into account the amount of time spent, the quality of argument, and the motive for engagement. In short: Anti-Mormonism for me is something that is enacted more than beliefs which are espoused.
Your turn, anti.The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that police can deploy drug-detecting sniffer dogs for warrant-less searches against suspects, but only with "reasonable suspicion based on objective, ascertainable facts" of criminality.
The decisions mean that the Supreme Court agrees that the existing threshold should remain in place with regard to reasonable suspicion for police to conduct random public searches of people with drug-sniffing dogs.
The deployment of a dog trained to detect illegal drugs … may be carried out without prior judicial authorization where the police have a reasonable suspicion based on objective, ascertainable facts that evidence of an offence will be discovered. - Supreme Court of Canada decision, R. v. MacKenzie
Legal experts had been monitoring two decisions today regarding the use of drug-sniffing dogs, believing it would clarify what constitutes "reasonable suspicion" for when the animals can be called forth. The outcomes would decide whether police in both cases had breached the two men's charter rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.
In a ruling today for one of the men, Benjamin MacKenzie, the Supreme Court stated: "The deployment of a dog trained to detect illegal drugs using its sense of smell is a search that may be carried out without prior judicial authorization where the police have a reasonable suspicion based on objective, ascertainable facts that evidence of an offence will be discovered."
In 2006, MacKenzie, who is from Saskatchewan, was found with 14 kilograms of marijuana in his car trunk. But he was searched only after police pulled him over for driving just two kilometres an hour over the posted speed limit and deciding his eyes looked red. An initial police search came up with nothing before they brought in the sniffer dogs.
A year earlier, Nova Scotian Mandeep Chehil's cash purchase of a one-way ticket raised RCMP officers' eyebrows. Chehil was travelling alone when he landed in Halifax from Vancouver. In B.C., Mounties let their dogs search him and then found to have three kilograms of cocaine in his suitcase.
'Small victory'
Lower courts acquitted both men, reasoning that police did not have reasonable suspicion when the law enforcement officials set their dogs upon MacKenzie and Chehil for a sniff search. However, their acquittals were later overturned by appellate courts.
The Supreme Court decided today to dismiss both men's appeals.
CBC's Alison Crawford, reporting from Ottawa, said the rulings were not likely to please civil liberties groups.
"They had argued that this threshold allows police to catch up a lot of innocent people in those searches," she said.
"But they did have a small victory today at court because the Supreme Court of Canada rejected an application from the Attorney General of Ontario."
That application had argued that people should have no expectation of privacy in an airport setting. The Supreme Court of Canada begged to differ, saying there was "no compelling reason" as to why that should be so, saying the public should at least have a small expectation of privacy when flying.— A major Democratic fundraiser who played a role in a couple of Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s more colorful and controversial moments has stepped up to make the first big donation to the governor's political action committee.
Mark Weiner, a Rhode Island marketing executive, wrote a $10,000 check last week to Common Good VA.
Weiner and McAuliffe are longtime friends who have worked together in business and national Democratic politics, producing McAuliffe’s short-lived gig as a QVC pitchman for Democratic National Committee bling and facilitating one of his bigger campaign headaches, over an investment that allowed McAuliffe to profit from a stranger’s death.
Michael Halle, adviser to Common Good VA, said the donation was not the PAC’s first, just the first large enough to trigger immediate disclosure. There have been more than 50 other donations, all under $10,000, he said.
“This donation came from a longtime national political donor who has supported causes and campaigns across the country for years,” Halle said.
In 1997, McAuliffe co-chaired a committee that gave Weiner exclusive rights to sell merchandise to mark President Bill Clinton’s second inauguration.
At Weiner’s suggestion, McAuliffe sold the commemorative coins, T-shirts and other items on the QVC television shopping channel. The sales job was “probably my lowest moment in American politics,” McAuliffe wrote in his autobiography, “What a Party!”
Weiner popped up during last fall’s campaign, when it was disclosed that McAuliffe had profited from an investment scheme that involved betting on the lives of terminally ill patients. Weiner had introduced McAuliffe to Joseph Caramadre, the Rhode Island estate planner convicted of stealing the identities of terminally ill patients as part of the scheme.
There was no indication that McAuliffe or other investors were aware that patients were sometimes duped into participating.
During the campaign, McAuliffe made a charitable donation of $74,000, an amount representing the $47,000 he said he reaped from the deal as well as a $27,000 donation Caramadre had made to the Democrat’s failed 2009 bid for governor.
“When the Governor was made aware of the annuities scheme he immediately donated all profits to charity,” Halle said in an e-mail.Weiner’s largesse to Common Good VA drew immediate criticism from Republicans, who had already slammed the newly created PAC for bluntly promising donors access to McAuliffe and unspecified “policy experts.”
“This might be a record. Most PACs manage to get at least one donation in the door before it becomes connected to some sort of scandal,” said Garren Shipley. “But this is just par for the course with Terry McAuliffe. Virginians expect better than this.”
For $10,000, Weiner could count on attending spring and fall PAC retreats, participating in a roundtable discussion with the governor and attending monthly meetings with “policy experts.”
For ten times that amount, a donor would also get access to other events, including a private spring reception with the governor and first lady and a private dinner with the McAuliffes in late fall.
There is nothing new about Virginia governors creating PACs to fund like-minded candidates, or donors paying a premium to mingle with political figures at VIP receptions. But McAuliffe’s critics said he was more bluntly selling access with packages of seemingly intimate sit-down meetings with him and experts.
Halle said that the experts would not be members of the administration. He said the PAC was in line with “standard” fund-raising practices.
Former governor Robert F. McDonnell (R) has invoked McAuliffe’s PAC as part of his defense in a federal corruption case. McDonnell, who is accused of setting up meetings with state officials and taking other actions to benefit a businessman who showered his family with gifts, has said he did nothing more than provide the courtesies normally extended to donors. The former governor says in court filings that the McAuliffe PAC lays out what is plainly known in politics: money buys access — often legally.Trading is like learning to ride a bike.
Huge problem though – new traders are taught to pull a wheelie before they can even ride.
There isn’t a magic bullet or simple success blue print you can follow, but you will have to invest your time and money carefully. There are plenty of free resources available to educate yourself before you can start trading.
Given the fast pace of trading, which can allow a trader to amass huge profits within a short amount of time like no other profession,the associated risks with trading are very high. Trading is also not so simple as it may seem to a lot of beginners. It is a known fact that over 95% of new traders lose money at trading. However, we don’t know how much money the successful 5% of the traders make. The good news is that making money is possible and despite the small percentage of people making a success at trading – you can actually do your part to be amongst the 5% of the successful traders.
Overcoming Your Fears
We have a natural fear when it comes to dealing with money or time sensitive problems. Losing time and losing money coupled together creates an even more intense and unfamiliar environment for new traders. The fear of money aside – just like any other trade, day trading comes with its own risks and rewards. Day trading, when done correctly, can offer fantastic opportunities and rewards like no other trade.
It’s a psychological effect, which is often referred to as; ‘Fear and The Fear Of Fear’ which basically means we are likely to react more sensitively to matters that trigger our sensitivity. Money being a common denominator to trigger our emotions – we are naturally more sensitive to matters that involve money, and then there’s the fear of losing it.
We become fearless by walking in to our Fears – |
their faction has encountered before, and avoid them.
Raiders opportunistically ignite crops on fire.
Pawns can now do ‘job override’ checks to see if a new job should start before ending their current job. These are now used liberally to have pawns respond faster and more intelligently to changing conditions (especially in combat).
Pawns check for job override when taking damage. It will no longer be possible to bug out the centipede enemy and kill him at close range while he tries to take a firing position.
Enemies no longer take unpowered player turrets as primary targets.
Pawns choose sky-gaze, wander, eating and other positions by traversing the region graphic instead of by random coordinate scattering, which solves problems with them taking long paths around long walls.
Traps
Added deadfall trap: A simple rearmable trap that falls on enemies and damages them.
Added IED trap: An artillery shell connected to a trigger that detonates after a short delay.
Added incendiary IED trap: Like IED, but sets fires.
New incidents
New incident: Toxic fallout. A toxic cloud that lasts for days or weeks. It kills plants, rots food, and slowly poisons people outside. Toxic buildup in characters leads to vomiting, dementia, and eventually death.
New incident: Volcanic winter. Lasts weeks or months and significantly reduces temperatures and light levels, leading to poorer harvests.
New incident: Manhunter pack. A pack of deadly wargs arrives and stalks the local area for a while before moving on. Fight them or hide inside from them.
New incident: Chased refugee. A refugee radios and offers to join the colony if you’ll fight the raiders on his tail.
New incident: Psychic soothe. The opposite of a psychic drone.
Allowed areas
Assign colonists to allowed areas.
Every item and location outside the allowed area is considered forbidden.
Storyteller changes
Storytellers will never entirely disallow events because of population.
Randy’s event chances are affected by population (somewhat).
Re-tuned storyteller population intent based on new output tables for smoother population gain with higher maximum and better recovery at small populations
Ice sheet
Ice sheet biome is now playable (though perhaps not survivable).
MiscWhen Bad Science Kills
Earlier this week, blogger and intactivist Andrew Sullivan posted a short piece titled Circumcision Spreads HIV? on his blog, the Daily Beast. Sullivan’s post is brief, but his message is critically important: the “African studies” being used as “evidence” to promote circumcision as HIV prevention are bogus, and the promotion of circumcision will actually increase HIV deaths. Sullivan cites an excellent new article by Oxford University’s Brian Earp, titled A fatal irony: Why the “circumcision solution” to the AIDS epidemic in Africa will increase transmission of HIV. Earp calls the pro-circumcision camp’s African trials “bad science at its most dangerous.”
“We are talking about poorly conducted experiments with dubious results presented in an outrageously misleading fashion. These data are then harnessed to support public health recommendations on a massive scale whose implementation would almost certainly have the opposite of the claimed effect, with fatal consequences.”
Earp goes on to explain why the trials are faulty, and how they show that mass circumcision will actually increase the spread of HIV.
I have felt for years that the entire campaign to circumcise Africa (because that’s what it is—it’s not true, unbiased research) stinks to high heaven. It’s medical imperialism at its worst (see my February 8 post, The Business of Circumcision, Indeed).
Since its founding in 2009, Intact America has been a small but important dissenting voice on this issue. We have looked at the ethics, the methodology, and the data produced by the crowd of mostly American, mostly circumcised scientists and social scientists who seem to feel that Africans cannot possibly be persuaded to use condoms, and that it’s ok to expose women to HIV if their male partners refuse to be tested and are circumcised nonetheless.
In 2009, we went to the Centers for Disease Control HIV Prevention meeting in Atlanta, and confronted the pro-circumcision CDC officials about their unethical promotion of circumcision for African men—the same officials who decry the genital cutting of women. We were instrumental in getting the CDC to refrain from releasing recommendations about circumcision as HIV prevention. And we have put the American Academy of Pediatrics on notice that any attempt to use the “African studies” to bolster the practice of infant circumcision in the United States will be met with serious exposure of that trade association’s ethical bankruptcy on the issue of circumcision.
Along with Intact America, people like Sullivan and Earp know the truth about the pro-circumcision camp conducting and promoting the “African studies.” They see the blatant disregard for informed consent; the misrepresentation of risk in absolute rather than relative terms; the deliberate non-disclosure of data that suggests the superior efficacy of benign, non-surgical methods of prevention; and the unbridled enthusiasm for mutilating the genitals of black Africans—all of which makes the Tuskegee syphilis experiment look like a warm-up exercise. The word is finally getting out: Circumcising Africa WILL KILL AFRICANS. Please read Andrew’s blog post as well as the Oxford article, and share them on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks. People need to know the truth behind these trials, and the truth that circumcision does not prevent HIV.
Georganne ChapinAt a meeting with Deray McKesson and BlackLivesMatter movement leaders today, Hillary Clinton has apparently come out against the private, for-profit prison industry. (Although she is apparently uncertain as to whether she will continue to accept campaign contributions from private prison operators, like Corrections Corporation of America.)
Breaking: After Clinton met with some #BLM activists today, @deray says she wants to end private prisons. On @ThomasARoberts @msnbc — Ari Melber (@AriMelber) October 9, 2015
And she noted that she specifically wants to focus on ending funding to private prisons as the way to end them. https://t.co/... — deray mckesson (@deray) October 9, 2015
.@HillaryClinton was adamant about her commitment to end private prisons. It was unclear whether she would stop taking $$ from CCA/GC. — deray mckesson (@deray) October 9, 2015
This is fantastic news -- as for-profit prisons are a vile industry with no place in a civilized society. And I am absolutely certain that Hillary will be asking campaign fundraiser Richard Sullivan to abandon her campaign this afternoon. (Why Hillary is uncertain if her campaign will stop accepting money from the private prison industry -- but at the same time claims to want to destroy it as a policy position -- truly confounds me, but I suppose she will change her mind in the right direction pretty soon.)
Richard Sullivan, of the lobbying firm Capitol Counsel, is a bundler for the Clinton campaign, bringing in $44,859 in contributions in a few short months. Sullivan is also a registered lobbyist for the Geo Group, a company that operates a number of jails, including immigrant detention centers, for profit. As we reported yesterday, fully five Clinton bundlers work for the lobbying and law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Corrections Corporation of America, the largest private prison company in America, paid Akin Gump $240,000 in lobbying fees last year. The firm also serves as a law firm for the prison giant, representing the company in court. Akin Gump lobbyist and Clinton bundler Brian Popper disclosed that he previously helped CCA defeat efforts to compel private prisons to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Coincidentally, just yesterday an immigrant-rights protestor pointed out the hypocrisy of her relationships with those whose pockets are lined by money from the for-profit prison industry.
Of course, Bernie Sanders has long called for an end to for-profit prisons and immigrant detention centers.
It’s WRONG to profit from the imprisonment of human beings and the suffering of their friends and families. Plain and simple. — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 8, 2015
Note, too, that Bernie's language is crystal clear. For-profit prisons must disappear. His racial justice platform is unequivocal.
It is morally repugnant and a national tragedy that we have privatized prisons all over America. In my view, corporations should not be allowed to make a profit by building more jails and keeping more Americans behind bars. We have got to end the private-for-profit prison racket in America. I intend to introduce legislation that will end the private prison industry.
In contrast, Hillary seems to be arguing that we will eliminate for-profit prisons by ending funding to them? How will that work? So, we have to wait until this disgusting industry is no longer profitable for it to disappear?
I won't hold my breath.
Nevertheless, this is good news: Hillary has, once again, "evolved" in the direction of social justice.
Just like she did on gay marriage.
And Keystone.
And TPP.
Whether or not Hillary's evolution is a cynical response to Bernie's incredible success is irrelevant, I suppose -- Hillary is making smart choices. Good on her!U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a Jewish American Heritage Month reception in the East Room at the White House on May 30, 2012 in Washington, D.C. About 400 guests and community leaders from across the country were in attendence to listen to the president speak. Getty Images/Olivier Douliery
UPDATED 2:15 p.m. ET
(CBS News) President Obama on Monday courted women voters as he urged the Senate to approve a bill that aims to narrow the gender gap for the wages of American workers.
The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would make it harder for employers to discriminate against workers who compare notes on how much they are paid.
"At a time when we are in a make or break moment for the middle class, Congress has to step up and do its job," the president told supporters on a conference call organized by the White House, repeating an oft-cited statistic that women make about 77 cents of every dollar earned by a man doing a comparable job.
The bill is not expected to pass, but it makes political sense for Mr. Obama and the Democrats to push the issue because it motivates supporters, especially women, to head to the polls this November. Republicans blocked the measure in late 2010, when a 58-41 vote fell two short of the 60 votes needed to more forward toward a final vote on the legislation.
The Republican-controlled House last week blocked Democrats from forcing a vote on the measure.
"If the Senate passes it, we'll take a look at it," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.
Mr. Obama acknowledged the difficulty the legislation faces at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
"Let's face it. Congress is not going to act because I said it is important," he said.
"They are going to act because you guys are making your voices heard. Senators have to know you are holding them accountable. Everything that they are going to be hearing over the next twenty four hours can make a difference in terms of how they vote," Mr. Obama said, acknowledging that "we've got a long way to go."
Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney has not said publicly if he supports or opposes the bill.
Additional reporting by CBS News Capitol Hill producer Jill Jackson.Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
Do you trust hotel Wi-Fi?
Or do you, like me, always bring personal Wi-Fi capability with you, in the hope that you won't have to pay hotels' often exorbitant Wi-Fi fees?
Sometimes my Wi-Fi doesn't -- for uncertain reasons -- work so well. This was an experience encountered by conventiongoers at Marriott's Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn.
One guest decided this was fishy and reported the hotel to the FCC. The accusation was that the resort was "jamming mobile hot spots so that you can't use them in the convention space."
The FCC yesterday announced that Marriott will pay $600,000 in fines.
In its judgment, the FCC said "Marriott employees had used containment features of a Wi-Fi monitoring system at the Gaylord Opryland to prevent individuals from connecting to the Internet via their own personal Wi-Fi networks, while at the same time charging consumers, small businesses and exhibitors as much as $1,000 per device to access Marriott's Wi-Fi network."
Some might regard that as a lowbrow way to make high profits. The accusations continue:
"In some cases, employees sent de-authentication packets to the targeted access points, which would dissociate consumers' devices from their own Wi-Fi hot-spot access points and, thus, disrupt consumers' current Wi-Fi transmissions and prevent future transmissions."
That does sound mean. Now Marriott must not only commit to ceasing such practices at all its properties, but also to undergoing compliance checks every three months for the next three years. This compliance must include "information documenting any use of access point containment features at any US property that Marriott manages or owns."
The hotel group, though, insists it did nothing wrong.
As CNN reported, the group issued a statement. It read, in part: "Marriott has a strong interest in ensuring that when our guests use our Wi-Fi service, they will be protected from rogue wireless hot spots that can cause degraded service, insidious cyberattacks and identity theft. Like many other institutions and companies in a wide variety of industries, including hospitals and universities, the Gaylord Opryland protected its Wi-Fi network by using FCC-authorized equipment provided by well-known, reputable manufacturers."
It seems, though, that the FCC decided that Marriott was the rogue here.
But the hotel group insisted: "We believe that the Opryland's actions were lawful. We will continue to encourage the FCC to pursue a rulemaking in order to eliminate the ongoing confusion resulting from today's action and to assess the merits of its underlying policy."
A $600,000 fine doesn't sound too confusing. The larger issue, though, is whether other hotels exercise this sort of method to nickel, dime and gouge their way to profits.
Hotels have found all sorts of technological ways to make more money. For example, some prevent guests from setting their own temperatures in rooms (Yes, there's an iPhone app for that).
Guests don't always know what is going on.
Might it be an idea to now offer Wi-Fi as a free staple? You know, like a pillow or a bathroom? We'll forgo the chocolate on the pillow as a gesture of goodwill.Labour leader Jacinda Ardern was challenged on her recent climate change flip-flop and the party's refusal to change tack on releasing a definitive tax plan, in a feisty exchange with TVNZ1's Breakfast host Jack Tame today.
Tame began his exchange on climate change and taxes by playing a clip to the Labour leader from an August 29 appearance on Breakfast where she told Tame her party wouldn't release a carbon neutral target date until speaking to climate experts after the election.
Tame then pointed out that only two-weeks later Labour made an announcement declaring 2050 as their date for a carbon neutral New Zealand.
"I asked you very clearly if you were going to set 2050 as the year and you said 'no I am going to leave that to the climate commission' which is post election, and then you come out and say 2050," Tame said.
"I said in that interview that the Green Party were about right with what they were setting, which is what we have set too," Ms Ardern replied.
The Breakfast host then pointed out the seeming inconsistency between this and Labour's refusal to back down on releasing their tax-plans until a working group can look into the issue after the election.
"If you can reach a conclusion on being carbon neutral by 2050, why can you not do the same with tax before the election?" he said.
Ms Ardern then explained they would still be using a climate commission to help make the intermediary steps to becoming carbon neutral if Labour forms the next government, while also saying she has goals for her tax plans as well.
"These are quite different things, well probably there are some similarities, we set a goal that we want to be carbon neutral by 2050, but at the same time over on tax I've set a goal that I want to reverse our sliding home ownership rates.
"Where the two topics are actually different, is we have set out a fleshed out a goal of how to get there with carbon because the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has done a huge amount of work for us already," the Labour leader said.Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
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Doug Ellin, the writer/director of the in-production “Entourage” movie, lost 500 photos he shot on set when his camera fell off a yacht, sources tell Page Six.
Ellin was filming scenes off the coast of Miami over the weekend with a bevy of bikini babes, and he also snapped hundreds of photos of all the action with his personal camera.
When the yacht shoot wrapped, cast and crew boarded a smaller boat to take them to shore, and Ellin’s camera fell between the two vessels.
We’re told Ellin offered $1,000 in cash to divers on the scene to recover it, but a source said, “It was like finding a needle in a haystack” because of the currents and the night skies.
The director managed to post a few enticing stills from the shoot on his Instagram page before the camera was lost.
After wrapping up their first week of shooting, the movie’s stars — Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrara and Kevin Dillon — were spotted joining Ellin for dinner at Prime 112 Steakhouse in South Beach and toasting with Johnnie Walker Blue before partying at new nightclub, E11even.More than 5000 people reported feeling the quake.
A "severe" earthquake has shaken Wellington and the upper South Island.
The 5.1 magnitude earthquake was centred 15 kilometres east of Seddon, at a depth of 11km.
GeoNet initially recorded the quake as being a 5 magnitude, and rated it as strong. It has since been upgraded to severe.
123RF A "severe" earthquake in Seddon has been felt in Wellington and nearby towns.
More than 5000 people reported feeling the shaking across the lower North Island, and throughout the South Island.
READ MORE
* First section of quake-damaged Wellington Reading car park demolished
* Thousands of trucks forced on to roads as Wellington port cranes sit idle
* Magnitude 5.5 earthquake in Cook Strait shakes Wellington
GeoNet duty seismologist Anna Kaiser said the quake was an aftershock from the November Kaikoura quake.
"It's been a very busy place. This is part of the normal and expected behaviour of aftershock sequences."
Kaiser said we could expect more quakes in the future. This quake itself was likely to cause some smaller aftershocks.
"A 5.1 is quite moderate in the whole scheme of the Kaikoura rupture, but sometimes when you get an earthquake of that size you invigorate the area. Typically you might see some smaller aftershocks in the short term."
KiwiRail said the line between Picton and Blenheim had been stopped while checks on the line were made, but had since reopened.
In Wellington, routine checks would be carried out across the rail network.
The earthquake hit at 1.19pm on Wednesday, jolting office workers across the capital."Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" is a song which was written by James A. Bland (1854–1911), an African American who wrote over 700 songs. It is not an adaption by Bland of the "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia" by the Christy Minstrels, also known by the title; "Floating Scow of Old Virginny", a song copyrighted by Edwin Pearce Christy in 1847. Bland simply appropriated the song title. Bland's song bears no resemblance to it melodically, harmonically, or in the lyrics (except that both songs are minstrel songs). The latter song was very popular during the California gold rush and the American Civil War. Many parodies were written on this melody and became popular with miners, Civil War soldiers and civilians. Bland's version, the best known, was written in 1878 when many newly-freed slaves were struggling to find work. The song has become controversial in modern times, with critics viewing the lyrics as racially insensitive.
A third reworded version was Virginia's state song from 1940 until 1997, using the word "Virginia" instead of "Virginny." In 1997, it was retired as state song, largely due to controversy over the lyrics' racial content. On January 28, 1997, the Virginia Senate voted to designate "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia" as state song emeritus and a study committee initiated a contest for writing a new state song.
The song was representative of the commonwealth in many ways. "When Clifton A, Woodrum was in Congress, the House of Representatives couldn't adjourn until the honorable Democrat from Roanoke, Virginia with a rich and varied baritone voice led the body in a rendition of "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny]".[1]
In January 2006, a state Senate panel voted to designate "Shenandoah" as the "interim official state song." On March 1, 2006, the House Rules Committee of the General Assembly voted down bill SB682, which would have made "Shenandoah" the official state song.
Recordings [ edit ]
Lyrics (Bland's 1878 version) [ edit ]
Carry me back to old Virginny.
There's where the cotton and corn and taters grow.
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring-time.
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.
There's where I labored so hard for old Massa,
Day after day in the field of yellow corn;
No place on earth do I love more sincerely
Than old Virginny, the state where I was born.
[CHORUS]
Carry me back to old Virginny.
There's where the cotton and the corn and taters grow;
There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring-time.
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.
Carry me back to old Virginny,
There let me live till I wither and decay.
Long by the old Dismal Swamp have I wandered,
There's where this old darkey's life will pass away.
Massa and Missis have long gone before me,
Soon we will meet on that bright and golden shore.
There we'll be happy and free from all sorrow,
There's where we'll meet and we'll never part no more.
[CHORUS][6]
Lyrics (Edward Christy's original) [ edit ]
On de floating scow ob ole Virginny,
I've worked from day to day,
Raking among de oyster beds,
To me it was but play;
But now I'm old and feeble,
An' my bones are getting sore,
Den carry me back to ole Virginny
To ole Virginny shore.
[CHORUS]
Den carry me back to ole Virginny
To ole Virginny shore,
Oh, carry me back to ole Virginny,
To ole Virginny shore.
Oh, I wish dat I was young again,
Den I'd lead a different life,
I'd save my money and buy a farm,
And take Dinah for my wife;
But now old age, he holds me tight,
And I cannot love any more,
Oh, carry me back to ole Virginny,
To ole Virginny shore.
When I am dead and gone to roost,
Lay de old tambo by my side,
Let de possum and coon to my funeral go,
For dey are my only pride;
Den in soft repose, I'll take my sleep,
An' I'll dream for ever more,
Dat you're carrying me back to ole Virginny,
To ole Virginny shore.[7]
Old Crow Medicine Show: Carry Me Back (2012) [ edit ]
Americana string band Old Crow Medicine Show's 2012 album, Carry Me Back, derives its name from 'Carry Me Back to Old Virginny'. The song with "such a pleasurable melody and such discomfiting politics that it has fascinated bandleader Ketch Secor since he was a kid in Virginia" led him to write "Carry Me Back to Virginia," for the group's album.[8] As Secor reveals:
That song came from a story I was told as a kid. The Confederates ran out of men, so they got 16-year-old boys from VMI, just kids, to march up to New Market, Virginia. I imagine their pride and valor as they marched up that hill and their shock as they heard the screams of the horses in the smoke. I wanted to surprise the listener the same way, so I started off by extolling the virtue of war, then drawing off all that glory till the truth was revealed.[8]Glasgow City beat their nearest challengers to wrap up another title success
Glasgow City beat Hibernian Ladies 3-1 to win the Scottish Women's Premier League for the 10th successive season.
Sarah Crilly scored the opener after 10 minutes from six yards out before Savannah McCarthy headed City's second.
Claire Shine wrapped up the title when she volleyed home on the rebound, with Siobhan Hunter getting a late consolation for second-placed Hibs.
"This is a massive accomplishment for the club," said Glasgow City head coach Scott Booth.
"The amount of people who have been involved in 10 in a row is incredible and something so many great people have made happen.
"For me, I am delighted to be a part of it. There was huge pressure on us this season given the significance of what we could do, but these players continue to rise to every occasion and I am very proud of everyone."
City will be officially presented with the SWPL trophy next Sunday after their league match against Rangers and could make it a league and cup double when they face Hibs again in the Scottish Cup final on 6 November.
Elsewhere, Rangers beat Forfar Farmington 3-0, Celtic beat Spartans 1-0 and Stirling University beat Aberdeen 2-1.If there was any doubt that the signing of outfielder Justin Upton to a six-year contract was driven by ownership, general manager Al Avila removed all doubt Wednesday afternoon.
The Detroit Tigers made plenty of moves early in the offseason to shore up their pitching staff. They made some minor moves to improve the outfield and signed a backup catcher.
But that wasn't enough for Tigers owner Mike Ilitch, who first approached Avila about the need for a big move just before Christmas.
"He started mentioning to me that he's worried about our offense," Avila said Wednesday after Upton was introduced at a press conference at Comerica Park. "That never stopped. He just kept on telling me, 'I like what you've done. You've done a great job. I'm very proud of how everything's developed.' But he was still worried about the offense.
"He just kept on referring to that all the way through the holidays and into the new year."
Avila said Ilitch reached out to him multiple times during the first week of the new year.
"He called me several times (and said) 'I'm worried about the offense,' " Avila recalled. "I said, 'Well, Mr. Ilitch, I'm trying to tweak it.'... He said, 'Well, I appreciate you trying to tweak it, but I want more than a tweak.' So, later on in that week, he basically said, 'I think we need to go after one of these guys.' "
Avila reached out to Upton's agent then, along with manager Brad Ausmus, flew to Arizona meet with Upton. The 28-year-old outfielder signed his contract Wednesday.
Avila said Upton was at the top of the list for the Tigers all offseason when it came to potential high-priced targets for the offense. He simply didn't know whether Ilitch would pull the trigger and blow past the luxury tax threshold in the process.
"If we were going to do anything at all," Avila said, "he was the first guy, the No. 1 guy on our list, the guy that we wanted all along."
Ilitch did pull the trigger. Upton will be the starter in left field and will likely hit second for the Tigers this season.
-- Download the Detroit Tigers on MLive app for iPhone and Android.
-- Follow MLive Sports on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.Timepiece designer Arny Kapshitzer is a big fan of Star Trek, and that shows in his latest creation, the HMS Automatic Warp Watch. While it won't take you Warp 9 anytime soon, it does have a ton of carbon fiber, and the perfluorinated, hypoallergenic rubber wristband is impervious to "all acids." From the sound of that last feature, it looks there's a head nod to Ripley in there, too.
There's actually a bit more to this space watch than mere looks. AK factored in the natural asymmetry of the human arm, and made the crown side of the watch thicker so it would fit snug. The super rubber that makes up the band is also used to seal the watch, and will last for 50 years, guaranteed.
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And lastly, the Star Trek influence (such as it is):
It looks like something straight out of the Star Trek series, uncannily reminiscent of the starship Enterprise. Located eccentrically towards the right of the dial, a cut-away metal piece reveals the jumping hours and minutes on two superimposed discs. The seconds are displayed at 3 o'clock on a cylinder linked directly to the crown. 9 o'clock forms the tail of the "spaceship". Made of the same metal, it bears the name of the watch and is punctuated by a totally off-centre dot, where the brand logo is engraved.
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[AK Geneve via Wrist Dreams]Share. Coming February 2017. Coming February 2017.
A new Highlander comic book miniseries is coming next year by way of IDW Publishing.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series will take place before the original 1986 film and center around Connor MacLeod as he seeks to hide his true nature while settling in the United States.
The cult classic film starred Christopher Lambert as MacLeod, an immortal Scotsman from the Middle Ages who discovers that he cannot be killed in battle. The upcoming comic prequel will feature flashbacks to Civil War-era Pennsylvania and New York during the mid-20th century.
IDW's Highlander comic is written by Brian Buckley, with illustrations by Andrea Mutti. The series will release this coming February.
Following its 1986 debut, the original Highlander received several film sequels, as well as a spinoff television series. A remake is also in development at Summit Entertainment.
Exit Theatre Mode
Alex Osborn is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter and subscribe to his video content on YouTube.This is the latest trailer for Injustice: Gods Among Us featuring Lex Luthor and a whole lot of cinematic and gameplay. Listen to Luthor's rationale, and see if you can't get behind this bald guy. "Most people join the Regime for one of two reasons. Either they hope we can establish a world of peace, or they were simply too afraid to take a stand."
I haven't decided on a main character to use in Injustice when it launches April 16th, 2013. I actually haven't gotten any hands-on time with the game (but we will at GDC). Last year's E3 presentation was hands-off, but even at that early stage, things were shaping up to be quite entertaining. You can see some of the super moves on hand here. Take that Solomon!
We'll have more on Injustice: Gods Among Us as we get closer to launch, so keep it locked to GameRevolution, or Anthony will come to your house and humiliate you in-game when this comes out.Taylor's Blog September 8, 2013
copyedited fact checked [?] Reviewed by Media Co-op editors.
My Letter To Rob Ford
Blog posts reflect the views of their authors.
Dear Mayor Ford,
As the mayor of this city, you are charged with the safety and concern of all its people, not just the ones you like or identify with. I am a cyclist who has suffered an accident because there was no bike lane for me to ride in. Right after the accident, good people got out of their cars and helped me to the side of the road and stayed with me while we waited for the ambulance to arrive. I was quite shaken up and these perfect strangers showed me a world of compassion. The police that appeared on the scene deemed that neither they, nor myself were at fault for the incident, but that a bike lane would have avoided the whole thing.
The response time for the emergency services was excellent, as well; the personnel were kind and very professional. Im glad this city still spends tax dollars on these life saving services.
I arrived at the hospital and was waiting for a bed to become available, and as I lay there, still bloody, with my tooth in a rubber glove beside me, I thought of your words. I thought of the fact that according to you what happened to me was my fault and that if I had died, as many have before me, that you wouldn't lose a wink of sleep and you would have blamed me, simply for trying to bike in this city. I am taking the time to write to you, because I have just been through a near-death experience and it has provided some clarity on what is really important in life.
Whether you have been a decent mayor is not what I want to discuss; what's more important is whether you have been a decent human being. You have decided that cyclists are not a concern to you, and you have made up a paranoid delusion that there is a 'war on the car' and made other people believe it. You believe that 'car' people and 'bike' people are somehow different classes of people and you have done what you can to pit these groups against each other. Worst of all, you have forgotten what it means to be a compassionate loving person, capable of empathy and remorse. I really think you should take time out of city politics to get back in touch with these qualities--the qualities you claimed to have when you were elected. You think the world is dog eat dog (and you are trying to be the biggest, baddest dog out there). But the truth is, that is not the case. People haven't launched a 'war on the car', but you have spun fear into the hearts of drivers and bikers alike, making them think there is.
What I witnessed after my accident reflected the exact opposite reality. Folk came together and helped me in my time of need. No one thought of each other as 'car' or 'bike' people, just as people, sharing this experience of living in this great city of Toronto, and willing to help each other when we are down.
I am still recovering, but I will be getting back on the road. This has not deterred me from wanting to get around this city on bicycle; most of the time it is a healthy and environmentally friendly option to get around and I urge you to try it. If you did I'm sure you would see how badly more bike lanes and better education for drivers is needed so you can get around safely. That Toronto Sun journalist certainly did.
Respect for cyclists isn't a new idea. Many cities around the world have far better infrastructure for cyclists than Toronto does. It has been proven that better infrastructure for cyclists lowers accident rates and improves driving time for cars as well.
Please prove my friends wrong and show that you do indeed have a brain, and a heart, and that both are operating in good condition. Here's hoping you take a minute before reacting to truly hear what i have said. See you on the road. Please don't be on your phone or reading some reports, or giving the finger to mothers and their children - you might miss me. Taylor Flook
----
update: I received this letter from Mayor Ford's office in response. It stands in stark contrast to the outpouring of support I have since received online.
From: Mayor Ford <Mayor_Ford@toronto.ca>
Date: Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 3:14 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: bike lanes (Fiiling a claim against the city)
To: taylor flook <**********@****.***>
Thank you for contacting the Mayor’s Office
The Mayor cannot act on, comment on or adjuciate claims made against the City of Toronto. The City’s insurance adjusters Granite Insurance – adjudicate all claims against the city.
Making a Claim against the City of Toronto
http://www.toronto.ca/finance/insurance_claims.htm
If you believe that the City has been negligent in its maintenance of City facilities, roads, trees and sewers, which has caused bodily injury or damage to your property, you can file a claim against the City of Toronto.
What you should consider when making a claim
Any damage to your property can be upsetting and disruptive; however, it's important to know that the City of Toronto is not your insurer.
If you have auto or property insurance, we suggest you consult your insurance company or broker first, for advice on how to deal with your loss. Your insurance coverage may be more extensive than what you can recover from the City.
If your insurer believes the City is responsible for your damages they may seek compensation against the City on your behalf.
A complaint may be made in a number of ways:
• Verbal complaints are made by telephone to our General Inquiry line at (416) 397-4212.
• Written complaints may be made by filling in a complaint form and submitting it by mail, fax or e-mail:
• By Mail:
Corporate Finance Division
Insurance & Risk Management - Claims Complaint
5th Floor, East Tower, City Hall
100 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON, M5H 2N2
• By Fax: 416-397-4555
• By e-mail: irmcomplaints@toronto.ca
Your complaint should include the following:
• Contact details of the complainant
• Summary of the complaint (details, location, staff involved, resolution requested, enclosures, date complaint submitted)
• Type of the complaint
• Desired outcome
Note: The complaint process is not intended to deal with the outcome of your claim (e.g. a denial or settlement amount). The insurance claims process involves you (the claimant) and the Granite Claims Solutions insurance adjuster assigned to act on behalf of the |
to endorse any charges against him.
Here is the full statement from the Town of Rolesville:Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
Billionaire media mogul and philanthropist Haim Saban said during an interview on Saturday that Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump was a "dangerous clown" and was not fit for the US presidency.
Speaking with Channel 2, Saban, who is a well-known Clinton supporter and has made large contributions to her campaign in the past, said that Trump would be a dangerous choice to become president if elected into office.
"This is a circus, it's a big joke...No one understands how he has gotten this far, but he's done it," Saban said during the interview."We're seeing a serious campaign and a tsunami of support for Donald Trump. He's a dangerous clown. He's dangerous to the world and dangerous to Israel... he's unpredictable. Nobody knows whats going on in his head. One day he supports Israel, and the other he's saying he's neutral," he added.Saban noted that he was throwing his support behind Clinton for commander-in-chief, saying that she was the best person to facilitate peace for Israel and stabilize the region."Hillary would be great for Israel, she would be great for the Middle East, she would be great for the world," Saban said enthusiastically. "Hillary will be excellent for those who back a two-state solution. For those who don't believe in the two-state solution, then she would not be so great... because she believes in it," he added.Asked how she would get along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if elected president, Saban replied that she would "get along well with the prime minster. They would have a relationship that would be efficient and beneficial" given her 25 years of support for the Jewish state.Saban made the comments on the eve of the US Republican primaries, with four states voting for their choice of presidential candidate. The states include Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Maine. In an interview with The Jerusalem Post early last year, Saban used much of the same language to describe Clinton, saying she was a "great" friend to Israel and would make an excellent president if given the opportunity.“Hillary has been a steadfast defender of Israel’s interests. She will be a fantastic president for the US, an incredible world leader and one under whom the relationship with the US and Israel will be significantly reinforced.”Trump has been notably controversial during the campaign season, from refusing to immediately denounce the Ku Klux Klan during an interview with CNN last week, to telling a room full of Republican Jewish donors that they didn't like him because he refused to take their money in early December."You're not going to support me even though you know I'm the best thing that could ever happen to Israel. And I'll be that," Trump told the Republican Jewish Coalition in December 2015. "You're not going to support me because I don't want your money. Isn't it crazy?"Noa Amouyal contributed to this article.
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>Photo credit: Warta Daily
The President of the United States of America, since the days of his campaign, has long since recognized the Chinese threat which intends to subvert American influence around the globe through patience and determination both.
Today President Trump blasted China, for their repeated broken promises to ignore the United Nations Sanctions on North Korea, and continuation of selling their oil to the North Koreans while the rest of the UN is ordered to cut off assistance to the rogue state led by Kim Jong Un.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Caught RED HANDED - very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/946416486054285314?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2017</a></blockquote>
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China continues to defy promises made to President Trump and every other Administration, and that's simply not going to change.
For China, buying time is essential to giving them an edge on continuing to reach their goals.
In fact, China intends to roll out a Petro-Yuan (also called a Petro-Yen) to help destroy the United States Dollar as a world reserve currency.
The world's largest crude oil importer is indeed China. This makes China a powerhouse. Two nations in which export that oil to China? Russia and Iran.
Both of those nations are on considerably rocky terms with America.
The Chinese monolith is one that hovers over the planet, undermining the sovereignty of many nations while continuing to steal the intellectual property rights of American and worldwide companies, then in return copying their customized goods with fake products and clones that they sell for an inexpensive piece of the market share that would be dominated by the American standard of quality.
China is a patient nation, that intends to become a global leader by 2050.
Part of their plan is to destroy the American Dollar.
Some of you will say it's impossible. Those people don't understand economics or currency.
The Petro-Yuan is China's masterful plan.
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Russia and Iran, who export oil to China, are both more than willing to accept the Petro-Yuan as a reserve currency in exchange for their oil in order to destroy the Dollar. This is the plan.
China is strengthening its role in the world order. From its inclusive economic policy through The Belt and Road Initiative, China is challenging US hegemony by replacing the US Petro-Dollar with its own currency in 2018.
What will likely spring from this major turning point?
Venezuela is also on board. It is crucial to remember that Russia is number two and Venezuela is number seven among the world’s Top 10 oil producers.
Beijing already has close economic ties with Moscow, while it is distinctly possible that other producers will join the club.
The world’s largest crude oil importer China is likely to roll out the Petro-Yuan next year predicts Saxo Bank. Beijing’s largest oil supplier Russia would gladly accept the yuan to phase out the Dollar in the trade with China.
Pakistan is also considering replacing the US Dollar with the Chinese Yuan for bilateral trade between Pakistan and China, Pakistan’s Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has publicly said.
Interior Minister Iqbal, who has been central to the planning and implementation of China-Pakistan economic ties, was reported discussing the proposal after unveiling a long-term economic development cooperation plan for the two countries.
This can change. America currently relies heavily on war, and bonds, to keep the United States afloat.
As the US Dollar continues to lose its leading status as the world’s premier reserve currency, the reality of a world war seems inevitable, especially when major countries such as China, Russia, and Iran are making strategic moves to bypass the Dollar in favor of other currencies such as China’s ‘Petro-Yuan’.
China has made the decision to price oil in their own currency the “Yuan” by a new gold-backed futures contract which will change the dynamics of the world’s economy.
China is preparing to launch the Petro-Yuan later in 2018, that will eventually threaten the US Dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
At the end of World War II, the international economic system was in shambles, so a plan was devised to create a new economic system.
By July of 1944, more than 730 delegates arrived at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire and signed on to the historic Bretton Woods agreements which was a plan to set up a system of rules, regulations that eventually led to the creation of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF’s main purpose was to prevent any temporary imbalances of payments. The framework of the Bretton Woods agreements was to control the value of money between various countries.
Each country had to have an established monetary policy that kept the exchange rate of its own currency within a fixed value in terms of gold. By 1971, the United States terminated the convertibility of the US Dollar to gold (at the time, the fixed rate of gold was at $35 an ounce) ending the Bretton Woods system allowing the US Dollar to become a fiat currency which has allowed central banks (especially the Federal Reserve bank) to “print money out of thin air.”
China’s move will have consequences. For starters, it will certainly undermine Washington’s ability to impose economic sanctions on any nation at will and at the same time, will slowly diminish the purchasing power for United States consumers as imports become more expensive.
China (the largest holder of United States debt), as I stated before, is also the largest importer of oil, while Russia, one of the largest exporters of oil in the world have agreed to use the Petro-Yuan to bypass the Petro-Dollar, for reasons as I've stated; to remove the US power structure from the planet.
The Petro-Yuan threatens the US Dollar’s hegemony around the globe as several nations have recently demonstrated as they all share an interest in joining the transition from the US Dollar to the Yuan for oil transactions including Washington’s arch enemies Iran, Venezuela, and even Indonesia (currently not on Washington’s hit list).
The mainstream media has been reporting scarcely on the latest developments concerning China’s plan to bypass the Dollar and introduce the Petro-Yuan to the international community, in the sense that China has grand ambitions to dethrone the Dollar. It may make a powerful move this year,with most expecting the rollout in early 2018.
The new strategy is to enlist the energy markets to assist China. Beijing may introduce a new way to price oil in coming months, but unlike the contracts based on the US Dollar that currently dominate global markets, this benchmark would use China’s own currency.
If there’s widespread adoption, as the Chinese hope, then that will mark a step toward challenging the greenback’s status as the world’s most powerful currency.
China is the world’s top oil importer, and so Beijing sees it as only logical that its own currency should price the global economy’s most important commodity.
Moving away from the Dollar is a strategic priority for countries like China and Russia. Both aim to ultimately reduce their dependency on the greenback, limiting their exposure to US currency risk and the politics of the American sanctions regime.
Washington is also on a unique collision course for another war with North Korea, and President Donald Trump is seemingly leading the charge.
With the power of the US Dollar on life support, the US Empire of debt continues to use the threat of war and in some cases, wage actual wars, around the world against its enemies.
Iran, Syria, and Venezuela, all of which have been on Washington’s hit list for some time, seemingly are at any moment expecting an attack.
Both Iran and Russia are already slowly transitioning away from the US Dollar to avoid any future economic sanctions imposed by Washington.
Venezuela is also ready and willing to make its move against the US Dollar because of similar constant accusations of its human rights violations being made by the US government against them.
Some outlets have reported on the decision made by the Maduro government to implement a new system of international payments for its oil exports.
Venezuela’s Maduro says that he will shun US Dollar in favor of the Yuan during a session of the National Constituent Assembly at Palacio Federal Legislativo which is in Caracas, Venezuela.
“Venezuela is going to implement a new system of international payments and will create a basket of currencies to free us from the dollar,” Maduro said in an address to a new legislative superbody, without providing details of the new mechanism the nation intended to push towards. “If they pursue us with the Dollar, we’ll use the Russian Ruble, the Yuan, Yen, the Indian rupee, or the Euro,” Maduro said.
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It's also believed that China will attempt to compel Saudi Arabia to trade their oil in Yuan, and that’s going to affect the US Dollar in ways that we couldn't imagine if successful.
This seems potentially unlikely after the Saudi purge, but that's at least what China had hoped for.
Carl Weinberg, a Chief Economist and a Managing Director at High-Frequency Economics has consistently talked about how the US Dollar will lose its global dominance in the near future once Saudi Arabia will be forced to use the Petro-Yuan since China is the world’s top importer of oil.
Weinberg said, “Beijing stands to become the most dominant global player in oil demand since China usurped the US as the biggest oil importer on the planet.”
He continued, “Saudi Arabia has to pay attention to this because even as much as one or two years from now, Chinese demand will dwarf US demand,” Weinberg said. “I believe that Yuan pricing of oil is coming and as soon as the Saudis move to accept it as the Chinese will compel them to do, then the rest of the oil market will move along with them.”
Some have asked, that since the US Dollar is slowly losing its status as the world’s reserve currency, is a war with China a possibility?
We're definitely on a collision course, but for China, for now, it would be a grave mistake as their military cannot compare with that of America, yet anyways.
Another question is, would the US attack North Korea as a means of sending a warning to China, or would it bring China into the conflict in an attempt to save the US Dollar?
Some suggest this is also possible.
Saddam Hussein wanted to trade in Euro’s instead of the US dollar, for Iraq’s oil exports; and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi wanted the Gold Dinar to dethrone the US Dollar in the continent of Africa.
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Those decisions made by both Iraq and Libya had consequences that led to their destruction by US and NATO forces.
President Trump has also long since said both Gaddafi and Saddam were a mistake in removing. Instead of securing our war dollar we should be rebuilding America.
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Can the US do the same to China? I highly doubt it, since China has a formidable military that can defend itself against any US attack and at minimal help bankrupt the United States in a war with their nation.
The US could win, but not without great suffering towards the world and the American people in between. I also don't believe President Trump wants such a war; then again, as I've said, it's better to crush China before they can defeat us in the future with a more powerful military.
With the Dollar steadily collapsing at a slow pace, Washington would do anything to survive and keep it afloat at this point, and the Deep State certainly loves war.
The US Dollar supports the Military-Industrial Complex and its both destructive and very expensive adventures around the world.
The launch of the Petro-Yuan will accelerate the process of removing the Dollar's strength.
However, there are some people in the mainstream media that are not convinced that the Petro-Yuan will overthrow the US Dollar in the near future, despite severely damaging it.
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David Fickling, of Bloomberg, said the following:
<blockquote>”Look, for instance, at the most-traded product on the Dalian Commodity Exchange in China, iron ore. While mainland commodity markets have seen febrile activity in recent years, bid-ask spreads are still several times higher than those on major contracts traded in London and New York. That makes trading more costly, volatility higher, and price discovery weaker; and as a major consumer of crude, Beijing ought to be opposed to that sort of change.”</blockquote>
<blockquote>”There are the producers to consider, too. Most of the Middle East’s oil exporters have currencies that are pegged to the greenback. Switching to Yuan pricing would introduce foreign-exchange risk to their budgets for little obvious gain, especially as China generally consumes less than 20 percent of their exports.”</blockquote>
<blockquote>”That doesn’t mean the planned contract is useless. China will benefit from having a benchmark that’s more appropriate for its own purposes, particularly one that reflects the medium sour grades of crude that are chiefly consumed by local refineries, as opposed to the sweet, light varieties that underpin the main Western contracts.”</blockquote>
<blockquote>”Just don’t expect it to change the world. While the economic center of gravity has been moving east, oil’s connections to West Texas and the North Sea will remain strong for years to come”</blockquote>
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James Rickards, who's the author of “Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis”, entirely disagreed with Fickling’s analysis:
<blockquote>”Printing Dollars at home means higher inflation in China, higher food prices in Egypt and stock bubbles in Brazil. Printing money means that US debt is devalued so foreign creditors get paid back in cheaper Dollars. The devaluation means higher unemployment in developing economies as their exports become more expensive for Americans. The resulting inflation also means higher prices for inputs needed in developing economies like copper, corn, oil, and wheat. Foreign countries have begun to fight back against U.S.-caused inflation through subsidies, tariffs and capital controls; the currency war is expanding fast.”</blockquote>
<blockquote>”The US Dollar is failing because of Washington’s economic and foreign policies and its collusion with the Wall Street banking cartels, multi-national corporations and the Military-Industrial Complex.”</blockquote>
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Max Keiser of The Keiser Report added his own opinion to the debate, and explained why the world is seeking to move away from the US Dollar:
<blockquote>”Countries worldwide are tired of funding the America’s “military adventurism by being a party to the ‘Empire of Debt,’ as it’s known around the world, as the US Dollar,” and therefore, will likely join the de-dollarization movement. The US financial sector and its military-industrial complex are unlikely to give up the Dollar hegemony without a fight, though, as the Dollar is both the basis and the main product of America. And the US will use its other favorite tool for it, war.”</blockquote>
<blockquote>“Maybe they will start a war between Japan and China, and maybe they will start a war with North Korea. America will do anything to keep the US Dollar as the world’s reserve currency,” Keiser said. “They will invade the countries, like Afghanistan, they will stop at nothing. Because this is the basis of the US empire. It’s not land-based, it’s not based on material goods, it’s based on rent-seeking. It’s based on landing Dollars, getting out income and when countries can’t pay they dismantle the assets and take them over. We saw it in Latin America, South America, this is how America built its empire.”</blockquote>
<blockquote>”Whether you agree or not, a currency war has begun and we are all going to be paying close attention in the coming months and years ahead to see how far Washington will go to maintain the supremacy of the US Dollar. So as China is getting ready to launch the Petro-Yuan, is the US willing to launch a war against North Korea?”</blockquote>
Despite the differing opinions, everyone agrees that the currency war is a reality; and all also agree the United States of America will launch physical wars to protect the Dollar.
It always has. So the threat of China will either be dealt with through North Korea, Iran, or even the sleeping dragon of China themselves.
War is indeed coming, and the United States has a list to choose from; many of which would garnish support from some of our allies if we decided to make war with those nations.
Time will indeed tell, but what it's already told is that China wishes to take down our Dollar in America, and it's plans are already public in doing so.
President Trump is clearly aware of these intentions, and many suggest there are covert plans within the Administration to avoid war entirely and bring forth a new American currency system; that would steadily change the way we view the Dollar.
Only the President of the United States of America knows, but most certainly, following the white rabbit will lead to the potential answer.
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<a href="https://www.twitter.com/IWillRedPillYou">@IWillRedPillYou</a>At R.I. Future.org, Steve Ahlquist writes—Sports economist Victor Matheson: No public subsidies for new ballpark:
Overall, Matheson was not very amenable to the idea. Matheson is an engaging speaker, an economist who specializes in sports. He prepared his remarks and his PowerPoint presentation for the price of a PawSox game, a hotdog and a beer, a far cry from the money Speaker Nicholas Mattiello or Governor Gina Raimondo are spending for their experts. “Let me just lay it on the table here,” said Matheson at the start, “I’m going to be a critic of public subsidies for stadiums.” providence-stadium-rendering-april-2015Showing the ubiquitous artists rendering of the proposed downtown stadium, Matheson said that it “would be a fantastic stadium for the owners to spend their own money on.” Studying stadiums and their impacts, said Matheson, generates the “weird impression that the newer the stadium, the higher the attendance or the older the stadium, the higher the attendance.” McCoy Stadium, where the PawSox currently play, is the one of the oldest stadiums in the country.
So, perhaps Obama’s visit to Nike was to reveal some concrete details about how we would not repeat the mistakes of past trade deals like NAFTA or the Colombian Free Trade Agreement? Or maybe he was going to provide evidence that TPP will not repeat the mistakes of the World Trade Organization of allowing secret tribunals to allow transnational corporations to run roughshod over our nation’s (and other nation’s) democratically enacted laws? Maybe Obama was going to finally let the world know, specifically, why he’s so in love with the TPP? No. The purpose of Obama’s visit to Nike was to provide a forum to bloody his progressive opponents while they are gagged with their hands tied behind their backs. Obama’s visit to Nike was a glitzy public relations stunt to try to persuade all the armchair liberals our there that this is a “new kind of trade deal” and all his critics are “just wrong.” I mean, why else would Obama be making his case from Nike?
I am not kidding. images-1Internal agency documents show for the first time how FBI agents have been closely monitoring anti-Keystone activists, in violation of guidelines designed to prevent the agency from becoming unduly involved in sensitive political issues. [...] Okay, so why is the FBI conspiring with a foreign government to screw American citizens who oppose the foreign pipeline? Oh yeah, they justify it by asserting that the Keystone pipeline is “vital to the security and economy of the United States.” The hell you say? It’s not our pipeline. We don’t even get the oil. I would suspect it would provide the same level of security as having a giant leaky x-ray machine in your backyard to check for burglars coming over your fence. So what do we do about the FBI violating it’s own rules? Two game suspension? You gotta wonder if they are also monitoring President Obama.
In March of this year, DOT officials ordered officials in six cities to shut off ten out of 34 traffic cameras cities had defended on safety grounds. The city of Davenport opted to comply with the DOT ruling, but five other cities asked department officials to reconsider the decision. (Although a reversal was unlikely, exhausting administrative appeals typically precedes legal action challenging a state agency's decision.) This week, DOT Director Paul Trombino notified city officials in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, and Muscatine that the department was rejecting their appeals, because data did not demonstrate that the disputed cameras had improved safety or reduced crashes. [...] Local governments are generally responsible for enforcing traffic laws. I'll be interested to see whether Iowa courts back up the DOT's efforts to restrict those powers on or near major highways. According to Trombino, the Iowa Code allows the DOT to enforce limits on cameras for traffic enforcement. Whatever the courts decide, the state's multi-pronged assault on local control remains an under-reported story of Governor Terry Branstad's fifth and sixth terms.
“No one’s talking about eliminating the income tax,” he said. “I’ve talked about an ever-improving tax situation, where year after year, we have an improving climate and if we can get it as close to zero as we possible, that’s a positive. Because the nine states that don’t have an income tax have double the job growth of the highest-tax states.” He later said his talk of driving the income tax rate to zero is a “direction.” [...] Now that Ducey has been elected, elimination (that severe word) of the income tax appears to be fully on the table. Keep your eye on a guy named Steven Slivinski. He’s a former “senior economist” for the Goldwater Institute (huge red flag) and he has nabbed himself a spot as a “senior research fellow” at ASU’s (wait for it) Center for the Study of Economic Liberty (freedom!). If you guessed from the name of that endeavor that it was funded by the Koch Brothers without looking it up, you win the door prize.
He wrote about it in a book titled "Public Opinion" long before digital excitement began feeding our senses much faster than most people can rationally absorb issues in their entirety. Nowhere is that more apparent than in politics where enormous amounts of money attempt to lead us to pseudo-evidence with which to sustain a preferred public opinion. (One exception to the political palaver: I care not whether a batter hit a homerun off a two-seamer or slider, no matter what I am told by the announcer.) A towering example today is how we've arrived at the sinfully created gulf between the very rich and the middle- and under classes. Reports of the billionaires who are now replacing millionaires while everyone else's income is trapped at a constant level may be squeezed into 90-second report on the network TV news, and we are quickly shifted into the weather and sports. And then forgotten, unquestioned, for another day. [...] The massive greed will be a difficult challenge, but [Hedrick] Smith is undaunted. "The most powerful action that average Americans can take is to organize at the grass roots, as the Tea Party did... Show up at town meetings with members of Congress...Get out on Main Street and demonstrate for jobs and home s..."
Late last night, the person that runs the "Oregun Shooters" Facebook page announced that "a well organized group" is moving forward with a recall of Senator Floyd Prozanski, the chief sponsor of the background checks measure.
Privilege license tax: “This last year the legislature got rid of the privilege license tax for all cities across North Carolina … for Asheville what that means is a loss of $1.5 million dollars in revenue.” Sales Tax redistribution: “the proposed legislation was absolutely devastating for Buncombe County” But then Manheimer got into the economic weeds and lost track of the broader message. “Absolutely devastating” NC cities is not a byproduct of the legislation. That is the goal.
How many times do I have to say this? What we’re seeing is an extension of the GOP’s “defund the left” strategy of undermining the largest concentrations of manpower and funding that support Democrats. First they went after private-sector unions, then public-sector unions, and teachers, firefighters, trial lawyers, etc. Then with Voter ID they attacked seniors, college students and minorities. They’ve taken away control of Asheville’s airport. They tried to take away Charlotte’s. They’re still trying to take Asheville’s water system to blow a huge hole in the city budget. Collectively, Republicans in Raleigh are hoping to render cities irrelevant in future state and local elections. And with redistricting, they’ve isolated Asheville in House District 114 and won’t even bother running candidates there for now.
Many other people tell us that they didn't learn about the history of the 1862 war and its consequences to Dakota people and they're shocked to learn about the brutal war and its even more brutal consequences: a concentration camp at Fort Snelling, deportation, and the bounties on Dakota people We tend to wonder who grew up with the ability to not-know, not-learn, or to forget. In the last month, there's been a kerfuffle over the text of plaques to accompany a statute honoring Shaynowishkung, or Chief Bemidji, an Anishinaabe leader who died in 1904. One of the plaques would include Myrick's remarks, then explain Shaynowishkung's role in persuading the northern nations from joining Dakota people in the war. One Bemidji City Council member felt that forgetting about Myrick was the best way to not insult white people as well as to silence Myrick's potty mouth forever, the Bemidji Pioneer reported in April's City Council approves Chief Bemidji plaque language: Members vote 4-3 to include mention of atrocities against Indians as part of project.
Mom would be so proud. In sum, Scott used his mother's death as a way to fool the press and the voters prior to an election, into thinking he was now a compassionate human being, when in fact it was a scheme to keep those federal flowing while continuing to deprive Floridians of Medicaid under Obamacare. "Gotcha!" But don't you dare call it a "ruse." Yes, this is the same man who says he refuses to expand Medicaid because he says you "can't trust the federal government."
The Board must have come up with those parentheses while dining at (kōl). Including parentheses in the name of South Dakota’s highest peak may not be hipster nonsense, but it will clutter the map with clinging colonialism. If we’re going to rename a mountain to erase General Harney’s ill deeds, can we not just give the mountain its old Lakota name and let the English-only crowd look the name up or ask an elder what it means? Besides, “Making of Owls” may not be complete:
During the ceremony Basil Brave Heart spoke of a mountain peak in the Black Hills that the Lakota call Hinhan Kaga Paha. The meaning of these Lakota words is difficult to explain though the literal translation would be something like “the mountain of the sacred owl” or “the sacred scary owl of the mountain.” In many Native American traditions the owl is believed to be a messenger and often a messenger of death [M. Timothy Nolting, “Across the Fence: Hinhan Kaga Paha,” Gering Citizen, 2014.06.19]. Sacred Scary Owl, Messenger of Death—I think we could generate some marketing buzz with that.
At Raging Chicken Press of Pennsylvania,writes— Obama Throws Punches at Bound and Gagged Progressives Over TPP At Juanita Jean's of Texas,writes— Hallelujah! I Have Another FBI File! The Next Round Is On Me, Boys! At Bleeding Heartland of Iowa,writes— Iowa DOT insists that cities shut off some of their traffic cameras At Democratic Diva of Arizona,writes— ARIZONA IS BEING GROOMED FOR THE ERADICATION OF INCOME TAX At Grumpy Abe of Ohio writes— Hedrick Smith calls for citizen action to restore American dream At Blue Oregon writes— In wake of gun safety bill passage, Prozanski faces recall effort At Scrutiny Hooligans of North Carolina,writes— Local Taxes: A Low Signal-to-Noise Ratio At Bluestem Prairie of Minnesota, writes— Bemidji City Council lady ready to leave behind butthurt about white people's negative image At Beach Peanuts of Floridawrites— Rick Scott Doesn't Want His Medicaid Ruse To Be Called A Ruse At the Dakota Free Press writes— Sacred Scary Owls: Board Recommends Hinhan Kaga as New Name for Harney PeakGet a load of these apples! Blog!NOBON is much like any other Apple Computer fan site, except for the fact that the owner makes his own Apple apples. That is, he grows apples that proudly carry the familiar Apple logo and variations thereof, right on their peels.
No painting, no photoshopping, no trickery of any kind is used to create these distinctively marked apples - unless you're an apple, in which case the trick's being played on you! Blog!NOBON has designed a series of sticker templates that feature the familiar Apple Computer logo, a variation with a bitten-into heart, and a stylized iPod.
A month or so before the apples in his backyard orchard ripen and turn red, he sticks the stickers on the apples - thus preventing sunlight from activating the pigment cells in the apple peels. At harvest time, he removes the stickers to reveal pale green logos against the rosy red apple peels. Not quite the Macintosh memory you were thinking of, and these apples have but a single core!
This type of "directed growth", for want of a better phrase, is relatively common in Japan. Watermelons are available in square and head-shaped styles and cucumbers are coaxed into shapes that are heart-shaped in cross section: perfect for slicing.
Blog!NOBON offers several custom wallpapers for download from his website, and they appear to be free. One must assume that any attempt to sell anything - apples included - featuring the Apple Computer logo or its variations would be looked down upon by Steve Jobs' legal eagles - though he'd probably appreciate them in a gift fruit basket as the ultimate geek gifts. (via Xorcyst, Gizmodo and JapanSoc)Humans are pouring large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, which is changing the climate and the chemistry of the oceans. Finding a better place to put all that carbon is a topic of great importance. Although there is some debate over the efficacy of various carbon offset schemes, even motorsports are looking into carbon sequestration. A recent article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science looks at the viability of storing all of that carbon in the ocean floor. Most of the ocean floor is made up of basalt, an igneous rock that formed from lava extruded at mid-ocean ridges. This basalt is overlain by a relatively thin layer of extremely fine sediment; it forms an excellent reservoir for CO 2 for a variety of reasons.
To store significant amounts of CO 2, you need two things: storage space, and a way to keep the CO 2 from escaping. When lava is extruded directly into the ocean, it cools very rapidly, cracking in the process. This creates lots of empty space within the newly formed rock for storage of CO 2. The ocean floor also has the CO 2 trapping problem solved. The basalt, in combination with the sediments on top, provide three mechanisms to trap the CO 2 : a physical barrier, gravitational containment, and chemical conversion into carbonates.
First, the physical barrier is provided by the fine sediments on the top of the ocean floor. These sediments have extremely low permeability, and thus prevent the CO 2 from escaping. Second, gravity will trap CO 2 at water depths greater than 2700m as, at this depth, the injected CO 2 will be denser than sea water. Finally, CO 2 can combine with calcium and magnesium ions released by the basalt to form carbonate minerals, which are insoluble.
Basalts like this could store carbon at greater depths
The authors estimate that there is around 780km3 of available space to store CO 2 off the coast of northern California and Oregon. This works out to the ability to store 200-250Gt of carbon. Considering that the entire US releases around 1.7Gt of carbon per year, that would provide over 100 years of carbon storage.
The authors propose extensive drilling experiments to better characterize this potential reservoir. For example, it not known just how permeable the basalt is, or how rapidly the CO 2 will be converted to carbonates. If pilot experiments are successful, maybe the environmentalists will be clamoring for their own style of offshore drilling.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 2008. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0804397105Hillary 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 is calling for a wide variety of policy aims meant at providing “full equality” for LGBT people.
“As President, I will continue to fight so that LGBT Americans and families can live, work, and pray free of discrimination,” Clinton said in a new statement from her campaign. “I will not settle for |
Stadium on Saturday, September 16, 2017. Saturdayâs Atlanta United match against Orlando City will be the third at Mercedes-Benz for the first-year franchise, and a new Major League Soccer single-game attendance record is expected to be set in the latest meeting of the southern MLS rivals. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM
Atlanta is among 32 cities that made the cut as possible host cities if the United States, Mexico and Canada are chosen to host the 2026 World Cup.
The United Bid Committee, which represents the three countries, announced the list of potential host cities Wednesday.
Representatives from each city are supposed to meet in Houston the week of Nov. 13 to discuss the bid.
If the bid is selected by FIFA to host the World Cup, at least 12 cities will be selected as venues for games.
The cities that made the cut are:
Canada
Edmonton, Alberta
Montréal, Québec
Toronto, Ontario
Vancouver, British Columbia
Mexico
Guadaljara, Jalisco
Mexico City, Mexico
Monterrey, Nuevo León
United States
Atlanta
Baltimore
Boston
Charlotte
Chicago
Cincinnati
Dallas
Denver
Houston
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Miami
Minneapolis
Nashville
New York City/New Jersey
Orlando
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Salt Lake City
Detroit
San Francisco Bay Area
Seattle
Kansas City
Tampa
Washington“Temple University welcomes you and your family.” Photo by Audrey with Wikis Take Philadelphia/Wikimedia Commons
Can a young adult force her parents to pay for the cost of her college education?
Maybe, but fair warning: If you try, you might be met with death threats. Just ask Caitlyn Ricci, who has wrung $16,000 out of her divorced mom and dad and has inspired broad outrage in suddenly nervous parents and throughout the Internet. That’s how much a New Jersey trial judge recently commanded the couple to cough up toward Caitlyn’s costs for attending Philadelphia’s Temple University.
Everyone has a visceral reaction to this case, and it’s easy to see why. First, there are the lurid details of this story. Caitlyn left her mother’s house early last year. Whether she was kicked out or decided to leave is disputed, but the next time either parent heard from her was several months later, when they were hauled into court. In the meantime, she’d been taken in by her paternal grandparents, who are funding the lawsuit. (Not surprisingly, Caitlyn’s dad, Michael Ricci, has “zero respect” for his parents.) Oh, and Caitlyn’s lawsuit also demanded that her parents help her pay for a new car. (Denied.) There’s also the small matter of some $906 that Caitlyn claims was supposed to have been paid to her last year, a number that the parents dispute. That’s the subject of another upcoming hearing. Get the popcorn.
But the story raises deeper issues. What obligations should parents have once children reach the age of majority? With the costs of college rising to absurd levels, should parents who can afford to kick in some cash be forced to do so? And if so, should it matter that there were cheaper schools available? Should the law care whether the family is intact? (It does, as we’ll see.) And should the undeniable fact that the parents and the young adult are estranged from each other affect the obligation?
Some background will be helpful. Fathers—and, more recently, mothers—have long had an enforceable duty to support their kids during childhood. But with the exception of disabled children, that obligation usually ceases at the age of majority. Until recently, 21 was that age. But things changed—problematically for college students—when the 26th Amendment was ratified in 1971. By terms, the law only lowered the voting age to 18—but as a practical matter, it led to making 18- to 20-year-olds adults for all purposes (except for drinking and running for federal offices, which may or may not be connected).
The law zipped through the ratification process in record time (three months!), so presumably state legislators gave little thought to the possible impact on parental obligations. But the amendment came at a bad time for students who wanted support for their higher education: The number of 18- to 24-year-olds attending college more than doubled from 1970 to 2010. The upshot: Parental obligations ceased just as the need for post-secondary education took hold as a national norm.
So why shouldn’t parents have to pony up what they can? Isn’t doing so a good investment, and a better way to help your kids than the historically common way of doing so—through inheritance?
Maybe, yet states have held firm to the rule that the obligation to support your kids ends at the age of majority, whatever that happens to be. Unless, that is, the parents of the young adult seeking support happen to be divorced or never married. In such cases, about one-half the states—including New Jersey—sometimes make the non-custodial parent pay for college or other post-high school education. (Not for other stuff, like the car Caitlyn wanted.)
Usually it’s the custodial parent who sues the non-custodial parent for support. But increasingly, as in the sad case of Caitlyn Ricci and her parents, custody and support obligations are more complex. That’s why this case pits daughter against both parents. In a bizarre twist on The Parent Trap (the one with Hayley Mills, please!), the case has united the parents, divorced for some 17 years, in anger and opposition to their ingrate offspring.*
What justifies making a distinction between intact families and broken ones? Aren’t kids in both families in need of scholarship scratch? That’s what the Pennsylvania Supreme Court thought, in a 1995 decision that declared that state’s law authorizing college contributions by divorced parents only to be an unconstitutional denial of equality. But the Keystone State stands alone in this regard. (Michael Ricci and Maura McGarvey, Caitlyn’s mom, probably wish they lived on the other side of the Delaware River.) Most states find these laws perfectly acceptable, because the statistics consistently show that divorce leads to disengagement from kids’ lives, and that parents who would otherwise pay for college do so less frequently after marriages crumble. So the laws have a rational basis, and that’s enough.
I don’t think this intact vs. broken family distinction is going to hold much longer, though, and in fact decisions like this point the way forward for all young adults to force their parents to cough up college cash. Combine an angry 19-year-old and a creative attorney, and we’re going to get some variation of the argument that “age is just a number.” The real question, they’ll say, is whether the young adult is in fact emancipated—not whether some arbitrary age has been attained. Given today’s texting-while-hovering parents and the impossibility of kids paying for their own college education, a broad ruling that majority doesn’t equal emancipation seems inevitable. And if no emancipation, the support obligation continues.
OK, but why Temple? Why not a cheaper school? Say, one in her home state of New Jersey, where she’d get in-state tuition? It’s a good question, but courts have generally preferred to look at each case individually and not to generally require that every kid choose the least expensive option. Otherwise, it would be community college for all—a result McGarvey and the older Ricci might welcome, especially since they have a combined five younger kids from their second marriages to consider. But since kids in intact marriages don’t always have to choose the cheapest option, neither do the offspring of divorced parents.
This isn’t over. The judge has ordered the parties back for a conference this coming Monday, presumably to get them to settle this ugly thing. And the parents’ attorneys raise issues that might get an appellate court’s attention if the case can’t be resolved. Can a young adult spurn contact with her parents while still claiming she is not emancipated? Can she force parents to pay for an expensive college that neither one of them even knew she was interested in?
Well, at the very least the parents can see an end to this family nightmare after college, right? Not necessarily. There’s at least one case—yes, from New Jersey—in which a court ordered a parent to contribute to his child’s law school education. The chains of filial obligation can be hard to snap.
Correction, Dec. 5, 2014: This article originally misspelled Hayley Mills’ first name. (Return.)I am finally actually-back from my Thanksgiving vacation with this sweet, smoky and spicy roasted acorn squash soup! Please bear with me as I get caught up on replying to comments, etc… I had every intention of staying more on top of things, but the prospect of an extended technology break just became too good to pass up.
I spent Thanksgiving in the Bay Area (California) it was absolutely wonderful. There are almost too many food highlights to mention. I drove up to Berkeley to Republic of V because I heard they had Miyoko’s Kitchen vegan cheeses there, and picked up two flavors to try. They were about $10 each. The double cream sundried tomato was so-so; the flavor of nutritional yeast was very strong and I wasn’t willing to serve it to omnivores. The double cream garlic herb was better. As I watched many meat- and dairy-eaters DEVOUR the stuff, I was kind of sad because I wanted to eat more, but mostly I was happy that they were enjoying it! It tastes like a fancy dairy cream cheese spread, and I don’t say that lightly. Overall, I haven’t decided yet if those cheezes are worth the hype/price.
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At Thanksgiving itself there were tons of other delicious vegan options, including an amazing Thai peanut scallion dip (I managed to snag an approximate recipe). Best of all was relaxing, enjoying some California sunshine, and taking a much-needed breather from work. Normally when I go on “vacation” I still check my work email every day and deal with imminent concerns, but for this trip I unplugged completely, and I have no regrets.
Some other great eats were in Oakland at Great Wall Chinese Restaurant, which is a vegetarian/pescetarian, but very-vegan establishment with a huge menu and incredibly low prices. I was excited to see a diverse spread of locals dining in there. Finally, mouthwatering authentic Indian street food at Vik’s Chaat in Berkeley. Eating there is a unique experience as the space is kind of a cafeteria/market hybrid. Highly recommended!
Another funny thing was that we ate this roasted acorn squash soup for an early lunch the day that we left for California. And then when we got there around dinnertime, we had another roasted acorn squash soup for dinner. It was pretty delicious as well! A lot of squash for one day, though…
Before leaving Baltimore, I had whipped up a few final meals with our very last CSA shipment of the year. It was mostly squash, onions, the tiniest head of cauliflower you ever saw, and some very woody spinach. This roasted acorn squash soup is very simple and also very light. There’s not much in there aside from the squash and a few seasonings, but considering how flavorful, sweet, and silky acorn squash is, you really don’t need a lot. I tried out a new method of stuffing aromatics inside the squash while roasting it, and I was very pleased with the result. I was also happy to use up the last couple of red chilis from my backyard garden. It snowed in Baltimore while we were gone, and when I got back, my hot pepper plants were as dead as can be. So we harvested at the right time!
Okay, that was long! But this recipe is short. Hope you enjoy and that you had a happy holiday too 🙂A forgotten Midwestern religious sect and the strange novel it inspired.
The most confusing thing about the rural Midwest is the importance placed on being normal. Perhaps this comes from demographic homogeneity: there’s a comforting stability in being able to drive a hundred miles in almost any direction and find a landscape almost identical to the one from which you set out.
The Midwest is construed as a place where nothing happens—that being, it should be emphasized, a good thing. Native Americans once lived here, of course; but there’s no longer any sign of them aside from some low mounds and their continuing near-universal use as school mascots. When I grew up here, no one wondered why they’d left. Probably it was more exciting somewhere else. Who could blame them? It’s a fine place to leave.
But on returning, as I did recently, the effect is disorienting: this is a place where everyone is cheerfully convinced of the rationality of their insanity. I was never immune to this. In school, everyone was perplexed by race problems. We weren’t racist. How could we be when there weren’t any black people? We ignored that in Rockford, Illinois, ten miles away, desegregation lawsuits were impossibly still grinding through the court system. Likewise, we firmly believed that gay people weren’t something we had; we learned we’d had a Jewish family in our town only after they’d safely escaped. This seems ludicrous to me now, and things have undoubtedly changed since the turn of the century. With the arrival of the Internet and cable TV, the boast that newscasters were carefully trained to speak like us—because we, among all Americans, had no accents—isn’t quite as impressive.
In 1988, when I was ten, my parents moved to a five-acre farm between the rust-belt city of Rockford and the village of Winnebago. Not being from the area, they were naturally curious about the history, and one of them found a Works Progress Administration history of Illinois in the library. In that book, we discovered that the country road we lived on had once not been so somnolent. A block north of us, a large complex of buildings painted red bore the name Weldon Farm, but once it had been called Heaven. In the 1880s it had been the center of an obscure religious sect—still lacking a Wikipedia entry of their own—called the Beekmanites. A woman named Dorinda Beekman had declared herself to be Jesus, as one did in those days; she died after promising to rise from the dead in three days. Her considerable followers were disappointed until one of them, a red-headed man named George Jacob Schweinfurth, neatly solved the problem by explaining that her spirit had moved into his body. Many agreed; he and his followers, the Church Triumphant, moved into Heaven and lived communally, where he’d attracted attention as far away as the New York Times.
A block south of my parents’ place, the road dead-ended in front of a run-down house. A “bad” family lived there, and their children occasionally went to school with me. We would have called them poor white trash had we not been afraid of being beaten up. Their house, ramshackle as it appeared to be, had a history as well: it had once been Hell. Schweinfurth had lived in luxury in Heaven, arrayed with young women called Angels. Their husbands, had they any, and members of the group who’d fallen out of favor, were sent to Hell, where the work needed to keep the sect fed was done.
The end of the Church Triumphant is predictable. The Angels started bearing children; this was declared to be a miracle, their fathers being the Holy Ghost, but the locals noticed that many were suspiciously red-haired. After too many Holy Ghost Children, Schweinfurth was arrested and driven from town. Later, he announced that he’d taken up Christian Science and moved to Chicago, where he became a realtor, thereafter vanishing from history.
I was surprised, at the time, that most of my classmates seemed entirely unfamiliar with this story. Schweinfurth’s cult was considerably more interesting than anything that seemed to have happened in Winnebago, Illinois, in the succeeding century. I came to realize I’d made a novice move: it was unseemly to be interested in local history. No one in the Midwest is familiar with the phrase “tall poppy syndrome,” but the idea, which can be traced from Herodotus, is abundantly familiar: those that stand out are cut down.
* * *
Every once in a while I search the Internet for Schweinfurth or Weldon Farm or Beekmanites. I don’t know what I’m looking for: maybe to make sense of the houses that held the place I grew up like distant and mismatched parentheses. What happened at Heaven and Hell is mostly beyond the reach of the Internet, of course, but surprising traces from the past pop up occasionally. Ongoing digitalization has worked its magic: first, a reference to a novel about Schweinfurth. Then, against all odds—the book seems to barely exist and I have never seen a copy—I received a badly scanned PDF courtesy of the Library of Congress. The full title alone indicates what the reader is in for: Six Years in Heaven: A True Story of Human Credulity and Unexampled Devotion, Embracing a Complete Expose Of the Abominable Practices and Monstrous Professions of George Jacob Schweinfurth, the False Christ, Whose Main Heaven is near Rockford, Illinois, with a Biographical Sketch of this most Remarkable Religious Pretender of the Century. The book is by one Alex. [sic.] McClenaghan, seemingly his only literary effort.
Six Years in Heaven is not a forgotten Midwestern masterpiece. It’s hard to say exactly what it is. Though the subtitle announces it “a true story,” it’s very much a novel. From the start, there’s a romance between a beautiful, impressionable young girl, Clara McCoy, and her devoted admirer, both from Shelbyville, Kentucky, who will be ensnared in the machinations of Schweinfurth in Rockford. Schweinfurth appears as himself, sometimes speaking in sourced quotations, and many of the supporting players—the members of the Weldon family, who gave Weldon Farm and my parents’ road its name, for example—do as well. Periodically the invented narrative breaks off and the reader is presented with events that seem more straightforwardly historical; sometimes even public documents are introduced into the text. The whole is illustrated, albeit not very skillfully, with depictions of climactic scenes. A figure of Satan—or at least a man dressed in a Satan suit—smiles behind the bearded Schweinfurth whenever he appears.
A man named Hatfield periodically turns up, trying to get to the bottom of the story of Clara McCoy and why she disappeared. (One can easily imagine McClenaghan at his study wondering what names people in Kentucky might have.) He is aided by various helpful pastors and once, intriguingly, a lady detective, whose part in the story is all too brief. They confer:
“This seems to be a chance for a story, founded on cold facts, that will discount Haggard’s wildest flights of imagination, if it does not rub shoulders with the alluring tales of the Arabian Nights.” “Truth is stranger than fiction,” laughed Miss Howard. “It assuredly is in this case,” he replied.
Despite Hatfield’s assurances, the question of veracity is left as a problem for the reader to solve. Clara is taken from her home by an apostle named Mamby who trawls the country selling histories of the Franco-Prussian War, keeping an eye out for beautiful women and rich elderly people who might be scammed. He, like Schweinfurth, is a master of mesmerism. Mamby appears to be as fictitious—he would find an easy home in the pages of Bram Stoker—as Clara. So does Dr. Brown, a doctor brought low by misfortune who takes refuge in Heaven and, through his skill in the black art of mesmerism, helps Schweinfurth raise the dead. (Mesmerism appears to be the chief source of Schweinfurth’s power, alongside his looking exactly like pictures of Jesus.)
Six Years’s characters’ motivations are a mystery; they behave with a perplexing idiocy. Arthur Fitzroy, Clara’s betrothed, follows her from Kentucky to Rockford and goes undercover, working as a stable hand in Heaven for five years without catching sight of her, except for once, when he mistakes another woman for her. Then he leaves when Schweinfurth—whom, bear in mind, he still believes to be a swindler— explains to him that she’s left. The woman he mistakes for Clara gets consumption and is sent off to Clara’s parents’ house in Kentucky to die (the death of an Angel being unseemly in Heaven) in front of her parents, who don’t notice that their daughter has been swapped out.
Clara stays six years—with a brief escape—though she fails, from beginning to end, to believe in the immaculate conception of the Holy Ghost children, a central tenet of Heaven’s faith. The problem of motivation goes for Schweinfurth as well. He starts as an extremely religious young man, entirely noble until he proclaims himself the reincarnation of Dorinda Beekman and starts amassing land and followers. A follower attempts to explain:
Mr. Schweinfurth … is one of the most persecuted saints the world has ever seen. When a Methodist, they did not like him because he preached against sociables. He said he did not believe in having kitchens attached to churches.
Perhaps this is true. A minister from Rockford—who seems to be a historical figure—explains that he’s absolutely sure that Schweinfurth had no lusts of the flesh. Late in the book, when the congregation begins stirring, Schweinfurth announces his intention that his followers should be eunuchs, a promising development that goes nowhere, as does his sudden enthusiasm for pedigreed dogs “being valued at one thousand dollars each.” A description of Indiana fiddle-playing technique and tuning seems to have been included simply as padding.
The book is confusing because it was published in early 1894—the introduction is dated December 20, 1893—a year before Schweinfurth’s reign came to its ignominious end. He and the three leading Angels were arrested for adultery in April 1895. Fictionalization might have been a strategy to avoid libel, but that seems craftier than might be expected for a book whose final illustration depicts an elderly Schweinfurth being greeted by the devil at the gates of Hell. McClenaghan’s characters hope that public outcry will eventually bring down Heaven, but it seems more likely that Schweinfurth will be deposed by the more mundane problem of disposing of the bodies of his residents, who fall ill and die at the same rates that everyone else did in the nineteenth century—a troubling problem when they’d been assured they’d live forever.
Walking around the block the most recent time I was home, I was surprised to find that the dead end that leads to Hell had been blocked, the road torn up and overgrown with pigweed and St. Anne’s lace. The house, my mother said, had been torn down by the police; it had been abandoned for years. Drugs, the police thought. I mentioned that I’d found a novel about Schweinfurth, which surprised my mother. Why, I wondered, didn’t people talk more about what had happened there? What she heard, my mother said, was that Schweinfurth’s descendants were all over town; I’d gone to school with them. The whole thing was embarrassing.
To return to the New York Times article: Schweinfurth, we learn, was threatened by White Caps. The White Caps have also vanished from history, though not as inconsequentially as the Beekmanites. They were rural Midwestern predecessors of the KKK. Another story could be imagined here: Schweinfurth as a transgressor of cultural homogeneity who needed to be cleansed, the victim of religious persecution. One wonders how he would have told his own story, whether he might have been a freethinker rather than a rascal. Early in McClenaghan’s book, we see Schweinfurth as a fervently religious youth in Ohio, not far removed from Joseph Smith, to whom he is later compared. There are mentions made of Schweinfurth’s own versions of the Bible, though these don’t seem to have survived. We’re left with breathless news reports decrying the ignominy of Heaven and Hell and a novel that sells itself by being a true history, albeit with characters and a romance added. One wonders what the Angels would have said, whether they ever attempted to explain the wild years of their youth, years later when those who survived had settled down to sedate farm life: Did they believe they’d been tricked by a false Christ?
They, like Schweinfurth himself, have no voices left.
Dan Visel lives in Bangkok and is writing a book on reading.Hammered by falling smartphone profits, Samsung is reportedly eyeing major changes for its senior leadership.
Samsung's sales for its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone came in well below expectations, moving 12 million units compared to 16 million for the Galaxy S4. So far, the Galaxy S5 has sold 40% fewer units than the company had anticipated. The shortfall was especially pronounced in non-U.S. markets and the company is scrambling to sell inventory that languished in warehouses, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
The report adds that J.K. Shin, the head of Samsung's mobile business, could be replaced or see his responsibilities shifted to another area.
Samsung employs a peculiar three-CEO structure, with Shin alongside B.K. Yoon (head of television and home appliances) and Kwon Oh-hyun (semiconductors and displays). Kwon had previously served as the lone CEO, with Yoon and and Shin added in March 2013.
While nothing is set in stone, the report of a possible shakeup underscores Samsung's recent struggles in the lucrative smartphone market. The company recently announced that it would be cutting the number of smartphone models produced by the company by as much as 33% in an effort to compete in China, where price competition has increased.
The South Korean company recently reported third-quarter earnings that declined 60% compared to the same period in 2013, noting that competition from both the high end of the market (competitors like Apple) and the low end (China's Xiaomi) had put a squeeze on the company.
Samsung remains the biggest smartphone maker in the world, with 24% of the global market — almost twice that of Apple. This position is part of the reason for Samsung's recent struggles.
Roger Entner, telecom analyst and founder of Recon Analytics, said that Samsung continued to set growth goals that had previously been attainable but were now unrealistic. The company, he noted, had become too big of a player in the smartphone market to meet its forecasts.
"That hyper growth, when you're the challenger, is gone," Entner said. "It's much harder to expand market share than when you were the also ran with 10%."
Entner said Samsung's expectations had not been tempered by its new market position, and that executives may have to pay the price for the gap between its sales and its ambitions.
"I think they're falling victim of their own expectations," he said. "Samsung has a very tough culture where working hard and success are expected and anything less than perfection gets pretty harshly punished. I think that's what we're seeing here."
Samsung did not respond to requests for comment.Dallas Stars right wing Patrick Eaves (18) congratulates left wing Patrick Sharp (10) after Sharp scored a goal against the Nashville Predators during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Dallas Stars right wing Patrick Eaves (18) congratulates left wing Patrick Sharp (10) after Sharp scored a goal against the Nashville Predators during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
There are plenty of conditions tied to the pick, but the deal is a lot like the move that sent Jaromir Jagr to the Boston Bruins in 2013 and landed Dallas the 29th overall pick that allowed them to select Jason Dickinson that year.
The Stars on Friday got a head start on Wednesday's NHL trade deadline, sending winger Patrick Eaves to the Anaheim Ducks for a conditional draft pick.
Toronto has three second-round draft picks this year and made a deal that Anaheim would get the middle one as part of the Frederik Andersen trade last June. Dallas now owns that pick, which will be the middle of Ottawa, San Jose and Toronto once the draft order is announced. Should the Ducks win their first two rounds in the playoffs and Eaves plays in 50 percent of those games, the pick elevates to Anaheim's first-round pick.
"I started talking with Anaheim in the last week, and they kind of targeted him," Stars general manager Jim Nill said. "He's a low cap hit, and they started pursuing him pretty hard. It got to the point where the price they were willing to pay to get him was something we had to do."
Eaves, 32, has had a career-best season with the Stars. The injury-prone Eaves has played in 59 of 60 games and has 21 goals and 16 assists for 37 points. Eaves suffered a foot injury early in the year and has participated in almost no practices or morning skates. He pretty much just skates in warmups and plays in games.
"It is what it is, so I'm just trying to put everything into games," he said earlier this month.
Eaves told NHL Radio he is ready to join the 32-20-10 Ducks, who sit comfortably in a playoff spot. He could make his Anaheim debut as soon as Saturday.
"You just know you're going to have a tough time every time you play against the Ducks," Eaves said. "It's a team I'm joining and I'm really excited about that, just because of the way they play and the way they're positioned in the playoff hunt."
Nill has known Eaves for years and saw him as a reclamation project after a broken jaw and concussions almost ended Eaves' career. The Stars signed Eaves in 2014 and helped him get things going again, and Nill said he is hoping for the best for Eaves.
"I told him, 'Go there and win the Stanley Cup. You deserve it,'" Nill said.
That said, Stars players would have liked to have given Eaves that chance in Dallas this season.
"It's unfortunate. You almost feel a little bit guilty because it's the product of the season that we've had," said veteran center Jason Spezza, who also played with Eaves in Ottawa. "You lose good people and good players. He's one of the only guys that can say he's had a great year. When you lose a guy like that because of the situation we're in, you've got to look at yourself in the mirror a little bit. It's frustrating to lose a guy like that because you want to be adding this time of year, not subtracting."
Stars captain Jamie Benn said he regrets having to see Eaves go.
"He's one of the most unselfish guys I've ever played with. A great teammate and a great guy. That was tough news to hear," Benn said. "We put ourselves in this situation. I wish we hadn't put ourselves in this situation."
Eaves signed a one-year deal for $1 million this season, and that was one reason his trade got done quickly. He fits for teams that are tight against the salary cap.
Depending on what Anaheim decides to do with Eaves, he could become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and could re-sign with the Stars. But he would command a much higher salary at that time.
"He's probably been our MVP of the season. He's got 21 goals, played great for us and done a great job," Nill said. "You can put him anywhere in the lineup. He can kill penalties, be on the power play, he does all the little things right in the offensive zone."
So doesn't trading that player signal a waving of the white flag for a Stars team that sits nine points out of a playoff spot after Friday's victory? Couldn't that create a negative environment for Dallas' players?
"I'm not too worried about it," Nill said. "The coaches and the players, they have their job. My job is to look at the franchise today, tomorrow, and in the future, and we have to do what's right. I think the players know that. The players know they have to do their job."
The NHL trade deadline is at 2 p.m. Wednesday, and the Stars still have players they could move. Patrick Sharp is a three-time Cup winner, so he has great value. However, he has missed 26 games with concussions this season and has a $5.9 million salary-cap hit. Defenseman Johnny Oduya also could draw interest, but he has missed 15 games with an ankle injury and probably needs to play at least one game. He could return to the ice Sunday against Boston.
"There's lots of talk going on. It's that time of year," Nill said. "You have a deadline, and when you have a deadline, it brings things closer together."We try to find optimism amongst our fears for Batman V Superman.
Take Watchmen for example. It's a film that does not solely follow a single character. It balances six unique characters all of whom have their own subplots, all of which have multiple intersections with each other, all of which have equal screen time, and all of which have equal effect on the overall story arc. These characters all star against the backdrop of the Cold War and Nixon's reign, flashbacks to Vietnam and other decades, a noir murder mystery as the central plot, a love triangle, a few scenes on Mars, the origin of a few of these characters, and all interweaving through a fusion of genres in a multi-layered, dense script. At 162 minutes, the theatrical cut of Watchmen is only 11 minutes longer than Batman v Superman's 151 and I'm betting that it's likely crammed in a lot more content while still feeling well-paced. Granted, I'm highly biased here because I consider Watchmen the best comic book film ever made, but even those that didn't enjoy the film I don't think ever said that it was over-stuffed. Maybe boring, too dark, too faithful, not faithful enough, not enough action, unrelatable, and too dire or grim to be fun, but I've never heard anyone say they felt it was crushed under its own weight.
Take Watchmen for example. It's a film that does not solely follow a single character. It balances six unique characters all of whom have their own subplots, all of which have multiple intersections with each other, all of which have equal screen time, and all of which have equal effect on the overall story arc. These characters all star against the backdrop of the Cold War and Nixon's reign, flashbacks to Vietnam and other decades, a noir murder mystery as the central plot, a love triangle, a few scenes on Mars, the origin of a few of these characters, and all interweaving through a fusion of genres in a multi-layered, dense script. At 162 minutes, the theatrical cut of Watchmen is only 11 minutes longer than Batman v Superman's 151 and I'm betting that it's likely crammed in a lot more content while still feeling well-paced. Granted, I'm highly biased here because I consider Watchmen the best comic book film ever made, but even those that didn't enjoy the film I don't think ever said that it was over-stuffed. Maybe boring, too dark, too faithful, not faithful enough, not enough action, unrelatable, and too dire or grim to be fun, but I've never heard anyone say they felt it was crushed under its own weight.
A cramped, overstuffed BvS is a fear of that a lot of people bring up. We have Batman seeking vengeance against Superman because of the destruction caused in Man of Steel. We have Lex Luthor possibly stoking those flames. It appears like we are getting a few glimpses of Bruce Wayne's parents... again. We have Wonder Woman. We have Doomsday. We also have Aquaman and potentially Cyborg somewhere in there and the "dawn" of the Justice League. Sure, this sounds like a lot. I don't think it does—and I'll come back to this—but let's say for the sake of argument that maybe I forgot something or it indeed suffers from Spider-man 3 syndrome and there is just way too much going on. Zack Snyder has always proven a more effective director when he's juggling a bigger cast and building a wider fictional universe.
A cramped, overstuffed BvS is a fear of that a lot of people bring up. We have Batman seeking vengeance against Superman because of the destruction caused in Man of Steel. We have Lex Luthor possibly stoking those flames. It appears like we are getting a few glimpses of Bruce Wayne's parents... again. We have Wonder Woman. We have Doomsday. We also have Aquaman and potentially Cyborg somewhere in there and the "dawn" of the Justice League. Sure, this sounds like a lot. I don't think it does—and I'll come back to this—but let's say for the sake of argument that maybe I forgot something or it indeed suffers from Spider-man 3 syndrome and there is just way too much going on. Zack Snyder has always proven a more effective director when he's juggling a bigger cast and building a wider fictional universe.
Needless to say, that doesn't automatically make this film a guaranteed win. I wish it did. There's always someone higher up who's eyeing the market and making hasty, baseless executive decisions on fleeting trends rather than honest film making. It's obvious I'm trying my best to be optimistic and saying all the signs point to success, but there's always that idiot that holds the trump card and will want this dumbed down for the general audience because these rich execs don't see us as people, but brainless wallets to sift their grubby fingers through. I feel David S. Goyer is a lapdog on a short leash of these exact types of business men and he wrote the original draft for Batman v Superman. He also wrote Man of Steel and the biggest failing of that film, in my opinion, is the writing. Goyer is a good idea man, but his execution is awful. He loves to over-explain elements of his films that should be obvious to any viewer who is older than four, yet on the flip-side he quickly glosses over important details in hopes that the same four year olds are too glassy-eyed with wonder to notice he front |
Women and general Relief Society meetings respectively.
November 8, 2013
Photo from Deseret News
Deadly Typhoon Haiyan hits the Philippines less than a month after a 7.2 earthquake. The typhoon is one of the deadliest storms ever recorded with a death toll reported a month later at over 6,000 and rising. It took several days, but all 204 missionaries in the hardest hit area, Tacloban, were accounted for.
December 8, 2013
The “First Presidency Christmas Devotional” is renamed and reformatted for the first time since its start in 1970. It is now simply called the Christmas Devotional and includes speakers outside of the First Presidency.
Also on this day, the first stake in the African nation of Togo is created.
December 14, 2013
The one year anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting brings back memories of the tragic event and those lost because of it.EZ WAY BROADCASTING Presents
Teens On Air Hosted by Zach Callison
"By teens, for teens, from a teens perspective"
For the first time in radio history, teens now have their own station! Teens On Air is a weekly radio talk show which broadcast live from Hollywood on Friday nights at 6pm. The celebrity host is none other than teen sensation Zach Callison from Cartoon Network. Zach gives teens a first hand perspective on some of the challenges he faces as a working actor. At any given time, you never know what teen celeb co-host of Zach’s will show up to chat with fans. Also, the newest upcoming and never before heard music in teen world gets served first hand from Zach’s iPod! The Zpod! Find the Lowdown in H-Town only with Teens On Air!
Special Guest:Actress/Voice Over Artist/Singer/Songriter Grace Rolek
Zach's Z-Pod, Enjoy enteracting with your favorite celebrity courtes of EWB and Teens On Air. Who will be on our next Top 5 countdown? Supported by platinum producer with Disney and major projects Andrew Lane.
Get a inside on Zach's World behind the scenes, Hang with Zach and all his celebrity friends each week Friday 6 p.m. (Pacific)Since 1975, the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) has developed and preserved over 2,200 homes, housing approximately 3,600 people in Northern California’s East Bay. The nonprofit says it currently manages 1,126 residential rental units in 19 properties. But recently, EBALDC has been sending notices that it has to increase rents on its tenants by hundreds of dollars, including units housing senior citizens and other vulnerable tenants, reports the San Francisco BayView.
And EBALDC isn’t alone. Nonprofit affordable housing developers are facing pressure to hike up rents due to the threat of budget cuts to HUD’s rental assistance subsidies, according to the BayView investigation. Oakland stands to lose $36 million in annual HUD funding, and $21 million of that is for Section 8 housing choice vouchers, according to Affordable Housing Online.
According to HUD data, there are 91,747 housing choice vouchers issued in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area, and another 4,153 units receive project-based HUD rental assistance in multifamily buildings in Oakland alone.
By another count, there are 7,108 low-income units in buildings with low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) financing in Oakland — including 2,370 developed by nonprofits. Out of LIHTC-financed nonprofit affordable housing in Oakland, about 1,100 units receive federal project-based subsidies of some kind.
No matter how you slice or count it, all of that low-income housing is at risk due to either HUD budget cuts, expiring LIHTC units (which have either a 15- or 30-year compliance period), or expiring federal rental assistance.
At the same time Oakland is losing affordable housing units, it’s hardly building many more. As reported in the East Bay Times, of the thousands of building permits Oakland approved in 2016, less than 2 percent were for affordable housing, according to a new city report on housing development.
The low figure was enough for the East Bay Express to ask whether Oakland discriminates against developers who submit construction permit requests for projects that include affordable housing. Oakland City Council, the East Bay Express says, is set to approve funding for a contract with a consultant to determine if that is the case.Story highlights Latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary includes 1,200 additions
It also features an ode to Roald Dahl, with terms like "Oompa Loompa" and "scrumdiddlyumptious
(CNN) To the high fives of frat boys everywhere, colloquialisms like "'Merica," "YOLO," and "kegerator" have unironically made it to the "definitive record of the English language."
The latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, which includes more than 1,000 updated entries and 1,200 additions, also features an ode to Roald Dahl. You'll find new and revised Dahlesque inventions: "Oompa Loompa," "scrumdiddlyumptious," and "human bean," which the dictionary's senior assistant editor notes "is not a vegetable, although -- according to the Dahl's Big Friendly Giant -- "it comes in 'dillions of different flavors.'"
Here's a roundup of the latest additions that make us "squee":
Aiyah: Chinese expression of lament or exasperation. As in, "Aiyah! Why is my daughter still not married!?"
Fuhgeddaboudit: As in, don't even bother. Example: If you're trying to get across downtown Atlanta before a Falcons game, you can fuhgeddaboudit.
Freemium: A business model that offers a product free but charges for special features.
Read MoreThe Deputy Prime Minister announced with great fanfare in July that he would pilot a "Freedom Bill" through Parliament, sweeping away meddlesome legislation and freeing up individuals and business from overbearing rules.
A massive consultation was launched with people invited to submit their ideas for laws which should be scrapped on a website run by Mr Clegg's department, the Cabinet Office.
However, three months later, the sheer volume of the information submitted by people has left Mr Clegg floundering, insiders say.
Some 46,000 people logged on and left their ideas, with each entry generating a stream of comments and debate.
Now Mr Clegg has told friends there is simply "too much detail". And he has handed the project to the Home Office, where officials have been charged with truncating the scheme and turning it into a much smaller civil liberties bill.
Deregulation measures aimed at freeing up business have been stripped from the Bill to make it simpler, to the dismay of Tory MPs.
Their complaints are the latest sign of tensions in the coalition following disagreement over tuition fees, Europe and anti-terror measures last week.
In a sweeping statement at the launch of the Freedom Bill initiative, Mr Clegg had vowed to "free our society of unnecessary laws and regulations – both for individuals and businesses."
He promised to "strip away the excessive regulation that stops businesses from innovating."
He urged citizens to get involved and said it was "a totally new way of putting you in charge".
Launching the Your Freedom consultation site, he said: "Every suggestion and comment will be read. So please use this site to make yourself heard.
"Every time you have to fill out three versions of the same form tell us about it. Every time you have felt snooped on by the state, every unnecessary law, every mind-numbing rule, every time your rights are infringed, tell us about it.
"Be demanding about your liberties, be insistent about your rights."
It now seems that people did just that, overwhelming the site administrators and leaving Mr Clegg himself complaining of an impossible task.
Mr Clegg hinted at the difficulty he was having in a video message left on the website recently.
He said: "When we launched this site I don't think any of us realised what a success it would be. People aren't shy. The site is full of debates that are honest, forthright and robust."
One Lib Dem insider said: "Nick felt he was being tied up in knots so he washed his hands of it."
Now several other business figures have been charged by David Cameron with beginning new consultations on deregulation in a separate process.
Tory MPs reacted angrily last night to what they claimed was an attempt to kick the issue of business deregulation into the long grass.
John Redwood, who has secured a six hour backbench debate in the Commons this week on how to kick-start the economy, said: "They need to get a move-on with this.
"We don't need any more consultations. I drew up a set of policies before the 2001 election as Shadow DTI Secretary. I did it again for Michael Howard as his Shadow Deregulation Secretary.
"I did it again for David Cameron as part of the Economic Policy Review. There are dozens of ideas out there. They need to get on with it. Why don't they just do it?"
Mr Redwood said he had sent his latest deregulation report to Mr Clegg for inclusion in his Freedom review but had heard nothing.
"If all are agreed that we have too many rules and regulations, if all accept that many of these rules do not deliver what they promise or even do the opposite, the task ahead is to repeal and amend to cut the burden and improve the effectiveness where regulation is needed," Mr Redwood said.
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office last night confirmed that the Freedom Bill was now being handled by the Home Office. However a spokesman for the Home Office said: "I don't think any one department has ownership of this bill."Nearly 90% of chief financial officers feel their business faces abnormally high levels of uncertainty, according to survey
Confidence among chief financial officers at large British companies has only partially recovered from a post-referendum plunge and more than half expect to cut investment and hiring over the coming year, as they fret about the long-term consequences of Brexit.
A poll taken three months after the vote to leave the EU shows that 88% of finance officers feel their business is facing abnormally high levels of uncertainty. In the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum on 23 June, the figure was 92%. The survey by consultants Deloitte also shows that risk aversion remains high.
The publication of the poll on Monday comes as concern among businesses grows that the government has set a course for a hard Brexit deal, which would leave the UK shut out of the single market and with limited access to skilled workers from overseas. Fears as to the implications for trade, inward investment and Britain’s standing in global markets have knocked the pound to new 31-year lows against the dollar.
Against this febrile market backdrop, business leaders wrote to the prime minister, Theresa May, warning that a hard Brexit would cause such grievous damage that it should immediately be ruled out as an option.
The government will come under further pressure on Monday as the British Chambers of Commerce urges ministers to restore confidence among businesses as the starting date for Brexit negotiations approaches.
At the Conservative party conference last week, May said she will trigger article 50 by the end of March 2017, setting in motion the two-year process of leaving the EU. Publishing a survey showing a cautious mood among businesses, the BCC said guidance on the timing of negotiations went only some of the way to helping jittery employers as they make hiring and spending plans.
“Boosting business must be a key task for government in the months ahead,” said the BCC’s acting director general, Adam Marshall.
“The prime minister has given businesses some clarity on the timetable for article 50 and on short-term regulatory and legal issues. This is helpful, but needs to be followed up by a firm demonstration that the government has a clear and coherent strategy to defend the UK’s economic and business interests in the negotiations that lie ahead.”
The BCC’s survey of more than 7,000 companies suggested that they had lowered their expectations for hiring, turnover, and investment in plants, machinery and training.
The survey results suggested that the economy had avoided a downturn for now and was still growing, albeit at a slower pace than before the referendum, the BCC said.
This conclusion echoes other indications that consumers continued to spend and business activity held up over the summer, despite warnings before the referendum that a leave vote could cause a recession.
There were also signs of a modest recovery from the initial referendum shock in the Deloitte poll of 124 finance officers. In the days after the Brexit vote, 73% of respondents said they had become gloomier about their company’s prospects. Asked again in September, 47% said they were gloomier than three months earlier, 37% said they felt the same and 16% were more optimistic.
The pattern of gloom easing, but remaining widespread, was repeated across other measures. The proportion of finance officers saying now was a bad time to take on risk fell from 95% to 82%. Those planning to cut capital spending in the next 12 months fell from 82% to 58%, with 51% saying hiring would slow, down from 83% in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.
Ian Stewart, the chief economist at Deloitte, said: “Since our last survey, we’ve seen the appointment of a new prime minister, a strong rally in equity markets and a solid run of UK economic data.
“But chief financial officers continue to see significant risks in the economic environment and perceptions of uncertainty remain elevated.”
Much of the concern over the economic impact of leaving the EU has focused on Britain’s financial sector, a major source of jobs and tax revenue. There are worries that a hard Brexit could push banks to look to cities such as Frankfurt and Dublin as new European bases.
Over the weekend, Goldman Sachs played down speculation that it was looking to move a significant proportion of jobs to rival European cities if Britain loses preferential access to the single market.
Responding to a report in the Sunday Times saying the US bank was preparing to take nearly 2,000 staff out of London in the event of a hard Brexit, a spokesman said: “We continue to work through all possible implications of the Brexit vote.
“There remain numerous uncertainties as to what the Brexit negotiations will yield in terms of an operating framework for the banking industry. As a result, we have not taken any decisions as to what our eventual response will be, despite media speculation to the contrary.”Advertisement
I'm not exactly sure what you'd call a group of Boston Dynamics' LS3 "AlphaDog" robotic pack animals. A herd, I guess? Two LS3s might not quite constitute a herd, but it's certainly impressive to see both of them in operation, and just as impressive is this demonstration of some new features including autonomous person following and a much quieter engine.
LS3 has learned how to use its sensors to follow people around through all sorts of terrain, and the robot is learning how to obey verbal commands and gestures, all skills that will be important as LS3 trots toward its goal of carrying the gear for a squad of soldiers (about 400 pounds worth) for 20 miles without needing a break.
“We’ve refined the LS3 platform and have begun field testing against requirements of the Marine Corps,” said Army Lt. Col. Joe Hitt, DARPA program manager. “The vision for LS3 is to combine the capabilities of a pack mule with the intelligence of a trained animal.”
To me, this sort of implies that pack mules are pretty dumb and untrainable, which may well be true. The upside of a pack mule, I suppose, is that you can refuel them just about anywhere, and if you get hungry, well, after lugging around all your gear for you I imagine that said mule is probably rather beefy, as it were. On the other hand, if the mule is so dumb that it won't do what you want it to do most of the time, that's potentially worse than useless. The vision for LS3, then, is really to create a pack animal (able to clamber around after us in a way that wheeled vehicles just can't) that will reliably do what it's told, even while being shot at.
The other advantage that a real mule has is that most of the time, it doesn't sound like a gasoline engine. LS3's predecessor, BigDog, had a well-deserved reputation for sounding like a swarm of giant angry robotic bees thanks to the gas engine powering the hydraulics. In practice, this amount of noise will either send your enemies running in terror, or draw them right to you. Either way, not ideal, but you'll notice in the video that you can actually hear something besides LS3's engine (its footsteps, for example). This latest version of the robot is 10 times quieter than the original prototype.
Now that LS3 is a little more manageable (and tolerable), LS3 is going to spend the next couple of months learning how to amble along at 7 mph before going through additional testing on a military base in December. Next year, the test regime will culminate in a Marine Corps Advanced Warfighting Experiment which will see the LS3 embedded with a squad of humans for an operational exercise.
[ Boston Dynamics ] via [ DARPA ]To work with Ted Cruz is to hate him
To work with Ted Cruz is to hate him
“I was fascinated to hear that because I haven’t heard a thing about it from him. Nor has my staff heard from his staff,” McCain said of Cruz (R-Texas). “It came as a complete surprise to me that he had been pressing me. Maybe it was some medium that I’m not familiar with.” [...] McCain went to great lengths to ridicule Cruz for suggesting the two had discussed the issue. He joked that perhaps Cruz was bouncing messages off the “ozone layer.” “Maybe it was through, you know, hand telegraph. Maybe sign language,” McCain said. “Ask him how he communicated with me because I’d be very interested. Because who knows what I’m missing.”
He may be a presidential candidate, but at this point fellow senators are openly mocking Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz has been telling supporters that he's been "pressing" Sen. John McCain to hold hearings on gun restrictions on military bases (Cruz is ag'in em, obviously.) That's news to McCain, who takes the opportunity to lay into Cruz just for the fun of doing it That is not really the sort of soundbite you want to have hurled your way if you are trying to boost your presidential gravitas, but the anger most of his fellow senators hold towards Cruz, thanks to Cruz's repeated efforts to make them take rotten votes and support stupid things (see: shutdown) is probably not soothed in the slightest by Cruz now imagining himself worthy of even higher office.
Cruz now says he might have misspoken, and his office is now hard at work drafting a letter to McCain urging the thing they said they had already urged so that the next time Cruz uses the line he won't be a liar.
In the meantime, Cruz is pivoting to attack his fellow Republican would-be presidents for not defending guns vocally enough after the mass execution of elementary school children in Newtown, CT, momentarily made American's deep spiritual connections to their murder weapons look like a bad thing. They are innocent of this charge, I assure you—Rand Paul's own beliefs that American schoolchildren need to suck it up and learn to dodge better are well-established—but Cruz is still trying to stake a claim as being the most obsessive defender of guns in the race. Well, that and being the biggest liar, of course.SAN FRANCISCO, April 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Maxthon, a global and cross-platform web browser, announced today that it won three first-place awards in the 2013 About.com Readers’ Choice Awards for “Best Small Market Desktop Browser,” “Best Android Browser” and “Best iPad Browser.”
For the third year in a row, Maxthon Cloud Browser took home the “Best Small Market Desktop Browser” award, this year with 63 percent of the vote. The two other wins were in categories only recently created and both of which Maxthon dominated: an impressive 67 percent of voters agreed Maxthon is the “Best Android Browser” and a whopping 78 percent of voters said it was the “Best iPad Browser.”
“Winning an award like this reveals two things,” said Karl Mattson, VP of Maxthon’s International efforts. “One, they demonstrate that users want more out of their browser. They’re not settling for what has worked in the past but what works now and will work for them the future – and Maxthon does that beautifully. And when they get what they want, they’re not shy about taking the extra effort to tell others what they’ve found. And two, the win is yet another sign of the explosive growth we’re having in markets all around the world.”
As consumers continue to adopt a mobile and cloud-based lifestyle, Maxthon’s recognition on the Android and iPad platforms are telling of its forward-looking approach, expertise and popularity in creating a browser that meets the needs of users. Users most frequently cite Maxthon’s speed, its free cloud services and industry-leading support of ever-evolving HTML5 standards. You can view a full list of Maxthon’s offerings on www.maxthon.com
The About.com reader-driven awards program began on the site’s technology channel in 2008 and has expanded to highlight the best products, features and services across a wide variety of topics. Across the web, in peer reviews, fan blogs and in comparisons with other web browsers Maxthon consistently generates praise from users around the world.
Download Maxthon: http://www.maxthon.com
About Maxthon
Maxthon is an innovative software company that develops superior web browsers that continue to set new standards for speed, security, simplicity and cloud features. It is available on the Windows, Android, iOS and Mac platforms. With offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, Maxthon reaches a global community of users that tops more than 120,000,000 people each month in more than 150 countries. For more information about Maxthon please visithttp://www.maxthon.com
Burson-Marsteller for Maxthon
Lowell Eschen
Lowell.Eschen@BM.com× Expand Dylan Brogan
Madison’s flag has been heralded as one of the finest city banners. A 2004 survey conducted by the North American Vexillological Association ranked it 11th best out of 150 city flags. It’s a master of simplicity and symbolism. The light blue background represents lakes Mendota and Monona. The white diagonal band through the center evokes Madison’s isthmus. A black cross in the center symbolizes the Capitol and the city’s four lakes. A gold sun symbol is overlaid on the cross to complete the centerpiece and to represent Madison as a shining city.
But the use of that sun emblem — a sacred symbol of the Zia Pueblo people of New Mexico — gives Ald. Arvina Martin pause.
“It does give the appearance of the Capitol,” says Martin. “But, unfortunately, it’s also an extremely sacred symbol to people that didn’t really have a say in how that symbol was going to be used.”
Martin is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the first Native American to serve on the Common Council. She says native people have long been put off by the cultural appropriation of the Zia sun symbol on Madison’s flag.
“The Zia Pueblo is a very distinct tribe. They’ve never been up here, they are in the Southwest,” Martin says. “I don’t think the folks that created the flag had any ill-intentions or did this out of maliciousness. I just think people now have a greater understanding of cultural appropriation and how that relates to symbols and ideas. It’s something that we need to think about.”
Rick and Dennis Stone, brothers who were in the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps, designed Madison’s flag in the early 1960s. Their color guard instructor, John Price, inspired them to design a flag for the city.
“He thought we needed a Madison flag because we were always competing against other corps around the country, many of which had a flag representing their city,” says Rick Stone, who was 18 at the time. “We just sat down one day at our kitchen table and put it together. We used the isthmus as sort of the foundation of the design. We knew we needed something to represent the Capitol.”
Their mother sewed the very first Madison flag. In April 1962, the Stone brothers presented the flag to Mayor Henry Edward Reynolds and it was officially adopted by the city.
Stone says he wasn’t trying to appropriate anyone else’s culture with the design. “I knew it was a sun symbol but not that it was [Zia] Pueblo,” says Stone.
Stone is open to having his design altered.
“I wouldn’t have any objection to changing it,” he says. “Just as long as it doesn’t significantly change the flag’s design or makes it look completely different.”
For 30 years, the Zia have been fighting for control of their sun symbol. In 1999, Amadeo Shije, the former governor of Zia Pueblo, said “it was and is central to the Pueblo’s religion. It was and is a most sacred symbol. It represents the tribe itself.”
But since the state of New Mexico adopted the Zia symbol in its flag in 1926, policing the emblem through the courts is difficult. The symbol has been used commercially to sell everything from motorcycles to portable toilets. At first, the tribal nation sought to keep others from using its symbol entirely. But starting in the 2000s, the Zia started negotiating voluntary compensation agreements with corporate entities like Southwest Airlines and the New Mexico Bowl to use the symbol.
Martin wants to start a conversation about “altering” the Madison flag or, at the very least, consulting with the Zia people to see how they feel about a city — more than 1,000 miles away — using its symbol.
“I think it would be great if we could have a flag that honors the spirit of what the original designers wanted,” Martin says. “But we can do it without stepping on native communities’ toes and using their symbol without permission. I want to approach this thoughtfully and carefully. I don’t think this needs to be something that people get really riled up about.”
In December 2015, Ald. Maurice Cheeks championed a resolution requiring that the Madison flag be flown on all permanent flagpoles on city property. He says since the flag has been displayed more prominently, a number of members of the American Indian community have expressed concern about the design’s “insensitivity.”
“Flags are important sources of symbolism and pride,” Cheeks writes in an email. “I look forward to working with Ald. Martin to explore how our flag can be something that all people can be proud of, enjoy, find beautiful and brag about.”
Although Martin says Madison’s use of the sun symbol is problematic, she doesn’t single anyone out for criticism.
“I think the use of the Zia sun symbol was done only with positive intentions,” Martin says. “But I do not think it’s appropriate for our city flag.”
Since this story was posted, someone has created suggested redesigns for the Madison flag on the image-sharing site imgur.com. See the ideas here.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a link to suggested redesigns for the Madison flag.The gel could be used in radiation therapy for head and neck cancers, by working to soothe the painful mouth ulcers called mucositis that often develop from exposure to the high-energy radiation.
“Mucositis is the biggest complaint from patients, and it often leads to a lowered dose of the therapy,” says Karp.
If the side effects were alleviated, more patients might safely complete their scheduled course of therapy at the higher dose, and we would expect increased survival rates.
Not only is the drug delivery targeted, but the gel also attaches more easily to the site of inflammation than to the healthy tissues around it.
“Ulcers have more of a positive charge than the other tissues, so the materials we use are more negatively charged,” says Karp.
Targeted release reduces, to one-fifth or less, the extent to which the drug can be absorbed into whole-body systems, keeping the action at the local site where it is needed. Systemic absorption is often the origin of side effects. Doses can be spaced at longer intervals, and the drug is generally more effective and less toxic. For a patient with inflammatory bowel disease, this could mean replacing a daily enema to a once-per-week regimen that targets the positively-charged surface of an inflamed colon.
Inflammation-activated gels can be used to carry and release drugs other than anti-inflammatories. The latest application for Karp’s innovation is in limb transplantation. A hind limb from a black rat transplanted to a white rat is usually rejected around 11 days later. With regular immune suppressant therapy that time is extended to 33 days. But with an injection of hydrogel loaded with the same immune suppressant drug, the leg is maintained up to 150 days later. Working with the US Army, a group in Pittsburg is taking this research further, into the pig model. Pigs are often used to test such medical procedures, because their response closely mimics the human response.
Inflammation, though widespread in human ailments, is just one possible catalyst of drug release. In a future where a medical problem can activate its own solution, our diseases may all but order their drugs for delivery.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.By Dana Sittler, Product Manager, and Alex Li, Engineering Manager
People are watching and sharing more video on Facebook than ever, and we’re focused on continuously improving the video experience. Today, we’re excited to share several updates that make watching video on Facebook richer, more engaging and more flexible.
Bringing Sound to Videos in News Feed
Videos in News Feed have previously played silently — you tap on a video to hear sound. As people watch more video on phones, they’ve come to expect sound when the volume on their device is turned on. After testing sound on in News Feed and hearing positive feedback, we’re slowly bringing it to more people. With this update, sound fades in and out as you scroll through videos in News Feed, bringing those videos to life.
If your phone is set to silent, videos will not play with sound. If you never want videos to play with sound, you can disable this feature by switching off “Videos in News Feed Start With Sound” in Settings. We’ll also be showing in-product messages to tell people about the new sound on experience and controls.
Vertical Video
We’ve also made changes to make vertical videos look better on mobile devices. Last year we began testing a larger preview of vertical videos in News Feed on mobile. People responded positively, so that larger format is now available to everyone watching videos on iOS and Android.
Watch and Scroll
We know that sometimes you want to watch a video and also want to keep scrolling through your News Feed. It’s now possible to minimize the video you’re watching to a picture-in-picture view that keeps playing in the corner of your screen while you browse other stories in News Feed. You can drag the video to any corner of the screen, and if you’re using an Android device, you can keep the video playing even when you exit the Facebook app to do something else on your phone.
Facebook Video App for TV
Finally, we’ve heard that people want more options for how and where they watch Facebook videos. Today we’re announcing a new Facebook video app for TV, which will roll out soon to app stores for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Samsung Smart TV, with more platforms to come.
Our video app for TV is a new way to enjoy Facebook videos on a bigger screen. Last year we rolled out the ability for you to stream videos from Facebook to your TV, and today’s announcement expands this capability. With the app, you can watch videos shared by friends or Pages you follow, top live videos from around the world, and recommended videos based on your interests. You can also catch up on videos you’ve saved to watch later, as well as revisit videos you’ve watched, shared or uploaded. We look forward to seeing how people use the app to enjoy Facebook videos in a new way.Google has run afoul of the Chinese government once again.
Authorities in Beijing restricted access to Google (GOOGL) services this week, according to Chinese censorship watchdog GreatFire.org, rendering the search engine as well as products like Gmail and Google Calendar inaccessible to millions of Internet users.
"We've checked extensively and there are no technical problems on our side," a Google spokeswoman said.
The move came ahead of the 25th anniversary of the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown, discussion of which is still strictly censored by the Chinese government.
Google isn't completely blocked in China: Some Chinese residents have still been able to reach Google services, according to the company's public data, but total traffic has dropped in recent days.
Related: Banned! 7 things you won't find in China
Services like Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR) and Google-owned YouTube, meanwhile, have long been completely blocked by the government.
Google has tangled with Beijing on a number of occasions over censorship issues. The site and all its major services were blocked back in 2012 as the Communist Party met for its once-a-decade gathering to appoint new leaders.
In January 2010, Google threatened to shut down its Chinese search site at Google.cn, citing censorship rules and the discovery of a cyber attack on its network infrastructure. Two months later, the company said it would stop censoring searches on Google.cn and automatically redirect Chinese users to its uncensored Hong Kong site.
The Hong Kong site and other international Google portals have been restricted in China during this latest disruption, GreatFire said.This past Tuesday I made a big mistake: I had a few drinks too many with some friends after work.
The next day I made an even bigger mistake: I took a trip to hell on earth.*
Let me explain. After my big night out, I woke up Wednesday feeling a little under the weather and a little late for work. After skipping breakfast to get to my office on time, I spent the morning listening to the various sounds my empty stomach was making. In an attempt to remedy this problem, I sought sustenance from that icon of American cuisine, McDonald’s. But I didn’t go to just any location, I went to the World’s Largest McDonalds. (Technically the title is disputed between several restaurants across the country, but even if it’s not the largest, it’s still pretty damn big. And busy. Like an Army Navy surplus store in the End Times busy.)
In addition to it’s billing as the World’s Largest McDonald’s, this store is also labeled “The World’s Most Unique McDonald’s.” This is true, as there are things inside this location that I have never seen anywhere else (thankfully). This includes barely-working animatronic characters that sputter to life at different intervals, their mouths not even close to being synced up with the music. Also present are air hockey tables, arcade games, full service ice cream bars, and this flag-draped Statue of Liberty guarding a merchandise shop on the second floor for some reason (yes, there is a second floor). At night the building is visible from space.
All of this is set to an incredibly loud soundtrack of classic rock. I enjoyed nearly vomiting to such classics as The Beach Boys’ “Kokomo” and Chubby Checker’s “The Twist.”
As crazy and wacky as the restaurant itself is, it could probably run away with the “Most Unique” title based solely on the customers. Seeing as how this store is in the heart of the tourist corridor, people from all walks of life come to congregate, interact, and fatten. I took my place in line between a family in matching Wisconsin Badgers shirts and a giant tour group of Brazilian teens (I couldn’t understand a word they were saying except for the occasional “Big Mac” and “Mickey Mouse.” What a country). Since I don’t think it wise to mess with the classics, I elected to order a standard Quarter Pounder with Cheese, although the menu is filled with items that I am pretty sure are not typically available at fast food joints. After reading it, I wanted to ask the manager if McDonald’s Corporate had signed off on the menu, or if I was dealing with some sort of rogue franchisee. But given that I was in a bad way from the night before, I decided against it. That and the thought of discussing the legality of an eggs benedict panini made my stomach even more uneasy.
The ordering system itself is odd, in that you pay at a separate cashier and then are herded into this corral area to wait for your food. Standing in a corral while waiting for a burger felt a little too ironic for me. Once I received my order, I navigated my way through the sea of Brazilians and found a reasonably quiet corner next to a bewildered-looking British family. Between their sunburns and greasy napkins, they could almost pass as locals.
To be honest, the rest of the meal was a blur. Between my extreme hunger, and desire to leave, I think I set the all-time record for consumption of a Quarter Pounder (Is that an Olympic event yet?**). I then fled the premises, leaving mid-westerners and foreigners in my wake.
All in all, it was an interesting experience, truly a once-in-a-lifetime event (for me at least).
The moral of the story is, as always, take it easy on Tuesday nights or go to hell on Wednesday afternoons.
For more info, check out this video tour I found online.
* This is not a new expansion of the Holy Land Experience
** Maybe, yes, since they are building this at the Summer Olympics this year.Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who has often been slammed for running a totalitarian regime among other things and almost ruined the country's economy with massive hyper-inflation, has in a fresh show of his authoritarianism ordered that all athletes who represented the country in the 2016 Rio Olympics be arrested because they had failed to win a medal.
His reaction seems commensurate with that of another dictator, Kim Jong-un of North Korea, who had reportedly ordered all athletes who had underperformed at the Olympics in Brazil to be sent to work in coal mines. This, despite the fact that they had won seven medals, including two golds.
According to the National Transitional Authority, Mugabe told Augustine Chihuri, the commissioner general of Zimbabwe police, to arrest the entire Zimbabwean Olympic team -- a total of 31 athletes, none of whom finished above the 8th position in any contest -- as soon as they arrived at the Harare International Airport.
"We have wasted the country's money on these rats we call athletes. If you are not ready to sacrifice and win even copper or brass medals as our neighbours Botswana did, then why do |
. I used to design URLs in an indented text file and then map it to a list of regexps, but the routes.rb file is close enough to a spec and doesn’t require me to even think about regexes, ‘nuff said.
Authentication: Authlogic
Authentication is hard. Really, really hard. And boring. Really, really boring. But important. Really, really important. Everyone knows that the sign-up funnel is critical to get right and security is easy to get wrong. Most quality sites have a little bit of domain-specific special sauce in their authentication model. Trivial sign-up and log-in forms just don’t cut it. One size simply does not fit all for authentication front-ends, but the authentication back-ends tend to be pretty repeatable. Authlogic turns repeatable into re-usable, without the baggage of views you’re going to need to rewrite anyway. Thinking about authentication as CRUD operations on a user-session model blew my mind slightly. I had a full authentication system tuned to my needs up and running within two hours.
Authorization: CanCan
I hate ACLs. Role-based authorization simply has too much impedance mismatch for most problem domains. CanCan is a clever little library which makes zero assumptions about how permissions are represented. Simply declare a list of everything a user can do and how to tell if they may. Query with the can? function, or assert with the authorize! method. Beautiful.
Rope to Hang Yourself: Ruby Itself
One keyword in my previous post triggered much discussion: magic. The concept of magic is a topic for a whole ‘nother blog post (as I’ve already been hung a few times), but as several commenters pointed out: it’s all just Ruby. Between mixins, include, require, blocks, method_missing, symbols, and many other features, Ruby is a very capable internal domain specific language development toolkit. Most of the time, you don’t want a DSL. If you’re not an expert in both the host language and the DSL, there is almost certain confusion and maintenance danger. Most projects are either small or distinct enough to justify writing more verbose code that can more readily be understood by successors or even your future self. The gains of a DSL do not always outweigh the costs. Python excels at not supporting DSLs; it is basically executable pseudocode. However, when it comes to a task as common as web application development, it’s worth the time to develop or learn a DSL or two. Rails is loaded with DSL features and “magic” behavior that increases the learning curve, but also increases peak productivity.
Community
These sites have been invaluable: The Ruby Toolbox, RailsPlugins, Railscasts. The quantity and quality of Ruby libraries on Github continues to impress. The educational infrastructure is extensive. Somehow, the Ruby community seems to consistently be at the forefront of the biggest trends in software development. Much like Rails compared to other frameworks, the community distinctions are subtle, but meaningful. For example, Rubyists championed Git while Python adopted Hg. To the untrained eye, they are virtually identical tools, but extensive experience with both has convinced me that Git is significantly superior. I’m new to the community, but it seems like Rubyists tend to insist on quality and bet on the winning horses.
Other Random Things
Javascript and CSS minification are trivially easy with plug-ins
Static files are served with version stamps for better caching behavior
Console and file logging are usefully configured by default
git push heroku
rails.vim
ActiveMerchant looks awesome
Only been working with Rails for two weeks; lots more goodness to uncover
Just who the hell do I think I am?
I’m nobody. Just some opinionated computer geek working on a start-up. Not unlike many of you! My co-founder and I are currently participating in TechStars Seattle and hope to launch something killer come demo day, November 11th, 2010. We’ve got a grand vision for next generation enterprise collaboration software, but we’re starting small by focusing on making weekly status reports less painful and more useful. More details soon, but please visit http://www.thinkfuse.com. Thanks!Manga creator Takeshi Nogami (Sailor-fuku to Jūsensha, Panzer fräulein ALTESEISEN), anime writer and setting advisor Takaaki Suzuki (Strike Witches, Last Exile), and translator Dan Kanemitsu (new Evangelion films, Love Hina) are collaborating on a dōjinshi (self-published work) about the recently passed amendment to Tokyo's Youth Healthy Development Ordinance.
Saru Demo Wakaru To-Jōrei Taisaku ~Monkey Business~ ( An Idiot's Guide to Tokyo's Harmful Books Regulation ) will be available at Comic Market 79 on December 31 at the Tokyo Big Sight event complex. The Japanese/English book will also be available from Amazon Japan.
The current ordinance already prevents the sale and renting of "harmful publications" — materials that are "sexually stimulating, encourages cruelty, and/or may compel suicide or criminal behavior" — to people under the age of 18. Tokyo's Bill 156 will expand the definition of "harmful publications"; the industry will now regulate "manga, anime, and other images" that "unjustifiably glorify or exaggerate" certain sexual or pseudo sexual acts. The government can also directly regulate these images if the depicted acts are also "considered to be excessively disrupting of social order" such as rape.
The upcoming dōjinshi will feature manga parodying the amendment along with English translations of the dialogue. There are also Japanese essays for which Kanemitsu is translating into English online. The creators encourage readers to share the book, as long as it is done noncommercially.
The dōjinshi's three authors have previously collaborated on a series of dōjinshi about Strike Witches. All three also actively opposed Bill 156 and a similar earlier bill that the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly rejected in June.
The dōjinshi's Japanese title, which can roughly be translated as "Even a Monkey Can Understand the Opposition to Tokyo's Ordinance," is a reference to Kentaro Takekuma and Koji Aihara's insider's guide to the manga industry, Saru demo Kakeru Manga Kyōshitsu (Even A Monkey Can Draw Manga).
Update: The number of the next Comic Market has been corrected. Kanemitsu notes that the dōjinshi, like many others, is all-ages. It will be available in Japan at Tora no Ana, Comic Zin, and other dōjinshi retailers after Comic Market.USA Today is reporting that the San Francisco 49ers are joining seven other teams in a pilot program covering distribution of player medical information within and among teams. The most recently collective included a clause covering this "Electronic Medical Record System".
Article 40, Section 3 describes it as follows:
Section 3. Electronic Medical Record System: The NFL shall develop and imple ment an online, 24-hour electronic medical record system within 24 months of the effective date of this Agreement or such longer period as the parties may agree. Fifty percent (50%) of the costs of developing and implementing such system shall be a Player Benefit Cost. Once implemented and operational, the cost of maintaining the system thereafter shall not be counted as a Player Benefit Cost.
According to USA Today, data including X-rays, imaging studies, notes and other stuff would be stored on iPads belonging to NFL medical staffs. When a player gets hurt and comes to the sideline, the medical staff would have all the necessary information at their fingertips in an efficient manner.
Where this gets even more interesting, and arguably more controversial is in free agency and trades. The report states that when a player changes team, the medical data could be transferred to the new team. Given that it is digitally based, that is not all that difficult.
The issue that will need to be negotiated is the timing on potential transfers of information. Players have to go through physicals when they are talking to teams as free agents, or in the midst of a potential trade. If a player's current team has detailed medical records, will that information be available to all other teams at the same time, or will it be transferred after a deal is done? It sounds like the plan is after the fact, but it is something the NFL and NFLPA will need to negotiate before this is made available across the league.
For now though, the 49ers remain on the cutting edge. This is something multiple teams are doing, but it's not surprising to see the 49ers involved. The 49ers have been quite visible in their use of technology to improve team efficiency. This particular example is going to eventually involve the rest of the NFL, but for now, the 49ers get to be one of the first.The consortium behind a massive energy project approved by the federal Liberal cabinet is hesitant about forging ahead even after investing billions of dollars in British Columbia.
Pacific NorthWest LNG, led by Malaysia's state-owned Petronas, will need months to examine more than 190 conditions attached to Ottawa's approval of a proposed B.C. terminal to export liquefied natural gas from Lelu Island.
"Petronas and its partners will study the conditions imposed by the Canadian authorities and conduct a total review of the proposed project prior to deciding on the next steps forward," Petronas said Wednesday in a statement from Kuala Lumpur.
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It was a muted response to an announcement made with great fanfare on Tuesday in Richmond, with Premier Christy Clark lauding the province's four-year fight to get the project approved and federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna praising the government's insistence on environmental protections, as well as providing an economic boon.
Petronas's response appeared to be a retreat for a company that has bet heavily on Canada's resource industry. In 2012, the Malaysian company paid $5.2-billion to acquire Progress Energy Canada, a natural gas producer in northeast British Columbia.
In total, roughly $36-billion will need to be spent to make Pacific NorthWest LNG's planned exports a reality in 2021.
The budget includes $11.4-billion for the LNG export terminal on Lelu Island and $12-billion related to drilling and natural gas production, of which $5-billion already has been spent on northeast B.C. operations from 2013 to 2015. TransCanada Corp. plans to build two pipelines at a cost totalling $6.7-billion to move natural gas from northeast B.C. to Lelu Island.
Ottawa's decision to give the go-ahead for construction of the terminal near Prince Rupert raises industry hopes for an LNG boom while also setting the stage for protests from environmentalists and some First Nations. Critics, who are worried about increased greenhouse gas emissions and local ecological impacts on salmon, say the conditions don't go far enough to reduce potential environmental harm.
Pacific NorthWest LNG said it needs to scrutinize the array of conditions and review the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency's 339-page final report.
Pacific NorthWest LNG is aiming to have its planned B.C. export terminal running in 2021, but with the global economics of LNG looking poor due to a glut of supply, industry observers expect the consortium to delay making a final investment decision.
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Ms. Clark's B.C. Liberals campaigned hard to promote LNG's prospects in the 2013 provincial election, boasting that exports of the fuel would transform the provincial economy.
Some industry experts, however, doubt construction will start before British Columbia's general election in May, 2017, and there is uncertainty about whether the co-owners can make the math work so it is worthwhile to proceed.
Eurasia Group, a New York-based political risk firm, said Petronas will likely delay a final investment decision until late 2017, and will then encounter a tough market. The environmental conditions are fairly onerous compared with what many international competitors face, Eurasia group analyst Divya Reddy said.
"Petronas is definitely unhappy with the difficulty of the permitting process and it will certainly give Petronas pause, and delays – especially absent a market recovery – are now more likely," Ms. Reddy said. "Over all, we still think there is political motivation on the part of the Malaysians to move forward. The government wants to make Petronas a global national champion and is taking a longer-term view of the market."
Pacific NorthWest LNG is seeking to overcome the shaky economics of exporting LNG. Prices for the fuel have plunged in Asia over the past couple of years.
While the federal Liberal cabinet's project approval clears the way for construction of the export terminal, the Petronas-led group will need to pare costs just to break even on its operations if LNG prices in Asia stay in doldrums, industry experts say.
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The venture's co-owners are financial backers and also "off-take partners" – long-term buyers of LNG in Asia. In short, the partners have agreed to be both producers and buyers of LNG.
Raymond James Ltd. analyst Andrew Bradford said Pacific NorthWest LNG still makes sense in the long term when considering security of supply and geographic diversification, despite low prices being experienced in the short term. He expects that the LNG project will be constructed eventually because the conditions placed on the project are manageable.
"Most of these conditions are standard safety, monitoring and best construction practices. Several conditions limit certain phases of construction to specific times of the year, while others require stringent environmental protection during construction, particularly around dredging and piling construction," Mr. Bradford said in research note.
Despite concerns from activists, Ms. McKenna insists the energy project would not jeopardize Canada's international commitments on climate change.
"Every project needs to fit in with our national [climate] plan. We understand that," she said in Ottawa. "We've mitigated the emissions from this particular project significantly through a variety of different measures. And clearly, we recognize that this project needs to form part of our national plan."
Matt Horne, B.C. associate director at the Pembina Institute, a clean-energy think tank, said the project would make it impossible for British Columbia to meet its own targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and far more difficult for Canada to meet its national commitments.
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"It's still possible for Canada to get on track with its climate plan even with this plant, but it absolutely makes it far more challenging," Mr. Horne said.He's no stranger to the small screen, but now TODAY host Karl Stefanovic is about to make the leap into Hollywood – with an appearance in the sequel to the 1996 hit film Independence Day.
Last week Karl travelled to the film set in Albuquerque, New Mexico to shoot a scene for Independence Day: Resurgence, which is expected to be released next year.
“It’s not easy playing me,” he told his colleagues this morning on TODAY.
“When you act on the stage everything has to be heightened, but on film, it’s all about the eyes,
“It’s a breakthrough role.”
Karl gives a preview of his acting skills. ()
Karl is expected to feature in a scene with an actor playing the US president.
“You’re going to have to come out and see the movie to see this speaking part,” he said. “It may not be long. It may not be very involved and it may be awful.”
TODAY co-host Sylvia Jeffreys jokingly took a stab at Karl’s new Hollywood movie adventure.
“Is that Independence Day or Avatar?” she joked, referring to a Photoshopped poster of the movie showing a blue-tinged Karl.
“You’re already a superstar - you’re going to be a mega star.”
Jeff Goldblum, Liam Hemsworth and Vivica A Fox are leading the cast in the new film.
Karl revealed his new movie career. ()
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019An Ottawa woman wants Ontario to require all restaurants, movie theatres and community centres to provide changing tables for children after she says she was shamed at a family restaurant for changing her daughter on a dining room table.
Kelly's Landing Restaurant is in the south Ottawa community of Manotick. (CBC News) It happened three weeks ago when Candice Pouliotte went to Kelly's Landing Restaurant for lunch in the south Ottawa community of Manotick with her grandparents and her two young children.
When she noticed her months-old daughter Simone needed changing, she asked a waitress if they had any changing tables and the waitress said no.
Pouliotte said she asked if she could use a dining table instead and that the waitress said yes.
Pouliotte said she used one of the tables inside because all the restaurant's customers were eating on an outside deck and no one was inside.
'We grabbed our things and walked out'
"I would never have changed her in front of anyone's view," she told CBC News this week.
When she was finished the owner walked up and asked her how she dared to change her baby inside a restaurant, she said.
Sarah Chown, who heads the Ottawa chapter of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association, says family-friendly restaurants should want to provide changing tables for customers. (CBC News) He walked away, she followed, and after an exchange that didn't involve any yelling Pouliotte's grandmother asked if Pouliotte wanted to leave.
"He [the owner] said, 'I think that would be for the best,' so we grabbed our things and walked out," she said.
After the family got into the car Pouliotte returned to the restaurant to explain to the owner why she was upset.
"As a paying customer and being a mother, I think that telling someone to leave a restaurant to change a child is treating them like a second-class citizen or worse," she said.
"A child shouldn't have to sit in a soiled diaper while you eat your dinner or have your lunch. I think that if any business is open during daytime hours, that this should be a standard."
Owner says he was shocked
The owner of Kelly's Landing, Dan Dunbar, did not agree to a taped interview with CBC News but said he was shocked to see Pouliotte changing her baby on a dining table.
She could have done it on the grass or a park bench beside his restaurant, he said.
Sarah Chown, who heads the Ottawa chapter of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association, said many restaurants including the three she manages have washroom change tables.
"Especially if you're going to be a family-friendly restaurant or cater to families, it's probably a service that you would want to provide," she said.
Since Jan. 1 the Ontario Government has required newly built larger restaurants to have a family washroom with a changing table. Older buildings without them are not required to install them.
Poll questionWhen the news agencies began issuing their first reports on the Paris murders on Wednesday afternoon, the presidents of Germany's major security agencies were sitting around a conference table. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, was hosting a routine "security conversation" in Berlin. French security officials in Paris sent their situation reports to the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Interior Ministry, and the officials attending de Maizière's meeting were kept updated.
De Maizière gave orders that remained all but unnoticed by the public. A police bulletin was issued in Germany for the second getaway car, a Renault Clio with the Paris license plate number 157 NBZ 75. The federal police agency's border agents were instructed to keep an eye out for suspicious individuals. Finally, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's domestic intelligence agency, was told to closely monitor individuals on its watch lists and search for possible connections between German Islamists and France. All of this is part of a routine of sorts during heightened terrorism alerts.
Islamist terror returned to Europe on Wednesday, to France, Germany's closest and most important neighbor. There is a special connection between these two nations, which were once arch enemies but now, for almost six decades, have formed the heart of European unity. So what does the Paris attack mean for Germany, what does it mean for its government, its political parties and, most of all, its citizens? Will fear run rampant in a Europe without borders? Or possibly even xenophobia? Everyone in the German capital is familiar with the questions, but no one knows the answers.
"Keep a cool head." It's something many politicians in Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition government -- comprised of her CDU and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) -- are now saying, partly to calm themselves. It is up to them and the media to show that they can keep Islam and Islamism separate in their rhetoric and actions, even under great pressure. If they do not succeed, Germany could change. Suspicion could proliferate against all things Muslim and corrode society. Our society's openness is its strength, but so is its internal and external vulnerability.
It's a fine line. The interior minister and the justice minister stress that they are opposed to new security laws. But they are also quick to list the decisions that were reached before the attack, and the pending legislation currently stuck in the parliamentary bureaucracy. It sounds like a reinsurance policy.
Can Calm Prevail?
Only the next several days will show whether calm will prevail in Germany, because there is one factor that is difficult to predict: What does it mean that a relatively successful party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is trying to derive political capital from the killings?
"Our composure is that of a country that has not faced a fundamental test of this kind yet. But when push comes to shove, we have stuck together until now. I am confident that this would also be true in the case of a terrorist attack," says Interior Minister de Maizière. But there is a hint of quiet skepticism within his certainty. According to a Bertelsmann study conducted before the Paris attack, 57 percent of Germany's non-Muslim population sees Islam as a threat, up from 53 percent in 2012.
By coincidence, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) was attending a presentation by the German Giant-Alpecin cycling team for the Tour de France at the French Embassy in Berlin when the first news of the attack arrived. Suddenly the ambassador was called away from the room. When Maas was told what had happened a short time later, he expressed his sympathy to the ambassador. It was a moment of helplessness.
Maas, the cabinet's sharpest critic of the anti-Islamic Pegida protest movement in Dresden, is sticking to his criticism when he says: "Perhaps the murders in France will change the situation, but not the arguments." Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen voiced similar sentiments: "This is not Islam. This is pure terror. And it makes us all the more determined to stand side-by-side with France for freedom and tolerance."
This is now the line taken by the entire German government, always careful to erect a firewall between Islam and Islamists. On Friday, German President Joachim Gauck said, "Our society is large. We will not allow extremists -- regardless what their political inclination -- to weaken or defeat us. We have institutions and laws to counter fanaticism and violence."
It was an important distinction to make because otherwise the roughly 4 million Muslims in Germany would all become potential suspects. Most have their roots in Turkey, a country that has little in common with the Islamism of the Arab world. On the other hand, this firewall also blocks a question many people are asking today: Could it have something to do with Islam itself that most of the acts of terror around the world in recent years were committed in the name of this religion?
New Rules Already in Works
The government does not wish to entertain this notion under any circumstances. Instead, Interior Minister de Maizière points out which laws the grand coalition has already decided to tighten. Even the attempt to travel to a terrorist training camp will soon be a punishable offence, as will the funding of terrorist groups. A bill will be submitted to the cabinet in January that would enable law enforcement to revoke the identification cards of suspects.
The Christian Democratic interior minister also supports the establishment of an EU-wide requirement to collect certain data from air travelers. It would enable authorities to compare the names of passengers on flights to Europe from certain regions against wanted lists before their arrival. The European Parliament initially blocked the proposal. "We need this ability to compare passenger data," says de Maizière, who discussed the issue with several EU interior ministers in Paris on Sunday. He also sees a new debate developing over the controversial subject of data retention. De Maiziére said the ministers would be prepared to make compromises on the traveler database but that it would not accept "blockading" by the European Parliament.
But SPD Justice Minister Maas remains skeptical. He quotes former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg who, after the 2011 massacre of 77 people in his country, said: "We will never renounce our values -- our answer is more democracy, more openness and more humanity. But never naïveté." Maas does not want to see any new security laws enacted.
In Norway, Stoltenberg's appeal only strengthened the proud composure of his fellow citizens. Do the Germans, who have not suffered a similar attack yet, also have what the British call a "stiff upper lip?" "I am certain that our people will place the incidents in the right context," says Horst Seehofer, the chairman of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavaria sister party to Merkel's CDU. In fact, he adds, if Germany does not have a credible response to the fear of terrorism, it will only benefit the Pegida protest movement. "I am pleased that all democratic parties in Germany have so far refrained from deriving political capital from the attack."
But not all. The AfD views the Paris murders as confirmation of its warnings about Islam and Islamists. In mid-December, following an attack on a café in Sydney, party leader Konrad Adam said: "This shows that you don't even need mass immigration to put people in danger. All it takes is one person." Or, to put it plainly: Only a Muslim-free country is a safe country. And now he says: "The attack validates the Pegida demonstrators in many respects, and it shows that politicians were wrong in flatly condemning them. I expect that Pegida will continue to grow." The same could apply to his party, the AfD, which is apparently trying to build a bridge to the protesters. If the German political landscape begins shifting to the right as a result, the CDU and the CSU will be quick to jettison their aura of self-control.
Joachim Herrmann, Bavaria's state interior minister, offered a taste of what is to come. "Monitoring radicalized individual perpetrators is costly and complex. The only solution is to have well-trained and experienced personnel." Stephan Mayer, the spokesman on domestic policy for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, is calling for "additional staff to observe potentially threatening individuals and those returning from Syria." He is touching on a sore spot.
A Threat to German Security?
On Wednesday, the BKA activated its "Immediate Measures in Response to Terrorist Incidents Abroad." The list of measures, last updated in 2009, focuses on determining, as quickly as possible, the whereabouts of potential attackers or "relevant individuals" with ties to jihadist groups. The monitoring is to be conducted "in a concealed manner," that is, through informants, observation and telephone surveillance.
This requires tremendous resources. The BKA estimates that there are about 1,000 individuals in Islamist terrorist circles in Germany, of which 230 are under special surveillance. They are classified as so-called "Gefährder" (literally, "endangerers"), who are prepared to commit acts of violence at any time. German counterterrorism officials pay special attention to the roughly 550 individuals who have traveled to Syria recently, some of whom have been involved in fighting, as well as the 180 who have returned to Germany.
DER SPIEGEL Graphic: Jihadists in Europe
The Federation of German Police Officers (BDK) estimates that about 3,600 officers would be needed just to monitor these returnees around the clock. "This is beyond the scope," says André Schulz, the head of the BDK. "We need more observation teams if we want to improve the security situation in Germany," says Schulz. The BfV has recently approved only 36 additional employees for such surveillance work.
In an initial assessment, the BKA said last week that the Paris attack has not had a direct impact on the security situation in Germany. Nevertheless, patrol cars were posted on Thursday in front of the offices of several German newspapers that had reprinted cartoons from Charlie Hebdo.
The attack could "serve as an opening for individuals living or staying in Germany who are inclined to commit similar acts," the BKA report states. The murderous attack on the editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo proves "that such attacks could happen in European cities and capitals at any time," the report continues. The actions of the Paris attackers correspond to a "trend to stage attacks in Western countries propagated by terrorist organizations" in recent times, say BKA officials.
Early Sunday morning, an arson attack was committed against the Hamburger Morgenpost, one of the newspapers in Germany that reprinted Charlie Hebdo cartoons after the murders. The authorities are currently investigating possible motives for the Hamburg incident, which did not result in any injuries.
Meanwhile, the authorities must also keep an eye on right-wing and extremist right-wing groups. The inflammatory German website Politically Incorrect (PI), for example, called upon its supports to fight back "with no holds barred." According to an article published on the PI website on Wednesday evening, Germany is "at war" with Islamist "occupiers" acting "on the orders of a hostile religion."
Germany Is a Target
For intelligence agencies, the Paris attack confirmed "what we have been warning against for months," said a senior BfV official. In an internal analysis prepared in the fall of 2014, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany's foreign intelligence agency, had warned against attacks by the militant terrorist group Islamic State, saying that it could commit "a major terrorist attack affecting that public in the West." The official propaganda vehicle of IS, a glossy product called Dabiq, has named Germany as a concrete target.
In fact, Germany has only narrowly escaped attacks in the past. A group based in the central Sauerland region was planning attacks until 2007, and in 2006 the so-called suitcase bombers planted explosives in two regional trains, but the bombs failed to detonate. Bonn may have escaped a major attack in December 2012. Probably the only reason a bomb deposited in a bag at the city's main train station did not go off is that a pedestrian apparently destroyed the trigger mechanism by kicking the bag.
In November 2014, a SWAT team of about 50 officers stormed the apartments of four brothers suspected of gathering and delivering "substantial assets" for IS in Syria. Among the items seized at the apartments were night-vision goggles, binoculars, mobile phones and computers. The Berlin public prosecutor's office is investigating the men, who are Turkish citizens and are suspected of making "preparations for a serious act of violence endangering the state."
Strong indications of potential violence were also found in Düsseldorf, where members of an Al-Qaida cell were convicted a few weeks ago. They were planning attacks in Germany, but apparently they were also toying with the idea of taking action against Charlie Hebdo. Next to the bed of the cell's leader, Moroccan national Abdeladim El-K., officers found a spiral notebook in which the words "attack" and "execution" had been scribbled in French. The name of the French satirical magazine now synonymous with one of the bloodiest attacks in Western Europe was also written in the notebook and in an address book found in the apartment.
By Melanie Amann, Nikolaus Blome, Markus Deggerich, Hubert Gude, Horand Knaup, Peter Müller, Fidelius Schmid and Wolf Wiedmann-SchmidtThe precious snowflakes at the University of Kansas are the latest “victims” of Trump chalkings on the campus sidewalks.
The precious darlings compared the chalkings to the Confederate flag.
Campus Reform reported:
The University of Kansas is investigating pro-Donald Trump chalk that appeared on campus sidewalks Tuesday morning.
KU students took to Twitter this week to express their outrage over the political speech, saying they are troubled that some of their classmates are Trump supporters, and even comparing the chalk messages to the confederate flag.
Why didnt yall just draw a confederate flag and tell us how you REALLY feel? pic.twitter.com/OXrXVvQkSg — Jameelah Jones (@sunnydaejones) March 29, 2016
The university said that they would have allowed students to chalk had they applied for approval, but allegedly had staff remove the unapproved chalking the day it was discovered.
Former student senator Shegufta Huma, however, argued that approval from the University is less important than the message itself, tweeting a photo of one chalking with the caption, “Is this the post-racial paradise folks pretend exists?”
“The issue isn’t whether a student chalked or if it was approved,” Huma tweeted later. “The issue is folks in the KU vicinity support a racist, sexist demagogue.”
Nor were the students mollified when the KU News service pointed out that the chalking may have been done by someone from outside the school community.Sixty-seven women students who were attending a university in southern India and 61 women students who were attending a liberal arts college in New England volunteered to participate in this study. The women supplied demographic information, information about their knowledge and levels of preparedness prior to menarche, and sources of their information about the menstrual cycle. They also completed the Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire (Indian version), the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire, and a test of knowledge about the menstrual cycle. American women scored significantly higher than Indian women on the knowledge test, and they also reported that they had better preparation for menarche than Indian women did. Indian women scored significantly higher than American women on the attitude subscales: Menstruation as a Natural Event and Denial of the Effects of Menstruation. Implications of these findings are discussed in light of cultural messages women receive.I saw two particularly depressing trend lines this week. Both were confronting enough to make me stop, sit back and just contemplate. It was not as though these came as a great surprise — I’d been following these data for years. But for some reason, the seriousness of them really struck home like never before.
The first was a report on Arctic sea ice volume. Here is the graph that shocked me:
It shows the minimum northern hemisphere sea ice volume yearly from 1979 to 2011, and a simple time-series forecast based on a fit of the exponential-decline model. You can read about the details here: PIOMAS September 2011 (volume record lower still), where various related charts are also shown. One can argue about the precision of the projection line, but the general fit is remarkably robust and, on this basis, it is reasonable to conclude that unless some remarkable turn around occurs, the Arctic summer ice volume will be near-zero by 2020.
One explanation for this greater-than-expected decline is given in this new paper in Journal of Geophysical Research. Rampal et al. show that as the ice thins, it drifts more — increasing ‘export’ of ice to lower latitudes and accelerating melting. This may also explain the deviations seen between sea-ice extent (see left chart) and volume (both are bad, but volume is looking worse). Perhaps the gaps between small aggregations of ice are not showing up in the satellite data, with the mushy residual ice spreading out evenly to close gaps, thus appearing to maintain or even increase its extent, especially as the thinning summer ice becomes more ever more vulnerable to wind dispersion. As we approach zero volume, we will obviously get a clearer picture on positive feedbacks, but all that we can be sure of for now is that we are entering unknown territory.
The second depressing trend that disturbed me was the latest global carbon dioxide emissions data. The core problem is summarised here:
The world pumped about 512 million tonnes more of carbon into the air last year than it did in 2009, an increase of 6 per cent. That amount of extra pollution eclipses the individual emissions of all but three countries – China, the US and India, the world’s top producers of greenhouse gases.
A decent graphic that tells the ‘onward and upwards’ story is this:
Another more detailed chart, emphasising the magnitude of the recent spike in emissions, can be seen here. Most countries reported rises in their emissions, including many European nations (so much for the Euro carbon price), and of course the rising industrial powers of the developing world. The march to embrace new coal and the relentless push to access all of the world’s liquid hydrocarbon reserves, continues unabated. As this recent paper in Nature Climate Change reports, this path takes us towards a very different world:
Folks, we are failing badly, and our failure continues to compound each year. I tweeted this news (restricted to 140 characters) as: “Global CO2e emissions rises >500 million tonnes over 2010 – 2011 period, an increase of 6 % on 2009 – going backwards, need nuclear + renew!“, and pretty soon afterwards, solicited a typical tweet-based reply from someone saying: “//100% Renewables possible. Nuclear unnecessary!“.
Wake up. Smell the roses. This is extremely serious, and people who can look at these sea-ice and emissions data and still say: “We don’t need nuclear!” are, frankly, dangerous and delusional. Only hard-nosed rationality will fix this problem — and that will be built on policies that focus on reducing the cost of non-fossil energy (of any kind), such that it becomes an economically sensible decision to built these preferentially.
Folks as philosophically diverse as The Breakthrough Institute experts and Peter Lang get this. Indeed, it is almost certain that you — each and every one of you — can find someone you respect who gets it. The concept is really not that hard to understand, but we desperately need widespread education and a healthy dose critical, pragmatic and realistic thinking from the general populace. Will you help make this happen?
————–
Finally, some articles on the Fukushima nuclear accident that are worth reading. First there is The Nuclear Power Safety Record by Ted Rockwell, which looks at the global nuclear safety record, its comparison with other industrial activities, and a review of background radiation.
Second, there is a the IEEE Spectrum article 24 Hours at Fukushima, which provides a detailed blow-by-blow account of events, and draws six lessons learned:
1. Emergency generators should be installed at high elevations or in watertight chambers.
2. If a cooling system is intended to operate without power, make sure all of its parts can be manipulated without power.
3. Keep power trucks on or very close to the power plant site.
4. Install independent and secure battery systems to power crucial instruments during |
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He IS A WIZZARD!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!?.! i didnt, but then i did when he said it, i thought, well its TC! and TC is never wrong. ever!.
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p.s. tom cruise isnt actually a wizzard. but dont tell him, he likes it that way. ;( ANYWAY!!.CAN YOU BELIEVE THATi didnt, but then i did when he said it, i thought, well its TC! and TC is never wrong. ever!.SO i was like. hey TC!and he was like:and i was all, i made a website for my isys project and i got lots and lots of people to look at it and they think i am a good designer now.AND THEN TC WAS LIKE.. "PEOPLE TO SUPPPORT YOU TO MAKE BIG BUCKS AS A BIG INTERNET-WEB MAN!!i signedFOR AN EMAIL ACCOUNTS!.. NOW WE CAN CHAT!
lol i practid a lot. so here it goes:Buy awesome stuff at:THIS CAR DRIVES..... NOT!!HAHAHA I LOVE ALF LOL LOL! no but seriously he was funny! LOLZ!IM A BIG FULL HOUSE FAN. FOR SURE THURSDAY NIGHTS WITH MY CAT CARL WE WATCH AT LEAST 1 EPISODE. ITS GREAT!!!its really hard, i cant do it, i triednow for the NEXT PART!MY HERO IS:CLICK THE FLOATING MAIL BOX TO EMAIL A SPECIAL MESSAGE TO A FRIEND!!! ITS FUN!!!By now, one thing is clear: the Duterte presidency is about killing. Killing will be a big part of his legacy. He will be remembered for the number of people killed during his administration. He will be known for how killing people simply became normal during his time in power. And he will even be remembered for how he cracked jokes about killing, about the merciless slaughter he inspired.
In the last few weeks, a major, scary feature of the Duterte Slaughter has become more evident: killing children.
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Try this out: Google “Duterte and killing.” When I did this the day news broke that the body of 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman had been found, I got about half a million search results.
Now do a search for “Duterte and Killing Children.” I got nearly 2 million results.
The top result was a Washington Post story with the headline ‘Rodrigo Duterte’s next target: 9-year-old children.’ After that, a story in the Guardian on how Duterte thinks children are just collateral damage in the Duterte Slaughter.
Then there’s a report in The Independent with the headline: “Rodrigo Duterte tells Philippine schoolchildren ‘I will kill people.’”
Another story is from the 2016 campaign when Duterte was still a candidate for president. The Time magazine article cited Duterte’s statement that “he would kill his own children if they took drugs.”
“They say I am a killer. Maybe I am,” the report quoted Duterte saying during one of the campaign debates. When then-candidate Duterte was asked what he would do if one of his children was caught doing drugs, he answered: “I will kill him.”
That was a year and a half ago, before Duterte became president, before he unleashed a bloodbath that has now killed more than 10,000 people, mostly poor Filipinos.
And we now know that he was being over-dramatic in his response, that Digong would have a more predictable fatherly attitude to any allegations involving his own children. When it comes to his own kids, Digong would react to claims that his children had committed any type of crime the way any other sensible, loving parent would.
He would insist that any such allegation must be backed up by solid evidence. Show me the proof, the presidente insists. Where are the affidavits? Produce witnesses. His defense of Paolo Duterte, accused of being involved in a $125 million drug shipment, proves this.
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The Duterte son gets due process, which we all should certainly support.
But what about the more than 10,000 accused drug dealers and drug addicts?
What about Kian delos Santos, 17, who begged police to stop beating him because he still had a test the following day, who was tortured mercilessly before he was executed?
What about Danica May, the 5-year-old girl gunned down by thugs in her family’s store?
What about Carl Angelo Arnaiz, 19, and the boy they called “Kulot” who was found in a river with more than two dozen stab wounds, his face wrapped in tape?
No. No due process for them. Or as Paolo Duterte would probably say, “No way.”
Not under Rodrigo Duterte. Not under a fascist president obsessed with killing. Not under a thug for whom killing children from poor families in a campaign he himself has admitted is pointless is acceptable. For Duterte, due process is simply too much of a hassle when it comes to people from poor families. Due process is only for people like Paolo Duterte.
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On Twitter @boyingpimentel
Read NextEditor's note: This feature is the first of a series on Central Asia that will be running on SPIEGEL International in the coming weeks. You can read more about future installments in the series here.
The sun is high in the sky, directly above the Taht-I-Suleiman, a giant rock in the middle of the city where the Biblical King Solomon was once said to have preached. In fact, the sun is so unrelentingly bright that the snow-covered peaks of the Tian Shan have disappeared behind a curtain of flickering heat. Somewhere in the city a muezzin is calling the faithful to prayer.
On the surface, Osh seems almost idyllic.
But that impression is misleading. On this morning, four girls were found dead in the cellar of a mosque in Osh, covered with debris. Their bodies, wrapped in carpets, had been completely burned and some had even been beheaded. They were Kyrgyz girls from Osh. Soon afterwards, 13 bodies, including that of a pediatrician, were brought to Osh from Andijan, a city in nearby Uzbekistan. The bodies, their hands bound and, like the four girls, horribly disfigured, had floated down the Ak-Bura River and across the border into Uzbekistan. The 13 dead were also Kyrgyz from Osh.
For the men and women gathered in the tent cities near the large white regional administration building, the case is clear. "The murderers were Uzbeks," says Gumira Alykulova, a 35-year-old Kyrgyz. Uzbeks, though an ethnic minority in Kyrgyzstan, form the majority in Osh. They own most of the city's markets, restaurants and much of the surrounding farmland and, as angry citizens believe, they are determined to drive the Kyrgyz out of the city.
A Wave of Pogroms
Since the bloody four days of violence in June, the small tent city has been one of the main sources of news in Osh -- from the Kyrgyz perspective, that is. Anyone wishing to hear the other side's version of the truth has to drive two kilometers farther down the road to an Uzbek neighborhood like Shark.
Shark looks like it has recently been carpet-bombed. The district was completely burned down, with nothing but blackened foundation walls remaining where many buildings, including the schools, once stood. The Uzbeks in Shark blame the Kyrgyz.
According to official figures, more than 370 people died in the pogroms, when the Kyrgyz went on a rampage against the Uzbeks and the Uzbeks against the Kyrgyz. But the true figure is probably upwards of 2,000. More than 75,000 people fled to Uzbekistan. The news coming out of the city shocked people around the world.
What happened in Osh? Why are no officials, including the mayor, the provincial administrator, the chief of police and the head of intelligence, willing to say how the killing began? Why are the newspapers avoiding the issue?
The silence that has descended on Osh after the so-called incidents has instilled fear in the residents of a city that was cosmopolitan for centuries, a peaceful trading center and a crossroads on the legendary Silk Road.
Osh is 3,000 years old, even older than Rome. Caravans from China once passed through the city, and even Alexander the Great is believed to have stopped at the Taht-I-Suleiman en route to India.
A Lawless City
But since June this city of 250,000 has been only a shadow of its former self. The four days of violence left behind a broad trail of destruction. Major thoroughfares like Kyrgyzstan Street are devastated, with all of the businesses on the right side of the street, as well as cafés, restaurants and a Muslim hospital, burned to the ground. The left side, where the Kyrgyz live, remained unharmed.
This is one version of the events: Uzbeks attacked a student dormitory at the University of Osh and raped female Kyrgyz students. This prompted the Kyrgyz to retaliate.
According to another version, the rapes never occurred and the riots were deliberately provoked.
Osh is now a lawless city. At night, men wearing camouflage uniforms without shoulder insignia rule the pitch-black streets, during hours of revenge and violence. Some 3,000 ethnic Uzbeks have reportedly been arrested, while others have been abducted or simply disappeared. All Uzbeks in government positions were let go.
What is happening in Osh is not some provincial drama. Osh has become a warning sign -- for an entire country and perhaps even an entire region.
The pogroms were a consequence of the most recent change of power in the capital Bishkek. After bloody protests in April, the corrupt president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was ousted and forced to flee the country. The government that replaced Bakiyev also no longer exists. Transitional President Rosa Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister and then a member of the opposition, rules the country with decrees. She intends to hold parliamentary elections on Oct. 10, but protestors have already returned to the streets in Bishkek, the police are back to using teargas, and opposition members are being arrested once again.
A Decline of Historic Proportions
Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous Muslim republic with a population of only 5.3 million, has become ungovernable. This would be a footnote in world history if this country, where the towns have names like Toru-Aigyr and Kurkurëu and the people are called Momun and Oroskul, were not at the center of a region that has alarmed the world's powerful.
The country's decline is one of historic proportions. In the early Middle Ages, the Kyrgyz were the largest power in Central Asia. But then came the invasions led by Genghis Khan, followed by the Chinese and, in 1876, the Russians. Stalin drew the borders of the later Soviet republic straight through areas settled by Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. Kyrgyzstan is a poor country today. It exports gold and uranium, but the average monthly income is only 60 ($82).
A country without leadership is an ideal haven for extremists and criminals. Fundamentalists fighting the government in neighboring Tajikistan are in the country, as are Uighur activists from China's troubled Xinjiang Province. Drug traffickers use Kyrgyzstan as an important transport route, which passes from Afghanistan straight through Osh. For the world's major powers, Kyrgyzstan is a dangerous weak link in the region.
But the foreign powers also need this small country. China hopes to use Kyrgyzstan to satisfy its demand for natural resources. Moscow needs the region as a buffer zone against the advances of fundamentalist Islam, and the United States uses it as the site of a resupply base for its war against al-Qaida and the Taliban. Chaos and anarchy in Kyrgyzstan are the last thing the Americans, Russians and Chinese need. Ironically, the Western press only recently referred to this country as "the Switzerland of Central Asia."VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Cardinal Bernard Law, the former Archbishop of Boston who resigned in disgrace after covering up years of sexual abuse of children by priests and whose name became a byword for scandal in the Catholic Church, died on Wednesday.
The Vatican announced his death just before dawn.
It did not give a cause of death but sources close to Law, who died in a hospital in Rome, said he had been suffering from the complications of diabetes, liver failure and a build-up of fluids around the heart, known as pericardial effusion.
The telegram of condolences Pope Francis sent to the dean of the College of Cardinals was unusually short and bland compared to those for other cardinals before.
Francis said he was praying that the merciful God would “welcome him in eternal peace.” The pope did not mention that Law had been Archbishop of Boston and a brief Vatican biography made no mention of the circumstances of his resignation 15 years ago.
Law was Archbishop of Boston, one of the most prestigious and wealthy American archdioceses, for 18 years when Pope John Paul reluctantly accepted his resignation on Dec. 13, 2002, after a tumultuous year in Church history.
A succession of devastating news stories by Boston Globe reporters showed how priests who sexually abused children had been moved from parish to parish for years under Law’s tenure without parishioners or law authorities being informed.
“No words can convey the pain these survivors and their loved ones suffered,” SNAP, a victims’ group, said.
“Survivors of child sexual assault in Boston, who were first betrayed by Law’s cover-up of sex crimes and then doubly betrayed by his subsequent promotion to Rome, were those most hurt,” SNAP said in a statement.
Law’s resignation sent shockwaves through the American Church and had a trickle down effect around the world as the cover-up techniques used in Boston were discovered to have been used in country after country.
The story of how the Globe team brought the scandal to light in a city where few wanted to cross the politically powerful Church was told in the 2015 film “Spotlight”, which won the Oscar for Best Picture.
The situation in Boston turned out to be the tip of an iceberg of abuse and its cover-up, where churchmen preferred protecting the reputation of the institution rather than the innocence of children.
Thousands of cases came to light around the world as investigations encouraged long-silent victims to go public, shattering the Church’s reputation in places such as Ireland, and forcing it to pay some $2 billion in compensation.
“As Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Law served at a time when the Church failed seriously in its responsibilities to provide pastoral care for her people, and with tragic outcomes failed to care for the children of our parish communities. I deeply regret that reality and its consequences,” Law’s successor in Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, said in a statement.
Six months after his resignation, the Massachusetts attorney general’s office announced that Law and others would not face criminal charges.
FILE PHOTO - Cardinal Bernard Law of the Boston Archdioceses addresses the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops about their stand on the [Iraq] situation, during their annual meeting in Washington, November 12, 2002. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
GOLDEN PARACHUTE
After a period in a monastery in the United States, Law moved to Rome.
In 2004 Pope John Paul appointed him to be archpriest of the Rome Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four major basilica’s of Christendom, whose gold leaf ceiling is said to be made from the first batch of the precious metal Columbus brought back from the Americas. He is likely to be buried there.
In relative terms it was an immense fall from grace. Such posts are symbolic and ceremonial.
But victims of sexual abuse were outraged because it gave Law a second career and a golden parachute that allowed him to stay close to the center of power in Rome and serve as a member or adviser in several influential Vatican departments.
He also maintained the rank of cardinal and participated in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict in 2005.
Before he became ill, Law was a regular on the diplomatic circuit, attending receptions, including many in the gardens of the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican.
While Law was an awkward presence at U.S. receptions for a few years after his resignation, at Italian events he was treated with the same effusive obsequiousness bestowed on all cardinals - something Law appeared to enjoy.
He always declined to talk about events in Boston. “I’m retired from that,” he told a reporter at one reception.
FOOT DRAGGING
O’Malley, Law’s successor, heads a Vatican commission advising Pope Francis on how to root out sexual abuse in the Church.
But the credibility of the commission, which was formed in 2014, has been hurt by the resignation of two high-level lay members who have accused the Vatican of dragging its feet.
The terms of most members expired recently and it is not clear what Pope Francis will do with it.
Last September, Francis, addressing the commission, said the Catholic Church had moved too slowly to confront abuse.
“When consciousness arrives late, the means to resolve the problems also arrive late. I am aware of this difficulty but it is reality and I say it plainly: We arrived late. The old practice of moving people around and not confronting the problem made consciences fall asleep,” the pope said.
Slideshow (4 Images)
Bernard Francis Law was born on Nov. 4, 1931, in Torreon, Mexico, the son of a U.S. Army official and a musician. He graduated from Harvard University and was ordained a priest in 1961.
His first assignment was in Mississippi, where he received death threats for championing civil rights. As bishop of Springfield–Cape Girardeau in Missouri, he opened a home for battered women and a center to help Vietnamese boat people.
The Vatican said Law’s funeral would be held on Thursday afternoon in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Mass will be said by a senior cardinal and the pope will participate in the final blessing, a normal procedure for cardinals.District 9 city council candidate sues opponent over residency
City Council candidate Patrick Von Dohlen claims that candidate Lynlie Wallace, pictured, lives in Austin and not the District 9 home she claims. City Council candidate Patrick Von Dohlen claims that candidate Lynlie Wallace, pictured, lives in Austin and not the District 9 home she claims. Photo: Juanito M Garza /San Antonio Express-News Photo: Juanito M Garza /San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close District 9 city council candidate sues opponent over residency 1 / 3 Back to Gallery
SAN ANTONIO — Patrick Von Dohlen, one of the 10 candidates seeking the open District 9 City Council seat, on Monday said he's asking the district courts to declare opponent Lynlie Wallace an ineligible candidate.
The San Antonio Express-News exposed Wallace's residency issues — that she lives in Austin, not the District 9 home she declares is her primary residency.
Much of Von Dohlen's court filing is based on stories and columns from the Express-News.
RELATED: District 9 candidate alters residency claim
On the steps of City Hall, Von Dohlen chastised Wallace, who owns a home in Travis County, on which she has a homestead exemption. She works as chief of staff for state Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio.
Von Dohlen called Wallace's campaign a "gross act of selfishness," and said he's seeking court relief, in part because he supports "transparency and fair play."We strive to differentiate ourselves through innovative choices, proprietary methodologies, and the use of technology to bring choices to clients at all stages in their investment lifecycle. You can choose if you wish for us to trade on your behalf. By having us trade for you. It allows you to tap into the expertise of our traders that do this for a living 24/7. With just a $100.00 deposit, you can earn daily and withdraw profits hourly. A total monthly return of $1900.00-$3400.00 is common with us. If you prefer to trade on your own. We can provide you with stock picks and Currency signals to maximize your profit return. We provide the choice of investment services, from an automatic signal populating sercure form to low-cost active investment management. Join our market priced quantitative risk management strategies and investment themes that previously were available only to large institutional investors, pensions, and hedge funds. You're finally HomeTransgender high school student wins right to wear dress to Houston senior prom after being told it isn't in the dress code
A transgender student was won the right to wear a dress to prom after school authorities insisted the teenager wear a tuxedo.
Last week George 'Tony' Zamazal, 19, requested permission from an assistant principal to wear a dress and officially come out as transgender at Spring High School's May 11 prom.
However, the teacher said it wasn't permitted as it 'didn't fit the prom dress code'.
Permission: George 'Tony' Zamazal has won permission to wear her choice of dress to her senior prom
Relief: The 19-year-old says she wouldn't feel right wearing a a tuxedo
When Zamazal appealed, the school refused to make the ruling alone saying they would need to contact the board to make it a 'community decision'
But that move has now been thwarted and the school has agreed Zamazal should be allowed to wear any choice of clothing so long as it conforms to the dress code of being at least mid-thigh length.
The Spring teenager said she was grateful for the decision and now plans to wear the dress along with pump-style shoes, makeup and a wig.
'I've been waiting for this for a long time,' the teen told the Houston Chronicle.
'I wouldn't have felt comfortable at all showing up in a tux. I'm so grateful that my school has agreed to let me be myself on such an important night.'
Agreed: Spring High School reversed their decision announcing Zamazal could wear a dress to the prom on May 11
Self-expression: The Spring teen says she discovered she was transgender this year
'It was very relieving to find out they were going to let me without a fight,' Zamazal said.
The American Civil Liberties Union took up the case after Zamazal was told by the teacher in charge of the dance that she would have to wear a tuxedo.
'Tony has the right under both federal statutes and the U.S. Constitution to express her gender identity,' Adriana Pinon, ACLU of Texas senior staff attorney, told the newspaper.
'Students' legal rights aren't something that public schools get to put up to a vote. We're happy to see the school do the right thing.'
Finding herself: Zamazal says she only realized she was transgender over the last couple of months
Relief: The school's decision to allow the dress was welcomed by the student and her supporters
411 people have signed a change.org petition on Zamazal's behalf calling for the school to back down since it was launched in February.
Zamazal said she finally realized she was transgender in the last few months and wanted the prom to be a key moment in publicly embracing it.
'I really didn't think it was OK until recently and then it just became part of me,' she told KHOU.comLately I have become quite fascinated by the idea of intuition. Most people have experienced those strange glimpses of insight into a person or situation which seem to come from nowhere. Perhaps the phone rings and you know exactly who is on the line before you answer, perhaps you get feelings that someone is being dishonest with you, or maybe you wake up in the middle of the night with a sudden clarity about a central issue you are facing. Sometimes they present as flashes of knowing, spontaneous wisdom, or gut feelings. This concept appears as an odd sort of self referencing loop. It strikes me that intuition is rooted deeply consciousness and as such it becomes abstract and weird very quickly. It is like chasing waves that crash onto the beach, each time I turn toward the idea it begins to recede from my understanding. It exists until I begin trying to pin it down and tinker with it. Myers-Briggs describes intuition as one paying attention to the impressions or the meaning and patterns of the information, not necessarily the literal meaning of information. It is the synthesis of the abstract. It is the ability to gain understanding without need for conscious reasoning. Nothing amazes me quite like a subject which changes behavior as you observe them, so I began to develop some ways to practice understanding my own intuition. In my learning I found no shortage of advice which struck me as metaphysical nonsense so this week I wanted to share my no nonsense guide to recognizing and developing intuition.
How do we practice developing something which is very abstract? I began with finding situations in which I felt intuition kick in and observing how I perceived the experience. Luckily I spend a large percentage of my time speaking to people about the things that keep them up at night and the dreams they have for their future. The conversation space of the future, of goals and desires, provides a wonderful space for exploring the abstract. It is my experience that everything we do is like a signature and most people are showing you exactly who they are in every word and gesture. Intuition shows up to me as very fleeting insight, much like microexpressions passing across a persons face. I liken it to echolocation within a very dark chasm; one sends out a pulse and builds a picture of the surroundings based on what bounces back. In this instance that pulse is normally an open ended question, something meant to cause the other person to think for a second. I found that the answer they returned to me was not the only thing I gained understanding from. The tone of their voice, the pauses they chose to take, pronunciation, and the way their face moved as they spoke, all of those things exist in the realm of intuition. Those are things we are all picking up, understanding and synthesizing quicker than we really know. Think of all the things you know that are never spoken directly. It is a sense we are using all the time. What happens if we bring awareness to the activity? How do your interactions change? I have found there are two basic components to the development of any task: Intention and Attention
Exercise One: Intention
The neat thing about this practice is you do not need anything special to being. Our goal here is to set the intention for learning and turning toward understanding and learning begins with observation and listening. In the next interaction you have, the next conversation you begin, I want you look in their eyes and listen to them. I mean it, that is where we begin. And I meant I want you to actively listen to that other human being rather than waiting for your turn to speak. The goal isn’t to fill the silence with worthless conversation. The goal is to hear what they are saying. Think about the way you avidly listen to someone to have a crush on and apply it to your next interaction. I challenge you to first maintain eye contact with this person for the entirety of the conversation and secondly to actively listen to this person. For those of you who are feeling particularly adventurous I challenge you to bring the same intention to all of your conversations for an afternoon, treat no interaction as disposable. Make eye contact with everyone you are interacting with and listen to them attentively.
Exercise Two Attention
As you pay attention to the presence of intuition you will be able to bring it into the foreground. So in the second exercise I would now like you to turn your awareness to your interactions from the previous exercise. What did it feel like to approach interaction in that manner? What sort of things did you notice? What does the experience differ from previous ones now that you have brought your attention to the activity? Everyone has their own ways of bringing awareness to an activity, for myself it is normally writing. I use a journal to document the moments in my day where intuition seems to shine through. This sort of documenting helps me keep track of certain types of situation that my intuition becomes known to me, what sort of sensations, and allows me to take note of my responses.
Optional Exercise: With Friends!
For those of you who work well in groups, or happen to have good friend who enjoy adventures into the abstract, I suggest recruiting an intuition buddy! This is someone you can speak to in a space of non judgement and openness about your intuitive experiences. Some fun things to try out with your buddy may be:
Take a nature walk and discuss something one of you is feeling very passionate about. Your buddy then gives you the intuitive impressions they have perceived.
Go to a public place and do some people watching. Discuss your perceptions of the people you encounter.
Play “Two truths and a Lie”. Each person tell two statements that are true and one statement that is a lie, and your buddy has to determine which is which.
This is a space for both of your to bring intention and attention to the activity so I challenge you to treat it like any discipline. Try to limit distractions like your phone. Commit to intuition activities a set amount of time each week, even if it is only for twenty minutes. I encourage you to seek interesting conversations and activities in which to develop your sense of intuition.Last month, Distributed Sun (D-SUN) and Washington Gas Energy Systems announced plans to co-develop and finance the on-site renewable energy solutions for Cornell University’s proposed NYC Tech Campus on New York City’s Roosevelt Island.
The Cornell proposal includes renewable energy generation from integrated solar, geothermal, and fuel cell power sources to contribute approximately nine gigawatt-hours of electricity annually. D-SUN will provide distributed solar arrays totaling 1.8 megawatts, as well as a geothermal system with 400 wells at 500-foot depths across four acres. Additionally, fuel cells will generate 22,500 million British thermal units from natural gas per year. This mix of renewable energy solutions has the potential to reduce conventional electricity consumption at the campus by as much as 75 percent.
According to D-SUN CEO Chase Weir, the project is a “truly unique opportunity for the city of New York to apply and demonstrate the vision of tomorrow’s renewable energy solutions at an applied sciences campus.” If built today, the NYC Tech Campus would deliver the largest geothermal and solar installations in the city and the largest net-zero building in the eastern United States, according to the CEO.
Source: Distributed Sun
The $1 billion-plus campus is being situated toward the arc of the sun to maximize solar energy potential. Weir stated: “This is a remarkable testament to the advance of solar in the U.S. and around the world -- to have an entire campus and an architectural landmark designed and pointed toward the arc of the sun for maximum solar output. That’s a good indication of where tomorrow’s energy generation is truly headed."
An Applied Sciences NYC advisory committee is set to review proposals and announce the winner of the proposal as soon as January 1, 2012.The Associated Press
NEW YORK - O No, Canada.
A Broadway performer botched the Canadian national anthem before the Toronto Raptors' game in Brooklyn on Sunday, singing lyrics that aren't in "O Canada."
Amber Iman, who has been cast in the national tour of "Hamilton" that will soon open, sang, "O Canada, we sing our hearts for thee." The line that ends the song is "O Canada, we stand on guard for thee."
Raptors players and coaches looked around in confusion as they stood in line.
"I'm going to leave that alone. But yeah, that anthem was a lot different than I've heard over the last five years. A lot different," Raptors All-Star Kyle Lowry said. "Her voice was beautiful, but the anthem, the song, the words... have her come to Toronto, we'll come and get somebody to give her some lessons."
The Raptors responded by poking fun at the Nets on Twitter, writing "For future reference" and posting the correct lyrics to the song.
The Nets apologized to the singer for the prompter failing according to a spokeswoman at the Barclays Center.An annual "rite of passage" where teens head to Rondeau Provincial Park to party during the May Two-Four weekend resulted in drug overdoses, thousands of dollars in damage and a sobering warning for parents from the OPP.
Park wardens and police cleared 19 campsites over the course of wild long weekend, throwing 114 teenagers out of the park in Chatham-Kent.
About 35 charges were laid over three days, mostly for trespassing and possession of alcohol, which is prohibited in provincial parks during Victoria Day weekend.
The charges include theft, mischief and damage to property after one of the park bathrooms sustained about $3,000 in damage.
One teen even decided to have a "wrestling match" with a park warden that resulted in an assault charge, according to Chatham-Kent OPP Detachment Commander Brian Knowler.
Chatham-Kent OPP Detachment Commander Brian Knowler. (Brian Knowler)
Over four days, two people were taken to hospital for drug overdoses, and another person had a case of alcohol poisoning.
"A lot of the parents are simply trusting that their kids are going to go out there, be safe and know what they're doing," Knowler said. "I think a lot of them would be shocked if they took a ride around the park with us one night."
Teens drink hard from dawn to dusk
Knowler said many of the teens are inexperienced drinkers who might not realize what they're getting into. He said one "very intoxicated" young man he spoke with told officers he started the day with a beer for breakfast, drank steadily while playing frisbee and passed out around 3 p.m. When he woke up he started drinking again.
"They start early as soon as they get to the campsite … and they drink hard, almost literally from dawn to dusk," Knowler explained."These kids make no bones about it, they hide their alcohol under their sleeping bags, they hide it in other bottles."
In a media release the OPP said they are "dismayed and alarmed" that underage people are getting alcohol so easily, adding social media posts over the weekend detailed "extremely high-risk behaviours."
A Twitter Feed with the handle @24confessions17 showcased examples of drinking and depravity, from burns to hickeys to sexual infidelity and pictures of teens passed out around the park.
Buddie was passed out on the picnic table and 2 phones by 10am <a href="https://t.co/5UUyxLtbgA">pic.twitter.com/5UUyxLtbgA</a> —@24confessions17
Knowler said many of the teenagers who were evicted told staff their booze was supplied by parents or older siblings, something he described as very troubling.
"That's extremely frustrating because there's a big difference between giving your child a glass of wine at dinner or a beer around your own backyard fire … and sending them out to a provincial park for a long weekend with alcohol in their hand."
Provincial police issued a reminder to parents and older siblings they can be fined up to $5,000 for providing alcohol to a minor, adding "enforcement officials don't view criminal acts as 'kids being kids' but as serious incidents that will be investigated and prosecuted."
Learnt my lesson from dancing barefoot by the campfire😬 <a href="https://t.co/xH31MYo3mc">pic.twitter.com/xH31MYo3mc</a> —@24confessions17
Still, Knowler said he was impressed by teens who took care of their friends by seeking medical assistance when they drank too much or accidentally stepped in the fire.
Compared to previous years where more than a hundred charges were handed out on the long weekend, Knowler said the force's decision to focus on "harm reduction" is working.
"My ultimate goal is to get to a point where there are no charges, no incidents and it's just a campground full of kids who just went to a campground to hang out with their buddies for the weekend," he said. "I'm not so naïve as to think that will ever happen, but the more we see things drop every year … the better."Editor's note: Peter Bregman is chief executive of Bregman Partners Inc., a global management consulting firm, and the author of "Point B: A Short Guide to Leading a Big Change". He writes a weekly column, How We Work, for HarvardBusiness.org.
Peter Bregman says you can't make your luck, but you can control how you'll react to what happens.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- There is a Buddhist story about a poor farmer whose one horse ran away. All his neighbors came to him in sympathy, saying "What bad luck!"
"Maybe," he responded.
The next day the horse returned with several other wild horses. "What great luck!" his neighbors exclaimed.
"Maybe," he responded.
A few days later the farmer's son was trying to tame one of the wild horses when he was thrown off and broke his leg. "What terrible luck!" his neighbors said.
"Maybe," he responded.
A week later the army came through the village to draft all the young men but seeing the broken leg of the farmer's son, they left him in peace. "What wonderful luck!" the neighbors said.
"Maybe," the farmer responded. And so it goes.
My life is a series of lucky accidents strung together starting from the moment of my conception. I was a diaphragm baby.
In college I was planning to go into politics. Then in the spring of my junior year the bicycle trip I had planned to go on was cancelled because the leader broke her arm. So instead I went on a camping trip and it changed my life. I soon gave up politics and began teaching leadership on wilderness expeditions. And on one of those expeditions I met the woman who would eventually become my wife.
Later I built a successful company teaching leadership with lots of employees and several offices around the world. Then, as luck would have it, my company crashed along with the economy and the Twin Towers. It turns out, after some introspection and a solid dose of therapy |
would later become known as The Y Generation. It is a more focused narrative focused on a more focused generation of kids. Optimistic offspring of hippie parents who reject peace, love and understanding only to embrace the corporate culture of the Reagan era.
Tyler Johnson is a perfect example. He has just returned home to the doldrums of the Pacific Northwest after a Lampoon-less European vacation. His plan is to utilize his newfound worldliness to secure a job with a big-time defense contractor, but daily life in small-town America has other ideas. To make matters worse, he receives a surprise visit from two European friends, one of which was a fling, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend. His best-laid plans get thrown into the spin cycle of life's washing machine, and it looks like somebody forgot to add the fabric softener.
Thematically, Shampoo Planet treads similar ground as Generation X. It wasn't as well received critically, and some were quick to write Coupland off as a one-hit wonder. Coupland himself has said he found the book to be too "contrived."[1] Personally, I prefer to look at it as Accelerated Culture: The Next Generation. Sure, it's an update, and fans of the original might not accept it, but it shows artistic growth, and is a more cohesive piece of work than its predecessor (just not necessarily a better one). Either way, it's definitely worth your read-time.
Buy Shampoo Planet from Amazon.com
Don't let the diminutive size of this book fool you, it packs an existential wallop. It is a collection of short stories that center around "the first generation raised without religion," and examines that generation's relationship with faith. Despite the God Is Dead nature of the title, Life After God is not an atheist polemic. It doesn't posit that there is no God; it is a rumination on how we might find our spirituality without him. And for some, it turns out, the answer is: we don't (so don't get all cunty britches, theists).
My secret is that I need God--that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.
I find it ironic that a book about a generation sans religion should appear so aesthetically similar to a pocket devotional. It's almost as if Coupland is telling us that even without religion, we are prone to religious behavior and ritual. Even the secular baptism of the child on the cover invokes religious connotations.
Not only that, the book can also be read like a devotional. Any time you want, you can open up Life After God and turn to a favorite passage. The one about the father/son road trip to visit Grandad. The one where an elderly man is upset by a news story about Superman being killed off, and what this means for the rest of the world. Or the one about the group of childhood friends and the resentment they feel against their parents for not instilling them with some sort of faith. You can highlight, dog-ear, read and reread these stories, commit them to memory. There is a comfort here in not knowing, and a comfort in knowing you don't know. Sometimes it feels good just to ponder. Lucky for us, this wouldn't be the last time Coupland explored these themes.
Buy Life After God from Amazon.com
In 1994, Coupland wrote a short story for Wired magazine about the daily life of Microsoft employees. He found the subject so fascinating that he decided to expand upon it, and moved to Silicon Valley to write Microserfs, an incisive account of the then current computer culture. Written in what would come to be know as "blog" format, this prescient novel predicted the dot-com bubble, and even included a precursor of every teenage texter's favorite conveyor of feelings- the emoticon!
The first half of the novel takes place primarily at Microsoft headquarters in Washington state, and takes the form of a journal written by a software tester named Daniel. Daniel documents daily life on his Powerbook computer, which allows Coupland to dabble in some postmodern typographical trickery. (He even manages to sneak in some House of Leaves style ciphers, beating Danielweski to the punch by almost six years.) But formatting flourishes aside, we find ourselves in familiar thematic territory. Coupland gives us yet another group of young people in stasis, then, in what is quickly becoming typical Coupland fashion, he turns the group's lives upside-down with an unexpected event. This time, that event is an offer from a coworker to work on a top secret computer project called, "Oop!"
I had been warned off Microserfs because it was deemed "too tech" by some, but when I finally got around to reading it, it instantly jumped the queue into my favorites. It takes place in such a specific world without feeling dated. It almost reads like a period piece written years after the fact. Anyone who lived through the era or is interested in the history of computer culture is sure to be impressed by Coupland's detailed research. The rest of you, don't worry; Microserfs isn't written to be alienating. As usual, Coupland's characters take center stage, providing the novel's momentum. He forces you to care about the short lifespan of a Microsoft coder, even though the world they live in might seem like science fiction.
Buy Microserfs from Amazon.com
How's this for a nightmare: your high school sweetheart finally consents to consummating your relationship, and as soon as the deed is done and you are basking in that post-coital bliss, she promptly falls into a coma. Oh yeah, and you just got her pregnant. Congrats, dad!
Think it can't get any worse? Seventeen years later she reawakens, just in time to usher in the end of the world.
Billed as his last novel written as a young person, Girlfriend In A Coma was born out of Coupland's personal battle with depression. It is also named after a song by one of the most depressing bands ever, and yes, it deals with some pretty heavy subject matter (such as girlfriends in comas and the end of the world). But that doesn't prevent the book from being one of Coupland's most optimistic (which probably explains why I didn't like it very much).
So why is it on this list? Because everyone else and their mother seems to love it. It received rave reviews upon its release and was praised as Coupland coming into his own, but I just couldn't get on board. I was turned off by the mystical feel-goodery of the It's A Wonderful Life style ending. I prefer when Coupland hides his hope behind a wall of cynicism, as opposed to wearing it on his sleeve. Still, I acknowledge that this is an important book in Coupland's career, whether I like it or not.
Buy Girlfriend in a Coma: A Novel from Amazon.com
So where do you start when you want to start your life again?
I hesitate to reveal the cracks in my macho facade, but Hey Nostradamus! is one of the most un-ironic, non-manipulative and poignant novels I have ever read.
Five years after my least favorite Coupland novel came what many consider to be the man's best: Hey Nostradamus! (Punctuation dictates you actually shout the title.)
Hey Nostradamus! is the story of a fictional high school shooting as told from the POV of four different characters in four different time periods. It focuses less on the actual tragedy and more on the victims of said tragedy, and the ripple effect it has on their lives.
If you don't want to start at the beginning of Coupland's bibliography, or with a very period specific novel like Microserfs, I highly recommend this be your introduction to the man. It eschews the tech-heavy slant and outright silliness of some of his other work, delivering a thoughtful narrative full of emotional depth that lacks the pretensions of something like Girlfriend In A Coma. Coupland uses the massacre as a jumping-off point and proceeds to round up the usual thematic suspects- love, death, belief in God, the meaning of life- without descending into mawkish sentimentality. I hesitate to reveal the cracks in my macho facade, but Hey Nostradamus! is one of the most un-ironic, non-manipulative and poignant novels I have ever read.
Buy Hey Nostradamus!: A Novel from Amazon.com
In 2006, Coupland updated Microserfs for the digital age with JPod, a book about a group of videogame programmers whose last names all begin with the letter J. They spend most of their waking hours in their pod, working on a skateboarding game which is about to be sabotaged by a cuddly turtle mascot and an insecure superior going through a divorce. When they are not in the office, they are dealing with dysfunctional families, drug dealers, and an empathetic Asian crime boss.
Yes, this is Coupland being silly again, and for the most part, it works. The Podsters are a ton of fun, despite all being borderline autistic, and their likability goes a long way towards balancing out the situational comedy. You don't have to read Microserfs first, but the pair make a great double feature and perfectly illustrate how adroit a zeitgeist chaser Coupland can be. The book was even adapted into a short-lived Canadian television series starring the one and only Alan Thicke! So go ahead and add Jpod to the list of Coupland satires that are razor sharp and funny as shit.
Since this column is already late and my eyes are about to fall out of my head, I am going to once again plagiarize myself. From my original REVIEW of Generation A:
Much in the way he updated Mircroserfs for the internet age with JPod, Coupland updates the plight of the disassociated twenty-something with Generation A. Resetting the alphabet back to A (with a little posthumous help from Kurt Vonnegut) Coupland weaves a tale of the near future in which bees are extinct and broadcasting your story to the world only serves to make you less unique.
Five total strangers become instant media sensations when they are stung by bees, but not before being whisked away and sequestered from the rest of humanity. Upon their release, they find the world a very different place, and are soon reunited on a remote island to tell each other stories. Not their life stories, which have already been documented, but stories of original origin, which bring them closer together, shedding light on recent events.
If Generation X was about storytelling as an assertion of individuality, Generation A is about storytelling as shared experience. Coupland makes a plea for the printed word, threatened by the hive mind of the internet, a place where the fine art of the story has been replaced by collage. The instant gratification of cyber celebrity is the ultimate distraction, sounding the death knell of the novel in favor of easily digestible chunks of information masquerading as art. It may sound like Coupland is a crotchety old man, railing against what is new and different, but he’s not. He is very much a part of the internet age, and desperately wants novels and the internet to coexist.
This is a seriously funny book. Funny and smart. Coupland has always had a knack for social commentary, but this one is just effortless. The older he gets, the more it seems Coupland has a finger on the pulse of the current generation. He has been on a roll with his last few books, and Generation A is yet another success. Coupland’s satire has had a tendency to border on silly in the past (All Families Are Psychotic) and he walks a fine line here, but manages to maintain his balance.
Buy Generation A: A Novel from Amazon.com
And that rounds things out nicely, bringing us full circle all the way from X to A. As with any list, this one is completely subjective, so feel free to take me to task. What's your favorite Coupland novel? And which would you recommend as the ideal starting point for noobs?
[1] Close To The Edge, Andrew AnthonyIn today’s excerpt from the Dungeon Master’s Guide, we offer further tools for generating (and populating) dungeons.
The appendixes within the Dungeon Master’s Guide help you quickly generate a dungeon. The tables work in an iterative manner. First, roll a starting area, then roll to determine the passages and doors found in that area. One you have initial passages and doors, determine the location and nature of subsequent passages, doors, chambers, stairs, and so on—each of them generated by rolls on different tables.
Following these instructions can lead to sprawling complexes that more than fill a single sheet of graph paper. If you want to constrain the dungeon, establish limits ahead of time on how far it can grow. The most obvious limit to a dungeon’s size is the graph paper it’s drawn on. If a feature would exceed the boundaries of the page, curtail it. A corridor might turn or come to a dead end at the map’s edge, or you can make a chamber smaller to fit the available space.
Alternatively, you can decide that passages leading off the edge of the map are additional dungeon entrances. Stairs, shafts, and other features that would normally lead to levels you don’t plan to map can serve a similar purpose.
Once a dungeon is generated, the time has come to populate it. The following table selection organizes monsters by environment and challenge rating. These tables omit monsters that don’t customarily inhabit the environments included here, such as angels and demons.
The Dungeon Master's Guide
The Dungeon Master’s Guide provides the inspiration and the guidance you need to spark your imagination and create worlds of adventure for your players to explore and enjoy. Inside you’ll find world-building tools, tips and tricks for creating memorable dungeons and adventures, optional game rules, hundreds of classic D&D magic items, and much more!
Excerpt: Monster AppendixIt is easy to blackmail the US government, but it is much harder to avoid prosecution for it and actually get paid.
The US government has been blackmailed many times, that is part of the purpose of having espionage and counter-espionage. Most such blackmail, threats and coercion takes place between governments. Captured prisoners and military equipment are often used as leverage. In 1960, there was great mutual antagonism and mistrust between the Soviet Union and the US. The US suspected the Soviet Union was secretly building new nuclear missile installations, and desperately wanted to know the details. They wanted to fly over the Soviet Union and take pictures but that wasn’t allowed; it’s a violation of the USSR’s air space. The US developed a high altitude (70,000 feet) plane, the U2, that they thought couldn’t be detected by Soviet radar or hit by their missiles. But that turned out to be wrong on both counts. The Soviets shot down pilot Gary Powers’ U2 and the KGB arrested him. So both countries basically blackmailed each other with threats of releasing embarrassing information, keeping the captured pilot imprisoned, walking out of nuclear limitation talks, etc. Ultimately the US did indeed relent and gave up its lie that it was “just a weather observation flight,” and “paid a ransom” by releasing a Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel, in exchange for getting Gary Powers back.New Delhi: Amid the furore over an event at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Delhi Police on Friday arrested JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar in a case of sedition and criminal conspiracy.
Kumar was arrested two days after JNU witnessed clashes between two student groups over Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged on February 09, 2013 in Tihar Jail.
He was arrested by the Vasant Kunj north police in south Delhi.
The incident happened after a group of students organised a programme and termed the hanging of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhatt as "judicial killing”.
Marking the death anniversary of Guru, a group of students on Tuesday held an event on the campus and shouted slogans against government for hanging him, despite varsity administration having cancelled the permission following a complaint by ABVP members, who termed the activity as "anti-national".
Meanwhile, around 300 ABVP supporters today marched at India Gate to demand action against anti-national elements in the JNU.
Many are asking when will Umar Khaleed, from DSU (Democratic Students Union), who has been at the forefront in raising anti-national sentiments be arrested.
The students allegedly shouted slogans hailing 'Shaeed Afzal Guru' and also chanted anti-India slogans. They also expressed solidarity with "struggle" of Kashmiri migrants and advocated for 'Azad Kashmir'.
Not only this, several students have been raising anti-national slogans like 'Kitne Afzal Guru maroge, har ghar me paida hoga ek Afzal' and 'India ke kitne tukde honge'.
Student organisers had pasted posters across the campus inviting them to gather for a protest march against "judicial killing of Afzal Guru" and in solidarity with "struggle" of Kashmiri migrants, at varsity's Sabarmati dhaba.
Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) affiliated ABVP objected to such a program and complained to the Vice Chancellor.
Delhi Police on Thursday registered a case of sedition in connection with an event at JNU against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru following complaints by BJP MP Maheish Girri and RSS' student front ABVP.
Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said an FIR under Section of 124 A of IPC (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) has been registered against unknown persons at Vasant Kunj (North) Police station and the video footage of the event was being examined for further action.
Amid the furore over an event at JNU against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today asserted that strict action will be taken against the demonstrators and said that 'anti-national' elements will not be tolerated.
Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani said that an insult to India in any form would not be tolerated by the country.If you’re even barely intelligent and mildly educated, you’d realize that ideas such as “guilt by association” and “two wrongs make a right” are commonly accepted logical fallacies. One needn’t be particularly bright, nor even fully pubescent, to grasp this.
But for growing swaths of the pro-globalist—and therefore the unwittingly pro-corporate, pro-capitalist, and pro-banker—radical left, even “two wrongs make a right” is no longer sufficient. For them, it’s now “Commit the first wrong based on the theoretical possibility that a second wrong will be committed if you don’t hit first.”
Such is the “thinking” of Antifa—a portmanteau of “anti-fascist”—a loosely associated gaggle of far-left malcontents and trust-fund babies who justify their totalitarian tactics by claiming that if they don’t shut down speech and crush skulls, people whom they’ve tagged as “fascists” will do so, and no decent person would tolerate people shutting down speech and crushing skulls, which is, naturally, why they have to shut down speech and crush skulls first. Since these “Nazis”—who usually don’t identify as Nazis but are never even permitted to have that discussion—dehumanize others, they must be preemptively dehumanized and destroyed. Or so goes the “reasoning,” which is not reasoning at all but rather a cowardly, self-exculpatory dodge.
After all, those Nazis killed—what was it?—six million? Twenty million? Naturally this had nothing to do with competing economic superpowers who had massive armies—and the bankers who supplied their bombs and greased their gun barrels—fighting over land and resources, because we all know war never has anything to do with competing elites trying to seize raw power. No, it’s because their ideas were allowed to flourish.
“If there are any who are wicked among us, it is certainly the self-righteous. I’d recommend hitting them, but it’d only make them feel more self-righteous.”
And never mind the inconvenient truth that those who adhered to Marx’s ideas piled up far more corpses than the Nazis ever dreamed of doing. Many of those in the media and academia who endorse Antifa’s tactics are open Marxists; it’s that they’re unwilling to make the same inexorable connection between ideas and death with Marxism that they do with fascism, however they define the latter. Even though Marx’s ideas led to far more deaths than Hitler’s ideas, at least Marx’s ideas were for a good cause, and sometimes when you make an omelet you have to break 100 million eggs. It doesn’t even matter if the omelet was never made—it was the thought that counted. To a fanatic who mostly lives inside his head, it is thoughts that are either objectively good or evil, while actions can be praised or condemned solely on the thoughts that spurred them. Therefore, kicking in someone’s head isn’t seen as universally malicious and harmful—it all depends on what thoughts were inside the head being kicked.
These types will often invoke John Brown and the abolitionists’ notion of “righteous violence”—that if you’re slitting a slave owner’s throat, that’s not nearly as bad as the fact that he may have whipped one or two of his slaves. Even though throat-slitting is objectively worse than whipping, it’s always the thought that counts to these people.
In my endless sojourns through the ideological wastelands, I have yet to come across an alleged “Nazi” who says that Marxists, blacks, lesbians, trannies, Jews, Muslims, or anyone should be denied the right to speak. OK, maybe you’ll get one rabid commenter here or there—almost always an anonymous one, of course, so they may just be plants—who says such things, but I’ve seen nothing remotely equivalent to the broad brush of “hate speech” that the globalist/corporate left now wants to use to smear and silence anyone who doesn’t toe their delusional and historically disastrous line.
In my years, my weary eyes have come to conclude that there’s no one more dangerous than someone who’s blindly convinced that they are fighting for an irreproachably good cause, because such fanatics are therefore able to justify behavior that would almost universally be condemned if it were stripped of ideology and shown to be the naked, bald, sadistic, dehumanizing violence that it is.
What’s most troubling is that the media and academia are indulging this egregious double standard when it comes to Antifa. Since the group defines itself in negative terms—they don’t really claim to stand for anything so much as they’re against fascism—if one even mildly criticizes their tactics, one invites being called a “fascist.” It’s a very clever strategy for winning over the stupid.
Last week, without a droplet of irony, The New York Times published an article called “What to Wear to Smash the State.” The essay refers to Antifa as “anti-fascist activists” rather than, oh, “communists” or “anarchists” or “violent and emotionally stunted masked street thugs who are entirely intolerant of opposing ideas.” And, yes, the article is roughly as dumb as its title—it’s a largely superficial guide to looking sharp when you take to the streets to punch “Nazis.” It approvingly mentions an October article called “The Femme’s Guide to Riot Fashion.”
The Times article also refers to Mark Bray’s recent book Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook as “incisive.” Bray—who doesn’t look quite ready or able for street battle, although these types rarely do—is a lecturer at Dartmouth and a former organizer of the insipid Occupy Wall Street fiasco. In his book, Bray argues that it’s morally acceptable that Antifa is “turning over the tables” at alleged “fascist” meetings—which in most cases aren’t even remotely “fascist”—and “giving them a good pummeling.”
Naturally, Bray was roundly condemned for endorsing political violence…right?
Nah.
The New Yorker called his book “focused and persuasive.” The Washington Post called it “enlightening” and “relevant,” applauding its “justification for stifling speech and clobbering white supremacists.” The San Francisco Chronicle called it “incisive and cohesive.” The Los Angeles Review of Books deemed it “commendable” and praised Bray’s “well-reasoned defense of controversial tactics.” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gullibly slurped up Bray’s shallow propaganda and dubbed Antifa a “misunderstood group looking to keep the genocidal past from repeating.”
Pay to Play - Put your money where your mouth is and subscribe for an ad-free experience and to join the world famous Takimag comment board.Islamic music may refer to religious music, as performed in Islamic public services or private devotions, or more generally to musical traditions of the Muslim world. The classic heartland of Islam is the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Iran, Central Asia and South Asia, and it also included the medieval Iberian peninsula (al-Andalus). Due to Islam being a multi-ethnic religion, the musical expression of its adherents is vastly diverse. Indigenous traditions of various part have influenced the musical styles popular among Muslims today.
Secular and folk musical styles [ edit ]
A Musical Gathering - Ottoman, 18th century
Middle East [ edit ]
All of these regions were connected by trade long before the Islamic conquests of the 7th century, and it is likely that musical styles traveled the same routes as trade goods. However, lacking recordings, we can only speculate as to the pre-Islamic music of these areas. Islam must have had a great influence on music, as it united vast areas under the first caliphs, and facilitated trade between distant lands. Certainly, the Sufis, brotherhoods of Muslim mystics, spread their music far and wide.
North Africa [ edit ]
The Berber and Arabic speaking countries of North Africa, such as Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, share some musical traditions with Egypt and the Arab countries of the Middle East. Popular modern styles of music such as Raï and Chaabi originated in Berber counties. In addition, West African influences can be heard in the popular music of Gnawa.
Horn of Africa [ edit ]
Most Somali music is based on the pentatonic scale. That is, the songs only use five pitches per octave in contrast to a heptatonic (seven note) scale such as the major scale. At first listen, Somali music might be mistaken for the sounds of nearby regions such as Ethiopia, Sudan or Arabia, but it is ultimately recognizable by its own unique tunes and styles. Somali songs are usually the product of collaboration between lyricists (midho), songwriters (lahan), and singers ('odka or "voice").[1] Instruments prominently featured in Somali music include the kaban (oud).
West Africa [ edit ]
Islam is the largest organized religion on the continent, although indigenous styles and genres are more prominent than those influenced by Middle-Eastern theory.
West African musical genres are more varied, and tend to incorporate both native and Berber influences, rather than those of Arab origin. A long history of court griot music based on historical accounts and praise-singing exists in the region. Wind and string instruments, such as the Kora or Flute are generally preferred to percussion, although percussion instruments such as the talking drum and djembe are also widely played.
Central Asia [ edit ]
Many of the countries in Central Asia such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have been heavily influenced by Turkish and Persian culture. Bowed instruments are common, as is bardic singing.
South Asia [ edit ]
The music of the Muslim populations of South Asia (Maldives, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, with Nepal and Sri Lanka) merged Middle Eastern genres with indigenous classical musical modes, and is generally distinct in style and orchestration, yet due to the strong links encountered between the Middle-East, Central Asia, and South Asia, it is closer to Middle-Eastern styles than those of the periphery of the Islamic world, which tend to be purely indigenous.
Southeast Asia [ edit ]
Muslim-majority Indonesia has been significantly less influenced by Middle Eastern traditions than South Asia. As a result, many local musical styles predate the coming of Islam, although exceptions include Malay Zapin and Joget, and the Indonesian Gambus, all of which show strong Middle Eastern influence.
There are also local music genres in Muslim-majority regions in Southeast Asia that are influenced by Arabian traditions, such as the tagonian of the Sundanese people and glipang of the people of Probolinggo
The music of South East Asia's Muslim-majority regions is more closely related to the musical genres of South East and East Asia. Gong chime ensembles such as Gamelan and Kulintang existed in the region before the arrival of Islam, and musical theory and method owe more to heavy Chinese influence, as well as Hindu-Buddhist principles, than to Arabic musical philosophy. Variations of one of two main scales prevail in the region among different ensembles: slendro and pelog (both of which originated in Java).
In Java, use of the gamelan for Islamic devotional music was encouraged by the Muslim saint Sunan Kalijogo.
Types of Muslim devotional recitation and music [ edit ]
Anasheed [ edit ]
Nasheeds are moral, religious songs sung in various melodies by some Muslims of today without any musical instruments. However, some nasheed groups use percussion instruments, such as the daff. Singing moral songs of this type without instrumentation is considered permissible (halal) by many Muslims. Some famous nasheed singers are Native Deen, Outlandish, UNIC and Raihan. Other well-known artists are Ahmed Bukhatir, Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens), Ahmed Mac, Sami Yusuf, Junaid Jamshed, Zahid Ullah Afridi, Maher Zain, Harris J, Hamood ul khuder, Hamza Namira, Raef, Jae deen (Deen squad), Mesut Kurtis, Dawud Wharnsby, Zain Bhikha.
Sufi music [ edit ]
Sufi worship services are often called dhikr or zikr. See that article for further elaboration.
The dhikr of South Asian Muslims is "quietist". The Sufi services best known in the West are the chanting and rhythmic dancing of the whirling dervishes or Mevlevi Sufis of Turkey.
However, Sufis may also perform devotional songs in public, for the enjoyment and edification of listeners. The mood is religious, but the gathering is not a worship service.
In Turkey, once the seat of the Ottoman Empire and the Caliphate, concerts of sacred song are called "Mehfil-e-Sama' " (or "gathering of Sama'"). Song forms include ilahi and nefe.
In South Asia, especially Pakistan and India, the most widely known style of Sufi music is qawwali. A traditional qawwali programme would include:
A hamd—a song in praise of Allah
A na`at—a song in praise of Muhammad
Manqabats—songs in praise of the illustrious teachers of the Sufi brotherhood to which the musicians belong
Ghazals—songs of intoxication and yearning, which use the language of romantic love to express the soul's longing for union with the divine.
Shi'a qawwali performances typically follow the naat with a manqabat in praise of Ali, and sometimes a marsiya, a lamentation over the death of much of Ali's family at the Battle of Karbala.
The most well-known qawwali singer in modern times is Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Another traditional South Asian genre of Sufi music is the Kafi, which is more meditative and involves solo singing as opposed to the ensemble form seen in qawwali. The most widely known exponent of the Kafi is the Pakistani singer Abida Parveen.
Sufi music has developed with the times. A Pakistani Sufi rock band, Junoon, was formed in the 1990s to bring a modern twist to suit the new younger generation. The band achieved wide popularity, in Pakistan as well as in the West.
Music for public religious celebrations [ edit ]
Ta'zieh music—Ta'zieh is a passion play, part musical drama, part religious drama, rarely performed outside Iran. It depicts the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, venerated by Shia Muslims.
Ashurah music—performed during the Muharram mourning period, commemorating the deaths of Imam Hussein and his followers. (Shia)
Thikiri (from the Arabic word "Dhikr" which means remembrance of God—performed by the Qadiriyya Sufi orders of waYao or Yao people in East and Southern Africa (Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and South Africa).
Manzuma—moral songs performed in Ethiopia.
Madih nabawi—Arabic hymns praising Muhammad.
Modes [ edit ]
Instruments [ edit ]
Some Muslims believe that only vocal music is permissible (halal) and that instruments are forbidden (haram). Hence there is a strong tradition of a cappella devotional singing.
Yet some Muslims believe that any instrument is lawful as long as it is used for the permissible kinds of music. Hence there is a long tradition of instrumental accompaniment to devotional songs. A wide variety of instruments may be used, depending on local musical traditions.
Traditional:
Drums (daf, bendir, zarb, rebana...)
Gongs
Lute or oud
Wind instruments (ney...) Reed instruments (shehnai...)
Recent introductions:
Harmonium (popular in Pakistan and India)
Lyrics [ edit ]
When lyrics are not simply repeated and elaborated invocations (Yah Nabi and the like), they are usually poems in forms and meters common in the local literature.[citation needed]
Permissibility of music [ edit ]
The question of permissibility of music in Islamic jurisprudence is historically disputed.[2] Imam al-Ghazzali, one of the most famous Muslim scholars, writing almost a thousand years ago, reported several hadith and came to the conclusion that music is permitted, saying: “All these Ahadith are reported by al-Bukhari and singing and playing are not haram.”[3] Despite this, some Salafist groups interpret the chapters of Luqman and Al-Isra in the Quran as evidence that music is haram,[4] although this is disputed by others who disagree.[5]
Those who do not allow music believe that Muhammad censured the use of musical instruments when he said: "There will be among my Ummah people who will regard as permissible adultery, silk, alcohol and musical instruments".[6] Islamic scholars of the past who agreed upon this include Abu Hanifa, Al-Shafi'i, Malik, Ahmad bin Hanbal, Al-Tabari, Al-Hasan Al-Basri, Al-Bukhari, Al-Tirmidhi, Al-Nawawi, Al-Bayhaqi, Al-Tahawi, and Al-Qurtubi.[citation needed] However, those who argue that music is halal (permitted) state that this hadith relates to usage—at the time the polytheists used music and musical instruments as part of their worship- and does not apply to all music.[3] They also point out that in the Quran, it is stated that Hazrat Dawud was given the Psalms.[7] (an-Nisa, 4/163; al-Isra, 17/55). In other Islamic resources, it is stated that the Psalms given to Hazrat Dawud were sent down in the month of Ramadan, that it contained sermons and words of wisdom and that Hazrat Dawud usually recited it accompanied by a melody and a musical instrument;[8] therefore music is permitted. Supporters of this view also point out that in classical Islamic jurisprudence and Sharia, the Quran is the higher authority on correct Islamic practice; the hadith, while important, are secondary to the Quran.[9]
Those who saw the permissibility of music include some of the most famous Muslim scholars, jurists, philosophers and Sufi poets of the Muslim world, including Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, Ibn al-Qaisarani, Ibn Sina, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Rumi, Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Hazm. Al-Ghazali also reports a narration from al-Khidr, where he expressed a favorable opinion of music, provided it be within the usage limitation of virtuous areas.[citation needed][10][11] Al-Ghazali has been referred to by some historians as the single most influential Muslim after the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[12]
Certain schools of Sunnis as well as some Shiites hold that music is forbidden with the sole exception being that women can play the Daf, a traditional one sided drum, at celebrations and festivals.[13] However some Islamic groups and denominations deem music permissible including many Sufi orders who use music as part of their worship.[14]
According to some authorities, Islam does allow singing without musical accompaniment within prescribed circumstances—namely that the performer be of the same gender as the audience,[15] although this contradicts a well-known hadith in which two girls sang a song to the Prophet Muhammad and he instructed Abu Bakr to let them, stating, "Leave them Abu Bakr, for every nation has an 'Id (i.e. festival) and this day is our 'Id.".[16] Others hold that music is permitted in Islam provided that the lyrics are not obscene or vulgar.[15]
Based upon the Shia ahadith, Grand Ayatollah Sadiq Hussaini Shirazi (an opponent of the current theocratic regime in Iran) ruled that all music and instrument playing is haram, no matter the purpose.[17] However, this is not the official position of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current supreme leader of Iran, has stated his admiration of western music,[18] and music is permitted in Iran as long as it is either Iranian folk music, Iranian Classical music, or Iranian pop music.[19]
Contemporary Islamic music [ edit ]
Notable nasheed artists include:
Ah |
’s got his bale out in his yard.
In Harrison County: “I just finished my bean harvest,” another farmer tells another seatmate at another recreation center. “Good bean crop.”
“Oh, it was good? What do you think they’re making?”
“About sixty-three?”
“That’s a good bean.”
At that stop, Deborah Nelson, a convenience store owner, approaches Ernst with a written list of topics on which she wants clarification: Abortion. Immigration. Obamacare. The Farm Bill.
Ernst tells Nelson that she is antiabortion. That she would work to replace Obama’s health-care program. That she will always, always support the military — Ernst herself served in Kuwait in 2003, and she’s still a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard.
“I just wake up every day and I’m scared,” Nelson says as Ernst moves on to talk to other supporters. This race seems so important, Nelson says, and the gulf between Ernst and Bruce Braley seems so wide. Both candidates have traversed the state, but supporters on Ernst’s tour point out that this weekend, while Joni is out here with them, Braley is in more liberal Iowa City with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass). “I think Joni has the principles that Iowa has,” Nelson says. At least the western part, she says. “This part.”
The other part of Iowa is the city part, Nelson says. It’s the part that made Iowa the first Midwestern state to legalize same-sex marriage, and the part that lobbies for environmental regulations, and the part that Braley seems to be speaking to. The conservative positions that are important to Nelson are the same ones that make Ernst a polarizing candidate to other voters. She proposed dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency and the Education Department. She supported a “personhood” amendment to give legal rights to fetuses from the time of fertilization — though she later tried to back away from it.
These differences between the candidates represent the fight for Iowa’s future that Ernst talks about at each stop.
In Cherokee County: At an old train depot decorated with patriotic bunting, Ernst tells the audience, “The Iowa way is to acknowledge you have a problem and address it. Let’s stop pointing the finger and let’s start making things happen.”
Afterward, Cherokee residents line up to shake Ernst’s hand, and while they wait, they eat cinnamon rolls from a folding table until there is only one roll left. It’s the one the mayor dropped on the floor. Then somebody decides it wasn’t on the floor for long, and that waste is a terrible thing, and eats it.
“The Iowa way?” Jana Fuller, who has lived elsewhere in the Midwest but likes Iowa best, pauses near the rolls to think about what that means. “If we’re different at all, it’s that we’re earthy. We’re people of the land. Sometimes we’re laughed at because we’re a flyover state, or whatever, but so many people here are intelligent and kind, and everything you’d want to be.”
Returning to ‘the right track’
“How long do you think you spoke in there?” asks Gretchen Hamel, Ernst’s communications director. They’re on the RV, in between counties. Ernst, in a pink cardigan and khakis, sits at the table.
“Ten minutes?” Ernst guesses.
“No. Fifteen.”
“No!”
“How long are you going to be next time?”
“Five to six,” Ernst promises.
She never means to talk that long. It’s just that she gets swept up in the moment. She’s a hugger. Hugs everybody. Likes taking pictures. Can’t resist hopping onto someone’s motorcycle for a photo, even when her staff is telling her they really, really need to go.
Ernst says she sometimes feels like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders. “We need to win in Iowa if we want to get America back on what I consider the right track,” she says in an interview. “We have to do this, and there’s no ifs, ands or buts.”
Now, in the RV, is when she usually might check in with her family — her husband and teenage daughter back home in Red Oak. Today a campaign staffer asks a favor. His friend’s daughter has to do a travel project, where people from around the country fill in information about themselves and their states. The staffer wonders if Joni could do a page. She takes the folder.
“What are your hobbies?” she reads out loud. “Campaigning. Campaigning is my latest hobby.”
“Hugging,” a staffer offers.
“Hugging.”
The RV rolls on. “What are you going to do?” Hamel asks as they approach the next stop.
“Five to six minutes.”
One hour, sixty miles, and one stop later, Ernst’s supporters in Wapello County sit in metal chairs in the county’s GOP headquarters, waiting for the candidate to arrive.
“She probably won’t be here but 15 minutes,” one attendee warns another. “They can’t ever stay for long; they got so many places to be.”
“If you’re waiting on the perfect candidate, Jesus Christ ain’t running,” another attendee, a middle-aged man, says.
“That’s what I tell people,” replies Linda Clark, a retired cosmetologist who came with her year-old granddaughter.
“But Joni’s close, though,” the man says.
“Oh, she’s wonderful.” Clark has been a fan for months. She loves the small-government philosophy that Ernst stands for, and she thinks its great that Ernst would be Iowa’s first female senator. Some people have tried to warn her that Ernst’s position on health care could make it more expensive for women to get birth control, but that doesn’t bother Clark. “I always bought my own birth control anyway,” she says.
Finally, Ernst arrives, waving to the waiting group, stooping to greet Clark’s granddaughter.
“Can you say Joni?” Clark prompts the toddler. “Jo-ni?”
Helping neighbors
The RV again. It’s late in the day, and the sky is turning pink and orange as Ernst and her staff travel to their final stop of the evening, a chili cook-off in Decatur County. Pop music drifts back from the front seats.
Ernst is asked to explain, again, the Iowa way.
“It’s hard work,” she begins. “It’s personal responsibility.”
It’s the fact that, she says, when floods came to Iowa, emergency shelters were unnecessary because people took in their neighbors themselves.
Years ago, back when she was running for county auditor, there was this man who was a supporter of hers, a farmer and rancher, and a cow knocked against him so hard and so unexpectedly that he had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital, she says.
“It was during harvest. They put a message out on the radio station, and he had more people come out on their tractors and combines to bring his harvest in so that his wife and his children wouldn’t have to worry about it. So they could focus on their dad. The community said, ‘Don’t worry about it. We got it.’ ”
She breaks off. She is crying now, silently, as she remembers this farmer. When she starts to talk again after pausing to wipe her eyes with a clump of tissues, her voice is wobbly.
“And he ended up dying. And he was such a great man. But they didn’t want his wife to worry about it. And that’s what it is. It’s just about taking care of people that you love.”
She nods. The RV keeps moving.
She talks about a few other things: her military career, college years spent volunteering at a women’s shelter. Then the driver calls back that they’re only a few minutes away from the cook-off.
“Time to get dolled up again,” she says, applying a coat of lipstick.
Inside the building holding the cook-off, crockpots of chili line the perimeter of a linoleum-floored room. Women set out Tupperware holding brownies and marshmallow squares at one end of the table, and a man lays out Styrofoam bowls at another. A teenage girl and boy sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in a pure, tremulous and slightly flat key, and people put their hands on their hearts and sing along.
“Our Iowa way is the right approach,” Ernst tells the crowd. The people organizing the chili table stop, cutlery in hands, to listen to her. A mother hushes her child, and an older couple murmurs agreement. Yes, they nod. Yes.
“God bless you,” Ernst says, and the applause begins. “God bless the great state of Iowa. God bless the great United States of America.”Vegetarian Journal's Guide To Food Ingredients
By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS
VRG Research Director
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INTRODUCTION: Vegetarian Journal's Guide to Food Ingredients is a partial listing of common food ingredients taken from an ongoing VRG food ingredients project. Our objective in this booklet is to provide an easy-to-read, useful list of ingredients commonly found in many foods and beverages that indicates whether they are vegetarian, vegan, or non-vegetarian. Our Guide is unique in that we place emphasis on the commercial sources of ingredients most commonly used today while mentioning other possible sources of ingredients.
Classification of Commercial Ingredients
Each entry lists commercial sources, alternative names (if any), foods or beverages containing the ingredient, and, in some cases, manufacturers' information about current supply sourcing.
Our classification scheme is as follows:
Vegetarian : The ingredient contains no meat, poultry, fish, or seafood, nor any products derived from them or any other part of an animal's (including insect's) body. The ingredient was not processed using animal-derived substances (such as bone char). Eggs and dairy, and substances derived from them, are vegetarian. Insect secretions, (such as honey), are vegetarian.
: The ingredient contains no meat, poultry, fish, or seafood, nor any products derived from them or any other part of an animal's (including insect's) body. The ingredient was not processed using animal-derived substances (such as bone char). Eggs and dairy, and substances derived from them, are vegetarian. Insect secretions, (such as honey), are vegetarian. Vegan : The ingredient contains no animal-derived products or byproducts whatsoever. Its processing occurs solely with or by non-animal substances.
: The ingredient contains no animal-derived products or byproducts whatsoever. Its processing occurs solely with or by non-animal substances. Non-vegetarian: The ingredient, or substances used to process the ingredient, is derived from meat, poultry, fish, or seafood, or some other part of an animal's (including insect's) body (such as cochineal, rennet or gelatin).
There are cases where both vegetarian and non-vegetarian sources are available for a given ingredient, but some manufacturers told us that they use vegetarian sources only. Since we cannot generalize this to all suppliers, we have classified these ingredients as typically vegetarian, typically vegan, typically non-vegetarian, or may be non-vegetarian, depending on the information received from manufacturers. In this Guide, information received from specific companies is listed with the ingredient's entry, space permitting.
Note: Some manufacturers may produce non-vegan foods on equipment used to produce vegan foods. Non-vegetarian foods may be manufactured on equipment used to produce vegetarian foods. Ingredient classifications in this Guide do not take this into account. Also, this Guide does not consider whether ingredients were tested on animals. For more information on these or related issues, readers are advised to contact the manufacturer directly.
More on Definitions
It is a tedious undertaking to classify the sources of food ingredients for these five reasons:
Ingredients can be composed of multiple parts where each part may be derived from a different source. The common preservative, sodium benzoate, is an example. It contains both mineral (sodium) and synthetic (benzoate) parts. In these cases, both (or all, if more than two are present) sources are listed. Processing aids, used during the commercial processing of an ingredient, may be unknown or vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. A common example is cattle bone char used to decolorize cane sugar. Consumers can inquire about processing aids when in doubt. In many cases, manufacturers do not have to list processing aids on food labels. Only careful research may reveal their presence. Manufacturers may call them "proprietary." "Synthetic" ingredients may contain components derived from several different sources such as animal, plant, microbial, or mineral sources. In all cases, the word refers to something that has been created in a laboratory by a chemical process. Since most synthetic ingredients today derive ultimately from petrochemicals, which consist of both decayed plant and animal matter, all synthetics are technically of plant and animal origin. For the purposes of this Guide, synthetic ingredients, except those known to contain non-vegetarian substances as defined in the section above, are classified as vegan. Non-vegetarian or non-vegan aspects of vegetarian food production exist at the agricultural or transportation level, such as insects inadvertently killed during harvesting or the use of manure or other animal-derived substances as fertilizer on fruit or vegetable crops. Now it is economically unfeasible given current agricultural practices for most companies to ensure that their foods were produced in a completely vegetarian manner. (This situation may change in the distant future because of technological and agricultural innovations and consumer interest.) Consumers, foodservice and healthcare professionals, dietitians, and food manufacturers always have a changing and expanding knowledge base about how ingredients are sourced and how food ingredients are processed. As information about food ingredient sourcing and processing becomes more readily available, people's perceptions and expectations of what is vegetarian or vegan slowly change. Consequently, consumer demands may evolve while company executives and food technologists may alter their methods and change ingredient sources to meet emerging preferences, needs, and economics.
For example, consider the transformation seen over the last thirty years with regard to the cheese enzyme, rennet, (once an almost exclusively animal-derived substance to a now largely microbially sourced ingredient in most U.S. domestic cheeses). Some vegetarians once may not have even been aware of rennet in cheese, but now many vegetarians want to know its source and may refuse to purchase or eat animal rennet-containing cheese. The writer observes the same evolution occurring in the case of L-cysteine, now typically extracted from duck feathers, and predicts that it may one day become largely microbially produced. (Now, microbial production of this amino acid is very expensive.)
Commercial Sources
To determine commercial sources, we contacted hundreds of chemical, food, and beverage companies by phone, letter, fax, and email. Sometimes, technical service or sales representatives were very helpful in providing us with information. In some cases, they did not know about the origins of the source materials used to make their ingredients. Often, representatives were unwilling to disclose proprietary information. As a result, some entries in this Guide lack precision or specific company information.
In this Guide, commercial sources will be listed in the order of the most commonly used to the least commonly used, according to the information received from manufacturers. In the case of microbial sources, if manufacturers have not specified whether certain microbial processes are bacterial or fungal, the commercial source will be listed as "microbial." Unless the culture media on which the microbes grow contain animal-derived substances, (and in all cases to our knowledge only vegetable-derived substances have been used), microbial sources are vegan as defined in this Guide.
Food Labeling Issues
Since the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 ruling that mandates labeling of common food allergens, some companies are becoming more transparent about the sources of many of their ingredients. This is true in the case of ingredients containing or derived from milk, egg, fish or shellfish sources, all common food allergens. However, the FDA does not require of manufacturers that all ingredient sources be clearly indicated on labels.
Moreover, there is ambiguity regarding some FDA labeling regulations that presents concerns for vegetarians and vegans. "Natural flavors," which could be either animal- or plant-derived, is a prime example. All readers with questions or concerns about specific food products should contact the manufacturer directly.
It is also the case that some substances, many of which are removed from the final product; remain in minute amounts; or are rendered inactive by a chemical or physical process during production, require no ingredient labeling at all. Many enzymes often fall in this class of substances requiring no labeling.
AUTHOR'S NOTE : A guide to food ingredients is a complicated research project. We thank the following interns who helped compile information: Sina Arnold, Melissa Boynum, Caroline Pyevich, Kathy Schmelter, and Mimi Sistrunk. We also thank the following staff members who provided help with clarity of expression: Eric Hatch, Tamara Richter, Charles Stahler, Darlene Veverka, and Debra Wasserman. Finally, we thank the following people who helped with technical accuracy: Stu Cantor, M.S. (food science and nutrition); Reed Mangels, Ph.D., R.D. (nutrition); Brad Wolff, M.S. (food science).
*Information by and publications of The Vegetarian Resource Group are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional.*
This Guide is intended to help consumers shop for vegetarian and vegan food and beverage products. It may also be used as a reference when answering others' questions about food ingredients. The author hopes that this Guide will aid people to make educated food choices depending on their dietary preferences.
This Guide is not intended to discourage anyone about the feasibility of a vegetarian or vegan diet in today's world. It should not be construed as a way to rationalize a meat-centered diet. Most importantly, the author hopes that the Guide will never be used to criticize those who try to maintain a vegetarian or vegan diet in the face of "hidden ingredients," proprietary processing aids, or the use of shared equipment. Please consider this Guide as a source of information needed when making educated food choices.
New information and changes in commercial processes and sources will constantly appear. We will be producing updates. Please send questions and comments for future editions to The Vegetarian Resource Group, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203. Fax: (410) 366-8804; E-mail address: vrg@vrg.org
Please note : A vegetarian does not eat meat, fish, or fowl. A vegan is a vegetarian who also does not use other animal products, such as dairy and eggs. At the time of this writing, under these definitions, about 3% of the U.S. population is vegetarian and about 1% is vegan. Eight percent say they never eat meat. There are other groups such as those that keep kosher or halal which have an interest in these ingredient issues.
How people follow a diet can vary according to personal beliefs, background, and knowledge. For example, generally vegetarians in the U.S. may eat eggs, while some religious groups do not consider eggs vegetarian. When estimating the number of vegetarians, we follow the general definitions above. However, when individuals decide what foods fit their beliefs, questions may arise because of the "hidden" ingredients in foods and the "processing aids" used in food production.
This guide can be used to help answer some of these questions. It is not meant to discourage people from being vegetarian, to say someone is or is not vegetarian, or to give food service staff and businesses a hard time. That would defeat the goal of vegetarians and vegans trying to create a kinder world. We live in an imperfect world, do the best we can, and strive to do better. We each make different decisions about what is appropriate for ourselves, where to draw lines, and what is practical for our situation.
However, this guide can be used as an aid in meeting your needs or the needs of your clients and customers. To label foods vegetarian, it's best for full disclosure and to make sure all the ingredients are vegetarian. There are some ingredients, which technically may be vegetarian, that many vegetarians or others may not see as vegetarian or not want to use, such as artificial sweeteners or L-cysteine from duck feathers or human hair. These should also be disclosed and avoided when developing vegetarian products.
The contents of this handout and our other publications, including web information, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on company statements for product and ingredient information. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, information can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your own best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research on your own.
acesulfame K
: acesulfame potassium, Sunette.: synthetic: dry beverage mixes, canned fruit, chewing gum.: A low-calorie sweetener.Vegan
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acetic acid
: vegetable: many fruits and plants, in milk, and in synthetic form.: catsup, mayonnaise, and pickles.: Common preservative and flavoring agent which is the principal ingredient of vinegar.Vegan
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acid casein
: animal (milk-derived).: cereal and bread fortification.: Principal protein in milk which has been treated with an acid.Vegetarian
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acidulant
: vegetable, mineral, or synthetic.: citric acid, lactic acid.: baked goods, beverages, dry mixes.: Acids used in processed foods as flavor enhancers or acidity regulators.Typically Vegetarian
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acrylic acid
: acrylate-acrylamide resin.: synthetic.: produce coatings (such as waxes).: A petroleum-derived chemical used mainly to make plastics.Vegan
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activated carbon
: vegetable (domestic production) or animal (cow bone-derived, foreign production).: sugar processing, water purification.: Carbon which can decolorize sugar and absorb impurities from the air and water.May be Non-Vegetarian
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adipic acid
Product information
: hexanedioic acid.: synthetic.: some vegetables, such as beets.: artificial flavorings in baked goods, baking powder, condiments, dairy products, meat products, oils, margarine, relishes, snack foods, canned vegetables, beverages, gelatin desserts, confections.: An additive used in foods to impart a tart taste.May be Non-Vegetarian: DuPont Chemicals, a manufacturer of adipic acid, reports that oleic acid derived from animal fat is used as a defoaming agent in the production of adipic acid. The oleic acid is present in the final product at a few parts per million. An alternative to this part of the process is thought to be possible but there are no plans to use it.
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agar
: Japanese isinglass.: vegetable.: baked goods, ice cream, custard, meringue, and confections.: A vegetable gum obtained from seaweeds and used to thicken foods.Vegan
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agar-agar
alanine
See agar : bacterial, fungal, or synthetic.: living organisms.: seasonings, dietary supplements.: An amino acid needed by humans which can be produced by the body.Typically Vegetarian
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albumen
: animal (egg-derived).: pastries, baked goods.: The spelling for the form of albumin (a protein) which is present in commercial egg white.Vegetarian
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albumin
: animal (egg-, milk-, or blood-derived) or vegetable.: lactalbumin (milk); legumelin (peas).: pastries, baked goods, imitation sausage, soups, stews.: General term for a group of proteins which acts as binders in foods.Typically Vegetarian
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algin
: vegetable-mineral.: ice cream, icings, puddings, dessert gels, cheeses, soda water, and preserves.: The name for a class of vegetable gums obtained from seaweed and used to provide thickening in foods. Sodium alginate is the most common.Vegan
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alginate
alginic acid
See algin : vegetable.: ice cream, beverages, salad dressing, cheese, cheese products, processed foods.: A derivative of seaweed used in many foods for its jelling and thickening properties.Vegan
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alpha tocopherol
alum
See vitamin E : potash alum, aluminum ammonium, potassium sulfate.: mineral.: A general term for ingredients which contain aluminum.Vegan
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amino acid
: animal (usually derived from domestic mammals and birds), vegetable, bacterial, fungal, synthetic. Certain amino acids have a typical source. See individual amino acids for more information.: alanine, arginine, aspartic acid, cysteine, cystine, tyrosine.: baked goods, nutrient supplements.: The building blocks of proteins.Typically Vegetarian
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amylase
: bacterial, fungal, animal (pig-derived).: products containing sugars derived from corn, baked goods.: An enzyme which breaks down starch into a simpler form.Typically Vegan
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annatto
: annatto extract, annatto seed, norbixin.: vegetable.: margarine, shortening, cheese, seasonings, sausage casings.: A natural yellow-orange food coloring derived from a tree seed.Vegan
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anticaking agent
: free-flow agent, flow aid: mineral, synthetic, vegetable (cellulose, rice): silicon dioxide, dimethylpolysiloxane, sodium aluminosilicate, tri-calcium phosphate, calcium stearate, magnesium stearate, cellulose, rice concentrate/extract, sodium ferrocyanide, propylene glycol: dry mixes (soup, seasoning, cake, pizza, bread and beverage), spices, salt, flour, sugar, shredded cheese, powdered egg, yeast production.: preventing ingredients from clumping together by absorbing moisture or oils/fats or by sealing ingredients against either water or oil: As a general class of ingredients, there are many anti-caking agents mostly of mineral or synthetic (i.e., petrochemical) origin. They keep food ingredients free-flowing.Vegan
For a discussion on stearates in dry yeast production (starting with Example 1 in “Materials and Methods”):
http://www.google.com/patents/EP1499197A2?cl=en
: April 2015
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antioxidant
: Typically vegetable or synthetic.: foods containing vitamin C and vitamin E: BHA, BHT, vitamin E, vitamin C.: vegetable oils, potato chips, cereals, dehydrated potatoes.: A class of additives which prevents fats and oils from going bad. A second class of antioxidants prevents cut fruit and vegetables from turning brown.Typically Vegetarian
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arabic
: acacia, acacia vera, gum arabic, catechu, Egyptian thorn.: vegetable.: confections and beverages.: A vegetable gum with many functions such as thickening foods.Vegan
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arginine
: Typically vegetable.: living organisms.: nutritional supplements.: An amino acid needed by humans which can be produced by the body.Typically Vegetarian
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artificial coloring
: Typically synthetic. Artificial coloring may be derived from vegetable or animal (insect) sources.: FD&C Blue #2, FD&C Red #40.: dry mixes, confections, beverages, candy, ice cream, margarine, meat, meat products, butter, cheese, baked goods, gelatin desserts, cereal, pasta.: An additive, not duplicated in nature, which gives color to foods.Typically Vegan
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artificial flavor
: Typically synthetic. Artificial flavor may be derived from vegetable or animal sources.: vanillin.: processed foods, beverages, cereal, salad dressing, baked goods.: The most common type of food additive which is used to replace or supplement real, more expensive flavors. They contain all or some substances which are not found naturally in the food or beverage to which it is added.Typically Vegetarian
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ascorbic acid
See vitamin C : Nutrasweet, Equal.: synthetic.: soft drinks, breakfast cereals, desserts, chewing gum.: An artificial sweetener.Vegan
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aspartic acid
: TTypically bacterial or fungal.: living organisms.: aspartame, the synthetic sweetener.: An amino acid needed by humans which can be produced by the body.Typically Vegetarian
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autolyzed yeast extract
Product information
: yeast autolyzates.: fungal.: flavor enhancer, nutrient.: An extract from yeast which provides a “meaty” flavor to foods.Vegan: There are no aspects of the manufacturing process in which substances of animal or animal-derived origin are used, according to FIDCO Inc., a manufacturer of this ingredient.
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baking powder
: mineral-vegetable.: baked goods.: A powder used as a yeast substitute in baking.Vegan
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baking soda
beeswax
See sodium bicarbonate : animal (insect).: confections, chewing gum, fruit and honey flavorings for beverages, ice cream, baked goods, and honey.: A bee secretion used to form the beehive and used as a sweetener.Vegetarian
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beet sugar
bentonite
See refined beet sugar : mineral.: wine, vinegar.: A type of clay used as a filter to make liquids clear.Vegan
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benzoyl peroxide
: synthetic-mineral.: flour, blue cheese, Gorgonzola cheese, oil, fat, milk, styrofoam cups.: A food additive with several non-food uses as well (in fiberglass, cosmetics).Vegan
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beta-carotene
: Provitamin A.: primarily vegetable or synthetic.: many animals, in egg yolk, in many fruits and vegetables, especially orange and yellow ones.: ice cream, cheese, other dairy products, beverages, cereals, vegetable oils, confections, rice.: A common food colorant which prevents oxygen from changing a food's color or flavor.Typically Vegetarian
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BHA
BHT
bioflavinoids
See butylated hydroxyanisole See butylated hydroxytoluene : hesperidin, rutin, vitamin P complex.: vegetable.: Natural substances which help maintain cardiovascular health and are commonly found in citrus fruits.Vegan
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biotin
: vitamin B factor.: Typically bacterial.: liver, kidney, molasses, yeast, milk, egg yolk, nuts, vegetables, grains.: food fortifier, dietary supplement.: B vitamin which is necessary for human health.Typically Vegetarian
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Brewer's yeast
: fungal.: nutritional supplements.: A yeast product which is rich in vitamins, especially B vitamins.Vegan
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bromelain
: bromelin.: vegetable.: tenderizer.: An enzyme extracted from pineapple.Vegan
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butylated hydroxyanisole
: BHA.: synthetic.: cereals, vegetable oil, confectionary products, rice, beverages, ice cream, baked goods, chewing gum, gelatin desserts, potato flakes, dry yeast, dry mixes, lard, shortening, unsmoked dry sausage.: A common food additive which prevents foods from changing their color or flavor.Vegan
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butylated hydroxytoluene
: BHT.: synthetic.: chewing gum base, potato flakes, dry breakfast cereals, shortenings, enriched rice.: A common food additive which keeps food from changing their color or flavor.Vegan
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butyric acid
Product information
-butyric acid, butanoic acid.: synthetic or vegetable.: several fruits and vegetables such as apples and strawberries, butter.: artificial flavorings (including butter, butterscotch, caramel, fruit, cheese, and nut flavorings), ice cream, candy, baked goods, puddings, chewing gum, margarine, soy-milk type drinks.: A preservative which is commonly used as a starting material in the manufacture of other food ingredients.Vegan: Penta Manufacturing Co., a manufacturer of this ingredient, reports that butyric acid is produced through a fermentation process. Hoechst Celanese Chemical Group, another manufacturer, reports that their method of producing butyric acid is synthetic, starting with petrochemicals.
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calcium carbonate
: mineral.: antacid tablets, vitamin supplements, toothpaste, confections, wine.: A substance which is used to make acidic foods less acidic. May be used as a source of calcium or a mild abrasive.Vegan
More information:
Calcium Carbonate in Most Soy, Rice Beverages and in Calcium Supplements Derived from a Mineral Source, not Oyster Shell; Source Does Not Have to Be Labeled
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calcium caseinate
: mineral-animal.: imitation cheese, creamed cottage cheese, diet foods and beverages, frozen desserts, vegetable whipped toppings.: An additive which is used as a source of protein and as a replacement for sodium caseinate in low-sodium foods.Vegetarian
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calcium chloride
: calcium dichloride, E509: mineral: canned fruits and vegetables, canned beans, pickles, confections, tofu, sports drinks, soft drinks, beer, certain dairy cheeses: firming, coagulating, sequestering (in foods); replacing electrolytes (in beverages): Besides several major industrial uses (deicing roads, oil/gas well drilling) calcium chloride is most often used in foods to keep them firm or in beverages to establish mineral balance.
Manufacturers:
Occidental Chemical Corporation told us by email that no “animal products or animal by-products” are in their calcium chloride. http://www.oxy.com/OurBusinesses/Chemicals/Products/Pages/Calcium-Chloride.aspx TETRA Technologies, Inc. wrote to us that their calcium chloride is “...not derived from animal content.” http://www.tetrachemicals.com/Products/Calcium_Chloride/Liquid_Calcium_Chloride/FCC_Food_Grade.aqf FBC Industries, Inc. wrote that their calcium chloride is not animal-derived but from a “natural brine source.” http://www.fbcindustries.com/Calcium_Chloride.aspx Coalescentrum Inc. states that there is &ldquo0...no animal ingredient in the product itself nor in the manufacturing process.” http://www.coalescentrum.com/index_files/Page604.htm
VeganApril 2014
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calcium pantothenate
calcium phosphates
See pantothenic acid : monocalcium phosphate, dicalcium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, E341: MCP, calcium dihydrogenphosphate, calcium biphosphate, monobasic calcium phosphate, E341(i): DCP, calcium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate, dibasic calcium phosphate, calcium monohydrogen phosphate, E341(ii): TCP, tricalcium diphosphate, tribasic calcium phosphate, E341(iii): mineral.: cereals, powdered mixes, breads, baked goods, canned vegetables, fruit jellies, noodle products, spices, energy drinks, dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, toothpaste.: anti-caking, leavening, dough conditioning, firming, drying, neutralizing, texturizing, fortifying, whitening and clarifying sugar: The calcium phosphates include several forms with various functions in foods and beverages especially keeping dry goods free-flowing and making breads and other baked goods rise.
Manufacturers:
Prayon Inc.LONDON — The pro-rape, anti-feminist "pick-up artist" who had planned to host controversial meetups for like-minded, heterosexual men in 43 cities worldwide has cancelled those events over fears about the safety of attendees.
Earlier this week, almost 80,000 people signed an online petition demanding that followers of blogger Daryush Valizadeh, who goes by the name "Roosh V," be banned from the UK, where eight meetups were scheduled. A petition calling for a boycott of two events taking place in Scotland garnered more than 55,000 signatures. Campaigners in Australia launched a petition to prevent Valizadeh's followers from meeting in Sydney; it gained more than 100,000 signatures.
@rooshv we don't want you or your toxic, delusion views in Leeds, or anywhere in the UK. Intelligent people will NEVER join you. — GALAXIANS (@GLXNS) February 4, 2016
In a statement, Valizadeh apologised for cancelling the events and said he could "no longer guarantee the safety or privacy of the men who want to attend."
Valizadeh believes rape "should be legalised on private property," and regularly posts tips for "picking up" women, imploring men to "stop asking for permission" when it comes to sex.
Glasgow-based feminist campaigner Cat Boyd, who set up the petition to ban Valizadeh's meetings in Scotland, stated that Roosh V's "militant" views made "cities unsafe for at least half the population".
"Promoting rape is hate speech, |
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5/28/97 Hermosa Beach CA Soldier Of Fortune Productions Inc. Fracture Materials Handling equipment 1 $2,055 Employee injured in fall when forklift overturns.
7/11/97 Chicago IL Warner Brothers Bruise/Contusion/Abrasion Machine 1 1 N/A Employee dies after fall dismounting forklift.
7/28/97 Los Angeles CA Sparks/Good News Productions Fracture Hoisting Apparatus 1 $750 Employee's leg fractured in fall from aerial lift.
10/22/97 Los Angeles CA ABC Fracture Working Surface 1 $185 Employee's elbow fractured in same-level fall on sidewalk.
12/2/97 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Fracture Motor Vehicle 1 N/A Employee injured in fall from golt cart.
1/6/98 Wilmington NC Black Dog Productions Inc. Burn/scald (Heat) Fire/Smoke 3 $16,800 Three employees sustain burns on movie set.
2/5/98 Moorpark CA Circle Production Limited Fracture Animal/Insect/Bird/Reptile/Fish 1 $175 Employee's hip fractured when knocked by bucking horse.
2/25/98 Lancaster CA Quedo Corporation DBA International Production Ser Bruise/Contusion/Abrasion Bodily Motion 1 $100 Employee injured when struck by camera during photo shoot.
2/25/98 Unknown N/ Unknown Electric shock Electrical Apparatus/wiring 2 N/A Driver on his way home from work dies in car crash after long shift on the set of Longmire.
6/8/98 Los Angeles CA Ed TV Productions / Universal / Imagine Cut / Laceration Machine 1 $560 Employee injured while operating table saw.
6/24/98 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Amputation Machine 1 N/A Employee suffers partial amputation of finger tip.
7/6/98 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Fracture Ladder 1 N/A Employee falls from a ladder.
7/12/98 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Amputation Materials Handling equipment 1 N/A A movie set prop maker loses two toes while moving a set.
1/12/99 Dallas TX Entertainment Partners Other Motor Vehicle (Highway) 1 1 N/A Employee dies after suffering a heart attack.
2/16/99 Universal City CA Rocky and Bullwinkle Amputation Machine 1 $375 Employee's thumb amputated by table saw.
4/12/99 Culver City CA Cast Away Productions Fracture Working Surface 1 $375 Employee trip and fractures ankle.
6/28/99 Universal City Plaza CA Walt Disney Co. Fracture Animal/Insect/Bird/Reptile/Fish 1 N/A Employee injured when kicked by horse.
7/23/99 Culver City CA Galaxy Quest Fracture Buildings/Structures 1 $5,000 Employee injured in fall from scaffold.
9/28/99 Burbank CA Warner Brothers Fracture Ladder 1 N/A Employee injured in fall from ladder.
9/30/99 Universal City CA Universal Studios Burn (Chemical) Chemical Liquids/Vapors 1 N/A Employee consumes unknown substance-chemical burn in throat.
10/12/99 Sun Valley CA Lexington Scenery and Props Bruise/Contusion/Abrasion Working Surface 1 N/A Employee on crutch fell down to the bottom of stairs.
10/14/99 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Strain/Sprain Working Surface 1 N/A Employee injures back after falling down stairs.
2/3/00 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Amputation Machine 1 $3,560 Employee's finger amputated in mechanical power press.
2/16/00 Benson AZ Brady Michaels Other Ladder 1 1 N/A Employee killed in fall from ladder.
3/13/00 Van Nuys CA Big Ed Pictures/Beacon Communication Fracture Other 1 1 N/A Employee killed by blood clot caused by fractured ankle.
3/31/00 Long Beach CA Warner Brothers Other Fire/Smoke 1 $4,050 Employee develops pneumonia after fighting fire.
4/13/00 Long Beach CA Warner Brothers Amputation Machine 1 N/A Employee injured when finger amputated.
7/31/00 Los Angeles CA 20th Century Fox Electric shock Electrical Apparatus/wiring 2 1 $28,900 Electric shock - contact with overhead line thru metal pole.
9/21/00 Camarillo CA Technicolor Inc. Fracture Hoisting Apparatus 1 N/A Forklift load falls and fractures employee's foot.
10/30/00 Los Angeles CA Warner Brothers Other Buildings/Structures 1 1 $375 Painter died after falling from elevated platform.
3/1/01 Northridge CA Hollywood Mobile Systems Inc. DBA Hayvenhurst Stud Fracture Working Surface 1 1 $27,015 Employee fall to ground.
3/5/01 Unknown N/ Unknown Amputation Machine 1 N/A Employee injured when finger amputated by circular saw.
3/6/01 Downey CA Sony Pictures Entertainment Other Hoisting Apparatus 1 1 $25,680 Employee killed when forklift tipped over.
4/16/01 Burbank CA Touchstone Television Fracture Ladder 1 $560 Employee injured by fall from ladder on movie set.
4/17/01 Little Rock CA 20th Century Fox Concussion Motor Vehicle (Highway) 1 N/A Employee suffers concussion when vehicle rolled over.
4/24/01 Salt Lake City UT Little Guns Inc. Amputation Machine 1 $1,350 Employee lost thumb using unguarded saw blade.
6/11/01 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Cut/Laceration Machine 1 N/A Employee suffers amputation of fingertip.
6/16/01 Universal City CA Universal Studios Fracture Motor Vehicle 1 N/A Employee fractures leg when golf cart flips over.
7/16/01 Los Angeles CA Sony Pictures Entertainment Fracture Working Surface 1 $18,215 Employee injured after fall through unguarded wall opening.
8/28/01 Culver City CA Sony Pictures Entertainment Burn/scald (Heat) Electrical Apparatus/wiring 1 $5,987 Burn - electrical fault in electrical panel.
9/28/01 Burbank CA Walt Disney Co. Burn/scald (Heat) Electrical Apparatus/wiring 1 N/A Burn - electrical fault in twist-locking outlet.
1/7/02 Culver City CA 20th Century Fox Fracture Buildings/Structures 1 N/A Employee injured after tripping and falling.
3/10/02 Orange CA Filmakers Resource Fracture Ladder 1 $840 Employee fell from ladder.
4/1/02 Universal City CA Universal Studios Fracture Working Surface 1 N/A Employee injured from fall at theater set.
4/3/02 Glendale CA Bon Appetit Cut/Laceration Machine 2 $5,060 Two employees suffer lacerations from contact with fan.
4/3/02 Pasadena CA Catch Me If You Can Foreign Body in Eye Other 1 $8,435 Employee suffers eye injury from bungee cord.
7/11/02 Burbank CA Touchstone Television Amputation Machine 1 $5,060 Employee's thumb amputated by table saw.
8/22/02 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Other Electrical Apparatus/wiring 1 N/A Employee is shocked and falls from ladder.
9/26/02 Manhattan Beach CA Boston Public Amputation Machine 1 $3,560 Employee's fingertip amputated on circular saw.
10/29/02 Pismo Beach CA Tears Of The Sun - Revolution Production Services Other Other 1 1 $2,925 Actor dies in parachute jump.
11/7/02 Los Angeles CA Doom Buggy Productions Inc. Amputation Machine 1 $3,750 Employee's thumb amputated while using table saw.
11/13/02 Studio City CA CBS Bruise/Contusion/Abrasion Ladder 1 N/A Employee falls from ladder.
1/30/03 Santa Clarita CA Squeak Pictures Fracture Motor Vehicle (Highway) 1 $7,750 Employee injured when thrown from motorcycle.
8/19/03 Culver City CA Arrested Development - Fox Studios Fracture Ladder 1 N/A Employee receives injuries after falling off ladder.
12/5/03 Universal City CA Universal Studios Fracture Working Surface 1 N/A Employee injures hip in slip and fall.
1/16/04 Chatsworth CA Rancid/Sonet Film DBA Movie Mill Productions Fracture Hoisting Apparatus 1 $12,400 Aerial lift tips over and injures employee.
2/4/04 Culver City CA Las Vegas Productions Amputation Machine 1 $18,000 Employee amputates finger in table saw.
3/3/04 Glendale CA Walt Disney Co. Fracture Machine 1 $370 Employee fractures fingers in table saw.
8/14/04 Florida Keys FL Pop Art Film Factory Multiple trauma Aircraft 1 1 N/A "Blair Witch" cinematographer Neal Fredericks killed in plane crash during filming of the movie "CrossBones"
8/30/04 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Cut/Laceration Machine 1 $5,060 Employee is injured while working on table saw.
11/19/04 Los Angeles CA Domino 17521 Inc. Fracture Machine 2 $19,400 Two employees are injured by ruptured hydraulic hose.
11/19/04 Burbank CA Walt Disney Co. Fracture Metal Products 1 $2,700 Employee fractures leg when struck by steel plates.
12/18/04 Las Vegas NV Domino 17521 Inc. Cut/Laceration Fire/Smoke 1 $0 Film industry employee is injured by special effects device.
4/8/05 Universal City CA NBC Universal Inc. Fracture Working Surface 1 $1,000 Employee fractures arm after being entangled in hose.
4/17/05 Santa Fe NM Turner Films Inc. Poisoning (Systemic) Fume 1 1 N/A Security guard is killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.
5/4/05 Agoura CA Greystone Television and Films Puncture Firearm 1 $650 Employee is injured when shot during filming.
6/6/05 Agua Dulce CA Paramount Pictures Burn/scald (Heat) Fire/Smoke 1 $2,700 Special effects technician is burned in explosion.
6/28/05 Los Angeles CA Granite Productions Fracture Buildings/Structures 1 $18,185 Employee falls from ladder.
7/21/05 Newhall CA Second Mate Productions Other Bodily Motion 1 $5,000 Employee is injured while performing movie stunt.
8/16/05 Los Angeles CA Blind Decker Productions Inc. Other Motor Vehicle (Industrial) 1 1 $5,060 Employee is struck and killed by truck.
9/28/05 Burbank CA Warner Brothers Fracture Working Surface 1 $5,850 Employee is injured in fall through ceiling.
10/14/05 Los Angeles CA 20th Century Fox Concussion Other 1 1 N/A Employee dies from heart attack.
11/16/05 Los Angeles CA 20th Century Fox Fracture Other 1 N/A Employee's lung collapses in fall in parking lot.
4/19/06 North Hollywood CA Caballero International Inc. Amputation Machine 1 $19,770 Employee amputates hand while adjusting offset printer.
6/14/06 Burbank CA Second Mate Productions Amputation Machine 1 $3,150 Employee's finger tips amputated after crushing by planer.
6/23/06 Burbank CA Warner Brothers Cut/Laceration Machine 1 $18,000 Employee lacerates two fingers with table saw.
7/1/06 N/A IA Fobia Films Multiple trauma Aircraft 1 1 N/A Cinematographer for movie The Final Season killed in a helicoper crash.
8/9/06 Burbank CA Walt Disney Co. Bruise/Contusion/Abrasion Machine 1 N/A Employee is injured while operating radius form wood shaper.
9/15/06 Los Angeles CA Universal Studios Amputation Machine 1 $300 Employee amputates fingers on blade of circular saw.
10/3/06 Sun Valley CA Second Mate Productions Fracture Metal Products 1 $2,925 Employee is injured when sling breaks during lift.
10/20/06 Los Angeles CA Reset Productions Fracture Ladder 1 N/A Employee falls from a ladder fracturing both arms.
11/19/06 Los Angeles CA Shark Productions Burn/scald (Heat) Fire/Smoke 3 $0 Three stuntmen are burned by special effect explosion.
1/18/07 Downey CA Good Time Charlie Prod NBC Universal Studios Fracture Other 1 N/A Employee sustains fracture while test firing movie prop.
1/19/07 Burbank CA Walt Disney Co. Concussion Bike 1 1 N/A Employee is killed performing unauthorized stunt.
4/19/07 Universal City CA NT2 Productions Other Buildings/Structures 1 $26,400 Employee is injured in fall from scaffolding during erection.
5/20/07 Burbank CA The Tonight Show Fracture Working Surface 2 $7,060 Two employees are injured when forklift falls over.
6/4/07 Playa Vista CA Ironworks Productions Fracture Buildings/Structures 1 $4,050 Employee falls from movie set, fractures foot and vertebra.
10/11/07 Los Angeles CA Monk Productions Fracture Motor Vehicle (Highway) 1 N/A Employee is injured in fall from truck.
11/15/07 Universal City CA Dreamworks Fracture Ladder 1 1 N/A Employee fractures elbow in fall from ladder.
11/17/07 Burbank CA Smuggler Inc. Fracture Motor Vehicle (Highway) 1 $5,330 Employee fracture s leg when struck by car.
11/26/07 Universal City CA You Don't Mess With The Zohan Burn/scald (Heat) Fire/Smoke 2 $4,950 Employees are burned in movie filming accident.
3/17/08 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Fracture Buildings/Structures 1 $1,120 Employee is injured in fall from platform.
4/28/08 Los Angeles CA Seven Pounds Productions Inc. Fracture Ladder 1 N/A Employee is injured in fall from ladder.
10/22/08 Burbank CA Warner Brothers Amputation Machine 1 N/A Employee is injured when fingers contact saw blade.
11/10/08 Burbank CA Warner Brothers Strain/Sprain Bodily Motion 1 N/A Employee suffers from hernia.
11/12/08 Burbank CA Warner Brothers Fracture Working Surface 1 N/A Employee's ankle is fractured in fall from curb.
4/28/09 Whittier CA Fangbanger Productions Inc. Other Buildings/Structures 1 $750 Employee is injured in fall during movie stunt.
6/2/09 Manhattan Beach CA Marvel Film Productions Burn/scald (Heat) Fire/Smoke 2 $3,150 Two employees are burned by pyrotechnic materials.
9/8/09 Los Angeles CA Monk Productions Fracture Bodily Motion 1 N/A Employee fractures skull in fall on slippery surface.
9/26/09 Culver City CA Screen Gems Productions DBA Priest Cut/Laceration Hoisting Apparatus 1 N/A Employee is injured when scissor lift overturns.
6/25/10 Lakewood CO Lucas Oil Production Studios Other Hoisting Apparatus 1 1 $60,000 Employee falls from lift and is struck and killed by object.
6/30/10 Los Angeles CA Company Films Inc. DBA Company Fracture Motor Vehicle 1 $1,800 Worker's foot is caught by truck liftgate and pinched.
6/30/10 Valencia CA Prodco Inc. Concussion Bike 1 N/A Employee going between work sites loses control of bicycle.
7/24/10 Los Angeles CA Big Adventure Concussion Fall 1 $3,100 Employee is injured in fall from stairs.
8/26/10 Universal City CA Parenthood Production Heat Exhaustion Other 1 $420 Employee suffers heat exhaustion.
10/29/10 Roanoke VA Ayna Other Motor Vehicle 1 1 N/A Employee is killed when struck by aTV.
11/1/10 Studio City CA CSI New York Season 7 Amputation Machine 1 $930 Employee's fingers are injured by saw.
11/1/10 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Poisoning (Systemic) Chemical Liquids/Vapors 1 N/A Employee is exposed to toxic fumes.
2/3/11 Santa Clarita CA Woodridge Productions Inc. DBA Justified Concussion Motor Vehicle (Industrial) 1 N/A Employee is struck by car while making television program.
2/9/11 Santa Clarita CA CBS Multiple trauma Motor Vehicle 1 1 N/A Security guard working on the set of "NCIS" killed when struck by a van.
5/1/11 Unknown IN GA/Campus PD Multiple trauma Aircraft 4 1 N/A Three workers injured in helicopter crash.
5/6/11 Universal City CA Marvel Film Productions Concussion Motor Vehicle (Industrial) 1 1 $745 Employee is killed in fall from truck.
6/5/11 Burbank CA Finnmax Fracture Fall 2 $4,800 Two employees are injured in fall from studio equipment.
6/30/11 Universal City CA Open 4 Business Amputation Machine 1 N/A Employee amputates two fingers in saw.
8/18/11 Los Angeles CA Lock and Key Productions Inc. DBA Fear Factor Fracture Fall 1 $5,000 Stunt performer is injured in fall.
8/24/11 Universal City CA NBC Universal Inc. Cut/Laceration Fall 1 N/A Employee receives head injuries in fall.
9/20/11 Santa Clarita CA NBC Universal Inc. Other Motor Vehicle 1 N/A Employees are involved in auto accident.
10/20/11 Santa Clarita CA Woodridge Productions Inc. DBA Justified Puncture Machine 1 N/A Employee is shot and injured by nail gun.
10/26/11 Santa Clarita CA Woodridge Productions Inc. DBA Franklin & Bash Concussion Ladder 1 N/A Employee sustains concussion in fall from ladder.
11/22/11 New Orleans LA Long Branch Productions LLC and Paramount Pictures Fracture Scissor Lift 1 1 $21,000 Employee is killed when scissor lift falls from ramp.
2/15/12 Simi Valley CA Warstein Limited Fracture Animal/Insect/Bird/Reptile/Fish 1 $3,285 Employee is injured in fall on movie production set.
2/17/12 Los Angeles CA BBDO Toronto Fracture Bodily Motion 1 N/A Employee crashes into stunt float.
6/14/12 Colorado Springs CO Discovery Communications Cut/laceeration Fire/Smoke 1 1 N/A Wife of reality TV star killed by a smoke bomb.
6/21/12 Los Angeles CA SyFy/NBC Universal Burn Fire/Smoke 1 N/A Stuntwoman burned in a fire stunt on show "Face-Off".
9/21/12 Acton CA Silver Bullet Productions Inc. Other Other 1 1 $61,445 Employee drowns while cleaning tank.
10/2/12 Simi Valley CA Fly A Kite Productions Inc. Other Other 1 $750 Worker dies from non work related illness, found in car.
1/1/13 Los Angeles CA ABC Studios/Castle Concussion Motor Vehicle 2 N/A A stuntman and actress injured in a driving scene.
2/10/13 Acton CA Discovery Communications Multiple trauma Helicopter 3 3 N/A Helicopter crash kills pilot and two crew members.
2/11/13 Lebec CA CBS Studio Center Puncture Animal/Insect/Bird/Reptile/Fish 1 N/A Animal wrangler working on a scene involving a bull was gored.
4/15/13 Van Nuys CA Unknown Unknown Unknown 1 N/A Unknown
4/16/13 Rosamond CA Transition Productions Concussion Bike 1 N/A An employee riding a bike through an obstacle course fell off.
5/14/13 Burbank CA Boomerang Productions Fracture Working Surface 1 N/A Employee broke leg falling from a debris pile.
6/4/13 Phoenix AZ John Jay Coolidge Multiple trauma Ladder 1 1 N/A An employee died after falling off a ladder.
7/26/13 Burbank CA ABC Studios Concussion Ladder 1 N/A Prop maker injured head and hip in fall from extension ladder.
9/11/13 Burbank CA Warner Brothers Poisoning Other 1 N/A Employee painting in an enclosed space fainted and later diagnosed with a stroke.
9/13/13 Los Angeles CA Fox/New Girl Production Amputation Machine 1 N/A Carpenter's finger partially amputated by wood kicking back.
10/11/13 Warner Bros Ranch CA Warner Brothers/Jersey Boys Fracture Buildings/Structures 1 N/A Rigging grip fell 37 feet from a sound stage catwalk.
1/7/14 Los Angeles CA It's a Laugh Productions Other Scissor Lift 1 N/A Employee injured spine in fall from scissor lift.
2/21/14 Jesup Ga Film Allman / Midnight Rider Multiple trauma Train 8 1 N/A Train collides into film crew.
3/5/14 Los Angeles CA Red Studios Fracture Buildings/Structures 1 N/A Freelance photographer fell off a 19-foot 10-inch platform.
4/2/14 Los Angeles CA Paramount Pictures Amputation Machine 1 N/A A carpenter's thumb was amputated.
7/28/14 Stanley NM Warner Horizon/A&E Multiple trauma Motor Vehicle 1 1 N/A Two crew members injured when camera equipment stuck a power line.
8/8/14 Universal City CA FF7 Unknown Unknown 1 N/A UnknownReviews
Complete JUNK! The edge rolled the withing three swings on dead fall pine. I was trying to cut small (1/2") dry pine off a trail. This product is not High Carbon steel. Reacts like cheep Chinese or Rusian crap. I can guarantee you it was never heat treated!!! Gerber was awesome when the were US made. They have farmed all the manufacturing over seas and they went to crap. I will never buy Gerber junk again!!!
Soft steel trash. Edge rolled and chipped cutting dead pine and rhododendrons within first few minutes. Purchased on Sunday and returned for refund on Monday.
Do not purchase this machete.
This is false advertising. It says that this is high carbon steel. It isn't. Its cheap chinese stainless. The sharp of the balde broke off after a few swings against soft wood. Stay away. This is an overprice joke.
I wish I would of read the reviews before I bought this over priced junk. Very soft Chinese steal. The blade rolled over and chunk of the blade ripped off on the first use. Had to switch to my cheap $6 harbor freight machete to finish the job. I lost all respect for Gerber products. DO NOT waste the $20 on this machete. The people that gave a good reviews, I want what they are smoking. Probably a Gerber employee.
Please do not buy this. It is soft steel. the blade edge rolled over with moderate use. After i filled a warranty claim with the company they told me that I needed to pay my own shipping for claims. never have i ever had to do this with ANY company. Never been a Gerber fan. Definitely solidified that with this experience. Take your business elsewhere. If i could give it 0 stars I would.
I purchased this dual purpose machete for it's multi task capabilities. I chose Gerber based on my excellent results from my lock blade Gerber knife I carried while in the Navy decades ago...Still have that knife and still love it. As well as the use of a few Gerber multi tools I have.
The machete (Gator # 31-000758) was used for the first time on a standing dead Douglas Fir that was about 4" in diameter. I initially tried the saw edge and it was not useful. In fact, after about five or so minutes the saw teeth were dulled!!!!! and I was only about 1" into the tree trunk. I switched to the blade side. I figured I could chop this little guy down easy. After four or five swings I realized this machete was NOT good at all. The blade side bent over with each swing and now looks like a wavy edge ribbon more than a blade. These are not superficial bends for the blade is ruined...On a Fir tree!!
This is NOT what I expected from any Gerber product. I passed over Harbor Freight products thinking they would be exactly what this Gerber proved to be.
I now still need a dual edge machete and Gerber is no longer on the list of viable candidates. I am very disappointed.
Do better Gerber. I have proof that you once were excellent but that does not mean you get to become terrible and hope I don't notice.
Bought this because it says Gerber but after one swing the blade rolled and bent making it worthless.
Just got it and one swing on a wax myrtle and the blade was bent to hell. Gerber refused to refund me my money. Will never buy anything from a company who won’t stand behind their products.
Pure junk. I used this knife for five minutes to take the small branches off some dead fall for a camp fire. The thickest branches were about 5/8" in diameter. The edge was destroyed. Multiple rolls and bends. I am very disappointed in this product.
After buying this machete I do not think I will be a Gerber customer anymore. I would have done better with a Walmart special for 8 dollors. What a waste of money.
This machete is a great tool. the saw on the spine is super handy. The steel is good. It sharpens easy and edge is strong and lasts. I use a drag sharpener and it puts a beautiful edge on it It's my go to for tool bushwacking or setting up camp. Sheath is good as well. The only thing that's wore out on the machete is the textured "gator grip" but the handle is still grippy even without the texture. Ignore the other bad reviews of this product cuz I'm telling ya it's your best bang for your buck$
Blade damaged on first use - cutting small branches which a much cheaper machete would cut it without damage. Don't waste your time with this. I'll not be buying Gerber again. The blade was sharp while it lasted, though, and the design is good apart from the quality of the steel - eg feels balanced.
I used it to cut small branches from a tree! I was using it and after 5 minutes I notice it wasn’t cutting anymore! The blade bended and the edge curl in. This is simply a bad product!
Don't waste your time or money on this!!!!
If I could give it Zero stars I would! This could NOT have been made with high carbon steel. After about an hour of light to moderate usage, the cutting edge looks like the edge of a lasagna noodle! Will be returning ASAP!
I do not recommend this product.
This is my favorite tool to use in the woods. Effective, simple, reliable. Definitely worth the money. I think these one stars are bots or something
I own a few Gerber pocket knives, which are very good, quality knives. But, the Gerber Gator machete is the biggest piece of crap I have ever purchased in my life. Chopping into a 2in sweet gum sapling, the edge of the blade just curls under. When I Googled Gerber Gator machete it is nothing but picture after picture after picture of people with the same problem with your product. There should be a damn recall on this, but there's not. So you people keep scamming customers into buying this worthless metal machete. Warning, do not waste your money on this machete if you plan on chopping small saplings or anything thicker than 1/2 inch
This machete sucks. I cut 20 minutes and the blade chipped and broke and looked like the saw side on the back. I would have been better off using my Case knife. My son has a Sog machete and its 100x better than this. I am very dissappointed and expected better for what i paid.
This is trash. Sure, It cut great a first, but a branch with any resistance will bend and deform the blade. My Gator Machete looks like I've been trying to chop copper pipe. I expected better from Gerber. What a let down.
Biggest piece of garbage I’ve ever paid money for. One swing at a small sapling and the cutting surface was deformed. I would have been better served buying a plastic pretend pirate sword at the dollar store. I’ve used Gerber products for a long time and I am really let down by this.
It looked great, felt great, and lasted about 20 swings before the blade resembled the saw on the back. The metal folds and chips away. Ok for small, dead and rotten branches, but ANYTHING with ANY chance of resistance will destroy this product. Asking for my money back...
All the reviews on this product are accurate. Wish I would have read them before buying it. Brand new out of the sleeve, after 20 mins of cutting small vines, the blade bent like cheap aluminum. Unreal.
This knife is absolute rubbish. Tried to cut through some small branches and the blade buckled and basically folder over. What a total waste of money. Don't waste your time and money on this knife. Its a shame Gerber has no pride in its products
Seriously!!?? I decided to cut the branches of my x-mas tree (Tree is like 1.60m high...) Took me like 3 minutes. And I end up with a deformed blade with two nocks in it. And that was only like 2cm thick branches. Only wood. Thank god I didn't take it on a real adventure for a week. It s unacceptable too sell cheap S*** equipment like this!
Worst product I've ever bought. First swing at a branch and the blade bent over like I hit a piece of steel, not worth $2. Oh and the sheath broke off my belt first time I put it back in it.
I have Gerber that I have trusted my life to this machete is a major POS. Dull as a bat cannot be sharpened properly, couldn't cut its way out of a Golf green! Oh yes did Mention that the edge rolled cutting some vines on my property? I know it wasn't expensive but why put the Gerber name on it if it's CRAP!
Cheap alloy. Blade rolled over with cutting small under brush.
This knife we had out today to cut fur brush. After a few swings it has major dings in the blade. Not worth the 27 dollars we paid for it.
This is a cheap cheap product. I have Gerber knives and am well pleased with them. First time out clearing limbs with the Gator Machete, the blade bent like it was tin foil. Went directly into the trash. The Gerber name does not mean what it used to. One star is too much.
This is an terrible machette. It bends very easily. Rusted in the first month. DO NOT BUY
Not even worth the money it would cost for me to ship it in for the warranty replacement. On my very first use of this machete, while trying to clear a path through some light brush, the blade suffered a major ding. I've had some great Gerber tools in the past, but whatever cheap steel/alloy went into this blade it couldn't even stand up to a 1/2" branch. Left a huge "ding" in the blade, torquing almost a 2" section of the blade rendering it useless for its purpose. Guess I could still use the saw blade on the back in a pinch, but I'm afraid to use as a machete again out of fear the blade might actually break. Very disappointed, both in the quality of this tool and the warranty, which in this case would cost 50% of what I paid just to send it in.
I was looking for a good machete and was having a difficult time finding any machetes in my area. I finally found two really cheap $10 ones and this Gerber Gator which was $22. I bought all three to see which I liked the best. This Gerber had a good feel to it but when I tried to sharpen it the metal was so soft that my edge kept rolling over. I tried several different methods of sharpening which same results. This machete is a piece of junk! The two other no name brand $10 machetes sharpened beautifully and hold their edge. Gerber has a good reputation but this machete is absolute junk!
First time using it the blade folded over if I could id give it zero stars
Purchased this item because the Gerber products were supposed to be great. I was misinformed. The first time I used it, it was great. After that huge nicks and gauges. It is like an aluminum can.
This Machete is awesome! The first time I went outside and tested it by chopping down a 2 inch in diameter tree, it passed the test with flying colours. The tree flopped down after 1 stroke of the strong Machete. The saw is also amazing. For the strength and sharpness of this Knife/Tool the $40 in Canada or around $30 in the USA this was totally worth it. I would pay $100 for this Blade. I am new to GERBER but if this is what all their knives are like I am surely coming back for more. My only worry with the Machete is that the saw will destroy the back of the sheath when pulling it out.
After the first use the cutting edge of the blade developed a lot of dings in it. The fourth use of the machete the cutting edge peeled back like a tin can making it useless. Evidently Gerber does not use a good quality of steel for this product. Poor quality. Save your money on this machete. Wish they had a place you could show pictures of the product.
First time using this product, resulted in multiple spots of the blade folding over. I was cutting small branches no larger than 1" in diameter. Obviously very poor blade quality, and I would not recommend this product at all for what it is intended for. I have other Gerber products that work very well, so was very disappointed that this particular machete did not meet the Gerber quality I've seen with my prior purchases.
This machete is crap... used it to chop a 1" branch, neither dead, nor dry, and the blade folded over like it was made from tinfoil... FIRST USE of this unit I might add... Sure glad I didn't have to depend on it for a "real" situation... If any reading this review already bought it, I'm sorry to know that... Avoid this unit and spend a wee bit more on a REAL machete.
First off some people need to watch training videos before attempting to use this machete. I used this machete to cut throw a 1.5inch thick oak tree with only one swing and little effort. I then found a newly downed 5in thick tree in a quad trail and proceeded to use this thing like it was an axe. After about 3 min of hacking away at this 5in tree I managed to cut my way through it. and then remove it from the trail. The blade does need to be sharpened now. But I don't think it was designed for that kind of use. GOOD PRICE AND VALUE. JUST REMEMBER TOOLS WORK THE BEST, WHEN THEY ARE USED PROPERLY!!!!!!
This is a very bad product. I wish Gerber had more pride in their brand and wouldn't even sell something with a blade / steel made this cheaply. The first time it was used it to chop 1/2" to 3/4" branch off a tree, the blade dented and folded over on itself and even broke off a pice of it in the middle of the blade the size of nickel. The machete is ruined. I had expected something a little better than that. AND, I would have been willing to pay double what i paid if the product was actually well made. Gerber, I have some of your USA-made knives and multi-pliers from years ago. They are awesome. The new products made in China are terrible. I don't recommend this product to any one.
I purchased this Gerber at Walmart for $16.95 and love it, I usually carry a katana fishing and use it to clear brush that's in my way so I can throw places other can't. I wished it was longer so I didn't have to lean over to cut at the ground, 9 back surgeries will do that to you, but other than that I love the item for the price, Some people here think you can use something like this to cut hard dead trees and never sharpen it, That's not the case with anything.
I bought the Gerber Gator Machette to chop some limbs of a tree that fell in my your. The blade basically bent after a few branches. What a worthless piece of junk. I am very disappointed. Amazon will not refund my money or give me a new one. I will never buy Gerber products again.
This is a very bad product. I wish Gerber had more pride in their brand and wouldn't even sell something with a blade / steel made this cheaply. The first time I used it to chop 1/2" to 3/4" branches off a spruce tree, the blade dented and folded over on itself. The machete is ruined. For $28 I would have expected something a little better than that. AND, I would have been willing to pay double that amount if the product was actually well made. Gerber, I have some of your USA-made knives and multi-pliers from years ago. They are awesome. The new products made in China are terrible.
Bought this for around $45AUD. Definitely required sharpening, don't subject this to heavy use without sharpening it, and it's not really suitable for heavy chopping. It's also hard to get it to have and hold a good edge, but for its price and with a bit of maintenance it's alright! Good for gardening and lighter vegetation.
Just so you know joey c a knife is not designed to cut grass
I used this to clear brush from my yard and a chip came out of the blade. I thought maybe I hit an extra hard branch or something and continued using it, but then after about five minutes on another part of the blade, an inch of the blade bent inward. The saw part worked well until the blade bent. I was also planning on taking this camping but not anymore. To my fellow Boy Scouts, do not purchase this machete it is not a good product and could hurt you.
B |
had spray-painted the sides of damaged houses with tic-tac-toe-looking code that indicated that a house had been checked for bodies. Many were marked with a final message: "OK to Doze." We soon arrived at another hill, this one overlooking the high school, from where we could see the mile and a half to Range Line Road, a new sight from this part of town. We stopped to walk around in the now empty neighborhood near the school. We inspected a heap of rubble on the edge of the high school's practice soccer fields, which was loaded with projectiles—nails, bricks, bolts, hunks of lumber and a manhole cover that I imagined flying around in the tornado like some Frisbee of Death. We drove through the damage for another four miles or so, until the trail of debris ended as abruptly as it had begun. The sight of still-standing trees on the east end of town was a relief. Altogether the tornado destroyed 6,954 homes and caused at least $3 billion in damage. In the following weeks, the city would begin bulldozing the structures that were beyond repair. Dump trucks would cart away some 1.5 million cubic yards of rubble, depositing most of it in a landfill near the abandoned lead and zinc mines west of town.
Tornado Forming AP Photo/TornadoVideos.net
Later that night, my dad and I talked about how the tornado would reshape Joplin. "When you come back a year from now," he said, "there's going to be a strip of open pasture running through the middle of town." And then what? My stepmother, a real-estate agent, predicted that in the process of rebuilding, landowners would combine small, old lots into larger plots that could hold the McMansions 21st-century Missourians have come to love and expect. Yet by the time those homes were built, plenty of former Joplinites would surely have relocated for good. All week she had been selling houses to dislocated residents who were desperate to find a place to live. Elderly couples who hadn't moved in 50 years were buying new homes sight unseen. Houses in Joplin are generally cheap and abundant, but now there weren't enough to go around. * * * Meteorologist once thought it was impossible to predict a tornado and, even if it weren't, that warning the public could cause mass panic and do more harm than the weather itself. Then on March 25, 1948, Ernest J. Fawbush and Robert C. Miller, meteorologists at the Tinker Air Force Base in central Oklahoma, issued the first tornado forecast, predicting more than three hours in advance that a squall line headed for the base was likely to produce a twister. Sure enough, a tornado ripped through the base three hours later, making Fawbush and Miller look like geniuses. Three years after that, the two founded the Severe Storms Forecast Center at Tinker, where their continued success in predicting storms made them moderately famous. As the Saturday Evening Post put it in 1951, the Fawbush-Miller system meant that "the Oklahoma farmer who said he always depended upon flying cornstalks and bed quilts to warn him of an approaching twister will now have ample time to walk—not run—to his'scarehole.'" Fawbush and Miller's bureau has since grown into the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center (SPC), which issues watches for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes nationwide. "We are to tornadoes as the National Hurricane Center is to hurricanes," says Greg Carbin, a warning-coordination meteorologist at the SPC. "We're the national center of expertise related to severe-storm forecasting across the continental United States. But unlike the Hurricane Center, we really don't have a season." Using two geosynchronous satellites and a nationwide network of approximately 120 Doppler radar stations, forecasters watch for the conditions that spawn severe thunderstorms and tornadoes—typically a mixture of dry, cold air from the west with warm, moist air from the south. Carbin and his colleagues can often tell days in advance when weather conditions will be right for tornado formation. When a tornado seems likely, the agency hands responsibility over to local Weather Forecast Offices, which use radar to look for the telltale "hook echo" emitted by radio waves bouncing off a tornado's cyclonic winds. If forecasters detect it, they upgrade the tornado watch to a tornado warning. The system usually works pretty well. Carbin says that several days before the other great tornado disaster of 2011—the epic three-day outbreak that began on April 25, in which at least 178 individual twisters swarmed the American Southeast, killing 321 people—forecasters could see that in a few days, the atmosphere would be primed for a massive tornado outbreak. "We knew this was a bad deal," Carbin says. Still, no matter how far in advance forecasters see tornado-ripe conditions forming, predicting the time and place an individual funnel cloud will form is profoundly more difficult. "If it's impossible to prove causation, it's easy to see a disturbing correlation."The Joplin tornado, unlike the April outbreak, gave little warning. "Joplin was a typical May severe-weather day on the Southern Plains," Carbin says. "Why that particular storm formed in southeast Kansas and why it evolved the way it did—it's not something you'd be able to pick out and say: This is the storm of the day." Until late in the afternoon on May 22, forecasters were saying that severe hail was the likeliest threat from the thunderstorm brewing over the Central Plains. Then at 5:17 p.m., after coordinating with Carbin's team in Norman, Oklahoma, the Storm Prediction Center in Springfield issued the tornado warning that TV and radio stations in Joplin broadcast to their viewers and listeners. The system gave the people of Joplin 24 minutes of warning—enough notice to qualify the Joplin storm as well warned. Still, in June, when a team of National Weather Service meteorologists traveled to Joplin to interview survivors and extract lessons from the chaos, they found problems. To some extent, local warning agencies and the NWS crossed signals, which may have caused confusion among the public. But the biggest concern was what the investigators called siren fatigue. Like many other towns, Joplin's policy is to sound a three-minute siren when a storm with winds stronger than 75 mph is approaching town, regardless of whether an NWS agency has issued a watch or warning. So at 5:11 on May 22, after local emergency managers were informed that a funnel cloud had been sighted over southeast Kansas, the city sounded a siren. But warning too early can be dangerous, particularly in a siren-jaded area. The NWS study describes one man's confused, lackadaisical response: "(1) Heard first sirens at 5:11 p.m. CDT (estimated 30–35 minutes before tornado hit). (2) Went to the TV and heard NWS warning from TV override that indicated tornado near airport drive seven miles north (polygon #30) of his location. (3) Went on porch with family and had a cigar." Twenty-seven minutes later, the man heard another set of sirens. At this point, he "thought something wasn't right," so he went back inside and turned on the TV, where meteorologists were still warning that the threat was north of town. Then his wife yelled "Basement!" The report concludes this summary of events thusly: "Tornado hit as they reached the top of the basement stairs, destroying their home." If I had been living in Joplin that day, I probably wouldn't have thought to go to the porch and smoke a cigar. But I almost certainly would have walked outside and looked at the sky. Only when the horizon turned green and the dogs began howling would I have hurried to the basement. One way to fight warning fatigue could be using sirens with different pitches or rhythms to warn of different events. The idea that such an adjustment might be necessary seemed to annoy Bill Davis, head of the NWS forecast office in Springfield. "A warning is a warning," he vented to the Joplin Globe. "How many adjectives and adverbs do we have to use to make the point that there's a possibility you could die?" Dennis S. Mileti, a University of Colorado sociologist who has studied public warnings, has explained that none of this should have surprised the NOAA researchers. "Most people rarely, if ever, experience nature's extremes in the form of natural and other disaster types," Mileti has written. "The result is that most people do not perceive risk. Instead, most think they are safe from nature and other violent forces." * * * The most natural way to determine whether global warming is altering tornado patterns is to look for changes in tornado statistics and then see whether climate models can explain those changes. But the lack of reliable historical tornado data makes this kind of study challenging at best. And tornadoes are poorly understood to begin with. Scientists still aren't entirely sure why one particular rotating thunderstorm transforms into a funnel cloud while another one doesn't. Warming Trends: Climate scientists are increasingly able to draw lines that suggest a correlation between climate change and extreme weather events. Causation is more complex, but faster computers and better models are beginning to point to a connection—a task that's easier with temperature extremes than it is with tornadoes.
Scientists call the process of spotting climate variability and attempting to isolate the contribution of man-made climate change "detection and attribution." Researchers have been doing detection-and-attribution studies on well-understood, well-documented phenomena such as temperature changes and rainfall patterns for more than a decade. Nonetheless, even scientists who believe that climate change is likely to lead to more events like the Joplin tornado hesitate to draw conclusions about what is going on with the weather right now. In the days after the storm, the editors at the environmental website Yale Environment 360 asked several climate experts to answer the question: Is extreme weather linked to global warming? Andrew Watson, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of East Anglia in England, responded, "My answer to this question as posed is no. However, if you were to ask instead whether I expect that human-caused climate change will lead to more extreme weather events, the answer would be yes." This type of reticence surely comes in part from healthy scientific skepticism—the hesitancy to overinterpret data and the impulse to accumulate decades' worth of statistics before drawing conclusions. But it also seems likely that climate scientists are triply cautious with their public statements because of they way they've been dragged into the culture wars. Recall that the university where Andrew Watson works was implicated, and then vindicated, in the phony scandal called Climategate, in which skeptics used out-of-context bits from stolen e-mails to make it sound as if researchers were engaged in some great conspiracy. Climate scientists have become the abortion doctors of the scientific establishment: maligned, ridiculed, harassed, and even physically threatened. Several climate scientists in Australia, which had been debating a tax on carbon emissions, received so many death threats that their universities moved their offices to "secure facilities." Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the Climate Analysis Section of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, is more willing than most climate scientists to link current extreme weather with climate change. He explained to me that climate change is not directly causing events such as the Joplin tornado. It is, however, "loading the dice" by increasing the amount of energy in the atmosphere, making events that would occur naturally all the more powerful and violent. The argument is based on simple thermodynamics: As the atmosphere warms, it holds more moisture. Since 1970, atmospheric water-vapor concentrations have increased by 4 percent. That additional moisture is fuel for storms. Day to day, Trenberth says, the effect of the increased water-vapor concentration is modest, but over time the accumulated changes result in a "magnifying effect" of 5 to 10 percent. "That's often enough to make this thunderstorm into a supercell storm, or to create new records," he says. "That week local kitchens and dining rooms had a way of turning into impromptu PTSD support groups."Trenberth has been working on this thesis since the late 1990s, and although scientists increasingly accept his argument, many are still hesitant to go as far as he does. As he told the climate writer Joseph Romm in 2010, soon after so-called thousand-year floods soaked Tennessee, the link between present-day extreme weather and well-established climatic trends "often gets underplayed by my fellow scientists." Determining whether climate change caused, or even worsened, an individual tornado seems to be beyond the epistemological limits of science. But if it's impossible to prove causation, it's easy to see a disturbing correlation. Climate change is happening; climate change should make many types of extreme weather more intense; extreme-weather events are already becoming more common. "The warning signs are there," Trenberth says. * * * While I was on my way back to Missouri, a friend sent a Facebook invitation to the newly created "Joplin Expatriates" group. It was an open call to a local bar for Saturday night, six days after the storm: "A Date for Destruction: Let's Get Drunk!" I RSVP'd yes, with a note that said I expected to need a drink after seeing the destruction. "You will need five," someone posted in reply. By the day of the gathering, the disaster zone was festering. The air carried the smell of rotting meat, fiberglass insulation, chainsaw exhaust, burning plastic and the kind of mold that requires you to tear all the drywall out of your house. Now and then, sawdust sprayed from fresh-cut tree limbs freshened the breeze. Cleanup-crew volunteers had spent the week helping people search their destroyed homes for heirlooms before the rubble was bulldozed into a heap. Many of those volunteers, among them my oldest and greatest friends, were at the bar. Spirits were surprisingly high. After a cursory discussion of our impressions of the damage—"Can you believe this?" "No, not really"—conversation turned to reunion-style catching up. In a way, it felt like December 23, when native sons and daughters, back in town for Christmas, sneak out to meet friends in the still-unregulated cigarette smoke of Joplin dive bars. Even so, that week local kitchens and dining rooms had a way of turning into impromptu PTSD support groups. One night at my dad's, a neighbor who had spent the evening of the tornado volunteering in an emergency room described an array of horrors: an elderly woman, fully conscious, whose scalp was peeled back, exposing her skull. Another victim whose jaw had been torn halfway off. Still-living victims who emergency workers decided to black-tag, leaving them to their death so they could devote their limited time and resources to helping people who had a chance of surviving. Another night, after dinner, my mother's boyfriend told the story of the 12-year-old girl he met at the hospital where he was helping out. She had been in the AT&T store on Range Line when the tornado hit. During the storm, she was separated from her family. Strangers brought her to the hospital. My mother's boyfriend stayed with her through the evening and tried to help her find her family. No one had any idea where they were. At the end of his volunteer shift, the fate of the girl's family was still a mystery.
December 5, 2011 Aaron FuhrmanAfter 15 years missing, this Rembrandt painting was found when two men tried to sell it in France.
Two people have been arrested after being found in possession of the Dutch master’s “Child with a Soap Bubble” painting, which was valued at 20 million francs at the time of the theft, the source said. This equates to roughly 3.9 million euros ($5.4 million) today. The artwork was stolen from a museum in the nearby city of Draguignan in July 1999.
Update: The Tribune de l’Art points out:
Contrary to what you can currently read everywhere in the press, it is not a Rembrandt painting that was found by ‘OCBC after being flown there fifteen years at the Museum of Draguignan in the Var. Only Vincent Noce, in Libération, carefully explains that the work ” appears far too low to be the hand of the genius of Amsterdam “and that he” would rather a table inspired by him, even showing rather typical coquetry of the eighteenth century “(but the title of the article describes still a Rembrandt was found …). Jacques Foucart, former curator of the Nordic paintings at the Louvre, we contacted, we confirmed it is actually an eighteenth century French painting inspired Rembrandtesque to be between artists like Santerre Raoux or around Grimou 1. A certainly interesting work, but incommensurate with the potential importance of a Rembrandt painting.
French police recover Rembrandt stolen 15 years ago (AFP)
A Stolen Painting Found in Draguignan but Not a Rembrandt (Tribune de l’art)Best Hunting and Survival Books
Books about hunting, fishing, or a guide on surviving in the woods are a staple of woodsy cabins, but actually make for great reading even if hunting and the woods are not your thing. We have put together a suggested starter collection of classic books on hunting, the woods, and survival.
Woodcraft and Camping: A Camping and Survival Guide
George Washington Sears, also known as “Nessmuk,” was a Romantic. He sought to witness the glory and the beauty of nature; to free himself from the vagaries of industrialized civilization. He expressed this philosophy through his pursuit of the minimalist ideal and its use in the outdoors. WOODCRAFT AND CAMPING is Nessmuk’s practical and philosophical guide to camping, traveling, and survival in the woods. The book discusses the foundational skills needed to live in the woods: the art of camping, fishing, fire-making, cooking, shelter, tools, and canoeing. But Nessmuk does not just recite the skills needed, he also tells us about his experiences and conversa- tions during his travels. He provides us with campfire poetry and lore. And he does all of this in a writing style that is eloquent, engrossing, and intrinsically positive. “Go light; the lighter the better, so that you have the simplest material for health, comfort and enjoyment.” “It is well that a few congenial spirits should at some favorite trysting place, gather around the glowing stove and exchange yarns, opinions and experiences.”
Sportsmans Guide to Game Animals; a Field Book of North American Species. with Photos, by the Author. Introd. by Richard G. Van Gelder
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this book is “outdated”. Sure, it’s almost 50 years old, but the info is just as relevant as ever. In fact, the best thing about it is that it lacks the fluff and filler you see in most contemporary “outdoor writing” in general, and “field guide” type hunting-oriented literature in specific. In addition to writing, Leonard is also a highly accomplished photographer and his body of work is massive. If you like Sportsman’s Guide to Game Animals, I encourage you to check out his other stuff.”
The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway
From one of the 20th century’s greatest voices comes the complete volume of his short stories featuring Nick Adams, Ernest Hemingway’s memorable character, as he grows from child to adolescent to soldier, veteran, writer, and parent—a sequence closely paralleling the events of Hemingway’s life.
The complete collection of Ernest Hemingway’s Nick Adams two dozen stories are gathered here in one volume, grouped together according to the major time periods in the protagonist’s life. Based on Hemingway’s own experieces as a boy and as a member of the Red Cross ambulance corps in World War I. The collection follows Nick’s life as a child to parent, along with soldier, veteran, and writer and feature some of Hemingway’s earliest work such as “Indian Camp” and some of his best known short stories, including “Big Two-Hearted River.” Perfect for longtime Hemingway fans and as an introduction to one of America’s most famous writers.
A Sand County Almanac (Outdoor Essays & Reflections)
Published in 1949, shortly after the author’s death, A Sand County Almanac is a classic of nature writing, widely cited as one of the most influential nature books ever published. Writing from the vantage of his summer shack along the banks of the Wisconsin River, Leopold mixes essay, polemic, and memoir in his book’s pages. In one famous episode, he writes of killing a female wolf early in his career as a forest ranger, coming upon his victim just as she was dying, “in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes…. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.” Leopold’s road-to-Damascus change of view would find its fruit some years later in his so-called land ethic, in which he held that nothing that disturbs the balance of nature is right. Much of Almanac elaborates on this basic premise, as well as on Leopold’s view that it is something of a human duty to preserve as much wild land as possible, as a kind of bank for the biological future of all species. Beautifully written, quiet, and elegant, Leopold’s book deserves continued study and discussion today. –Gregory McNamee
A River Runs through It and Other Stories
Elegantly redesigned, A River Runs through It includes a new foreword by Robert Redford, director of the Academy Award-winning 1992 film adaptation of River. Based on Maclean’s own experiences as a young man, the book’s two novellas and short story are set in the small towns and mountains of western Montana. It is a world populated with drunks, loggers, card sharks, and whores, but also one rich in the pleasures of fly-fishing, logging, cribbage, and family. By turns raunchy and elegiac, these superb tales express, in Maclean’s own words, “a little of the love I have for the earth as it goes by.”
The Longest Silence: A Life in Fishing Paperback by Thomas McGuane
From the highly acclaimed author of Ninety-Two in the Shade and Nothing but Blue Skies comes this collection of breathtakingly exquisite essays borne of a lifetime spent fishing.
The thirty-three essays in The Longest Silence take us from the tarpon of Florida to the salmon of Iceland, from the bonefish of Mexico to the trout of Montana. They bring us characters as varied as a highly literate Canadian frontiersman and a devoutly Mormon river guide and address issues ranging from the esoteric art of tying flies to the enduring philosophy of a seventeenth-century angler. Infused with a deep experience of wildlife and the outdoors, both reverent and hilarious by turns, The Longest Silence sets the heart pounding for a glimpse of moving water and demonstrates what dedication to sport reveals about life.
How to Stay Alive in the Woods: A Complete Guide to Food, Shelter and Self-Preservation Anywhere Hardcover by Bradford Angier
Broken down into four essential sections, Sustenance, Warmth, Orientation and Safety, this enlightening manual reveals how to catch game without a gun, what plants to eat (full-color illustrations of these make identification simple), how to build a warm shelter, make clothing, protect yourself and signal for help. Detailed illustrations and expanded instructions offer crucial information at a glance, making How to Stay Alive in the Woods truly a lifesaver.
Beyond Fair Chase: The Ethic and Tradition of Hunting
Beyond Fair Chase is for anyone concerned about the future of hunting. In simple but powerful text, it describes the ethical way to hunt, from preparation to shooting to care after the shot. Never before have so many issues been linked together in an ethical context. ‘Jim Posewitz has emerged as a leader in ensuring its (hunting) place in American Culture.’ – Spokesman Review
Outdoor Survival Skills Paperback by Larry Dean Olsen
Outdoor Survival Skills has taught three generations of wilderness adventurers how to survive in nature without expensive purchased equipment, instead drawing on knowledge of the land and carefully tested techniques, many of them ancient, for finding or creating shelter, fire, tools, water, and plant and animal foods. In this new edition, anecdotes from the author’s lifetime of experience provide thrilling examples of the skills and attitudes that ensure survival outdoors.
Just Before Dark Paperback by Jim Harrison
Most of Jim Harrison’s fans know this Michigan native for his fiction, including Legends of the Fall, Dalva, True North and his hypnotic first novel from 1971, Wolf, though Harrison is also a brilliant composer of essays on hunting, fishing, and wild game. Some his best pieces, many of which were originally published in Sports Illustrated back in the 1970s, are collected in Just Before Dark. In these pages, Harrison offers up humor, moral insight, and a fair share of depravity and excess. He also takes time to explain why he doesn’t hunt Africa, why he loves hunting woodcock and why it’s a “sin against God and man” to skin a game bird rather than pluck it.
We recommend the new Amazon grocery delivery service. Great for cabin owners:
Also published on Medium.Vermont senator’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination has received a record 3.25m individual contributions, mostly through online donations of $27
The Bernie Sanders campaign announced on Sunday that it raised $20m in January, almost entirely from small online contributions of $27.
Campaign live: Bernie Sanders reports raising $20m in January and contributions record Read more
The Vermont senator’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination has received a record 3.25 million individual contributions, more than any other candidate for the president.
The Sanders campaign raised almost $33.6m in the fourth quarter of 2015, it said, with 70% coming from contributions of $200 or less. Sanders’ campaign has now surpassed the huge funds raised by Barack Obama’s campaign in the first quarter of 2008, before he defeated Hillary Clinton in the primary election.
In a press release, the campaign contrasted Sanders’ small funders with the major backers of Clinton, who led him by three points in the final poll before the Iowa caucuses, a survey released by the Des Moines Register and Bloomberg on Saturday night.
Citing Federal Election Commission reports, the campaign noted that three of every five dollars given to Clinton came from people who have already given her the maximum $2,700.
“As Secretary Clinton holds high-dollar fundraisers with the nation’s financial elite,” campaign manager Jeff Weaver said in a statement, “working Americans chipping in a few dollars each month are not only challenging but beating the greatest fundraising machine ever assembled.”
The campaign also boasted, somewhat disingenuously, that Sanders “has refused to coordinate with a Super Pac”. Technically no candidate is allowed to coordinate with such organizations, which can raise unlimited funds on behalf of a preferred campaign or party.
Super Pacs have ballooned in the wake of the supreme court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which Sanders decries as evidence of the corrupting influence of money in politics.
Clinton and most of the Republican candidates have Super Pacs acting on their behalf, one of which says it raised $25m for the former secretary of state in 2015, and $50m so far.
Bernie Sanders campaign raises $33m as candidate sees strong finish to 2015 Read more
Sanders has made Clinton’s complicated relationship with Wall Street a primary if sometimes veiled line of attack on the campaign trail, highlighting the large paychecks she received from banks for speaking.
When the Sanders campaign released its figures on Sunday, Clinton had not yet reported how much money her campaign raised in the fourth quarter of 2015.
This month, the former secretary of state took a break from he campaign trail in Iowa and New Hampshire to attend a fundraiser in Philadelphia, alongside singer Jon Bon Jovi and finance executives. The price of breakfast at the closed press event ranged from $250 to the maximum contribution of $2,700.AMC says it will host special pop-up screenings of "Preacher" in the weeks leading up to the comic-book adaptation's May 22 premiere.
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Fans can visit Twitter or Instagram to post their most creative photos, videos or comments about why their hometown deserves an exclusive "Preacher" screening using the hashtag #PreacherFanScreenings.
The cable network will select four cities or towns for screenings of the supernatural series' pilot episode on April 30, May 7, 15 and 21.
"We can't wait to give comic-book superfans, who have been eagerly awaiting an adaptation of this property, the opportunity to see 'Preacher' before its official premiere on AMC," Linda Schupack, executive vice president of marketing for AMC/SundanceTV, said in a statement Tuesday.
"These early screenings are a great way for us to provide a special experience for the legions of loyal and enthusiastic fans and, we hope, turn them into evangelizers, telling their friends to check out the show when it premieres."
Developed for television by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the darkly comic drama will co-star Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun and Ruth NeggaHey Rocksmith fans!
This week’s DLC sees the return of one of the greatest alternative bands of all time: Pixies! The last time we saw them was ALL THE WAY back in 2013 when we received Here Comes Your Man as one of the final bits of content for the original Rocksmith.
All four songs this week come from the most well known and beloved Pixies album: 1989’s Doolittle. Kicking off the pack is Debaser, then we ride on a Wave of Mutilation, followed by Monkey Gone to Heaven, and then rounding off the pack is Hey.
Pixies Song Pack – $9.99 / Steam
It’s all E Standard this week folks!
So tell us, does this pack make you feel like you’ve gone to heaven or does the very sight make you want to start slicing up eyeballs? Let us know!
@big_sweetie I'm pretty certain we'll see more Pixies in the future… just not this week! — Paul Cross (@crossieRS) February 3, 2014(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) For in the great budget sellout of December 2014, fully 57 House Democrats voted with the Republicans to narrowly pass this deal. Key Senate Democrats close to Wall Street, such as Chuck Schumer of New York, shown here, were its enablers.
This article originally appeared at The Huffington Post.
In principle, Saturday's vote to keep the government open should be the perfect curtain-raiser for the political debates between now and the 2016 election. As their price for averting a government shutdown, Republicans demanded and got a gutting of one of the most important provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, preventing banks from speculating with government insured money.
Agencies hated by Republicans such as the Environmental Protection Agency took big cuts, and a rider was inserted permitting "mountaintop removal" coal mining once again. Another extraneous provision demanded by conservatives permits massive increase in individual campaign contributions.
The IRS enforcement budget lost $345.6 million. This will only increase public deficits, since most IRS enforcement is directed at upper-bracket tax cheats. The IRS collects about seven dollars for every dollar it spends on audits.
The bill also cuts Pell grants for lower income college students, diverting money to the for-profit companies that function as collection agencies for student loans. And it allows companies to cut pensions for current retirees, even those that are contractually guaranteed.
This deal was cut by the outgoing Congress, in which Democrats still controlled the Senate. Far worse will be directed at ordinary working families when the new Congress meets in January.
So a terrific debate is set in motion for the next two years, smoking out which side the Republicans are really on. Right?
Well, no.
If only. For in the great budget sellout of December 2014, fully 57 House Democrats voted with the Republicans to narrowly pass this deal. Key Senate Democrats close to Wall Street, such as Chuck Schumer of New York, were its enablers.
In the end game, President Obama, continuing his signature fighting style, blinked first. He evidently feared that another government shutdown would be blamed more on him than on the Republicans; or that even worse would be in store after January. The Republicans, once again, played chicken and prevailed.
So we were treated to a spectacle of the Democrats being split several ways, both on ideology and on tactics. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, a progressive, after sending mixed signals earlier in the week, decided that the bill had to be opposed. But President Obama, his chief of staff Denis McDonough, along with Pelosi's more conservative second-in-command, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, actively lobbied Democrats to back the deal. So, in the end, the 57 House Democrats—about one-third of the caucus—joined 162 Republicans to narrowly pass the budget.
Meanwhile, over on the Senate side, the Democrats split as well. Only six Democratic progressives, led by Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, voted against cloture. Then, once the bill was assured of passing, several Wall Street-friendly Democrats from relatively liberal states cast a crocodile-tears record vote against, such as Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey.
So, while the Democratic Party should be carrying the banner of working families, making it clear that the rules are rigged against regular people and that Republicans are the riggers-in-chief, the reality is far more blurred. The Democrats not only lost this vote on issues they allegedly care about; they lost their role as a credible opposition.
As George Orwell wrote in the famous ending of Animal Farm,"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
Well, there is this comfort: At least the Democrats' likely nominee in 2016 stands four square with ordinary Americans against Wall Street... Uh, whoops. The greater likelihood, of course, is that the Clinton-Obama-Rubin dynasty will continue with another Clinton, and the blur will continue.
Meanwhile, the drumbeat urging Elizabeth Warren to run for president only grows louder.
I am often asked if I'd support a third party. I always respond that I'd be thrilled with a second party.We're excited to premiere folk artist, Chase McBride's new music video for the single, On the Other Side from his upcoming album, Cold Water!
San Francisco singer-songwriter, Chase McBride announces his arrival as a rising west-coast folk artist with the release of his third full-length album, Cold Water on January 18, 2017. Independently recorded and produced by French Cassettes’ Mackenzie Bunch and Scott Huerta, the album is comprised of live, full band performances of songs written in the wake of a heartbreak. Fans of Dawes, Vetiver, and Sean Hayes will enjoy McBride’s confessional lyrics, understated instrumental arrangements and earnest vocals.
"This collection of songs was written after a jarring shift in my life. I had a lot of plans and a lot of comforts prior to that terminus, and the reality of starting from scratch at the age of 27 was painful. At the time, I thought it was wholly bad. Now I see that it was wholly good." -Chase McBride
Don't miss Chase's live performance in San Francisco at Amnesia on January 22nd!BOSTON – Often lost because of the way Jose Bautista can change games at the plate is the way he can change games in the field.
On a quiet day with the bat, the Toronto Blue Jays right-fielder did precisely that in Saturday’s 5-4, 11-inning win over the Boston Red Sox Saturday, stealing a home run from Rusney Castillo in the third inning. Even with his right shoulder still recuperating from the impingement and strain that limited him to DH duties for 30 games, he’s still very capable of making an impact with his glove.
“It’s one of those things that kind of happened,” Bautista said afterwards. “I can’t really explain it, and you can’t prepare for it. I’m happy I did it, I’m glad it helped and prevented a run.”
With the Blue Jays up 3-0, Castillo led off the bottom of the third and rocked a 1-2 knuckler from R.A. Dickey deep to right-centre field. Bautista, who had been playing straight away, made a beeline toward the wall, hit the warning track, took five steps, leaped and snared the ball as his right hip flew into the top of the short fence.
Once the ball was in his glove, he slid down the wall, hanging atop it for a moment before pulling up his glove to show that he’d made the catch. Dickey pumped his fist and pointed out to right field in gratitude.
“I saw the ball hit, had a good jump, kept running, was chasing it down and felt like I had a chance,” said Bautista. “For whatever reason, I timed it perfect. I peeked a few times, but I didn’t know exactly where I was. I took a chance. If I wanted to catch the ball, I had to jump at that moment. It just ended up being perfect where the ball was right there. I kind of held on to the wall when my legs hit, reached over, got it.”
From the route he took to the ball to the timing of his jump, everything was perfect.
“I can tell you right now it was not deliberate,” said Bautista. “I was reacting to the ball being hit, chasing the ball and I can’t tell you I knew exactly where the ball was when I jumped. It happened to be at the right place and the right time, and perfectly placed.”
The way Bautista went into the wall, which is padded, also allowed him to protect his body, although he said he felt “a little discomfort” in his troubled right shoulder while clinging to the wall.
Despite that, he’s played 11 straight games in right field, and while he can’t control the running game the way he usually does with his throwing, he’s been able to make it work.
“I’ve gotten lucky,” he said. “I haven’t had a need to throw out the losing run or the game-tying run at the plate. Hopefully it continues to be that way. I just don’t feel like I can 100 percent |
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Following are the changes incorporated since beta 2:DMDIssue 10133 - ICE for templated static conditional lambdaIssue 11993 - typeof(this) in constraint of member function templateshould reflect method qualifierIssue 11447 - Closure provide bogus valuesIssue 12016 - implicit immutable upcast becomes null in CTFEIssue 12008 - alias this and "unable to resolve forward reference"Issue 12023 - template mixin fails within template classIssue 12037 - Link-failure with std.numeric.CustomFloatIssue 12038 - alias this and &this cause ICEIssue 12017 - DDoc leaves out the majority of documentationIssue 12040 - Compiler segfault with circular reference in variabletypePhobosIssue 12024 - template instantiation for swap(SysTime, SysTime) failsIssue 11973 - Please use any insteadInstallerPull 45 - add alternative download for dmd.${Version2}.zipPull 52 - disable Audio and USB in VirtualBoxPull 51 - use lib64 for phobo64.lib and gcstub64.obj on WindowsPull 50 - only copy explicitly listed files from phobosPull 49 - Improved build automation using VagrantPull 46 - fix deb copyright typoPull 48 - Update deb/rpm to new dmd versioning scheme.Binaries have been published:All SystemsFreeBSDLinuxOSXWindowsThe list of current regressions may be accessed here:Regards,AndrewLast year, a Motherboard editor was roasted by the entire internet for complaining that building a gaming PC was still way too hard. But how hard can building a PC be if a couple of inmates managed to do it in a medium-security prison?
As detailed in a report released today by the Ohio Inspector General's office, five inmates at the Marion Prison managed to build and stash not one, but two internet-connected PCs in the ceiling at the prison. According to Ohio Inspector General Randall Meyer, the inmates had used the computers to steal the identity of another inmate for credit card and tax fraud purposes, as well as to look up pornography and recipes for drugs.
"They were piecemeal computers," Meyer told Motherboard during a phone call. "If you think of a salvage operation, the shell could've been from one computer, the motherboard from another. They were Frankenstein-ed together, but they were fully functional and looked like PCs on the outside."
The inmates' computers were discovered at the prison in July of 2015, but their existence is only being brought to light now due to a failure to report the case immediately to the inspector general after the computers were discovered. Correctional officers at Marion were first tipped off about the computers' existence after Websense, a security platform used by businesses and government, notified system administrators of excessive internet usage by a particular computer on the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's network.
Further investigation found that the login information for a retired corrections employee was being used to access the network by a machine called –lab9-, which didn't fit the naming protocol for devices connected to the network. In the following days, systems administrators received alerts detailing dozens of attempts to avoid proxies set up by Websense in attempts to access file sharing sites.
Still, it took about a month before staff at the facility were able to locate the actual devices in the ceiling. This was accomplished by tracing the computers' port number to a network switch located near the room where inmates received PC training.
The network switch where the connection to the computers was discovered. Image via Ohio Inspector General.
According to Meyer, the inmates had pieced together the computers by pilfering parts from a computer disassembly program that employed inmates at Marion. The program, now defunct for reasons unrelated to this case, also taught inmates the basic computer skills which were put to use in the assembly of these homebrew computers. Based on a forensic analysis of the devices, their operating systems had been installed on April 1, 2015, meaning the inmates had been using them for nearly four months before their discovery.
Based on the testimonies of the inmates involved with the computers, they were fully functioning when they were brought from the PC disassembly area to the storage closet where they were hidden. The drives used in the computers were obtained from another computer that was used by inmates under supervision.
As one of the inmates described the process to investigators "I imaged the drive…with Acronis…all you gotta do is take that drive, plug it into any computer and it will boot up. I took a network card out of another computer and put it in [the illegal computer], plugged it into the inmate switch. Remote desktop into the computer. And then…bam. I'm on the network."
After running an analysis of the computers' hard drives, it was discovered that the inmates had used them to search through a database of inmates, steal the information of a particular inmate from a different prison, apply for five credit cards using this inmate's identifying information, access to a Bloomberg article on tax refund fraud, as well as issue passes for inmates to gain access to various areas within Marion prison.
Based on the forensic analysis of the devices, the inmates had access to several "malicious tools" to carry out their project, including Cain (a hacking tool for password recovery), Zed Attack proxy (for finding security vulnerabilities), OpenVPN, THC Hydra (a hacking tool for cracking logins), Paros (a pen testing software that can also be used to execute a man in the middle hack), among many others.
"It's like an episode of Hogan's Heroes," said Meyer. "The fact that these inmates were able to take salvaged computer pieces to build two functioning computers and then move them 1100 feet to an administrative portion of the building where they shouldn't have access anyway…it's just not something you'd think would happen in today's correctional facilities."
It's astounding how much these inmates were able to do under surveillance in a medium-security prison, although in the Inspector General's report they inmates were the first to comment on the relatively lax supervision within the prison. Moreover, the rehabilitation program that taught the inmates the computer skills they needed to pull of this feat also gave the inmates a lot of leeway to network their rogue computers.
"The institution was having inmates run cabling for their closed circuit televisions within the institution instead of paying a state of Ohio employee or even a vendor to come and do that," said Meyer. "These guys were self-taught or taught by the institution itself about agile computing and things like that."
Meyer was unable to comment as to whether there was any collusion between prison staff and the inmates while the case prosecution is ongoing. The majority of the inmates involved in the case were serving life sentences and have since been moved to different correctional facilities.Dries Mertens has drawn the attention of clubs from around the world with his exploits as a center forward this year. The pint-sized Belgian went from being widely considered an ideal super-sub in the attacking winger position, to a world-class threat as a center forward in just a matter of months. Dries spoke about a huge offer from China during the winter break that was very difficult for him to refuse. He described the money from the offer as being enough to affect even his grandchildren’s lives. In the end, it was the change in his way of life that a move to China would require which turned him off. Yet with contract negotiations between him and Napoli stalled, we are now wondering if a move at the end of the season is not a real possibility. Reports of instability between Dries and his wife Kate, who is currently back in Belgium, may also make a move more likely. On top of that, reports are now emerging that Mertens held a meeting with Premier League side Manchester United. Considering that Dries will turn 30 in May, it makes sense both for him and the club to at least consider a move from a financial perspective. With his performance this past year, Dries has probably maximized his worth. The club would be practicing the very smart business of selling high while Mertens would be getting the most out of what will likely be the most important contract of his career.
Having said that, a Mertens move away is no certain thing. After Milik’s injury and Gabbiadini’s failure to step up in his place, Dries essentially saved the season by leading the Azzurri attack with great success. His value as both an alternative out wide to Insigne and a center forward is not to be underestimated especially considering that we still don’t know what type of player Milik will be post-surgery or how Pavoletti will settle into the side. With the two ‘natural strikers’ on the squad carrying significant question marks, having Dries on the team provides a great alternative in case one, or worse case both, should stumble. Napoli would have no easy time substituting the quality of coverage Mertens provides in two critical areas of the pitch even with the 35+ million euros they’d likely receive as a transfer fee (rumors in January had clauses ranging between 35-50 million euro expected in his new contract).
A move may not be what Dries Mertens wants either. The love affair between Dries and the Napoli faithful is no secret. At this point most Partenopei consider him one of their own having also given him the very Neapolitan nickname ‘Ciruzz’. Dries, along with his wife Kat, have always spoken very highly of the city and its people. In fact, their love for Naples played a big part in their rejection of the potential move to China mentioned earlier. Whether he’s passionately celebrating a goal under the curva while kissing his shirt or tossing dough around in a local pizza joint, Dries has come to embody everything the Partenopei wish to see in their players; and by the looks of it all, Dries is enjoying every second of it. Yet still, with offers expected to come pouring in during the summer, Dries will likely catch himself wondering once again, ‘Should I stay or should I go?’.Philadelphia is one of the least healthiest cities in the country, according to Women's Health Magazine.
In the magazine's yearly rankings, the City of Brotherly Love is slated 99th out of the top 100 healthiest cities.
The magazine looked at 38 different measures of health and well-being, including obesity rates, cancer rates and medical care. Researchers also took into account nutrition, unemployment, happiness and fitness.
San Francisco is ranked as the healthiest city. Birmingham, Alabama is the only city ranked lower than Philadelphia.
Here are the results:
Top 10:
1. San Francisco, CA (Healthiest City)
2. Salt Lake City, UT
3. San Jose, CA
4. Burlington, VT
6. Minneapolis, MN
7. Seattle, WA
8. Austin, TX
9. St. Paul, MN
10. Portland, ME
Bottom 10:
91. Detroit, MI
92. St. Louis, MO
93. Tulsa, OK
94. Jackson, MS
95. Indianapolis, IN
96. Cleveland, OH
97. Memphis, TN
98. Toledo, OH
99. Philadelphia, PA
100. Birmingham, AL (Unhealthiest City)I thought that it might be useful to explain where and how at least part of the problem with the Transocean Deepwater Horizon fire and sinking spreading oil across the Gulf of Mexico might have started. I am going to start by repeating one of my previous technical posts, where I explain what a blow-out preventer is, then I will add some comments in an update relating to the current leak.
This post is going to deal with some of the problems that a driller encounters as he reaches the layer of rock (the reservoir) in which the oil or gas is being held. And what I want to talk about is something called Differential Pressure, but to explain that, I need to drag you back to High School for just a minute.
Let's, in fact, go back to Newton's Three Laws. And, for those who slept through that part of the Physics class in school, don't be too ashamed - I have seen the desk where Newton whittled his name, being similarly bored. Let's start with the first law, which is probably the most relevant.
Every object in a state of (rest or) uniform motion tends to remain in that state of (rest or) motion unless an external force is applied to it.
Except that I want to change external force into pressure (which is force divided by area) since it is the way we normally think of it. (Note: I added rest which is a special case of uniform motion since that is specific to the oil we want to talk about). In other words, nothing is going to move unless something pushes it. It is what does the pushing and what does the moving that this is all about.
And now our drill, is down through the casing, drilling the well open hole and using the circulating mud to carry away the cuttings as it continues to go deeper. I had stopped progress last week just before we went down to total depth (TD) of the well, or into the pay. And the reason I did has to do with this differential pressure. But first, the bit about how you calculate pressure.
As you go deeper into the earth, the rock at any layer is carrying the weight of all the rock vertically above it. For rough calculations we generally consider that this rock weighs 144 lb a cubic foot. So that 10 ft down the weight of the overlying column on a square foot would be 144 x 10 = 1,440 lb/sq ft. But through convention we reduce the area that we talk about to a square inch (144 sq in= 1 sq ft) so with this division the weight on a square inch would be 10 lb. A remarkable resemblance to the depth number (grin). This means that we can assume, as we go deeper into the earth, that the pressure on the rock increases by 1 lb/sq. inch (psi) for every foot we go deeper. This means that at 6,000 ft, the rock is under a pressure, from the rock above it, of 6,000 psi.
Now water does not weigh as much as rock, but can be approximated to roughly half the weight. So that, by the same argument, under water, for every foot of depth the pressure goes up roughly half-a-psi. So that at 6,000 ft under water the pressure is 3,000 psi (roughly twice the water pressure in the wand you use at a car wash). Now because we have increased the density of the fluid in the well (the mud) to help lift the cuttings out of the hole it weighs a bit more than water, but for the sake of working the example I'm going to use the half-psi measure for now. We are now at the point where the actual amount that it weighs becomes important.
Simplified sketch of an oil bearing layer in the ground.
I have made a very simple sketch of the layer of rock that we are going to drill into. In order to trap the oil it is shaped into a dome, and the sketch shows a vertical slice through that dome, viewed from the side. It has a layer of oil in it (the reddish layer), but above that is a layer of gas that has diffused from the oil (brownish), and below it is water (bluish) which may have been there when the algae died and which has stayed with the remains as they turned into oil under the temperatures and pressures deep in the rock. Oil floats on water, and gas is lighter than oil, so we have the three layers. At the moment the well has not arrived and all three fluids are sensibly in equilibrium at the same pressure.
Now why do we need to know this before we reach our layer of oil-bearing rock? Well first let's go and interpret that first law a little more.
If a person on either side of you pushed you with equal force at the same time, you don't move, because the two forces balance out. It is only if there is one force, or if one of the two pushes harder, that you move. In other words, where there are a number of forces acting on a body, it is the size of the difference in pressures, and the direction of that difference, that controls the movement.
Consider, here we are drilling merrily away (and have cased the well near the surface, and hit no more fluids on the way down) and at 6,000 ft. we penetrate the rock that is capping the well, and enter the rock with the oil in it. The oil (in the rock) is at some fraction of the overburden pressure, since it is trapped in the rock, and for the sake of this example I am going to say that it is at 5,000 psi, the fluid in the well is at 3,000 psi, the height of the mud column.
There is a difference of 2,000 psi. We are drilling a hole some 6-5/8th inches in diameter. That has an area of about 34.5 square inches. The total force we have suddenly applied to the bottom of the well (bit and fluid) is thus (area x pressure difference) 34.5 x 2,000 = 69,000 lb (or 35 tons). Oops!
Oil rig blowout in Turkmenistan (Energy Industry Photos)
Sadly most catch fire and the rig is destroyed (there are more pictures of such damage at the EIP site). It's called a blow-out, and they still happen.
This is why we approach the oil/gas producing zone of the rock with caution. And bear in mind that the driller that is controlling the progress of this well is at the surface, trying to guide the bit at the bottom of the hole, with, historically, little immediate information to help.
Based on the surveys that brought the crew to the site in the first place he knows roughly how thick the layers of rock are, and probably what rock they are, but the only real information on where the bit is in that sequence, is from the returns (cuttings) that come out of the well, and there is the lag, we mentioned before, while those chips make their way up the 6,000 ft pipe. (This is why Measurement While Drilling [MWD] has been such a relatively recent boon to the industry (though not all rigs have it)).
By monitoring a number of pressure gages the driller can gain a sense of what is happening at the bottom of the well. If he senses that there is going to be a problem, then he can do one of several things, based on the way the well is set up.
The first thing is to increase the density of the mud. By making the fluid in the well weigh more, the difference in the pressure across that face is reduced, and the change in conditions is easier to handle. However weighting up the hole has the disadvantage that it becomes much slower to drill with a heavier mud (it is a poor bottom-hole cleaner among other things). And, if done during drilling, bear in mind that once the heavier mud is added to the well it won't be fully effective until it has had time to get down to the bit and then fill back up the annulus between the drill string and the casing all the way to the surface.
So that is an expensive and slow option. Let us take the game a little more interesting and say that there is a gas pocket above the oil, and that the hole is going to go into the layer at A. Gas will enter the well at the down-hole pressure, but as the bubble rises, that pressure is reduced, and the gas expands, pushing the mud above it out ahead of itself. Another potential source for big-time trouble. And this one (which is known as a kick in the well) happens much faster, so there is less time to react.
How do we handle this? The answer is to invert the problem. Gas or oil flows into the well because the well is at a lower pressure than the fluid in the rock. The fluid in the well is, initially at the pressure created by the depth, and by the weight (density) of the mud in the hole. However, if we put a restriction on the flow of fluid out of the well (such as when you put your finger over the end of a garden hose so that the stream becomes smaller and shoots out further) we can increase the pressure in the well.
For those who want to know why, if the same volume has to go through a smaller hole in the same amount of time it has to go faster. This means it has to be pushed harder. Bernoulli explained it, and there is an animation available that helps explain it.
What it means is that by adjusting the flow out of the hole, the driller can adjust the internal pressure, and thus "kill the kick," or if gets to be too much of a problem, “kill the well”. But it is not completely that simple. Bear in mind that there is all the drilling and rotating equipment on the rig floor connected to the drill pipe at the top of the well. None of this can stand much pressure. So we need to place another piece of equipment between the drilling rig, and the top of the well.
Blow-out preventer (Schlumberger)
This is the Blow-out Preventer (BOP), which is essentially a ram that very rapidly shuts off fluid flow at the top of the well. These have to be well designed, since they are generally the line of last defense against a blowout, and when they fail as the pictures show, serious problems arise. They also form the basis for the well-known structures, often referred to as Christmas Trees that sit at the top of producing wells. By themselves, however, these aren't enough, since their main function is just to slam the door shut, before all the oil gets out and we have a gusher.
The more critical tools are the chokes on the well. (Below the rams in the picture above). There are generally several, both hydraulically operated and manual (in case the power dies) which are simply large valves that can be turned to increase or reduce the size of the flow path out of the well over to the mud pits. By adjusting these, in real time, the driller can control the well pressure, and thus the dynamics of the behavior at the bottom of the well. And after the rig leaves, an operator can adjust well pressure, and thereby the production from the well and its long-term performance.
If the operator is well trained (and you find drilling simulator equipment in Petroleum Engineering Departments so that students can understand how to do this (I last tried some decades ago) the well pressure will be controlled, so that any kicks can be handled, and the drill can now penetrate safely into the rock containing the oil/gas, which we call the reservoir, or the pay.
Update
The oil spill is continuing to get worse, and there are growing questions that have been raised on what could have gone wrong, and how it can be fixed. I am in the same position as most, in regard to getting information – it comes from news reports, in the main. But there are some points that can be picked out as the focus of those reports switch to the impact that the oil is going to have on the coast and businesses that are going to be severely damaged.
An early story noted that the BOP had recently been tested.
Mr. Hayward said the blowout preventer was tested 10 days ago and worked. He said a valve must be partly closed, otherwise the spillage would be worse. There are a number of things that can go wrong with a blowout preventer, said Greg McCormack, director of the Petroleum Extension Service at the University of Texas, which provides training for the industry. The pressure of the oil coming from below might be so great that the valves cannot make an adequate seal. Or in the case of a shear ram, which is designed to cut through the drill pipe itself and seal it off, it might have encountered a tool joint, the thicker, threaded area where two lengths of drilling pipe are joined. Still, Mr. McCormack said, “something is working there because you wouldn’t have such a relatively small flow of oil.” If the blowout preventer were completely inoperable, he said, the flow would be “orders of magnitude” greater.
However oil is now flowing through the BOP and out into the water immediately above the well site on the sea bed. When the site was visited by a small remotely operated vehicle with cameras they showed that the riser, the pipe that normally carries the oil from the sea bed to the surface, had kinked over when the rig sank, and oil was coming from three places:
The Coast Guard said it had not detected oil coming from the well Friday and assumed post-accident efforts to activate the blowout preventer “a huge stack of valves sitting atop the wellhead on the sea floor” had been successful. But later trips by the remotely operated vehicles (ROV’s), discovered oil shooting from the end of the pipe-like riser that had connected the rig to the blowout preventer. A second, smaller leak was found in a section of drill pipe near the wellhead. That 21-inch-diameter riser had become detached from the rig when it sank. In the process, it was folded over at a 90-degree angle just above the wellhead, which had the effect of kinking it like a garden hose and constraining the flow of oil from the well. It now sits in a long, meandering mess on the ocean bottom. This helps explains why oil was not initially thought to be seeping.,.. The preferred option, he said, is still to find a way to engage the blowout preventer. That fix, if it works, could be handled in a matter of days, he said. But if that doesn't work, the other option is to drill a deep “relief” well into the damaged well and stem the flow of oil, though that option could take several months, Suttles acknowledged. He said his team would spend the next several days trying to determine the best method.
The problem lies, in part, with the capabilities of the ROVs and their ability to get access to the well site on the sea-bed.
There is a report from a survivor (h/t Fractional Flow ) that says that the well was shut in and they were going through the process of separating the rig from the well, and moving it off. They began by cleaning out the drilling mud from the riser, replacing it with sea water. However, when they re-opened the valves at the top of the well, the pipe in the well had become filled with gas from the well, under considerable pressure, and this “Kicked” the well as the valve opened. Gas, as the pressure gets less as it moves up the pipe, expands much more than oil. And unfortunately in the process of disconnection, the pressure to hold the gas, which comes from the density of the drilling mud in the riser initially, had been removed as part of the disconnection process.
So the high pressure gas was able to blow all the sea water in the riser out onto the deck of the rig. (This happens extremely quickly, well below a minute) The gas then followed, and as it flowed out of the pipe at the top of the well there was some hot source that caused it to ignite. (This could even be from a static electricity spark). Because of the depth of the well, the pressure in the bottom of the well was in the 30-40,000 psi range.
Part of the problem that arises with flows at that pressure is that any abrasive particles (such as small pieces of rock) will cut through metal at the speeds at which it is carried. (Such jets were used to remove the damaged tops of the wells in Kuwait after the Gulf War, for example). So that it is possible that as the BOP started to function the high-velocity flow may have eroded part of the system to allow some fluid to bypass the plug that the BOP inserted. If that happened then the continued flow would just enlarge the passage again fairly quickly, so that the BOP will become ineffective.
However there are pictures of the leaks available.
Pictures of the oil flows ( Drillingahead )
At this stage there does not appear to be that great a driving pressure for the oil coming out of the well. (If there were, the flow would be more directed horizontally) This suggests that the BOP did at least partially function, and that the passage may have been eroded by the particles in the gas and oil now escaping.
There is a recent report that the accident may have been caused by a poor cementing job by Haliburton:
After an exploration well is drilled, cement slurry is pumped through a steel pipe or casing and out through a check valve at the bottom of the casing. It then travels up the outside of the pipe, sheathing the part of the pipe surrounded by the oil and gas zone. When the cement hardens, it is supposed to prevent oil or gas from leaking into adjacent zones along the pipe.
As the cement sets, the check valve at the end of the casing prevents any material from flowing back up the pipe. The zone is thus isolated until the company is ready to start production. The process is tricky. A 2007 study by the U.S. Minerals Management Service found that cementing was the single most-important factor in 18 of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14-year period. But at the time of the accident, "well operations had not yet reached the point requiring the placement of the final cement plug, which would enable the planned temporary abandonment of the well," the Halliburton statement said.
However it is hard to see from what is known, that this was a cause in this case.
Some other earlier Tech Talk posts that might be of interest in following the ongoing discussion about the problems encountered include:
Casing a Well
The Drilling Part of Creating an Oil Well
Completing and Perforating a WellThe United States could only account for 1,160 out of 17,500 kilograms of Highly-Enriched Uranium (HEU) — weapon-usable nuclear material — exported to 27 countries in response to a 1992 congressional mandate, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released last week.
“The world today is dramatically different than when most U.S. nuclear cooperation agreements were negotiated,” the report said. “Many new threats have emerged, and nuclear proliferation risks have increased significantly.”
In another disquieting revelation, the GAO pointed out that in the 55 visits from 1994 through 2010, U.S. teams found that countries who received nuclear components met international security guidelines only about 50 percent of the time.
“The agencies have not systematically visited countries believed to be holding the highest proliferation risk quantities of U.S. nuclear material, or systematically revisited facilities not meeting international physical security guidelines in a timely manner,” the GAO report warned.
The U.S agencies responsible for monitoring the proliferation and negotiating the export of nuclear materials, the Department of Energy, Department of State and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, do not have a systematic process for evaluating the physical security of U.S. nuclear material overseas. In some cases, the agencies have relied on reported thefts of U.S. nuclear material to assess the security at foreign facilities.
The report recommended that the Department of Energy, Department of State and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission work to gain greater access to critical facilities where weapon-usable U.S. nuclear material is stored and keep inventories of the transfer, enrichment, reprocessing and storage of the nuclear materials.
“Without an accurate inventory of U.S. nuclear materials — in particular, weapon-usable HEU and separated plutonium — the United States does not have sufficient assurances regarding the location of materials,” the report said.
The U.S agencies rejected the recommendations, claiming that keeping a comprehensive inventory would be costly, impractical and unwarranted, and that that International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards are sufficient to account for U.S. nuclear material overseas.
They also claimed countries would demand greater access to U.S. nuclear facilities if the U.S. sought greater access to foreign facilities, which could have national security implications.
[H/T: Mother Jones]This year’s presidential race could come down to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Both are despicable and horrifying choices to lead this country. To vote between them is to play the worst game of “eenie, meenie, minie, moe” imaginable.
It is to choose between the third or fifth circle in Dante’s inferno, between Applebee’s and Chili’s, between socialism and communism—choose your own painful analogy, but you get the point. You will pick the less painful of two poisons. But that might occur, and if you take your civic duty to vote seriously and believe it’s unethical not to vote, or eschew the idea of writing in a third-party candidate—which may constitute a vote for Clinton—you should choose Trump over Clinton. Here’s why.
Clinton Has a Terrible Track Record
To make a case for Trump, painful though it feels, one must first make a case against Hillary Clinton. This is easy. Hillary Clinton has been straightforward about what she believes, what she’s done as secretary of State, and what she’ll do as president. None of those are things we want in the leader of the free world. Should Clinton be voted president, our nation’s global standing, already dreadful after two terms of Barack Obama, will only worsen.
Clinton was a terrible secretary of State. In that position, she lied about some of the most important issues this country has faced. How’d that reset with Russia pan out? I don’t mean this in an ad hominen sense, but because she’s a proven liar.
She has lied about everything from the events surrounding Benghazi, which resulted in the deaths of four brave Americans, to her vote in favor of the Iraq war, to—most importantly and perhaps damning—why and how she was illegally using a personal email server to communicate classified information, including top secret intelligence.
‘Access to Ms. Clinton’s personal email likely gave foreign spy agencies hints on how to crack into more sensitive information systems.’
Not only did Clinton wind up with classified intel on her private email, it included top secret intel via her fax machine after said documents’ classified markings were removed—a federal offense. As John R. Schindler, a former National Security Agency analyst, reported, “The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee termed that July 2011 incident ‘disturbing,’ and so it is to anyone acquainted with U.S. government laws and regulations regarding the handling of classified material.”
In a column, Schindler wrote, “Any foreign intelligence service reading Ms. Clinton’s emails would know a great deal they’re not supposed to about American diplomacy, including classified information: readouts from sensitive meetings, secret U.S. positions on high-stakes negotiations, details of interaction between the State Department and other U.S. agencies including the White House. This would be a veritable intelligence goldmine to our enemies. Worse, access to Ms. Clinton’s personal email likely gave foreign spy agencies hints on how to crack into more sensitive information systems.”
Whether at the time Clinton was unable or unwilling to grasp the importance of her devastating handling of the emails remains unclear, but either way: Do you want someone who doesn’t know (or care) how to keep classified intel under lock and key running national security?
Hillary’s Policies Would Be (More) Devastating
Clinton is running for office not only as a liar but from several other false premises, many of which underlay her terrible economic, foreign, and security policies. For example, remember when Bill Clinton was president? How great was that? Clinton, on top of steadily parlaying her husband’s career into her own, plays the gender card frequently and without any qualms. The only thing worse than voting for a person because of his or her gender is one running for president because of it.
The only thing worse than voting for a person because of his or her gender is one running for president because of it.
According to this piece Michael Tan wrote in National Review, Clinton’s domestic spending, or in her words, “jobs” proposals, “would cost at least $350 billion over a decade.” These are in addition to “a $75 billion proposal for increased spending on clean energy.” Other proposals include government support for child care, ($200 billion or more over ten years), and another “$10 billion for subsidizing home care for the elderly.”
Clinton is also not just pro-choice but a fanatical supporter of Planned Parenthood and a proponent of partial |
the economics of plantations (with which native forests are being replaced) are not assured, but rather are a huge gamble for Tasmania. The industry's future prospects depend on global pulp prices rising; the government, as the Australian Financial Review put it, has "tied the state's economic future to the success of Gunns and its tree farms".
If the future looks dubious, the present is already a failure. The reality is that logging old-growth forests brings little wealth and few jobs to struggling, impoverished rural communities. While Gunns makes its profits primarily in Tasmania, the great majority of the company's shares are owned by mainland institutions. It has been estimated that less than 15% of Gunns' profits remain on the island, where the largest individual shareholder is John Gay himself.
As a consequence of the forestry debate, Tasmania is an increasingly oppressive place to live. Just six days after conservationists had gone public about arson threats in 2004, the historian Bruce Poulson, a prominent opponent of plans to log the historically significant site of Recherché Bay, had the study behind his Dover house, containing decades of research, burnt down in what police described as a "malicious" attack. Ray and Leanne Green had displayed Wilderness Society posters calling for an end to old growth clearfelling in the Styx Valley in their Something Wild Wildlife Sanctuary, half an hour's drive from the valley. They received numerous informal threats, and then had their business burnt out. Cameraman Brian Dimmick was bashed by a log-truck driver who objected to Dimmick filming his vehicle. So it goes in the clearfell state.
It has never been suggested, nor do I wish to imply, that Gunns is any way responsible for such acts. But the workings of power are not always reducible to orders or even intentions. When a society becomes entrapped in a growing coarsening of public rhetoric, evil finds succour. When vilification is commonplace, when lies are the currency of the day and followers seek to rise through the vigorous anticipation of leaders' unspoken desires, where all are disenfranchised and the most powerless feel what little security they have will be destroyed by those who merely disagree, acts of dubious morality and even of violent criminality become justifiable and appear honourable.
Despite a few years of economic upturn between 2001 and 2006, Tasmania is once more technically in recession, and it remains the poorest Australian state, with the highest levels of unemployment and around 40% cent of its population dependent on government welfare. New key industries such as tourism and fine foods and wines trade as much on the island's pristine image as they do on the products they sell. There is growing concern in all these industries - in which job growth is concentrated - at the relentless damage being done to Tasmania's name by images of smouldering forest coupes.
It is little wonder that many Tasmanians now worry that the woodchippers' greed destroys not only their natural heritage, but distorts their parliament, deforms their polity and poisons their society. And perhaps it is for that reason that the battle for forests in Tasmania is as much about free speech and democracy - about a people's right to exercise some control over their destiny, about their desire to have a better, freer society - as it is about wild lands.
Of late, Gunns' fortunes have suffered. Its share price has dropped by over a quarter from its record highs of 2005, a reflection of having lost 20% of its market share to South American plantations. At the same time woodchip prices have dropped and a global woodchip glut beckons, all of which leaves Tasmania even more dependent on uneconomic woodchip production.
A recent rally in support of Gunns' pulp mill attracted just 50 people, including Paul Lennon. Gunns' own research shows only one in four Tasmanians supports the island's biggest company. Meanwhile, its pulp-mill proposal meets with growing fury throughout the state. The once-timorous Tasmanian media has begun showing courage in questioning the company's activities; the Gunns 20 writ has been rejected three times, and Gunns' projected legal costs - including the damages it must now pay - run into millions. On throwing it out a second time, Judge Bongiorno described the lengthy writ as legally "embarrassing". Still, Gunns persists with a fourth suit. The eminent QC Julian Burnside, one of the defence counsels, has said, "It leaves you wondering if the purpose is simply to terrorise."
Yet the hope for many Tasmanians of years past - that one or other of the major parties at a national level would act to end the madness of old-growth logging - vanished with Kevin Rudd's Labor Party green light to Gunns. No one could look to a political system now so hopelessly cowed by and enmeshed with the woodchipping lobby to effect change. After a decade of the most pro-corporation national government Australia has ever had, neither major political party has the courage or integrity to stand up to a rogue corporation.
And it is Gunns' determination to do whatever it must to continue old-growth logging that may just condemn both it and Tasmania to a savage vortex: given the history of dependence on government subsidies and the alacrity with which both major parties grant them, Gunns' ability to always shift losses onto others - the government, its workers - means that the company may well continue to prosper. But the price of maintaining the necessary political support is high and ever higher: it demands an ever more determined manipulation of public opinion, an ever more ruthless treatment of public opposition, and an ever more assiduous duchessing and policing of political parties.
For that reason, more Tasmanians are demanding a royal commission into the old-growth logging industry and its relationship with both major political parties. It may find nothing untoward has taken place. It may even find at heart something far more disturbing: that the boundary between what is illegal and what is unethical has now vanished in Australia, and that the spectre that now haunts the nation is not that of an omnipotent state but of a ruthless corporation, beholden to nothing but its own bottom line, inhibited by nobody, liberated by the failure of contemporary politics.
Nothing less than a major investigation with special powers can now clear away the stench that surrounds this industry and shames Australia. Without such an investigation nothing will change, except for the worse, and the rape of Tasmania will continue until one day, like so much else that was precious, its great forests will belong only to myth. Tasmanians will be condemned to endure the final humiliation: bearing dumb witness to the great lie that delivers wealth to a handful elsewhere, poverty to many of them, and death to their future as the last of these extraordinary places is sacrificed to the woodchippers' greed. Beautiful places, holy places, lost not only to them but to the world, forever.
And in a world where it seems everything can be bought, all that will remain are ghosts briefly mocking memory: a ream of copying paper in a Japanese office and a man fern in an English garden. And then they too will be gone.Introduction
This is the first of five posts in a series that want to tell you the story of my discovery journey through modern PHP tools to build a REST service layer.
I have a sweet spot for REST and decoupled architectures, but working for a (mostly) Drupal company in the last (several) years, I had little occasion to put my head over the topic aside personal tinkering and small projects. Not to say that we didn’t produce REST APIs for our customers, but a real decoupled project was hard to be found.
Then came Drupal 8, the first version of Drupal built from the ground-up to match enterprise use-cases: it brings many changes, embraces modern PHP to the core and is heavily oriented towards decoupled architectures. Actually, we can say headless Drupal is quite a buzzword these days. All good news, but hey… Drupal went finally PHP, which means that other modern PHP tools are finally within the reach of any D8-savvy developer.
I dare to state that moving towards SOLID PHP, Drupal made himself less of a queen bee, diluting its ecosystem and exposing itself to direct confrontation with other PHP options.
This may seem counterintuitive, but I consider this a great strength for Drupal in the first place: you don’t have to decide between making it “custom” or making it with Drupal: it will be easy to carry your business logic in and out of Drupal if the need be. So with a healthy and open spirit of confrontation, let’s dive into a journey among modern options to build REST APIs with PHP at the ides of March 2017.
What makes an API really REST
The interweb is flooded with articles about what a good API is or is not. Just try to google for “rest api best practice”.
Is one more opinion on the topic worth a blog-post? I don’t think so.
Nonetheless my indiscriminately inflated and voluminous ego forces me to barf my opinion hereunder for good measure; here is my personal take on what a good REST API is, in extreme synthesis. I’ll add some information on what we have to take carefully, pitfalls etc.
I actually tackled into this topic yesterday, with a speech at Drupal Day 2017 in Rome - Italy, titled REST in pieces (an atrocious and ruinous pun). This series aims to dig deeper into the topic so I’ll add a bit of information and (most important) a ton of lolcatz, sadly missing from my slides because time and blah blah.
Stick’s 10 laws for a perfectly REST API
1. URI must be nouns, not verbs
Verbs are already wired in HTTP ( GET, POST, etc) so it makes perfect sense, semantically speaking, to name your resources for what they are: resources.
Apples are resources (to feed a population), money are resources (to make charity or business), time is a resource (to invest in learning REST, lol).
Navigate, press or play the guitar are not resources (whereas navigational skills, pressure and a guitar player can be - hey nouns!).
With the next point, why this is important will become clear: naming resources by nouns will grant you APIs sensible semantics.
Right Wrong /cars /getAllCars /users /userRemove /books/{id} /books/{id}/remove
2. GET requests must never alter system/resource state
Also known as HTTP has verbs.
This is where rule 1 above begins to click. HTTP has verbs “hard-wired” in the protocol. You can GET a resource, POST it, DELETE it and so on. This basically means you can use HTTP syntax to write perfectly sensible expressions like DELETE /books/123, which even my granny can understand (this is good, leave useless complexity to bollywood screenwriters so they can make their mildly Asperger heros hack an alien spaceship via consumer wifi).
What if I ask you “Can you please get me a remove that stain from my shirt”? It would make little sense, specially compared to “Can you please remove that stain from my shirt?”.
But there’s more: you don’t expect that collecting something will change its properties. Imagine a world where raising a cup of tea to your mouth change the content in olive oil. Or if buying a bulb means to automatically light it. Weird, huh?
Writing RESTful expressions boils down mostly on leveraging by-design HTTP expressive power.
Right Wrong POST /cars GET /addCar DELETE /users/{uid} GET /userRemove PUT /books/{id} GET /books/{id}/update
3. Don’t mix plurals and singulars
This is less of a rule and more of an advice. There is nothing inherently bad in pushing expressiveness towards natural language. Right? Meh…
I warn you against going too frenzy with expressiveness. It is important but can’t come at the cost of consistency. In other words, while it makes perfect sense, in fluent English to GET /books (all of them) and GET /book/123 (only that one), the /books → /book mapping creates an inconsistency among endpoints URIs.
I hear you mumbling “why this hurts, anyway?”. First of all pluralization is not always straightforward, even in a language as consistent as English (if you don’t think it is, try with Italian), so for example you can incur in the person → people case, which is a natural and fluent but hard to map inconsistency, compared to the books example.
In addition, despite good inflectors are available for all popular languages, automating URI composition on the client side is more painful if you have to deal with the singular/plural/collective-nouns logic.
Last but not least, it’s way easier to setup a consistent routing to your actions (think about your future you).
In the end, sticking with singular or plural is the best way to avoid complications that add little value. Choose one and go with it. My personal choice is for plural.
Right Wrong GET /users GET /users (Right but inconsistent with the following) DELETE /users/{uid} DELETE /user/{uid} GET /users/{uid}/reviews GET /user/{uid}/reviews (This really sucks…) POST /users/{uid}/reviews POST /user/{uid}/review PUT /users/{uid}/reviews/{rid} POST /user/{uid}/review/{rid}
4. Map relations by sub-resources
Normal relationships intuitively boils down to a schematic form of ownership.
We can say, for example that a user has many phone numbers, but has one profile. Invoices has many customer, while in turn customers has many invoices. And so on.
The best RESTful representation of those kind of relationships is achieved by sub-resources: /books/123/reviews is the resource endpoint for reviews related to book with ID 123. Along this line, /books/123/reviews/456 is a specific review among those book 123 got.
Redundant? Yes, but also descriptive. And secure: since review 456 partains to book 123, trying to GET /books/098/reviews/456 should fail with a 404 Not found error (see below for more status-codes and love).
Should we also redound the endpoints to provide different access routes? Like, following the example above, should we have a reviews/456/books resource so that I can go backward from reviews to books?
Well, this really depends on your domain: if you know you need a list of reviews, no matter the book they are related to, or (to add a dimension to this depiction) if you may need reviews by author, like /users/987/reviews, then why not? I would go further and say that you can go fancy with filters on a /reviews resource endpoint (see below for filters galore).
Just avoid proliferating your endpoint just for the sake of having them at hand. Design is the most important step in API development and declaring resources informs by itself about the hierarchy, relations and logic the clients are expected to follow.
Right Wrong GET /users/{uid}/reviews GET /reviews?byUserId={uid} PUT /users/{uid}/reviews/{rid} PUT /userReviews/{rid}
5. Negotiate format in HTTP headers
This is a rule many frameworks allows to break easily, but trust me: there are headers for content negotiation and they work well and consistently.
Request headers allow the server and the client to specify which kind of data you are passing and expecting in the request body. Are the client sending XML with its POST? Is the server supposed to respond with a JSON payload to that GET?
Two nice headers are available for this and here they are in all their splendour:
Content-type
Specifies what’s inside the request body.
Accept
Specifies which format the server is supposed to pack the response so that it doesn’t stink.
Those headers accept mime-types, like Content-type: application/json or Accept: text/xml. Compare this to other means like slapping a fake file extension at the end of the resource URI:
GET /books/123.json
to inform the server we are expecting a JSON payload… way more expressive and powerful if you want, for example, a JSON-LD HATEOAS payload, or other forms of RDF structure:
Accept: application/json+ld
Accept: application/rdf+json
Try to pollute this in a fake extension, a parameter or (may God forgive) as part of the request body. The mere effort is simply nonsense!
7 apr 2017 - EDIT: I’ve been pointed out by rob_schluter on this reddit thread that I didn’t stress enough the fact that (by RFC 1341) the Content-Type and Accept headers should be populated with a valid MIME Type. If I didn’t miss Rob’s point, his concern was about content-negotiation not being just a nice-to-have feature.
When it comes to server declaring the resource format, providing a Content-type header should always be done to ensure the client knows how to manage the payload. For example you can proxy an image or other form of binary data by an endpoint of your application.
To add another bit, I never asked myself if a REST client library I used was trying to perform content-type sniffing… if your does, avoid relying on it and always provide your payload’s mime-type!
Right Wrong Content-Type : application/json PUT /reviews.json Accept : text/xml GET /reviews?format=xml
6. Leverage powerful HTTP caching
This paragraph would deserve a full book per se. The topic is really huge and I don’t even have the experience to compete in clarity and completeness with other authors.
Still I feel that HTTP caching features are often overlooked by many, mostly when it comes to REST API design.
To support my statement I often take as an example the fact that (in my experience) far too often the etag header goes totally unconsidered during API design, though it is a brilliiant solution to content-based cache invalidation.
Google has a great article on HTTP caching on the Developer Network. Just remember these three things:
The problem with caching is its invalidation strategy; pretty obvious but it’s often very tricky to come up with a good one
HTTP allows for content-based and time-based invalidation, which is a real boon since you can trade off performances and data reliability
Being based on response headers, HTTP caching allows per-resource strategies, which means you can carry out the aforementioned trade-offs depending on the nature of the data
Not bad of a transfer protocol, uh? :)
7. Allow for collections filtering, sorting and paging
This is query parameters time!
After having disparaged query parameters in almost all former examples, here they come to save our day. Did you know humans can easily find an element in up to a dozen, with little to none cognitive load? That’s why good interfaces allow for filtering result-sets (and why it is so important to rack high on search engines, just to say).
Narrowing and ordering sets is so pervasive in computing and information technology that we tend to take it for granted. Client applications (even on a server-to-server basis) will often require a narrow set of results, specific to some criteria. This is important to avoid sending heavy payloads that the client, and leave all the storage technology behind the service layer do the job it is probably most qualified.
Query parameters can express sorting and filtering criteria, as well as paging long result sets.
It is important, in my opinion, to point out a subtle difference between filtering results and identifying a resource. Take those two different URIs:
/users/1 /users?uid=1
both seems legit ways to get - say - the profile of the user whose id is 1. But they is a difference: the first is a URI (universal resource identifier, remarkably) for a user profile, the other is not. Actually the second URI identifies a collection of user profiles which incidentally (given the restricting filter applied) is composed by a single item.
I even expect the payload to differ substantially. In case 1 it should be something like:
{ 'uid' : 1, 'name' : 'John Doe',... }
while in the second case I expect it to be
[ { 'uid' : 1, 'name' : 'John Doe',... } ]
that is in fact an array with a single item.
This matters! If you need to identify a specific resource to perform state-changing operations on it, you should really have a URI for it.
This is also true at some extent for collections of related items. Take this as an example:
/users/1/books /books?owner_id=1
This is trickier and it really depends on what you need in the domain of your application. Is the collection of books owned by a specific user` a resource by itself? Or in better words, are book collections resources for the users of your system? If so, being a resource, the user’s book collection deserves a universal identifier. If not, go with a filtered collection.
Mind that nothing stops you to have both, but don’t just throw them in for good measure… think about your domain, how entities are related and what kind of operations you want to perform on a resource.
OK, back to our filters, sorting and paging. Query parameters are pretty flexible and you can go fancy with expressiveness. Here is some example of how you can empower your clients:
Right Wrong GET /users?sort=-age,+name GET /users?sortAsc=name&sortDesc=age GET /users/{uid}/reviews?rate>=3&published=1 GET /userReviews?uid={uid}&rate>=3 GET /books?format=[epub,mobi] GET /books?format=epub&format=mobi
To close this paragraph with one more digression, I’m not a fan of field-selection, that is allowing the client to list the fields it wants to receive for a resource representations. It surely can come in handy, but mind that APIs are not a trendy way to allow a client to access a database. A service layer is, as the name implies, something that provide a service: it often holds business logic behind its endpoints.
There are cases where your API is simply a secure and decoupled persistence layer, while your client holds all of the business logic. Good examples of this are some dedicated iOS or Android apps, which doesn’t even have a web counterpart. As long as clients performing the same functions over and over proliferate on different channels (web, SmartTVs, mobile OSes, etc), you service layer will become a RESTful representation of your application model.
Field selection in filters, not bad per se, smells a bit: think twice if you are not envisioning your API as a mere data-access layer.
8. Version your API
This is really as simple as it seems, but it’s a golden rule. Your clients should always have the possibility to reach a specific production version of your API, on a specific URL.
If you work mainly with web applications you can wonder why this matters. After all if you introduce breaking changes in your API but deploy a matching client that supports those changes, there is not problem, right? Tackling into mobile apps should make you change your mind: you can’t just push updates to customers’ phones (er, almost). If your clients are outside of your control then, the game is almost over.
That’s why it is so important to deploy your API to a URL which specify your API version. But pay attention, we are not talking about exposing your codebase versioning: you can deploy the 1.14.05 codebase version, which is exposing the version v1 of your API. As long as the API does not introduce breaking changes (that is to say, if you can query each endpoint, receiving the same response format from them), you must consider it the same version.
In fact there are cases when a specific version of your codebase delivers fixes or changes to more than a version of your API. API versioning refers to format, not development iterations.
Of course, the major version of your codebase can be the same as the format version of your API. This makes perfect sense and help keeping things under control, so codebase 1.x → API v1, and codebase 2.x → API v2.
Where to place your version? My preference is in the domain, like https://v1.api.stick.says, but even a subtree like https://api.stick.says/v1 (which is supported out of the box by most frameworks) does the job.
It goes without saying that the point here is not to keep each and every version of your API online indefinitely! You can (and will) surely deprecate old versions soon or late, but you can do this on a public schedule, communicating the variations and version EOL, and collecting information about the degree of adoption of new versions by the clients (hint: use logs to collect usage statistics of your endpoints!).
Right Wrong GET /v1/users?sort=-age,+name GET /users?format=old POST api.v2.stick.says/users POST /users?format=2017
9. Return meaningful status codes
HTTP has response status codes! This is not a breaking news, it has since its inception and we are all well aware of the (in)famous 404 Not found that pops here and there in our browsers.
Still, 20+ years from the devision of HTTP, I still happen to see established professionals going with 200 OK as the unique response code.
If you are about to say one of those
I’m placing my error status in the payload, so no need to use HTTP codes It is really not important, just return 200 OK so that client lib won’t complain Status WAT?
Please, go back enveloping SOAP and leave me alone wondering what went wrong with the world! :D
Jokes apart, you’ll probably think by now that my sweet spot for HTTP may be a little too sweeeet (creepy indeed), but hey: Sir Tim Berners Lee created one of the most complete and expressive transfer protocols in the late 80s. I’m pretty sure most of my readers were shaking their rattles at the time. So really, don’t ignore the fact that the fundamental protocol that ended up killin all former nerd/net technologies and cultures were designed to do one thing well. And heck, it does! :)
Returning meaningful status codes means your client (the machine, not the human) can understand what happened to the request without analyzing the response payload, which in turn helps your client (the human, not the machine) to get additional information, useful to a sentient being.
I’ll list here some HTTP status codes trivia which may or may not be common knowledge for you. If you learn something new, my advice is to dig deeper into HTML protocol and learn what it can already do for us.
HTTP status codes are numerals with an optional description : The format of response status codes is always a 3-digits number like 201, 302, 404 or 401. Mnemonic descriptions are added so that us meatbags can remember what they mean: 401 Unauthorized, 302 Permanent redirect or 200 OK
HTTP status codes are categorized by the most significant digit : Being very unlikely for an application to have hundreds of different statuses of the same category (if you are in such a situation you may double check your assumptions… it smells a bit), the hundreds are used to represent status categories. For a complete reference see the related part of RFC 2616. For a shorter version and some notable insight, see my table in the end notes.
There is space for custom error code in each category : And, as long as you document them for your client, you are encouraged to use them! You may not know this, but there is an actual 418 I'm a teapot implementation case registered in history. And Symfony framework natively supports it :). So really, don’t be shy and make good use of HTTP flexibility to inform your client about what the heck happened to their request.
You can haz cats: Yes, there are things like HTTP Status Cats API or, if you feel more like you want puppies, HTTP Status Dogs. I can’t state how important is you make use of this bleeding edge technologies! World can be saved, after all…
Good
401 UNAUTHORIZED { "errors": [ { "user_msg": "You shall nooot paaass!!!", "internal_msg": "Balrogs are not welcome", "code": 666, “info": "http://stick.says/docs/v1/errors/666" } ] }
Bad
200 OK { “status” : “error”, "user_msg": "You shall nooot paaass!!!", "internal_msg": "Balrogs are not welcome", "code": 666, “info": "http://stick.says/docs/v1/errors/666" }
10. Use modern authorization methods
If you live in a well-off countryside area like me, you may have retained the old habit of putting your keys under the doormat.
Actually I am not! Times changes and I am not that akin to suffer thievery. Securing your resources is important, but most important yet, is to know who can access which one.
Bear with the analogy for a while, please. My friends may come visit, they just have to ring the bell and say their name. In this they are able to access my house while I am in. But this doesn’t mean I give them free access to my wardrobe or family bank account. Those are resources that may be accessed only by high privileged people in my family.
Now, what if my wife wants to access the home-banking and performs transitions? Sure she can, so I can let her use my token (it’s actually the opposite, lol). Giving her my token, I allow her to act on my behalf on the bank account resource. Most important, this can happen outside of my control, as long as the authorization is valid.
So it is possible for a set of agents to access the house via authentication (identifying them at the door) and to access some resource under my direct or indirect supervision, for their staying. Other specific agents may instead manage private resources by gaining an authorization (asking me the token). The nuance that tells authentication from authorization is subtle but can be clearly stated in that:
Authentication is a necessary condition to gain authorization: I must know who you are before you can act on my behalf. It is not sufficient to gain control of my resources though.
Authorization has one or more scopes: Once you are authenticated (I know who you are), I can grant you access to a set of resources you can use on my behalf. This access can be temporary and conditioned to a specific logic. Let’s call those set of resources scopes. It is clear that access to different scopes like See bank account balance, Trigger money transfers, Use TV, Access wardrobe, etc may be granted to different people over time.
. It is clear that access to different scopes like See bank account balance, Trigger money transfers, Use TV, Access wardrobe, etc may be granted to different people over time. Authorization can be revoked: Revoking authentication means losing memory of the identity of someone, since authentication boils down to identifying someone. Denying access to a resource instead means you are revoking an authorization to someone you can identify.
Uoookkey, enough metaphors; in the context of our service layer we can say the user can authenticate by providing credentials and be authorized to access resources by a permissions framework.
Now, HTTP is a stateless protocol so if you want to have some RESTpect (sorry), you’d better avoid relying on sessions to authorize the client.
Use modern stateless authorization framework instead.
The two most renown example here are Oauth2 and JSON Web Tokens (aka JWT). Both are standards (actually Oauth2 is not, it failed to be standardized and is now considered a framework) to describe how a client may act on behalf of an authenticated user in a stateless world.
Digging into the two would require a series of posts (or entire books) but in the scope of this article it suffice to say that:
Oauth2 is a great way to allow other server applications to access your resources on behalf of a user
Social are the most common example of this: when you take one of those silly tests like “What mutant animal from the world of Sglorbz am I?” on Facebook, you are asked to grant access to your profile data (and God knows what else!) to (say) “Silly online quizzes Inc.”, which is a third party application that knows nothing about you but wants to create a profile and post things on your wall regarding your assumed Sglorbziness.
To achieve this the app asks you (the resources owner) to unlock more or less permanent access to your profile and the ability to post on your wall (yes, these are scopes). The silly tests app gains a token on authorization, which can be used to act on that scopes, even when your browser is closed and you are asleep. Actually the server’s app may impersonate you within the boundaries of the granted scopes.
You can do this too: I mean you can both allow other apps to act on behalf of your users (that is you expose an Oauth2 Server) or you may hook into another REST API gaining access to its resources (you are acting like an Oauth2 client). Often you end up doing both, and that’s the web, and it’s great!
Social are the most common example of this: when you take one of those silly tests like “What mutant animal from the world of Sglorbz am I?” on Facebook, you are asked to grant access to your profile data (and God knows what else!) to (say) “Silly online quizzes Inc.”, which is a third party application that knows nothing about you but wants to create a profile and post things on your wall regarding your assumed Sglorbziness. To achieve this the app asks you (the resources owner) to unlock more or less permanent access to your profile and the ability to post on your wall (yes, these are scopes). The silly tests app gains a token on authorization, which can be used to act on that scopes, even when your browser is closed and you are asleep. Actually the server’s app may impersonate you within the boundaries of the granted scopes. You can do this too: I mean you can both allow other apps to act on behalf of your users (that is you expose an Oauth2 Server) or you may hook into another REST API gaining access to its resources (you are acting like an Oauth2 client). Often you end up doing both, and that’s the web, and it’s great! JWT is the right way to allow a rich client web application or a native application to act as a user interface
Modern single page application written in frameworks like Angular.js or React holds part of the application logic in the client. You may be accustomed with the concept of server session, that is the server holding a state behing an HTTP request/response curtain. JTW allows for a real stateless connection: again, a token is exchanged with each request to match the client’s authorizations as well as the user’s authentication. JWT tokens generally have a short life and can hold actual information in a smart and secure way.
A modern API which goal is to serve client application should really rely on JWT to handle permissions!
Final thoughts
Here you are my 10 golden rules for a perfectly REST API! Hurray!
Or not? I can here some of you:
But wait… where is HATEOAS?! And you old fart forgot to mention RDF also!!?!1!1!!cos(0)
OK, let’s make clear that despite I’ve kept an overconfident tone, which was hopefully just hilarious, the above doesn’t want to be a universal source of truth about what makes a good REST API. It is just what I learned over the years for you to put to good use.
That said, I have mixed feelings about HATEOAS and RDF-related stuff (JSON-LD etc, for the record).
My guts say - and I would be happy to prove them wrong - that to date we have a lot of stuff that seem to perfectly match REST in describing resources semantics, but it’s unclear how the client should actually behave with those data. Since yep, hypermedia navigation is all about behavior.
Take HATEOAS for example: nice to receive a list of available links (the catalogue of legit state transitions, to be a bit pedantic) in the payload, now what?
Without a clear behavioral framework to apply, client side, it is left to the developer to understand what to do with the information… at that point it is better not to do any server-side assumption and provide clear documentation so the client developer can forge URIs by himself, handling unavailable transitions at application level.
Almost the same with RDF. Great meaningful semantic but then when it comes to hypermedia-ize it all, we need stuff like RESTdesc or Hydra (which is in turn an RDF application by itself, to make things worse :D) to describe how the client is supposed to behave to get along. So what is the client logic actually supposed to do in the first place?
To finish, a mention about content enrichment: I’d leave it to business middleware. It’s not just a matter of hype like woohoo, microservices are all the rage, so never create a monolith anymore (but do middleware or clients will knock your door down by night).
It’s just that it’s unhealthy to have native modality to perform content enrichment in the hope that your data-level service layer will hit all possible clients use cases. That’s what specialized middlewares are for, put them to good use!
Conclusions
To wrap it up, don’t stop here! There are a lot of great books out there on how to design great REST APIs, go read them and better yet, get your hands dirty!
Reach for your apiary account or start a Swagger project and grind your teeth.
Just remember a great service layer starts from its design, so don’t rush installing the last new sensational tool: your brainwork comes first.
See you soon with the next article of the series: Drupal 8 REST features breakdown.
Additional resources
Further readings
Personal blurb on HTTP status codesOne thing is clear: the availability of the best pitcher on the free agent market and his subsequent signing with Yankees just hasn't been discussed enough. Never mind the articles devoted to the topic, nor the StoryStreams, nor the reactions! They're hardly important or even relevant. What we need to know is: with the addition of Masahiro Tanaka, where does the Yankees rotation rate compared to the rest of the league?
Has he alone taken them from weak spot to strength? Let's take a look, keeping in mind that we're taking into account the rotations as they are today, knowing full well additions are likely to be made for some. It's also important to note that depth beyond the starting five is pertinent to the rankings.
They have everything... almost. It probably depends on your definition of an ace, but for me they lack one. Stephen Strasburg has that potential, and the only thing he's lacking is innings, topping out at 183 last season. Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann, and the recently-acquired Doug Fister push them towards the top. It's fair to call Gonzalez and Zimmermann No. 2 |
ineptitude of the leadership in assuming their political responsibility of taking on the bourgeoisie.
In order to debunk the sensationalist bourgeois propaganda that it is the intention of communists to abolish ‘all private ownership’ and to stifle all ‘private initiative’, we make very clear that when we refer to socialisation we do not propose that the totality of enterprises be socialised. We do not propose that every corner shop and workshop comes into public hands. That would essentially amount to purposeless adventurism.
We fight for the socialisation of big business – of the commanding heights of the national economy, that is to say of those who play a monopolistic or dominant role in the various sectors of the economy; of those in the field of trade, services provision and manufacturing, who, given the high levels of concentration, lend themselves more easily to the process of socialisation. In reality, such enterprises are numerically very few when compared to the totality of private enterprises.
Their socialisation would also mean the survival of hundreds of thousands of small enterprises that are at present struggling to survive on the unequal playing field that the monopolies have created. We must emphasise again that there is no need to expropriate small-holders and small enterprises. That class would progressively gravitate towards the new socialised model after witnessing the superiority of the living example of a socialised planned economy.
Socialisation means the proper democratic management of enterprises by the workers themselves. Workers are much more interested in these enterprises than are their owners. Capitalists subject the viability of an enterprise to the insatiable urge for private profit. The democraticThere’s nothing quite like a campfire cookout! Enjoying the warmth of glimmering coals and sharing stories with friends, while the mingled scents of woodsmoke and the great outdoors fill the air. And what campfire would be complete without the melty, sticky, gooey goodness of s’mores? Now you can add the graham-crackery, chocolately, marshmallowy flavor of a cozy camping trip to your Hearthstone collection: introducing the HearthS’mores card back!
These card backs replace the art decorating the reverse side of your cards and this one is particularly cozy. Add this tasty treat to your collection by hitting Rank 20 in either Standard or Wild Ranked Play. You’ll receive the HearthS’mores card back at the end of July’s Ranked Play Season in your Ranked Play reward chest.
You earn Ranked Play reward chests based on your highest earned rank over the course of a Ranked Play season. Reward chests may contain seasonal card backs, Arcane Dust, and golden cards, and can be obtained by playing in either Standard or Wild Ranked Play modes. You’ll be awarded one chest per Ranked Play season based on your highest rank between the two modes.
Now you’re invited to step outside of the Hearthstone tavern to share the warmth of a campfire adventure! Heat up some cocoa, take a seat on a marshmallow of unusual size, and prepare your palate for HearthS’mores today!The Jets are going Greene.
New York has hired Pro Football Hall of Famer Kevin Greene as its new outside linebackers coach, the team announced Saturday. This is his second coaching gig.
Greene was the OLBs coach for the Packers from 2009-13 before deciding to step away to spend more time with his family.
As a player, he spent 15 years in the league and played for four teams: Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers. He was a first-team All-Pro three times, and was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1996.
The Jets have two youthful options at outside linebacker in 2015 third-round pick Lorenzo Mauldin and 2016 third-round selection Jordan Jenkins. The young duo has just nine sacks in three combined seasons.
Todd Bowles still has four vacancies remaining on his staff, including offensive coordinator. Getting a 2016 Hall of Famer, though, is an encouraging step forward.Early Sunday morning, around 3am on June 12, Peter and his wife, Fern, awoke to the sound of large trucks outside their home.That was what they heard, but what they saw was a bright orange glow on their bedroom wall.
Peter makes Nitram Charcoal in the factory that was built on his property, and as he looked out his bedroom window he saw that the building was engulfed in flames.
The fire was huge.
As it should be because this was the Nitram Charcoal manufacturing facility. With all the wood and charcoal inside the building, the conflagration was spectacular!
The fire department had only just arrived. Apparently, a driver on the nearby highway saw the flames in the distance and had called 911.
On Monday, Jerzy, Patricia and their rat terrier, Ollie, drove up to assess the damage. As these picture show, the devastation to the Nitram facility was total and complete.
No one was hurt, and that is always the most important thing.
The Mennonites are a practical people. They had already formed a new building committee. There were plenty of volunteers ready to rebuild.
Through a terrible mix-up we discovered that the fire damage was NOT covered by insurance. The oven, the only one of its kind in the world, and the equipment were specifically designed to make Nitram. An off the shelf solution will not fix this.
The next batch of Nitram will not be made for at least a year. This GoFundMe campaign will help raise money for the Nitram Charcoal manufacturing facility rebuild which will in turn help artists from all over the world receive their favourite drawing charcoal sooner.
www.nitramcharcoal.com
Save
SaveHughes and Melancon sported the "Half Cap," created by a company called Boombang, as they threw in the bullpen and went through pitchers' fielding practice at Pirate City. MLB began asking pitchers in September if they wanted to try out the new model, and 20 big leaguers agreed to test them this spring. The design, comparable to a hard visor that protects a pitcher's temples, earned rave reviews from both pitchers.
BRADENTON, Fla. -- Pirates closer Mark Melancon and reliever Jared Hughes tested out a new Major League Baseball-approved protective cap during Sunday's Spring Training workout. Both pitchers came away impressed, albeit with a split decision about whether they'll keep wearing it.
BRADENTON, Fla. -- Pirates closer Mark Melancon and reliever Jared Hughes tested out a new Major League Baseball-approved protective cap during Sunday's Spring Training workout. Both pitchers came away impressed, albeit with a split decision about whether they'll keep wearing it.
Hughes and Melancon sported the "Half Cap," created by a company called Boombang, as they threw in the bullpen and went through pitchers' fielding practice at Pirate City. MLB began asking pitchers in September if they wanted to try out the new model, and 20 big leaguers agreed to test them this spring. The design, comparable to a hard visor that protects a pitcher's temples, earned rave reviews from both pitchers.
• Spring Training: Schedule | Tickets | Complete info
One drawback, arguably, is a style that may take time to gain acceptance if not evolve further. Although this version looks better than previously seen prototypes, the headwear still hasn't gotten a full fashion thumbs up.
If appearance is the only barrier to safety, Hughes is fine with that. He plans to keep wearing the cap and will try it out during a Grapefruit League game next month.
"Honestly, when I weigh the pros and cons, still, the only things that are bad about it that I can think of is it might not look normal, and I might get teased. I could care less about either one of those," Hughes said. "Overall, it's going to keep me safer and it definitely felt comfortable."
Melancon has never had a close call with a comebacker, he said, but he has seen enough to appreciate the need for additional protection. Similarly, Hughes has been interested in the technology since 2012, and he has plenty of reason to give it a shot.
Hughes is a ground-ball pitcher, relying heavily on sinkers down in the strike zone. As a result, he tends to induce a lot of contact hit directly back toward the mound. In August, Hughes was nearly struck in the face by a line drive off the bat of Cardinals outfielder Stephen Piscotty. The ball grazed Hughes' cheek, but he somehow escaped without a scratch.
Melancon added that he respects any effort to improve pitchers' safety on the mound, and he liked the way the cap felt. He didn't noticeably tug at it or adjust it during his bullpen session.
Still, Melancon isn't so sure he'll keep wearing it.
"I'm one foot in, one foot out," he said. "The one foot out is only on the looks, but that's so shallow.... In reality it's all about protection, so it doesn't matter what it looks like. It's just new, it's new to me, it's new to everybody."
Over time, Melancon said, he hopes the idea will become normal and accepted throughout baseball.
"I think it's something more guys are going to try. You just never know. You want safety," Hughes said. "It's going to be tough to start trying it because it's not normal. It's not something people are used to. But they probably said that about batting helmets when they first started using those, too. Those ended up saving lives and helping guys out.
"This could be a similar case. That ball's coming off the bat really fast, and it's coming right at our heads sometimes. If there's something we can wear to protect us a little bit, I'm all for that."When you buy your chicken in the supermarket, or eat it at KFC, the label will be missing some critical information about the people who helped make your meal possible. It won’t say, for example, that the workers who processed that chicken might have been wearing diapers at the time. The label might let you know the chicken is organic, or free-range, or free of antibiotics—but not that the workers who handled, cut, and packaged that chicken were compelled to soil themselves in order to keep their jobs.
What would be shocking in most workplaces happens far too often in poultry plants: poultry workers say they routinely are denied time to use the bathroom. They urinate and defecate while standing on the line; they wear diapers to work; they restrict intake of liquids and fluids to dangerous degrees; they endure pain and discomfort while they worry about their health and job security. And it’s not just their dignity that suffers; they are in danger of serious health problems.
Poultry workers say they routinely are denied time to use the bathroom. They wear diapers to work.
In a new report, No Relief, Oxfam America reveals a dark reality of life on the line for the roughly 250,000 poultry workers in the US: the routine denial of time to use the bathroom. While the poultry industry enjoys record profits and pumps out billions of chickens, life inside the processing plant remains grim and dangerous. Workers earn low wages, suffer elevated rates of injury and illness, and toil in harsh conditions.
In my work at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, I witnessed the dangers: poultry workers stand shoulder to shoulder on both sides of long conveyor belts, most using scissors or knives, in cold, damp, loud conditions, making the same forceful movements thousands upon thousands of times a day, as they skin, pull, cut, debone and pack the chickens. The typical plant processes 180,000 birds a day. A typical worker handles 40 birds a minute.
To keep the lines running at all costs, the plants often deny poultry workers time to use the bathroom. Too many workers tell stories about urinating on themselves or witnessing coworkers do the same. Not only is it embarrassing and degrading, it’s also extremely uncomfortable to feel the warm urine in the frigid environment and to wear wet clothing in 40 degree temperatures. Hanson, one of the workers featured in the report, works at a Tyson plant in Arkansas and had the disheartening experience of seeing his own mother urinate on the line; she now wears diapers to work to avoid it happening again.
One plant won’t allow workers to use the bathrooms, forcing them to urinate on themselves, but they will buy vegetarian feed.
The report cites a Delaware plant where workers were brave enough to inform safety inspectors that they were not allowed to use the bathroom; the federal government issued the company a serious violation. This is a shocking violation to find in any plant in the 21st century—let alone a food processing plant. Yet, this very same company (and you can’t make this stuff up) has decided that its chickens deserve better treatment and has pledged to give them only vegetarian feed. To repeat: they won’t allow workers to use the bathrooms, forcing them to urinate on themselves, but they will buy vegetarian feed for the chickens.
In North Carolina, the problem is so large and so urgent that workers at a major KFC supplier recently launched a campaign demanding the right to bathroom breaks when they need to go. In a survey of hundreds of poultry workers in Alabama, nearly four in five said they were not allowed to use the bathroom. And a recent survey of workers in Minnesota found that 86% of respondents said they get only two bathroom breaks in a week. Oxfam’s report also cites a lawsuit against a Mississippi poultry company in which workers say their supervisors charged them for using the bathroom. Poultry workers are humiliated, degraded, and put at risk of serious, painful health issues including urinary tract infections, because supervisors are under pressure to keep up production.
Access to a bathroom is required under US safety laws, but it would take over 100 years for the nation’s understaffed worker-safety agency to visit every workplace just once.
Poultry companies could fix this problem if they wanted to: they simply need to staff their plants so workers can leave the lines when they need to use the bathroom. Many other industrial production plants have systems in place to make sure workers can use the bathroom. But the poultry industry cuts corners on worker safety—to enrich the few owners at the top. They spend a lot of money convincing consumers of the goodness of their products yet risk the health of workers—and there may be implications for food safety as well.
The top poultry companies are enjoying record profits and booming sales. Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s, Sanderson Foods and Perdue together control most of the US chicken market. They can and should take steps to alleviate suffering on their production lines, including ensuring workers get adequate breaks.
When next you consume chicken—at home, in a restaurant, in a school cafeteria—consider the hands that brought it to your plate. And wonder if they enjoyed one of the most basic rights to dignity and humanity: the opportunity to use the restroom when needed.
This article is part of Quartz Ideas, our home for bold arguments and big thinkers.At the time, I laughed.
Today I worry that the parody is prescient. Kenneth Rogoff, a professor of public policy and economics at Harvard University, is as good a place to begin as any. Under the headline, "Paper money is unfit for a world of high crime and low inflation," he declares in the Financial Times that "it is time to consider whether paper currency is vestigial, or worse," in part because "phasing out currency would address the concern that a significant fraction, particularly of large-denomination notes, appears to be used to facilitate tax evasion and illegal activity."
He is hardly alone. Late last year, The New York Times posed this question in its Room for Debate feature: "Should the U.S. eliminate cash and stop printing currency?"
"Scrapping cash is simple and elegant," Matthew Yglesias wrote back in 2011, "which is why it will happen one day soon." Public-policy intellectuals are often taken by their own perception of simplicity and elegance, the desires of the governed be damned. They imagine that simplicity on paper will lead to real-world utopia.
"Already, a movie character depicted as carrying a large quantity of cash can be reliably assumed to be doing something illegal," Yglesias wrote. "Meanwhile, the rise of phone-based mobile payments services such as Square and the emergence of a complete mobile banking industry in Africa point to the arrival of the day germ-ridden cash will be as inconvenient for small transactions as it is for large ones. At that point, cash will be left with its rump use as a medium of exchange for drug dealers, tax evaders, and other shady operators and we can expect countries to start banning it altogether. The first country to impose that ban will find there’s an appealing hidden benefit: Without cash, there’s no need to ever have an extended recession."
So there you have it: Let Yglesias and his technocrat-manager friends bring all money under the control of government and corporate financial institutions (never mind their recent performance record) and hard times will be a thing of the past!
Does that sound too good to be true to anyone else?
I cite these journalistic treatments instead of scholarly arguments not because the latter don't exist, but to demonstrate that the idea has made its way into mainstream discourse. True, the masses are not clamoring for this change. What concerns me is that the movement grows stronger despite the lack of popular appeal. The rise of electronic-payment systems is wonderful. I use credit cards and debit cards all the time. I also use cash. Like me, most people want the ability to use cash in many circumstances. Revealed preference could not be more clear.
But elite incentives are different. Federal, state, and local law enforcement, as well as tax authorities, want to bring as much of the economy under their direct supervision as possible. Economists like Rogoff and technocracy-friendly journalists like Yglesias want to design and popularize "elegant" systems of rational central planning, and to eliminate checks on centralized power, messiness, and spontaneous orders. Forget folks who like cash. Never mind worries about forcing us all to run all spending through a corrupt corporate-banking system. Never mind the resilience of having a medium of exchange in the non-digital world that works when the power grid is down, when one's smart phone is dropped in water, when one's identity is stolen by hackers, or one's account frozen by Visa or Bank of America because a purchase on vacation was deemed suspicious.Since the passage of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education and Technology Act of 1990, educators have made a concerted effort to enrich vocational curricula with academic content. Today colleges have seen a new burst of energy around "contextualized learning," the attempt to make subject matter more relevant and comprehensible by teaching it in the context of another subject—for example, teaching mathematics through fashion or automotive technology.
Much has been achieved, but attempts to integrate the academic and the vocational curricula will be limited or subverted unless we deal with the cultural and institutional factors that created the academic-vocational divide itself.
For a long time in the West, intellectual elites have tended to distinguish between physical work and technical skill—labor, the mechanical arts, crafts and trades—on the one hand, and deliberative and philosophical activity on the other. The latter emerges from leisure or, at least, from a degree of distance from the world of work and commerce. The distinction carries with it judgments about intellectual acuity and virtue.
This difference runs through America's cultural history, although it seems at odds with the country's strong orientation toward practicality. It was evident after the Revolutionary War, when mechanics were portrayed in editorials as illiterate and incapable of participating in government, and it contributed to the structure of curriculum tracking in the 20th century's comprehensive high schools.
At the postsecondary level a longstanding tension persists between liberal study and professional or occupational education. Is the goal of college to immerse students in the sciences and humanities for the students' intellectual growth and edification, or to prepare them for work and public service?
With the increase in occupational majors since the 1960s, the vocational function is clearly ascendant, yet you don't have to work in a two- or four-year college very long to sense the status distinctions among disciplines, with those in the liberal tradition, seen as intellectually "pure" pursuits—mathematics, philosophy—having more symbolic weight than education or business or, to be sure, the trades.
Such tension plays out when arts and sciences faculty are brought together with faculty in occupational programs. The way subject areas and disciplines are organized in school and college leads future faculty to view knowledge in bounded and status-laden ways. And there is no place in a historian's training, let's say, where she is assisted in talking across disciplines with a biologist, let alone to a person in medical technology or the construction trades.
Those separations are powerfully reinforced when people join an institution. The academic-vocational divide has resulted in separate departments, separate faculties, separate budgets, separate turf and power dynamics. Now egos and paychecks enter the mix. These multiple separations lead to all sorts of political conflicts and self-protective behaviors that work against curricular integration. And it certainly doesn't help that efforts at integration are often framed such that the academic side will bring the intellectual heft to the vocational courses, a laying on of culture.
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If the conflicts are mild, curricular integration still faces limits. From what I've seen, the work of integration tends to stay at the technical, structural level: Where in carpentry or nursing is math used, and how can we teach it in that context? This is a reasonable focus—the specific work that needs to be done.
But one could also imagine discussing how carpentry and nursing are mathematical activities. Or how the math being learned can transfer to other domains. Or how thinking mathematically opens up a way to understand the world: carpentry and nursing, but also employment and the economy, social issues, the structure of the physical environment. Educators tend to teach mathematics in vocational settings in the most practical, applied terms, and to locate further mathematical topics as the domain of liberal study.
The academic-vocational divide also leads us to think about vocational students in limited ways. They are narrowly job-oriented, hands-on, not particularly intellectual. That characterization is reinforced by loose talk about learning styles. It is true that a significant number of vocational students did not have an easy time in school and can barely tolerate the standard lecture-based, textbook-oriented classroom. It is a grind for them when, in pursuit of a degree beyond an occupational certificate, they must take general-education courses.
But dissatisfaction with the standard curriculum does not necessarily indicate a lack of interest in liberal-arts topics. Countless people, young and not so young, come alive intellectually when the setting is changed, from museum-based educational programs to staging Shakespeare in prison. And the change in curriculum and setting doesn't have to be that exceptional. I think of a welding student in his 40s, a tough, goal-oriented guy, who excitedly told me about a field trip in his art-history class, and his amazement and pleasure that he was able to identify architectural structures by period and knew something about them.
If we sell our students short, we have done the same with the vocational curriculum. Despite all that John Dewey tried to teach us, we often underestimate the rich conceptual content of occupations. A powerful feature of contextualized learning is that it forces us to articulate the conceptual dimensions of the vocational course of study.
Likewise, occupations have a history and sociology and politics that can be examined. And they give rise to ethical, aesthetic, and philosophical questions: Students confront traditions and standards, and have to make decisions about the right action; they make aesthetic judgments; they are moved to reflect on the power of the tools and processes they use, and what deep knowledge will enable them to do; and they begin to identify with and define themselves by the quality of their work.
As I noted, faculty on the liberal-studies side of the academic-vocational divide aren't primed by their training to see all of this, and, sadly, vocational education itself has fostered this restrictive understanding. The authors of an overview from the National Center for Research in Vocational Education conclude that, historically, "vocational teachers emphasized job-specific skills to the almost complete exclusion of theoretical content." Indeed, as a profession, vocational education has further restricted the education of its students by excluding from its curriculum the study of the economics, politics, and sociology of work.
The assumptions about work, intelligence, and achievement that underlie a curriculum are as important as the content of the curriculum itself. A lot of historical debris has kept us from bridging the academic-vocational divide—now is the time to start sweeping it away.
Mike Rose is a professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles and the author, most recently, of Back to School: Why Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Education (The New Press, 2012).Drake stopped a performance in Sydney on Wednesday to tell an audience member to stop groping women in the crowd.
A fan-filmed video shows the Canadian rapper, who was playing at Sydney’s Marquee nightclub, halt the gig before addressing a member of the audience, saying: “If you don’t stop touching girls I’m going to come out there and fuck you up. If you don’t stop putting your hands on girls I’m going to come out there and fuck your ass up.”
Drake was in the middle of performing Know Yourself, a track from his 2015 mixtape If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. The rapper is currently on his Boy Meets World tour, and played a full show at Qudos Bank Arena the same evening. He will continue on to Melbourne next week, where the tour concludes.
Drake is the latest musician to call out sexual assault and harassment at gigs. Last month, UK rapper Loyle Carner told an audience member to leave his Norwich show for making a sexist comment. In August, Sam Carter, the lead singer of Brighton metalcore band Architects, berated an audience member for groping a woman who was crowdsurfing during a set at a festival in the Netherlands.The typical argument for why Republicans must unite behind immigration reform has to do with voter demographics — that Latino voters, as well as young black and white voters, who are increasingly dominating the electorate, will punish Republicans in the ballot box if the party doesn’t support meaningful reform. But there’s another very powerful electoral variable at play: money.
Several major Republican donors and financial interests are putting serious muscle into the push for comprehensive immigration reform. If House Republicans scuttle the effort, will pro-immigrant pockets pull back in the next few cycles?
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The conservative super PAC Republicans for Immigration Reform was launched by Carlos Gutierrez (commerce secretary under President George W. Bush) and Charles Spies. Spies is one of the top fundraisers in the GOP, a force behind the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future in the 2012 race, which ultimately unloaded $153 million in the election.
The Republicans for Immigration Reform super PAC organized more than 100 prominent Republican donors and other leaders to sign a letter to Republicans in Congress urging them to back immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for our nation’s 11 million undocumented Americans. Signatories included Karl Rove, an influential ATM for Republican candidates, who has written in his own essays about why the party should back reform.
Strong support for comprehensive immigration reform has also come from the steadfastly conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the association of big business interests in Washington. The Chamber consistently outspends every other lobbying or interest group in politics. In the last two years alone, it doled out $69.5 million to candidates for Congress.
The Chamber has launched a hefty, million-dollar campaign to promote immigration reform, arguing that a comprehensive solution is "essential to continued economic growth." Yet it has been reported that recent beneficiaries of Chamber campaign contributions have voted against or voiced opposition to pending immigration reform legislation.
Immigration reform is an eventuality in Washington. A path to citizenship and broad opportunities for 11 million aspiring Americans enjoys wide support among the American people as well as the majority of Democrats and a growing chorus of Republicans, not to mention figureheads in business and labor. So it is plausible that Republicans who are holding out for reasons of optics (rather than strict ideology) jump on board at the last minute to get on the winning side, especially vis-à-vis pro-reform donors.
Certainly, pro-reform GOP donors have indicated an interest in providing extra help and cover to Republicans who enthusiastically get behind immigration reform. For instance, the National Journal reported that his leadership role pushing for immigration reform did not hurt Sen. Marco Rubio’s coffers. But whether big GOP donors and institutions will actively punish those who oppose immigration reform remains to be seen. It’s not like they’ll give that money to Democrats instead. But it may provide fodder for efforts like Karl Rove’s Conservative Victory Project, to put muscle behind more establishment (including pro-immigration reform) GOP candidates to defeat fringe Tea Party elected officials.
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Meanwhile, there’s at least one way in which GOP support for immigration reform affects money — and not as you might expect. Earlier this year, when Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham was being attacked in his home state of South Carolina for supporting immigration reform, Republicans for Immigration Reform wanted to run ads in Graham’s support. They needed some money to do so. So they got a $60,000 donation from the liberal immigrant rights organization America’s Voice.OKLAHOMA CITY — A grandmother faces charges after being accused of dressing as a witch and abusing a 7-year-old girl.
KFOR reports Geneva Robinson, 49, was arrested after trying to take the little girl to a hospital, saying she couldn’t control her anymore. The child had burns and bruises and looked malnourished. There were also cuts on her ankles and it appeared her wrists may have been bound.
The girl said her grandmother would dress up as a witch and wear a green mask when she would abuse her. The girl claims she’d been taken to the garage to sleep for the night with her wrists bound. She also claimed her grandmother used a dog leash to hang her from her arm pits in the garage.
When she was dressed as a witch, the grandmother would go by the name “Nelda.”
Several neighbors told KFOR they didn’t believe the allegations. But police said they did find evidence in the home that appeared to support the girl’s claims, including whips, chains, a dagger and a witch’s hat.
There were a total of four children living in the home at the time; they are now in protective custody.
Read more here.Joseph Gurney Cannon (May 7, 1836 – November 12, 1926) was a United States politician from Illinois and leader of the Republican Party. Cannon served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1911, and many consider him to be the most dominant Speaker in United States history,[1] with such control over the House that he could often control debate.
Cannon is the second-longest continuously serving Republican Speaker in history, having been surpassed by fellow Illinoisan Dennis Hastert, who passed him on June 1, 2006. Cannon is also the longest serving Republican Representative ever, as well as first member of Congress, of either party, ever to surpass 40 years of service (non-consecutive).
Cannon's congressional career spanned 46 years of cumulative service—a record that was not broken until 1959. Although technically the second-longest serving Republican member of Congress ever (behind Strom Thurmond), he was the longest-serving Republican to never change his party affiliation (as Thurmond switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in 1964). He is also the longest serving member ever of the House of Representatives in Illinois, although the longest continuous service belongs to Adolph J. Sabath. Cannon also has the distinction of being the subject of the first Time cover ever, dated March 3, 1923.
Early life [ edit ]
Cannon was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, and in 1840 moved with his parents to Annapolis, Indiana, about 30 miles north of Terre Haute. He was the elder of two sons of Gulielma (née Hollingsworth) and Horace Franklin Cannon, a country doctor.[2] Horace Cannon drowned on August 7, 1851 when Joseph was fifteen years old as he tried to reach a sick patient by crossing Sugar Creek. Young Cannon took charge of the family farm. His brother William would become a successful banker and realtor.
Cannon as a younger congressman circa 1875-1880
Asked by Terre Haute politician and lawyer John Palmer Usher, future Secretary of the Interior under President Abraham Lincoln, to testify in a slander case, Cannon became fascinated with the law. Eventually, he asked Usher if he could study law under him and moved to Terre Haute. At age 19 he traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio to attend a semester of law school at the University of Cincinnati law school. In 1858, he was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Terre Haute, Indiana but was disappointed when Usher refused to offer him a place in his office. That year he relocated to Tuscola, Illinois. His choice of a new hometown was somewhat involuntary, taking place while he was travelling from Shelbyville, Illinois, to Chicago to find more clients for his law firm. During the trip, he ran out of money. He boarded a Chicago-bound train in Mattoon, Illinois; after the train had started, he was asked for his ticket. As Cannon did not have a ticket, he was removed from the train in Tuscola.[3] There, he became State's attorney for the twenty-seventh judicial district of Illinois, holding the position from March 1861 to December 1868. He was one of the charter members of Tuscola's Masonic Lodge No. 332, which was founded on October 2, 1860.[4]
In 1876 Cannon moved to Danville, Illinois, where he resided for the rest of his life. He and his wife Mary P. Reed, whom he married in 1862, had two daughters.
Political career [ edit ]
He became a follower of Abraham Lincoln during the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. After Lincoln was elected President in 1860, Cannon received an appointment as a regional prosecutor. Cannon, a member of the Republican Party, was elected as to the United States House of Representatives from Illinois to the Forty-second and to the eight succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1873 – March 4, 1891), and was the chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Forty-seventh Congress) and of the Committee on Appropriations (Fifty-first Congress). Cannon was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1890 to the Fifty-second Congress, but was elected to the Fifty-third and to the nine succeeding Congresses that sat between 1893 and 1913.
He attempted to gain the Speakership four times before succeeding. His antic speaking style, diminutive stature and pugnacious manner were his trademarks. The newspapers frequently lampooned him as a colorful rube. "Uncle Joe", as he was known, often clashed with fellow Republican Theodore Roosevelt, asserting that Roosevelt "has no more use for the Constitution than a tomcat has for a marriage license".[5]
Cannon was chairman to the Committee on Appropriations (Fifty-fourth through Fifty-seventh Congresses), Committee on Rules (Fifty-eighth through Sixty-first Congresses), and Speaker of the House of Representatives (Fifty-eighth through Sixty-first Congresses). He received fifty-eight votes for the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1908.
Speaker of the House [ edit ]
Cannon wielded the office of Speaker with unprecedented power. At the time of Cannon's election, the Speaker of the House concurrently held the chair of the Rules Committee, which determined under what rules and restrictions bills could be debated, amended, and voted on, and, in some cases, whether they would be allowed on the floor at all. As such, Cannon effectively controlled every aspect of the House's agenda: bills reached the floor of the house only if Cannon approved of them, and then in whatever form he determined — with Cannon himself deciding whether and to what extent the measures could be debated and amended.
Cannon also reserved to himself the right to appoint not only the chairs of the various House committees, but also all of the committees' members, and (despite the seniority system that had begun to develop) used that power to appoint his allies and proteges to leadership positions while punishing those who opposed his legislation. Crucially, Cannon exercised these powers to maintain discipline within the ranks of his own party: the Republicans were divided into the conservative "Old Guard," led by Cannon, and the progressives, led by President Theodore Roosevelt. His committee assignment privileges ensured that the party's Progressive element had little influence in the House, and his control over the legislative process obstructed progressive legislation.
Revolt [ edit ]
On March 17, 1910, after two failed attempts to curb Cannon's absolute power in the House, Nebraska Representative George Norris led a coalition of 42 progressive Republicans and the entire delegation of 149 Democrats in a revolt. With many of Cannon's most powerful allies absent from the Chamber, but enough Members on hand for a quorum, Norris introduced a resolution that would remove the Speaker from the Rules Committee and strip him of his power to assign committees.
While his lieutenants and the House sergeant-at-arms left the chamber to collect absent members in an attempt to rally enough votes for Cannon, the Speaker's allies initiated a legislative block in the form of a point of order debate. When Cannon supporters proved difficult to find (many of the staunchest were Irish and spent the day at various St. Patrick's Day celebrations), the filibuster continued for 26 hours, with Cannon's present friends making repeated motions for recess and adjournment. When Cannon finally ruled the resolution out of order at noon on March 19, Norris appealed the resolution to the full House, which voted to overrule Cannon, and then to adopt the Norris resolution.
Cannon managed to save some face by promptly requesting a vote to remove him as Speaker, which he won handily since the Republican majority would not risk a Democratic speaker replacing him. However, his iron rule of the House was broken, and Cannon lost the Speakership when the Democrats won a majority later that same year.
Cannon's residence in Danville, Illinois circa 1913
Cannon was defeated in 1912 but returned in 1914 and was re-elected each congressional election until 1920. He was a critic of President Woodrow Wilson and U.S. entry into World War I. He was also an outspoken critic of Wilson's League of Nations.
Cannon declined to run in the 1922 congressional election, and retired at the end of his last term in 1923; he was featured on the cover of the first issue of Time magazine on the last day of his last term in office.
Personal life [ edit ]
Born a Quaker, he became a Methodist after leaving Congress.[6] However, he may have been effectively a Methodist long before this. After marrying Mary Reed in a Methodist service |
forward to seeing what the final four are, but more so whether we get any deeper insight into the selection process and thinking of the Panel.
Thanks again to Thomas for taking time to answer these questions. Hopefully they provide an interesting view on his Masters project and flagpost.nz site.Best Answer: Good question. That has been running thru my thoughts every now & then. I just think that churches are a bunch of corporations. From my past experience, churches in America are adopting values and practices from the corporate world. They have mission statements, management teams, consulting services, investors in the stock market (Mormon) etc. One would think that they would get all the vision and direction they would need right from the Bible or from a Christian tradition. Whatever happened to the simple gospel of Jesus? Whatever happened to simply taking up a cross and following Jesus? This is just what I think... when a church is incorporated, all of the acts done in the name of the corporation or with corporate funds or property are presumed by law to be acts of the corporation. Are church members responsible to those laws or to the Bible? What happens when they conflict? Who decides what is the right course of action, the church or the state? From my understanding, the apostle Paul, like Jesus, suggested there must be a legitimate reason for anger. If I remember correctly, Paul, of his letter to the church in Ephesus, taught they could be angry without committing sin. Jesus taught in Matthew, chapter 5, verse 22, that Jesus said it is right to be angry if we have a just-cause.
I stopped going to church for quite some time now because of all the hostility or "do as your told" attitude from church members that I've experienced in the church. I'm still wondering why Jehovah Witnesses pass that out those silly "Awaken" articles to people & stand at whatever corner that is convenient for them like Macy's etc. Yahoo said I was violating their code of conduct after I asked that question. Many Jehovah Witnesses got offended by it. Oh well, too bad for them.
Source(s):
Red-Beauvais · 1 decade ago
0 Thumbs up 0 Thumbs down Report AbuseAdmitted domestic abuser Kim Hyun Joong, his agency KeyEast Entertainment, and his fans are continually setting determination records, and after he got booked for DUI and got his license suspended, KeyEast tried their best ‘oppa didn’t mean it’ to the press.
His entertainment company KeyEast Entertainment said on March 30, “At dawn on March 26, Kim Hyun Joong was drinking with his friends near his house when he was asked to move his car by a parking attendant. He drove to comply with this.” They said, “He hadn’t slept for a few days to practice for his concert, and while he didn’t even drive 1 kilometer, he was asked to submit to a blood alcohol test and had his driver’s license suspended.” They added, “Regardless of the reason, it was wrong for Kim Hyun Joong to get behind the wheel and he understands that what he did is wrong and he is reflecting. We will be careful so that this doesn’t happen again in the future.”
All of you guys were mocking what his excuse would be, but some of you were disturbingly spot on. Basically, they’re saying, “Oppa was only moving his car a little bit and he passed out for a while because he was so tired from working hard for his fans!”
That is, of course, a dumb as hell excuse and doesn’t make anything better at all. However, it’s also a dumb as hell excuse that was a blatant lie. Channel A revealed CCTV footage showing that he passed out at a stoplight for about 15 minutes while dozens of cars passed him on a green light, and that he was not where he said he was either.
While showing reported security camera proof, the news outlet explained that Kim Hyun Joong had fallen asleep behind the wheel at a stoplight while under the influence for approximately 15 minutes before the police came. The location of his car was not near the place he was drinking with friends, but supposedly around three kilometers away. The newscaster also stated that they have confirmation that Kim Hyun Joong was actually driving home, rather than moving his car.
The receipts came with the report.
Dude was literally just parked in the middle of the fucking road.
When asked why the CCTV footage told a different story than their statement, KeyEast gave a non-answer.
When Channel A asked KeyEast about the discrepancy, the agency stated, “We were not attempting to justify a wrongdoing.” To another news outlet, the agency reiterated that they were not trying to excuse his wrongful actions, and further elaborated, “We explained what we confirmed as the truth about what happened during the situation at the time. [Kim Hyun Joong] acknowledges his mistake of driving under the influence and is reflecting, just like how it was revealed the first time around.”
KeyEast basically got caught lying and don’t have anything to say to try and lighten the blow anymore.
But speaking about determination, is Kim Hyun Joong actually reflecting? Nah, dude is going right ahead with his fanmeeting.
His agency KeyEast Entertainment relayed on March 31, “There was no decision to cancel Kim Hyun Joong’s fan meeting.” They added, “He will go ahead with the schedules that are already set. Besides that, nothing has been decided.” Kim Hyun Joong’s fan meeting is scheduled for April 29 in Seoul’s Olympic Hall in the Olympic Park. There was some questions earlier as to whether or not he will cancel this fan meet in light of the recent charge.
Remarkable, really.For several months, Team Alpha Male has been in the headlines for more than just fighting. The well-documented beef between Urijah Faber, T.J. Dillashaw and Duane Ludwig has drawn a lot of attention and given one of the main fighters at Team Alpha Male anxiety.
"It's something that's stressful and stresses me out," UFC featherweight Chad Mendes told Ariel Helwani on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour. "It's something that I don't like being a part of. I love doing this as a sport. I got into this because I want to compete, and when all this stuff gets thrown into it, it's not fun for me and it's something I just don't want to be a part of."
Mendes last fought on Dec. 15 at The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale in Las Vegas, Nev. That night, the TAM member suffered a surprising first-round knockout loss to former UFC lightweight champion and top featherweight contender Frankie Edgar. Mendes can describe the outcome of that night in one sentence.
"I just got caught," Mendes said.
"I got connected on the nose. It was not like any crazy-solid punch," Mendes explained. "There was something that just wasn't right, you know. Whether that was the first fight I fought without using an I.V., you know, maybe the hydration process wasn't right. Maybe I took a little bit too much damage in that training camp than I should of or a little bit too much too late. I just felt like I've been hit way harder than that by so many other people and not been out. That was a flash that just graced my nose, really, and that's another thing that I felt was so frustrating for me. I know I'm better than that. Normally, that doesn't do that to me and it just sucks, but there is nothing you can do about it."
There are many factors and moving parts prior to a fight that can influence its outcome. The first time fighting under the I.V. ban and taking too much damage during the training camp are factors worth considering, but so is performing a training camp without a head coach.
"I mean obviously it's something that sucks to deal with," Mendes said. "This is an issue we've been dealing with for a little bit now. It's just tough being a part of it. It's just a lot to deal with as far as coaching goes. I mean, a lot of the coaches that are solid that have fought in the UFC or have a great system, already have a team. So it's tough for us in this division trying to find that perfect fit, someone that's done it, someone that's reputable, and someone that's not absolutely insane. There are a lot of factors that go into it.
"As of right now, we have Justin Buchholz who's always been an amazing coach and corner man... He's a brainiac in there so that's awesome, but we just lock that up. Going through this last fight camp, we didn't have a coach that was ours. We had a couple of people coming in, you know, just people in and out of the gym, all the time, trying to coach us. And it's like ‘I don't even know who you are, I have no respect as far as that goes as being my mentor,' so I mean it's just difficult. This is something we're going to work on and figure it out."
Although many Team Alpha Male members find themselves in Mendes' situation, others, like Joseph Benavidez, have decided to keep training with "Bang" Ludwig. But that's not something Mendes himself has thought about.
"I'm not considering it, but I don't have anything against these guys that want to go over there and train," he said. "I mean, there is a lot of negativity and stuff being said back and forth and people getting frustrated. And it's like, everyone is a grown-ass adult and people can make their own decisions and do what they want. I know what I need to do, I know what I'm going to do, and that's really all it matters in my life right now.
"I don't feel like it's a loyalty thing, I mean, that's them trying to better their lives. That's what they feel like they need, you know. It sucks just being in the middle of it but there is nothing I hold against those guys. I don't hold anything against 'Bang,' I am loyal to Faber, I love Faber like my brother, but I just basically want to stay away from that whole drama set."
When Ludwig was still part of Team Alpha Male, Mendes showed significant improvement in his striking in his fights with Nik Lentz and Jose Aldo. However, Mendes doesn't think is worth training under Ludwig if it amounts to distraction.
"I just feel like there is just too much drama between everything," he said. "I don't have anything against 'Bang.' There is nothing in my mind that makes me hate the guy or anything like that. I just feel like with him Faber and the whole drama thing is not worth me getting in the middle of it."
Mendes said he hopes one day the feud will end, and everyone will get on with their lives.
"It's like, ‘Dude, you guys are both doing this to each other. Just end it, it's fine, just go on with your lives. We don't have to hate each other — we can all still be friends,'" Mendes said.
Mendes is relieved that two of his close friends won't be asked to fight each other right now. Leading up to Boston's UFC Fight Night 81 on Jan. 17, it was believed that Faber was next in line for the winner between Dominick Cruz and Dillashaw. Now that Cruz defeated Dillashaw and is the new bantamweight champion, it's likely Faber draws Cruz next to complete the trilogy that started in 2007.
"I'm pretty glad [Dillashaw vs. Faber] is not going to happen," Mendes said. "I don't even know if I could watch the fight, honestly. It's not something I really want to see."The Appalachian State University Student Government is demanding the school assist illegal immigrants with free legal resources, online courses, safe spaces, and mandatory faculty training.
In an official statement urging the university to become a sanctuary campus, the SGA decries Trump’s recent executive order regarding immigration and, in addition to traditional sanctuary campus policies, “requests” an additional 10 measures to aid and abet illegal immigrants.
“We must resist an unjust measure that will tear apart families and deport people from the place they call home.”
“Our campus must resist this discriminatory and invasive federal measure which could prohibit many students fulfilling their dream to attain a college education,” the statement reads. “We must resist an unjust measure that will tear apart families and deport people from the place they call home.”
[RELATED: Petition calling Trump EO ‘un-American’ signed by 30K+ profs]
On top of an official university statement denouncing Trump’s executive order and a refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, the SGA demands that the school provide free legal counsel “specializing in immigration law” to illegal immigrant and international students.
The document also piles on additional financial responsibilities for App State, including “funds for a general ‘Teach In’ on the Executive Order” and funds for faculty, employees, and students who are either illegal immigrants or have family who are illegal immigrants.
Further, to ensure a “community experience that is free of hostilities, aggressions, and bullying,” the SGA argues that all faculty should have to attend mandatory trainings for “intervention techniques of de-escalation.”
The statement continues on to demand safe spaces, asking the school to “identify particular spaces on campus where those who feel threatened can seek refuge and protection.”
[RELATED: Safe space ‘conversation’ ‘not intended to be an open discussion’]
In case safe spaces aren’t enough to ease the mental health of illegal students, the SGA says they should also have access to mental health professionals who “have cultural competency in working with politically marginalized communities and trauma-related issues of familial separation, the threat of deportation, and harassment.”
However, many are not happy with the SGA’s statement, and comments on the Facebook post implore the SGA to “realize that laws exist” and “remember that IF federal funding were to be cut from this public campus, MANY of our campus’ students wouldn’t be able to afford [to attend].”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @amber_atheyI always have such ambitious plans for the semester breaks: books to read finish, lesson plans to revamp, furniture to refurb (finally gave up on that one–can someone just take me to Ikea?), trips to take, people to see… sleep to catch up on (Yeah. Right).
Maybe I need to look up the definition of “break.”
Along with a laundry list of other things, one item on my summer to-do list is learning Ruby on Rails. I am frustrated to realize that I remember precious little about object-oriented programming (Uh, what’s a class again?), so I’ve basically resigned myself to starting back at square one. I’m trying to convince myself that this is a good thing.
While working with Ruby this past week, I started noticing several core principles that can apply to any type of programming language. I grabbed a sheet of paper, and as I continued to work, I started jotting them down. As the list grew, I suddenly realized that these were all things I already knew… based on my background writing and teaching writing.
I’m not going to make the argument that computer programming codes and linguistic codes (writing) are the same thing. Clearly they’re not. But the writing processes of programming languages and human languages actually might have more in common than you think.
1. Draft and plan: Going old school with pen and paper
Have you ever pulled up a blank Word document, started typing, and emerged 5 hours later with a 10-page essay that’s not only well-argued, but articulate, engaging, and flawless? If you answered yes, you’re either lying or a bit misguided in your estimation of your abilities. Or you’re the only one of your kind and I’d like to meet you (and I’d also like to read that essay, if you don’t mind).
I can’t tell you how many sources I’ve come across in the past few weeks that advise programmers to turn away from the computer screen and draft out their program first on a piece of paper or on a white board–in plain English, not code or pseudocode. I was comforted to hear that even the best programmers don’t sit down, fire up their text editors, and just start pounding out code that miraculously renders as a brilliant program.
But why would they? The best prose writers don’t do that (even though most of us kid ourselves into thinking they actually do). Just as good writers draw mind-maps, sketch outlines, or make flow-charts before they being writing an essay, good programmers plan out their programs on paper before ever writing a single line of code.
2. Don’t expect to reach a place where you know everything. Know your resources instead.
I wish someone could have gotten this message through to me years ago. I have a “need-to-know” problem, characterized by the debilitating desire to know everything I can about something before I start working on it. The reality is (in both writing and programming), until I get over this, I’ll never be really productive.
While you’re trying to learn a new programming language, instead of trying to memorize every single command, you’re better off spending a little extra time becoming familiar with your resources. Figure out which forums to lurk read, how to ask the right questions, whose blogs to follow, and how to access the right code libraries.
More importantly, understand when you need to build something yourself and when you should draw on your resources to find the pieces you need elsewhere. When you’re trying to learn a new programming language, sure it might be useful to build things yourself from the scratch… but eventually that slows you down. You’ll save energy and speed up production if you can integrate code from other sources–the programming community is all about sharing.
The same principle applies to writing–and no, I’m not talking about copying-and-pasting. I know. That’s plagairism.
If I’m writing an article that talks about the benefits of giving iPads to in-coming freshman, and I’m interested in knowing the retention rate for these students, I’m not going to build the research study and track all the students through their four years of undergrad myself! I’m going to find other people who did this and reference their published results in my work. I can understand the implications and use the results from the study without having to conduct it myself. I may have the competence, but I don’t have the resources or the time!
3. Write to solve a problem.
Think about most of the activities you perform every day. You don’t do them just for the sake of doing them. I don’t drive my car around just for sole purpose of navigating 3000 pounds of metal. I drive my car so I can pick up eggs at the grocery store or get to campus to take a class. In that same vein, it’s silly (and probably not very effective) to learn code just for the sake of generating code and learning a new programming language. What are you going to do with it?
Jeff Attwood wrote a really interesting post several years ago called “Can Your Team Pass the Elevator Test,” which talks about the importance of making sure development teams understand why they are programming:
Software developers think their job is writing code. But it’s not. Their job is to solve the customer’s problem. Sure, our preferred medium for solving problems is software, and that does involve writing code. But let’s keep this squarely in context: writing code is something you have to do to deliver a solution. It is not an end in and of itself.
Finding a problem to solve provides you with purpose (as well as motivation) for both coding and writing.
In writing, we call this sense of urgency or need to solve a problem exigency. When I’m helping my composition students define a focus for their final papers, I always ask them: What issue are you trying to bring to light? What problem are you trying to address? What situation are you trying to fix? What question are you trying to answer, and why does this matter?
I know from personal experience that unless I find a good reason to write, I’ll struggle through the entire process and the end result will be flat and uninteresting.
Come back tomorrow for Part 2 of this post.
AdvertisementsAs Metrolinx prepares to pitch Junction residents on a plan to build a 1.5-kilometre bridge to lift the Barrie GO Train line over a busy midtown freight corridor to prepare for all-day, two-way service, the agency revealed on Tuesday that the project would cost about $120-million. This compares with the estimated $650-million required to build a tunnel.
The two tracks intersect at a level crossing west of Lansdowne Avenue known as the Davenport Diamond.
The bridge plan will be less disruptive to traffic than building a tunnel, as was done with three other level crossings in the city, Metrolinx officials told The Globe and Mail, noting that burying the tracks would involve closing St. Clair Avenue West and Dupont and Davenport streets during construction. The viaduct is projected to take two years to build, whereas a tunnel – which, at this location, would have to be 2.5 kilometres long – would require five to seven.
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The agency in recent weeks informed Junction residents and local elected officials new public spaces could be created beneath the elevated structure on either side of the freight tracks. To provide clearance for double-decker train cars, the bridge would be 8.5 metres high, or about three storeys, at its maximum point just north of Dupont Street.
Some area residents felt that the provincial agency, which will hold public meetings later this spring, did not take their opinions into account on other projects involving west-end rail corridors, and they fear that will happen again. "Once Metrolinx has made up its mind, they're doing it," said Kevin Putnam, who co-founded the Junction Triangle community association. "Maybe [the bridge] is the best option, but residents haven't had a chance to figure that out."
Ana Bailao, councillor for Ward 18 (Davenport), where the bridge would be built, added that while she sees potential community benefits from rail corridor lands beneath the bridge, the agency has to be more forthcoming about how it would finance those improvements. "To have good and useable public space, you need to have funding," she said. "Some of $500-million [in savings] should be to diminish and decrease the impact of [the bridge]." City planners said they have yet to assess Metrolinx's proposal.
Metrolinx officials insisted they intend to canvass planning staff about the potential impact of a long, elevated rail bridge, likely equipped with sound barriers, on neighbouring structures as well as several residential and commercial developments currently in the approvals pipeline. The agency said in a letter to residents that it is also looking for 36 volunteers to sit on a "reference panel" that will provide feedback on the proposed bridge and improvements underneath. The panel will also hold a public "roundtable" on May 12. Metrolinx plans to make its final decision later this year.
Anne Marie Aikins, a Metrolinx spokeswoman, said it is too soon to talk about how much the agency is prepared to spend on improvements such as reconnecting city streets once severed by the tracks or building new parks or bike paths on the land freed up by elevating the rail line. She acknowledged that Metrolinx project budgets do include funds for such extras.
The agency, Ms. Aikins added, is also open to professional proposals, such as the architectural plan that created the West Toronto Railpath. She said the final decision depends on what the community suggests. Metrolinx does not intend to sell or lease land under the bridge for development, officials added.
Over the past eight years, Metrolinx has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building grade separations at crossings along the Georgetown corridor, which runs northwest through the city.
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When Metrolinx engineers began looking at the Barrie line last fall, they realized that to lower the tracks enough to pass 8.5 metres below the CP freight corridor, the agency would have to create a 2.5-kilometre tunnel. According to Metrolinx, it would also involve relocating underground utilities such as pipes and cable conduits – engineering headaches that have driven up budgets on other large infrastructure projects, such as Queen's Quay.Special to The Globe and Mail“I’ll just give you a few statistics,” President Barack Obama said in a speech Wednesday in Washington, D.C. He had a lot of them, demonstrating America’s growing economic inequality (“The top ten per cent no longer takes in one third of our income—it now takes half”) and the concurrent loss of mobility (“A child born in the top twenty per cent has about a two-in-three chance of staying at or near the top. A child born into the bottom twenty per cent has a less than one-in-twenty shot at making it to the top”). Inequality hurt the economy, making growth more fragile and susceptible to speculative bubbles—and unfair. “Rising inequality and declining mobility are bad for our democracy,” Obama said, leaving “a bad taste that the system is rigged,” and “bad for our families and social cohesion—not just because we tend to trust our institutions less, but studies show we actually tend to trust each other less when there’s greater inequality.”
One of the people watching Obama’s speech was Robert Putnam, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, who is intimately familiar with such studies. (He is working on a book on the topic, to be called “Our Kids”; he is also well-known for his book “Bowling Alone.”) He and his team have done some, and he cited others by Sean Reardon, of Stanford; Tim Smeeding, of Wisconsin; and Sara McLanahan, of Princeton. Putnam has met with and talked to Obama about inequality for some time; before he became a senator, Obama took part in Harvard’s Saguaro Seminar, on civic engagement, which Putnam runs. “The President is convinced that this is the defining problem of our age—and he’s not the only one,” Putnam told me. He added that he had talked to other politicians, too, in both parties. (“Paul Ryan, for example.”) There appeared to be some resonances from those talks.
“The part about democracy is relevant,” Putnam said. There was a cohort of “lost kids we see in our data, who have no opportunity for economic mobility”; what’s more, “those kids know.” They also know, he said, that there are other people who do have those chances.
“The data show that not only is there declining trust in government, there is declining trust in other people”; although it wasn’t exclusive to them, this shift was “concentrated among these poor kids, the kids who have been left out,” Putnam said. “They are deeply, deeply cynical about the whole world.… Basically, they don’t trust anybody. And for good reason.” This was not some “wave of adolescent paranoia,” but a recognition of having been let down. Everyone really is against them.
These young people, Putnam said, were becoming “extremely alienated from democratic politics.” (That is, democratic with a small “d.”) A generation was not being put “in a position to be contributing democratic citizens.” And that was, or could become, dangerous.
“There are a number of studies that show that correlation. It’s strong and very robust, in the sense the pattern shows up not just in the U.S., but around the world, and not just today, but across time,” he said. “There remains a serious academic debate about causation—does inequality cause low trust, or does low trust (or rather, low social solidarity) cause inequality, or are both the effects of some as yet undiscovered third variable?”
Some of the causes were, Putnam said, best spotted through “blue, progressive lenses” (working-class wages) and others through “red, conservative lenses” (absent fathers). But from any angle, the situation was “morally objectionable to me, and, I think, to all Americans,” he said. “Americans don’t care how long or tall the ladder is,” he said. “Historically, they’ve cared a lot if they’re getting on the ladder at the same rung.” The central question was, “Is it O.K. for poor kids with talent not to have a chance?”
Obama had the outlines of a program—raising the minimum wage, early childhood education, Obamacare, help for the long-term unemployed, protecting food stamps from more cuts—but a main point of his speech was the idea that government had a role at all—“the elephant in the room here, which is the seeming inability to get anything done in Washington these days.” That had been under attack, in part because of the problems in implementing Obamacare. Obama was less apologetic about that than he’s been in a while: if you don’t like Obamacare, he said, “and I know you don’t,” come up with something better.
From Putnam’s perspective, “any of those things is helpful”—including solutions outside of government—“but most important is a national understanding of the problem by ordinary people.” He compared the present moment, statistically and politically, to the Progressive Era, which also had a convergence of wealth, inequality, and a sense that the country had somehow become corrupt.
“And then, in about ten years, America fixed those problems,” Putnam said. “Child-labor laws, support for mothers, not to mention regulation of business, clean food. Government did it, in the face of a prevailing ideology of laissez-faire—social Darwinism, as it was called.” What made the difference was a moral shift: “People said, ‘This is not the way it should be. This is not America.’ ” He thought it was happening again. So where in that ten-year pattern might we be? Putnam wasn’t sure, but hoped it could be speeded up.
Photograph by Evan Vucci/AP.We get a behind the scenes look at the making of Kanye West and Jay Z‘s collaborative album, “Watch The Throne“. Directed, edited, and photographed by Robert Lopuski, the 10 minute short film gives a nice look at the collaborative work of the two artists. The more private footage, as well as the old footage inserted into the clip, make it a rather round look at the work of Kanye West and Jay-Z over the last 15 years.
You can read an interview with the director of the film over at Paradigm Magazine.
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Words by David Fischer CEO & Publisher I am the founder of Highsnobiety.com. I started the blog right out of college in 2005 and I am still as passionate and involved as I was on the first day. While I do not write as much anymore, you will still find the occasional article on the site wi...French Quarter attack.jpg
Police are searching for three suspects wanted in a French Quarter beating Saturday morning.
(NOPD)
A couple searching for their car in the French Quarter early one morning were beaten by a group of men in an apparent act of random violence, and police on Tuesday were asking for the public's help in finding the three attackers.
Police said the couple was near the intersection of Iberville and Dauphine streets about 6 a.m. Saturday when they were approached by three men. The suspects began to verbally harass the couple, police said, and then proceeded to physically assault both of them.
The woman was punched in the mouth, police said, and her male companion was struck several times by the group. The man was beaten so badly that his jaw broke, requiring him to be hospitalized and undergo surgery, police said.
Surveillance footage taken from nearby the assault caught the three suspects on tape and police are asking any with any information on the attack to come forward.
Eighth District detective Michael Flores is in charge of the investigation.
Police ask anyone who has any information on the attack to call Crimestoppers at 504.822.1111 or toll-free at 877.903.7867. Tips can also be texted to C-R-I-M-E-S (274637); text TELLCS then the crime information. Callers or texters do not have to give their names or testify and can earn a $2,500 reward for information that leads to an indictment.Morgan James Peters wears dreadlocks and directs the African and African-American Studies program at the UMass Dartmouth. The single name he prefers to use, Mwalim, is similar to the Swahili word for teacher.
But Mwalim traces his ancestry not only to Africa, but also to North America — the Mashpee Wampanoag. He says he embraces both parts of his racial-ethnic identity.
“My primary identity is I’m a black Wampanoag,” Mwalim said. “It’s having a foot in both communities, being part of the Wampanoag community, being part of the black community and recognizing that they’re not mutually exclusive.”
Many African Americans claim some Native ancestry, often based on family oral history passed through the generations but undocumented. Mwalim’s Native heritage is certain as a member of the Mashpee’s prominent Peters family.
His lineage represents a major source of Native ancestry in African-Americans — the Eastern tribes, according to J. Cedric Woods, director of the Institute for New England Native American Studies at the UMass Boston.
“Most of the tribes have some degree or another of African intermixture,” said Woods, a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. “It may be a single family line. It may be multiple lines. It may be most of the lines in the tribe. It can run the entire spectrum.”
Like Mwalim, people with that ancestral mix have begun to assert their identity more openly. In July, more than 400 attended the inaugural meeting of the National Congress of Black American Indians in Washington.
The new organization does not require participants to prove their Native lineage. Other Native Americans accuse people who say they are Indian without documentation, like Senator Elizabeth Warren, of “ethnic identity fraud.”
Tribes have various eligibility requirements, including the degree of Indian blood, to become a member or citizen of that Native nation.
“Tribes have all kinds of … ways to determine whether somebody meets particular criteria to be a citizen of a particular government,” Woods said. “You have some tribes who use blood quantum…How much of that blood quantum is required is all across the map.”
The rights and benefits that come with tribal citizenship also vary, Woods said, but generally include the right to vote in the tribe’s elections, hold office in its government, and receive social benefits, such as health care and education. Some tribes that own casinos distribute equal payments to members; others do not.
Some African-Americans have been recognized as citizens of Native nations without necessarily having any Indian blood. They are descendants of the slaves of five tribes originally from the Southeast — the Cherokee, Seminole, Creek, Choctaw and Chickasaw.
Those tribes were called “civilized” after settling down to farm, with more prosperous members copying the Southern plantation model. They were nonetheless forced out of the South in the 1830s on the Trail of Tears, taking their slaves on the deadly trek to Oklahoma.
During the Civil War, those tribes supported the Confederacy. Afterwards, the federal government drafted similar treaties in 1866 requiring the tribes to free slaves and make them and their descendants tribal citizens.
Those black people became known as the freedmen of each tribe. Despite the treaties, their citizenship rights have been repeatedly contested in the courts.
Few people know that unusual piece of history, even in Oklahoma, said Hannibal Johnson, a Tulsa lawyer and author of the 2012 book, Apartheid in Indian Country?: Seeing Red over Black Disenfranchisement.
“They are still largely unaware of the present controversy over the status of the freedmen in the context of the five tribes,” Johnson said. “I would describe that status in all five tribes as tenuous at best.”
A small percentage of Cherokee Freedmen are tribal members, and a decision on the citizenship issue is pending from a federal judge in Washington. Seminole Freedmen have limited citizenship. Creek, Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen do not have tribal rights.
Johnson said people misunderstand the controversy. He and Woods noted that being a member of a Native tribe, as far as the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is concerned, is a matter of political affiliation.
Of the Cherokee Freedmen, Johnson said he hears people say: “‘They’re black. They’re not Indian.’ That conversation is really about biology and culture, not really about politics. The freedmen debate is essentially about politics.”
The Cherokee Nation has tried to limit membership to people who have an ancestor with Cherokee blood on a census that a federal commission compiled a century ago. The commission followed the one-drop rule, so a blood quantum is generally not listed for freedmen.
That process “masks the fact that they have Indian blood coursing through their veins,” Johnson said, referring to some freedmen of the five tribes.
Tribes that have remained in the Southeast, Woods said, have members of African descent because black people have lived nearby for so long — starting with the first slaves in the 1600s.
“Most of the African people were in the South, but there were also large concentrations in southern New England. I’d say those tribes that are in those areas have the highest probability of having African ancestry,” explained Woods, who has Native and African ancestry.
In New England and other parts of the Northeast, Woods said, ports, maritime trade and whaling brought Natives and Africans together. Free or escaped slaves from the South who went north, he says, had “the shared experience of working on ships with Native men, and finding their way back to those Native communities and intermarrying.”
Northeastern tribes that Woods identified as having members with African ancestry include the Wampanoag communities and Nipmuc of Massachusetts, and the Pequot of Connecticut.
Some Black families have oral histories about ancestors escaping slavery and finding refuge among Native Americans.
“It did happen occasionally, but it was fairly rare,” Woods said. “Probably the best known situation where that occurred was with the Seminole of Florida.”
Runaway slaves from the American South fled to Florida when it was Spanish territory and blended into the Seminole. The African-descended members joined blood Seminole in an ultimately unsuccessful defense against American soldiers.
Like the Seminole, many tribes historically adopted as members individuals from other tribes and people who were not Native, be they of European or African descent. White settlers introduced the concepts of race and blood quantum.
“If you were of those people and you lived among that tribe long enough, you were eventually part of that tribe. And that’s how it was,” Mwalim said. “Then what happened was that Western concepts of lineage and line and pedigree and so forth were imposed. If you think about it, the only beings that are asked about blood quantum are Indians, dogs, horses or cats.”
But it is by blood from eastern tribes that African Americans are most likely to be eligible for tribal membership |
concentration than that for FluoZin-3-AM. In addition, ZincBY-1 does not require AM–ester moieties for cell membrane permeability. As a result, potentially toxic cleavage products of AM–esters (formaldehyde and acetic acid)28 are not introduced to the cell when ZincBY-1 is utilized.
Figure 1: Vital zinc probe reveals cortical compartments in the female gamete in mouse. a, Final step (see Methods) in the synthesis of ZincBY-1, a novel fluorescent zinc probe. b, Fluorescence emission of ZincBY-1 in EGTA-buffered Zn2+ solutions. Error bars represent ± s.e.m. Spectra were acquired in 100 mM KNO 3, 50 mM HEPES, pH 7.2, λ ex = 520 nm. Integrated emission (530–700 nm) was plotted versus calculated [Zn2+ free ] and fitted to the apparent K d = 2.5 nM. c, GV oocyte, MII egg and parthenote incubated with 50 nM ZincBY-1 (green) and DNA probe Hoechst 33342 (blue). Representative z-stack projection (i, iv and vii), confocal optical slice (ii, v and viii) and brightfield (iii, vi and ix) images are shown. Bright, punctate cortical fluorescence from ZincBY-1 is observed in GV and MII cells. d, Incubation with 10 µM TPEN for ten minutes abolished the cortical fluorescence in ZincBY-1 stained cells. e, Distance of ZincBY-1 compartments from the PM in GV (black) and MII (grey) cells. Vesicle positions were sorted into 1 µm bins and plotted as a histogram; >90% of compartments were within 5 µm of the membrane in both cell types. Scale bars in c and d, 20 µm. Full size image
ZincBY-1 is synthesized from an asymmetric BODIPY (boron dipyrromethene) core29,30 and a polypyridine zinc chelator31 (Fig. 1a). The zinc-loaded probe has a modest quantum yield (Supplementary Table 1), and in aqueous buffer 50 nM ZincBY-1 exhibits a 4.6-fold increase in fluorescence brightness in the presence of zinc (λ ex = 520 nm, λ em = 543 nm) (Supplementary Fig. 1 and Supplementary Table 1). ZincBY-1 displays an apparent zinc dissociation constant (K d ) of 2.5 ± 0.8 nM (Fig. 1b), as determined using EGTA (ethylene glycol-bis(2-aminoethylether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid) as a competing ligand for zinc (see the Supplementary Methods). The fluorescence response is selective for Zn2+ over a range of biologically essential metal ions, including Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ and Na+. The addition of copper ions induces quenching of ZincBY-1 and inhibits the zinc response. This is not surprising, as pyridine-based ligands have previously been shown to have an appreciable affinity towards both Cu2+ and Cu+ (ref. 32). However, this feature of the probe should not affect the utility of this reagent in the egg because copper is an order of magnitude lower in concentration than zinc5 and the majority of copper ions are likely to be tightly bound to metalloproteins33. The heavy-metal ions Hg2+ and Cd2+ also induce a ZincBY-1 fluorescence increase; however, these are not abundant in normal egg cells5. Finally, the fluorescence of both apo and zinc-bound ZincBY-1 is not affected by pH changes within the physiologically relevant range (pH 4–8.5) (Supplementary Fig. 1 and Supplementary Table 1).
In addition to eggs (Fig. 1c, described in further detail below), ZincBY-1 can also monitor zinc stores in other cell types, including mouse spermatozoa, a cell known to contain spatially localized zinc34,35,36. Specifically, silver staining after autometallography of fixed sperm identified zinc enrichment within the acrosome35. We therefore imaged live sperm with ZincBY-1 as a positive control. Discrete fluorescence was located in the expected acrosomal region of sperm incubated with 50 nM ZincBY-1. Moreover, the fluorescence was quenched after incubation with TPEN (N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine) (Supplementary Fig. 2). This same localization is similarly observed when live sperm are imaged with micromolar amounts of the zinc probes FluoZin-3-AM (Supplementary Fig. 2) and TSQ (N-(6-methoxy-8-quinolyl-p-toluenesulfonamide), as found in an experiment performed in hamster sperm34.
Spatiotemporal dynamics of labile zinc compartments during meiotic maturation
Oocytes and eggs incubated with 50 nM ZincBY-1 have discrete punctate fluorescent structures that changed subcellular localization as a function of meiotic stage. GV oocytes displayed uniformly distributed punctate structures throughout the cell cortex (Fig. 1c,i,ii). MII eggs had a similar staining pattern; however, the distribution was concentrated predominantly in the vegetal hemisphere of the cell, opposite the region where metaphase chromosomes localize (Fig. 1c,iv,v). Strikingly, the distribution of labile zinc changed from symmetrical to polarized between the GV to MII stages, which mirrors the changes in total zinc distribution previously observed by XFM6.
To assess the biological specificity of ZincBY-1, we performed several controls. First, ZincBY-1 fluorescence was abolished by treatment with the heavy-metal chelator TPEN37 (Fig. 1d), which indicates that the signal is caused by probe interaction with labile zinc. In addition, punctate peripheral fluorescence was still observed following the centrifugation of ZincBY-1 solutions prior to incubation (20 minutes, 3,750 revolutions per minute), which demonstrates that the observed punctate fluorescence is probably not caused by the cellular uptake of nanoscale aggregates38 (data not shown). In addition, using dynamic light scattering we did not observe aggregates at ZincBY-1 concentrations below 500 nM (Supplementary Table 2); however, we are unable to exclude the possibility that aggregates cannot be detected at these low concentrations. The ZincBY-1 staining pattern in eggs is consistent with that obtained using higher concentrations of other intracellular zinc probes, including FluoZin-3-AM39 and Zinpyr-440. Both of these probes display hemispherical, punctate cortical fluorescence patterns in the MII egg at concentrations of 5–10 µM (Supplementary Fig. 3; see also Kim et al.6). However, neither probe provided a signal when the eggs were treated at a 50 nM concentration.
Quantitative analysis of the staining revealed that GV oocytes contained significantly more zinc-rich compartments than MII eggs (9,000 ± 200 (N = 36) versus 8,000 ± 300 (N = 30), P = 0.0021). More than ~90% of zinc-enriched compartments are localized within 5 µm of the plasma membrane (PM) in both cell types (Fig. 1e). The small decrease in the number of zinc-enriched compartments associated with meiotic maturation suggests that compartments are lost in addition to being reorganized during meiotic maturation. Although the majority of observed compartments are localized to the egg cortex, small numbers of vesicles are observed throughout the egg, which indicates that ZincBY-1 is able to penetrate into the cell (Supplementary Fig. 4). In addition, MII eggs incubated with zinc pyrithione before and after exposure to ZincBY-1 revealed that this fluorescent probe penetrates beyond the cortical region and distributes throughout the egg (Supplementary Fig. 5). Although ZincBY-1 fluorescence can be observed throughout the cell, the majority of the signal is observed in intracellular compartments. TPEN controls (Fig. 1d) support the zinc dependence of this localized fluorescence.
The punctate nature of ZincBY-1 staining is consistent with the presence of discrete vesicular compartments that contain high levels of labile zinc; however, the cellular components associated with these structures are unknown. We investigated whether zinc transporters displayed a similar localization as these could be used to facilitate zinc movement into and out of the vesicles. Immunofluorescence experiments on fixed GV and MII oocytes with antibodies to ZIP6, ZIP10 and ZnT320 revealed a cortical staining pattern at the PM for ZIP6 and ZIP10 but not for ZnT3 (data not shown, ZIP6 and ZIP10 data were recently published in Kong et al.14). The localization and relative number of ZincBY-1-stained compartments at the GV and MII stages are strikingly similar to a known vesicular cohort in eggs, that is, the cortical granules (CGs). CGs are Golgi-derived vesicles distributed throughout the oocyte cortex during oogenesis41,42. CG exocytosis occurs at the time of fertilization and results in the release of enzymes that modify the zona pellucida (ZP) and aid in the block to polyspermy43,44. To compare the distribution of the zinc-enriched structures to that of CGs, cells were fixed and stained for CGs after live-cell labile-zinc imaging at various stages during meiotic maturation (Fig. 2). As the detection of labile zinc requires live-cell imaging and the detection of CGs requires fixation, we could not investigate their colocalization simultaneously in the same cell. Nevertheless, a sequential staining procedure demonstrated that the distribution of labile zinc (Fig. 2b,i–v) was similar to the CG distribution (Fig. 2b,vi–x). This colocalization was particularly striking at anaphase I, when both labile zinc and CGs were concentrated at the region between the oocyte and polar body. These data suggest that the zinc-enriched structures may be the same vesicles as, or comprise a subpopulation of, the CGs.
Figure 2: Labile zinc is cortically localized in the oocyte and tracks with CG staining. a, Schematic of meiotic maturation. GV oocytes in the ovary are arrested at prophase I (PI) of meiosis. Upon hormonal signalling, maturation begins and the cell progresses through meiosis until it arrests at MII, at which point the egg is competent for fertilization. Intervening stages during maturation include germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), metaphase I (MI) and telophase I/anaphase I (TI/AI). b (i–v) Samples at GV (i), GVBD (ii), MI (iii), AI (iv) and MII (v) were labelled with the zinc-specific probe ZincBY-1 (50 nM, green) to track labile zinc, and counterstained with Hoechst 33342 to label DNA (blue). vi–x, Following zinc imaging, cells were fixed and stained for CGs using fluorescently labelled Lens culinaris agglutinin (LCA, red) and counterstained for DNA with DAPI (blue). Staining patterns for zinc and LCA are similar at each stage of maturation, which suggests that zinc-enriched structures may represent the same vesicles as, or comprise a subpopulation of, the CGs. Representative optical confocal sections for each meiotic stage are shown. At least five oocytes were visualized at each stage in three independent experiments. Scale bars, 25 µm. *Adjacent oocyte. Full size image
Ultrastructural elemental mapping corroborates the presence of cortical zinc-rich vesicular structures
To further examine whether ZincBY-1-labelled sites were, in fact, zinc-rich vesicles, we developed, optimized and used a suite of elemental mapping approaches for the direct detection of zinc in subcellular compartments, STEM-EDS, Bionanoprobe XFM and XFM tomography. With STEM-EDS, images of high spatial resolution (<10 nm) can be acquired that provide information about cellular structure and elemental content; however, highly accurate concentrations are difficult to establish using this technique. Bionanoprobe XFM complements STEM-EDS by enabling acquisition of images with good spatial resolution (<100 nm) and quantitative information about elemental content. Cellular structures, however, cannot be visualized precisely. XFM tomography allows us to explore further the zinc distribution in these large cells by providing 3D elemental information.
Traditional elemental mapping approaches require the use of sample fixation and embedding, which is known to lead to metal-ion loss45. Thus, we developed a new technique for detecting zinc in fixed samples based on the first step of the Timm silver-staining method (autometallography)46,47. In traditional Timm staining, biological samples are treated with a sulfide source to precipitate out highly insoluble metal sulfides, including ZnS (K sp (sp, solubility product) = 4 × 10−26 M2)48, and precipitation is followed by silver enhancement. The resulting electron-dense silver granules provide an indirect indication of pools of zinc ions (see the Supplementary Information and Supplementary Fig. 6). However, the size of the granules is a function of silver-reduction conditions and does not accurately reflect the size of the biological compartment. To address these possible artefacts we eliminated the silver-enhancement step and optimized the protocol of hydrogen-sulfide treatment for egg analysis. Briefly, whole freshly fixed cells were treated with 20 mM hydrogen sulfide/bisulfide solutions at a neutral pH under conditions that stabilize Zn2+ ions in the form of ZnS; these samples could then be processed for elemental mapping (Fig. 3a).
Figure 3: Zinc fixation enables ultrastructural identification of zinc-enriched cortical compartments by STEM-EDS. a, Zinc-fixation schematic. Eggs were fixed and treated with NaHS to form ZnS. Following ethanol dehydration and resin embedding, eggs were used intact for XFM tomography or sectioned prior to STEM-EDS or XFM Bionanoprobe analysis. b, Diagram of STEM microscope with dual EDS detectors for zinc mapping49. c, Z-contrast image of a 200 nm section of a resin-embedded MII egg following zinc fixation. Vesicles, ZP, PM and ooplasm are indicated. The bright and dark areas indicate regions with high and low molecular weight content, respectively. The bright signal is concentrated in cortical compartments. Scale bar, 0.5 µm. d, Histogram of the diameters of cortical compartments in STEM-EDS samples (20 nm bins). The distribution centres on a diameter of ~260 nm. Data are from 23 zinc-enriched compartments from eight eggs. e, EDS spectra of the bright compartment (blue) and cytoplasm (red) in the inset. The zinc signal is enriched in the compartment relative to the cytoplasm. f, Z-contrast, zinc and sulfur EDS maps of a cortical region in an MII egg. The overlay demonstrates that zinc-rich regions correspond to areas high in sulfur and in electron density (Z-contrast). Scale bars, 500 nm. Full size image
Although sulfide treatment will not precipitate sulfides of more-abundant cellular metals, such as calcium (K sp (CaS) = 8 × 10−7 M2), it can fix any weakly bound copper (K sp (CuS) = 5 × 10−41 M2, K sp (Cu 2 S) = 4 × 10−53 M3) or iron stores (K sp (FeS) = 1 × 10−21 M2)48. To resolve directly the identity of the metal, we determined the spatially resolved X-ray fluorescence spectroscopic signatures of individual sulfide-fixed compartments using two distinct approaches, STEM-EDS and XFM using a high-resolution nanoprobe.
First, the elemental content of individual compartments in MII eggs was determined at the ultrastructural level using a scanning transmission electron microscope designed with enhanced dual detectors for EDS (Fig. 3b). The dual EDS detector design provides a nominal collection angle of 0.76 steradians, and thus records peak intensities that are much higher than those of conventional single-detector systems49. The multimodal capabilities of this instrument allow both anatomical and elemental imaging of samples, which allows us to push the boundaries of bioelemental imaging. Thin sections (200 nm) of a sulfide-fixed, resin-embedded MII egg were prepared, imaged and analysed by STEM for cellular structure and elemental content. Bright, vesicular structures near the ooplasmic membrane are evident in the Z-contrast image (Fig. 3c and Supplementary Fig. 7), indicative of elements with high molecular weights in these regions. They range from 180 to 375 nm in diameter (d) with the average d = 260 ± 50 nm (n = 23, Fig. 3d). EDS spectra measured in electron-dense regions and nearby cytoplasm revealed a significant zinc-signal intensity above background in the electron-dense regions (Fig. 3e). Elemental map analysis of raster scans of an egg section (Fig. 3f) further indicated that zinc fixation gives tight zinc distributions that overlay with electron-dense regions in the Z-contrast image. Furthermore, analysis of zinc-enriched structures revealed a zinc to sulfur mole ratio of ~1, consistent with the formation of nanocrystalline deposits of ZnS as the major metal–sulfide species within distinct boundaries (Supplementary Fig. 8). This approach provides the first ultrastructural maps of zinc in cells at <10 nm resolution. The size, morphology, chemistry and physiology support the designation of these compartments as zinc-enriched cortical vesicles.
X-ray fluorescence bionanoprobe microscopy allows the quantification of zinc in cortical compartments
To test further the conclusions from ultrastructural mapping and to address the quantity of zinc in each structure, we used a synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscope bionanoprobe designed for the quantitative high-resolution elemental mapping of biological samples50. High-resolution XFM zinc maps of thin sections of sulfide-treated MII eggs also showed a dense array of zinc-enriched compartments at the cell cortex, consistent with the live-cell fluorescence and STEM-EDS results (Fig. 4a). The iron and copper are not enriched near the PM. Quantification of zinc content in these regions allows for the determination of total zinc concentrations within the vesicular stores. We found that these stores contained a zinc concentration range from ~0.05 to ~1.8 M per compartment, which was fitted to a median at [Zn] = 0.2 M (Fig. 4b).
Figure 4: XFM and tomography provide zinc quantification and mapping within the egg. a, Bionanoprobe XFM images of a 400 nm thick egg section. The zinc, copper and iron maps are shown with concentration ranges. Pixels, 100 × 100 nm2. A high [Zn] is observed in the punctate cortical structures. b, Histogram of [Zn] in punctate regions (bins = 0.05 M). Data were fitted to a Lorentzian distribution (black line) centred on [Zn] = 0.2 M. c (i–vi) XFM tomography images at a 0° angle of an intact MII egg following zinc fixation. Zinc (i), sulfur (ii), copper (iv), iron (v) and calcium (vi) maps are shown with concentration ranges. The Zn/S map overlay (iii) demonstrates that zinc-rich regions are intracellular. d, Total metal content quantification in a resin-embedded MII egg following zinc fixation. Bars represent the average number of atoms over 60 projection images of the same sample (Fe = 8 ± 4 × 109, Cu = 5 ± 3 × 109, Zn = 6 ± 2 × 1010). Error bars represent ± s.e.m. Dashed lines represent previously measured values in unfixed eggs5. The results indicate that this zinc-fixation protocol preserves the total zinc content. e, Zinc maps at several angles (°) illustrate a cortical, hemispherical distribution of zinc-enriched regions. Full size image
X-ray fluorescence tomography demonstrates an asymmetric 3D distribution of cortical vesicles enriched in total zinc
To examine how these zinc-enriched vesicles are arranged in the 3D context of the MII egg, we mapped the elemental content of the MII egg using X-ray fluorescence tomography51,52. In this approach, XFM maps of zinc-fixed and resin-embedded MII eggs were acquired at multiple rotation angles (Fig. 4c,e and Supplementary Movie 1), which provided an unprecedented 3D view of the total zinc distribution within an intact mammalian egg. The spatial distribution of total elemental zinc observed in the tomographic maps of the MII egg shows a number of similarities to that seen using vital fluorescent probes in the live egg. First, the XFM zinc map at the 0° rotation angle reveals a punctate distribution of sulfide-fixed zinc stores (Fig. 4c,i). These punctate zinc regions are localized within the cell as they overlay with the sulfur map, which highlights the total volume of the egg (Fig. 4c,ii,iii). In addition, copper and iron maps (Fig. 4c,iv,v) do not exhibit a punctate pattern within the egg-cell proper, which suggests that zinc is the predominant metal contained within the cortical compartments. The zinc signal is also hemispherical, mirroring the labile zinc distribution revealed by live-cell fluorescence microscopy with ZincBY-1 (Fig. 4c,i,iv). This result is particularly striking as XFM directly measures X-ray photons emitted from zinc atoms, whereas ZincBY-1 fluorescence is a readout of the presence of labile Zn2+ ions. We found that the total number of zinc atoms measured within the embedded egg at all rotation angles yielded an average of 5.9 ± 0.2 × 1010 zinc atoms (Fig. 4d). This value is within 2% of previously quantified zinc data in non-embedded cells (5.8 × 1010 atoms5), which indicates that sulfide treatment preserves the native zinc content within the cell. Similarly, iron and copper contents are also preserved5. Additional zinc maps at different rotation angles (Fig. 4e) reveal that the punctate zinc signal is both hemispherical and cortical, which provides support for the conclusion that ZincBY-1 staining in live MII eggs corresponds to discrete subcellular sites that contain elevated levels of labile zinc relative to the cytosol. Supplementary Video 1 shows the entire set of projections and a comparison between tomography and live-cell fluorescence imaging.
Compartmentalized zinc release on activation accounts for the zinc spark
Our previous studies demonstrated that labile zinc is lost from the egg via zinc sparks6. To determine whether zinc sparks arise from the coordinated release of zinc ions from the discrete cortical compartments described above, we analysed the spatiotemporal course of ZincBY-1-stained compartments concurrently with an extracellular zinc probe (FluoZin-3) at the time of egg activation. To analyse the zinc flux across the full surface of this large (d = 70–75 µm) cell with the temporal resolution to capture a zinc-spark event (<10 seconds per frame), we acquired z-stacks with 5 µm thick optical sections during parthenogenetic egg activation (Fig. 5 and Supplementary Movie 2). In these time-course experiments, intracellular and extracellular fluorescence emissions derive from ZincBY-1 and FluoZin-3, respectively. A 3D reconstruction of the optical sections (Fig. 5a and Supplementary Movie 2) revealed that zinc release into the medium occurs from multiple hot spots on the egg surface in the hemisphere that contains ZincBY-1-stained compartments. When the fluorescence intensities of intracellular zinc (prespark) and extracellular zinc (during spark) were plotted as a function of angle, we found a strong correlation (Fig. 5b,c). The regions with the highest intensities of extracellular fluorescence mapped to the hemisphere at the vegetal pole (270°), which is the same hemisphere that contained the highest intensity of intracellular fluorescence originating from zinc-rich vesicles. Similarly, the regions with the lowest zinc-spark intensities mapped to the zone free of zinc vesicles at the animal pole (90°, Fig. 5c and Supplementary Fig. 9). This geometric analysis strongly supports the hypothesis that the exocytosis of zinc-rich secretory compartments proximal to the ooplasmic membrane of the egg is the source of the extracellular zinc spark.
Figure 5: Live-cell fluorescence zinc imaging demonstrates that intracellular zinc compartments are the source of the extracellular zinc spark. MII eggs labelled with 50 nM ZincBY-1 (intracellular, green) were activated with 10 mM SrCl 2 in a medium that contained 50 µM FluoZin-3 (extracellular, red). Scale bars, 20 µm. a–c, The whole egg was imaged in a z-stack time course (5 µm optical sections taken over 6.5 seconds). a, z-stack projections of ZincBY-1 and FluoZin-3 fluorescence during a zinc spark. The arrows indicate concentrated regions of zinc exocytosis. b, Overlaid optical sections of prespark ZincBY-1 fluorescence and FluoZin-3 fluorescence during a zinc spark. The z-stack position is indicated in each panel. c, Angular analysis of intracellular and extracellular fluorescence distribution in a z-section (z14 is shown, and the others are given in the Supplementary Information). The fluorescence intensity pattern is the same in both channels, which indicates that zinc-enriched vesicles are the source of the zinc spark. d,e, Egg imaged in a 1 µm confocal section. d, Images from a time course taken before (i), during (ii) and after (iii) a zinc spark. The brightfield image indicates intracellular and extracellular ROIs. e, Time traces show a simultaneous decrease in intracellular fluorescence and increase in extracellular fluorescence, which indicates that zinc-enriched vesicles are the source of the zinc spark. Full size imageMali confirms 2 new cases of Ebola virus disease
Mali’s Ministry of Health has confirmed an additional 2 new cases of Ebola virus disease. The first, confirmed on 22 November, occurred in the 23-year-old fiancée of the 25-year-old nurse who attended the Grand Imam from Guinea (the index case in this outbreak) and died of Ebola on 11 November.
The young woman developed symptoms on 19 November and, on 20 November, was hospitalized in isolation at Bamako’s Ebola treatment centre, a new facility which opened last week.
Because of her association with the nurse, most of her close contacts were already under surveillance. Her case was detected early in the disease course. Her quick isolation has further reduced opportunities for community exposures.
The second new case is part of a family of previously confirmed and deceased patients. The 27-year-old man lost his mother and half-brother to Ebola.
He developed symptoms on 19 November and was admitted for treatment at the new facility on 24 November. Laboratory confirmation was received the same day.
The identification of patient contacts for daily monitoring has reportedly reached 99%. Based on experiences in Senegal and Nigeria, this achievement could augur well for rapid containment of Mali’s outbreak.
Collaboration with health officials in Guinea
To date, all 7 cases in this second wave of infections can be linked to contact with an Imam who developed symptoms on 17 October in his native village of Kourémalé, Guinea, and arrived in Bamako on 25 October for treatment at the Pasteur Clinic.
His case has been classified as a Guinea case as he developed symptoms there. After his death on 27 October, his body was returned to Kourémalé for a funeral the following day that attracted a large number of mourners.
These events ignited additional chains of transmission in Guinea, including several deaths, which are currently under investigation by WHO epidemiologists. Most of these patients had symptom onset in early to mid-November, indicating ongoing chains of transmission.
With WHO support, staff from Mali’s Ministry of Health will be meeting with health officials from Guinea to discuss cross-border measures for coordinating control efforts and reducing the likelihood that additional cases will be imported from Guinea into Mali.Growing Support for Campaign Against ISIS – and Possible Use of U.S. Ground Troops
Shifting Views on How Best to Defeat Global Terrorism
Survey Report
The public has grown more supportive of the U.S. fight against ISIS, as about twice as many approve (63%) as disapprove (30%) of the military campaign against the Islamic militant group in Iraq and Syria. Last October, 57% approved and 33% disapproved.
The possibility of sending U.S. ground troops to the region is more divisive, although the idea draws more support than it did four months ago. Currently, about as many favor (47%) as oppose (49%) sending U.S. ground troops to fight Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria; in October, 39% favored the idea and 55% opposed it.
The new national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Feb. 18-22 among 1,504 adults, also finds a shift over the past year in public attitudes about the best approach for dealing with global terrorism.
In the new survey, 47% say “using overwhelming military force is the best way to defeat terrorism around the world.” About as many (46%) say that “relying too much on military force to defeat terrorism creates hatred that leads to more terrorism.”
In the Pew Research Center’s political typology survey, conducted Jan. 23-Mar. 16, 2014, 57% said an over-reliance on military force creates more hatred leading to increased terrorism, while fewer (37%) said that overwhelming military force is the best way to defeat global terrorism.
There is a wide and growing partisan divide in these attitudes: Today, 74% of Republicans say the best way to defeat global terrorism is with “overwhelming force,” up from 57% a year ago. Meanwhile, Democrats’ attitudes are virtually unchanged. Just 30% of Democrats favor the use of overwhelming force to defeat terrorism; 29% said this last March.
While the public has grown more supportive of assertive action against ISIS, many Americans continue to express trepidation about the U.S. becoming too deeply involved in Iraq and Syria. While 49% say their bigger worry about U.S. military action is that it will not go far enough in stopping Islamic militants, nearly as many (46%) say their bigger concern is that the U.S. will go too far in getting involved in the situation. That has changed only modestly since October, although the share voicing more concern about not going far enough to defeat the militants has risen six points (from 43% to 49%).
The partisan differences evident in overall attitudes about the best way to defeat terrorism are reflected in concerns about the ISIS campaign and opinions about whether to dispatch U.S. ground forces to Iraq and Syria. Republicans are about twice as likely as Democrats to favor the use of ground troops to fight Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria (67% vs. 32%). By contrast, more than three times as many Democrats as Republicans say their bigger concern about U.S. military action is that the United States will go too far in getting involved in the (64% vs. 20%).
Meanwhile, the public continues to express skepticism about the effectiveness of the U.S. campaign against ISIS. Nearly six-in-ten (58%) say the military campaign against Islamic militants is going not too well (38%) or not at all well (20%); just 36% think it is going very well (7%) or fairly well (30%). Views about progress of the military campaign are unchanged October.
However, most Americans (60%) think the U.S. effort against ISIS will definitely or probably succeed. A 45% plurality say the U.S. and its allies will probably succeed against the Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria, while 15% think they will definitely succeed. About one-third (34%) thinks the campaign will probably fail (28%) or definitely fail (5%). Similar shares of Democrats (62%) and Republicans (61%) expect the to be a success.
The survey also finds that the current U.S. government policy of banning the payment of ransom money for hostages held by terrorist groups has widespread approval. Though the policy has come under some recent criticism, 70% approve of the current U.S. government policy while just 25% disapprove.
Young adults are among the least supportive groups of the policy of not paying money for hostages, though 58% still approve (vs. 38% who disapprove). Among other age groups, about seven-in-ten or more approve of this policy. About eight-in-ten Republicans (78%) approve of the government’s no-ransom policy, compared with 68% of Democrats and 69% of independents.
More Favor Possible Use of Ground Forces to Combat Militants
The share of the public approving of the U.S. military campaign in Iraq and Syria has risen since October, from 57% to 63%.
As was the case in October, more Republicans (70%) than Democrats (58%) approve of the U.S. military campaign against the Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria. There also continues to be a gender gap in support for military action: 70% of men approve of the campaign against ISIS, compared with 56% of women.
Support for the possible use of ground forces also has risen since October, from 39% to 47%. The share of women favoring the U.S. sending ground troops has jumped 11 points since then (compared with a slight five-point increase among men); still, women remain less likely than men to favor deploying U.S. ground forces in Iraq and Syria (41% vs. 52%).
Today, adults 18-29 are the only age group to largely oppose sending troops to the region (59% oppose vs. 39% favor). Older age groups have become somewhat more supportive since October and now are roughly divided between favoring and opposing the possible deployment of ground forces.
Both parties are ideologically divided over the dispatch of U.S. ground troops to Iraq and Syria. About seven-in-ten conservative Republicans (71%) favor the use of ground troops compared with 56% of moderate and liberal Republicans.
Among Democrats, conservatives and moderates are more likely than liberals to favor the use of ground forces (39% vs. 23%). In October, nearly identical percentages of the two groups supported deploying ground forces (28% of conservative and moderate Democrats, 27% of liberal Democrats). Since then, the share of conservative and moderate Democrats favoring the use of U.S. ground forces has increased 11 points while remaining relatively unchanged among liberals.
Concerns About U.S. Military Action
The public remains divided in its concerns about U.S. military action in Iraq and Syria: 49% say their bigger concern is that military action will not go far enough to stop the Islamic militants; 46% say they are more concerned that the U.S. will get too involved in Iraq and Syria.
That mixed sentiment has not shifted significantly since last October. But in August, when the U.S. started limited airstrikes in Iraq, more said they were concerned about the military action getting the U.S. too involved (51%) than not going far enough (32%).
Today, about three-quarters of Republicans (77%) are more concerned that the military action won’t go far enough (20% say their bigger concern is that the U.S. will go too far). By contrast, 64% of Democrats say the bigger worry is that the U.S. will go too far in getting involved and 30% are more concerned about not going far enough. Independents are split, with 47% expressing each concern.
Adults younger than 30 are the most likely to worry that the military campaign will go too far (64%) rather than not far enough (33%). Those ages 30-49 are divided, while a majority of adults 50 and older say they are more concerned that the U.S. will not go far enough to stop the Islamic militants (58% to 35%).
Among those who are more concerned that the U.S. will get too involved in Iraq and Syria, opinion is divided about the current military campaign — 48% approve and 44% disapprove. Support for the military campaign is much higher among those whose bigger worry is that the U.S. will not go far enough to stop the militants (78% approve, 19% disapprove).
Shifting Views on How to Stop Global Terrorism
Americans are divided about how to best defeat global terrorism — a shift from past years. Nearly half (47%) say that using overwhelming military force is the best way to defeat global terrorism; 46% say that relying too much on military force to defeat terrorism creates hatred that leads to more terrorism.
In previous Pew Research surveys in 2014, 2011 and 2004, no more than about four-in-ten (including 37% early last year) said the use of overwhelming force was the best approach for defeating global terrorism.
Republicans and independents have shifted their opinions since last year, while Democrats’ views are largely unchanged. Roughly three-quarters of Republicans (74%) express the view that overwhelming force is the best way to defeat terrorism, up 17 points since early last year; 44% of independents say the same, up 11 points.
Just three-in-ten Democrats (30%) say the best way to stop global terrorism is with overwhelming force, compared with 65% who say relying too much on force leads to more terrorism. Liberal Democrats are more likely than conservative or moderate Democrats to say using overwhelming military force against terrorism creates hatred that leads to more terrorism (80% vs. 58%).
Adults 50 and older are more likely to believe overwhelming military force is the best way to defeat terrorism (56% vs. 35% saying too much force creates more terrorism). By comparison, 45% of those ages 30-49 and just 32% of adults under 30 say overwhelming force is the best way to defeat terrorism.1 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
Malcolm Nance, a retired United States Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer and |
that really we should follow Moslem customs, follow the customs of the country. The ladies accepted this, although there was a certain amount of discomfort about it. I remember Jeane Kirkpatrick saying “Well, if I see any other ladies in this parade, I’m going to be very unhappy.” As it turned out, one of the senior members of the French delegation insisted that his wife walk with him in the funeral parade. That caused a little bit of unhappiness, but I still think we were right in following local custom in this.
There was a dinner that evening for all members of the American delegation and the American Embassy at the hotel where the American delegation was staying; with three presidents, each making remarks. It was interesting, because each took a very different tack.
Nixon spoke first as the senior ex-president. And he spoke in terms of the man with the most experience who had been in the House, who had been in the Senate, who had been vice president, who had been president, how he had been through all of these things before. He took the high road as the sort of world statesman in his remarks. But he was the only one of them who paid a tribute to the embassy personnel and the men and women of the Foreign Service for their role in all of this.
Gerry Ford gave the most low-key of all of the presidential remarks, rather general, but recalling his own association with Sadat and his part in the peace process. Probably the most personal, recalling his special relationship, were Jimmy Carter’s remarks. His were very personal, about his relationship with Sadat, the relationship between the Carter and the Sadat families. It was not a gay occasion, but it was a relaxed occasion, and the presidents all agreed to have their pictures taken, endless photo opportunities. They had their pictures taken with various members of the staff, all of them delighted to have pictures taken of themselves with the presidents.
And, of course, [their visit] involved, in addition to calls on the vice president, calls on Mrs. Sadat. And that was a rather emotional experience, especially for Henry Kissinger. He got all choked up in trying to make his remarks, because she was there with the children, and he had gotten to know her and the kids pretty well during the shuttles. And it was a very personal experience, and he clearly was deeply touched.
The Carters had the same experience. Mrs. Carter was the only spouse of the senior people in the delegation. After the main parties had left, the secretary stayed behind for some more substantive consultations with Mubarak about the future. And the main thrust was concerned that this was going to begin a period of instability, and what could we do to help stabilize Mubarak’s regime and ensure that the peace process continued as it had under Sadat.
[Mubarak] was very interested, we had very close consultations on this with the Egyptians, to reinforce their declared intention that the government would not change course and would remain committed to Sadat’s commitment to peace with Israel, the treaty, Camp David Accords, and a strong Israeli-US relationship.
But there were nuances of difference. Mubarak was much less strident in his rhetoric about the other Arabs. He began to signal that he was interested in trying to repair Egypt’s relations with the Arab world, which Sadat had not paid much attention to, and in fact he had taken a sort of pride in antagonizing the Arabs when they objected to his making peace with Israel. So Mubarak said he was prepared to make up with the Arabs but not at the expense of peace with Israel. They would have to accept Egypt as it was. While he would like Egypt to rejoin the Arab world, it was up to the other Arabs to take the initiative.
Egypt was ready.Quote
A reassurance that GC has nothing to do with the Cartel Market, that you will not sell any CXP boosts on the CM and that you still don't want the game to go P2W.
An explanation why repair costs are being quadrupled in endgame PvE, and how do you think it is justified to tax only endgame raiders and not e.g. PvP players who aren't interested in buying decorations.
A statement regarding unassembled tokens. Will they be converted or be scrapped?
A fulfillment of your promise to get the answer to the Crystal of Nightmare Fury crafting materials. What are your plans for it come 5.0?
An explanation how we can get 4.0 crafting materials come 5.0.
If you can do this, I'm impressed, then you would truly follow WoW's example in how a Q&A should look like. I don't care if these questions are super-specific, for all I care you can do a 1-hour rapid fire session where you go through the questions one after another. The normal questions (when is the expansion coming out, how does GC/DvL work, or the above questions by JediAkemi) we already know the answers to, you don't need to cover those.
EricMusco Quote: Originally Posted by When: Today, Thursday 11/23 Hope you will finally answer my questions.If you can do this, I'm impressed, then you would truly follow WoW's example in how a Q&A should look like. I don't care if these questions are super-specific, for all I care you can do a 1-hour rapid fire session where you go through the questions one after another. The normal questions (when is the expansion coming out, how does GC/DvL work, or the above questions by JediAkemi) we already know the answers to, you don't need to cover those.Today is Wednesday, not Thursday. Unless you want to do it on Thanksgiving after all. Scoundrel healer. Raid leader. Guild officer @ Tulak HordKris Dingus is a no-coast anarchist organizing mutual aid projects with Any Means Necessary Collective in so-called Kansas City, Missouri. The AMN Collective is a loose group of individuals who join together to help the necessary work along in Kansas City; utilizing direct action and mutual aid to support those most affected by capitalism in our communities and offer education and outreach about anarchist action, history, and theory. Kris finds affinity with terms such as ex-worker, vegan, and has been and continues to be involved in a variety of projects in North-Western Missouri.
1, What first sparked your interest in social justice and activism and what
ideologies did you go through to get where you are now?
Well, I started calling myself an anarchist by name after reading a wikipedia article when I was in middle school. It wasn’t really until college that my interest in anarchism began to materialize as anything other than individual rebellion without much greater political context. At the time I was a graphic design student and I was able to get a paid flight to New York City to look at art galleries through the college I was attending. This was only a few weeks into the Zucotti Park occupation so I used my time in New York as a way to check it out. It was really seeing so many people engaging in variations of an ideology I had obsessed over for years, specifically the free library that anyone could and were taking from and giving to, that made me realize that there really were people on the continent I live actually trying to do something about this terrible garbage world we are all trapped in. It felt like a collective sigh. After a couple days I came home and got involved with the local occupy group where I was living at the time. I’ve been active ever since. I feel affinity with a variety of milieus, theories, and movements past and present all coming back to the basic principles of mutual aid & autonomy.
2. How can we combat sectarianism in our social movements?
I think there are two really important things to remember when contemplating a question like this. The first one being that we are all born into a toxic society which holds information hostage, keeps experiences separated from ourselves, and that each day people are working to undo the hurtful things they have been taught by this culture. So with that in mind I do not go into every action or conversation expecting everyone to be perfect, but I also do expect folks to have the courage of self and peer criticism if they are doing something that is harmful to others or is not working to expand our individual and collective autonomy. If I expected everyone I meet to be at the exact same point in their analysis and development as I am, then I would often be working alone, the same is true if others expected as rigid standards out of myself I am sure.
The second thing that I think is important is understanding that there are different degrees of affinity necessary for different actions. There are some actions in which you may only want to collaborate with people who you agree and trust completely and there are very broad large actions in which you may come together based on a vague interest in the same thing. The specific results you are seeking will influence the type of relationships you seek out. It is important to learn to recognize meaningless affinity as well as self imposed isolation. To live in a communist society we must convince large amounts of people to treat each other better and to do that you will need to engage with folks who do not think the exact same way as yourself.
3. how do we prevent near term human extinction?
I honestly don’t know that we can at this point, but I can think of some steps in the right direction that would be worthwhile even if we can’t. This all can be centered on a very simple praxis I generally follow; nurture actions and projects that create a world that you would want to live in and ruthlessly destroy anything that steps in the way of that. Another way to phrase it would be to take the actions necessary for both survival and the fulfillment of desire to flourish and to engage in self defense against any force that aggresses upon either. Something that absolutely has to be dismantled is the way mass amounts of people consume commodities. I have survived for years off of other people’s waste. We need to distribute resources rather than throw them away we need to stop purchasing things as a replacement for authentic experiences. We need to influence culture until it is no longer normal to cause mass extinctions so that we can have endless supplies of tennis balls and pez dispensers. Personal lifestyles are not the primary cause of this destruction but I feel it is important to discuss when so many aren’t even willing to do something so simple and with such a large impact as going vegan. We’ve known for a long time that the earth was being killed its entirely up to each of us what we do with that information.
4. How do you see Automation, 3d printing, and other new tech as changing
the conversation about means of production?
I think within capitalism it has generally been true with the exception of medicine that technology has been used to better oppress masses of people. It is often also true that the amount of energy necessary to produce certain devices is often far more trouble than just expending the small amount of human labor to accomplish the task especially if that labor is communal and made enjoyable. I’m in my mid twenties and throughout my entire life I have watched people waste the majority of their time alive on meaningless service orientated tasks that could disappear tomorrow. This is somewhat due to jobs in the United States being outsourced to workers elsewhere as well as internally to the largest prison population in human history which does produce for private industry. What I’m getting at is that much of the labor currently being forced upon people is not only unnecessary but actually something that needs to be confronted. Folks are already doing tasks that don’t need to be done. So capitalism very well may create new jobs for labor to be wasted on. Still I’m interested in where this technology is headed AMN Collective hopes to eventually be able to afford a communal 3d printer. Under capitalism automation will definitely increase the pool of folks that capitalism has no work for. We’re starting to hear a lot of talk about the concept of a universal income. I think this shift will cause some folks to rethink the relation of themselves, their labor, and the product of that labor. We have to push it further though, if we are to have machines, they should be producing resources for all not commodities and the dead labor of capital.
5. What are your thoughts on Post Left anarchism?
I have met a lot of great comrades who fall into many of the categories attacked by folks who identify as post leftist. It has not been rare for anarchists in Kansas City to engage with maoists and even progressive liberals but we do so on our own terms. Some folks who don’t even identify as anarchist have been there when we really needed them and have been better comrades with more affinity than many anarchists I’ve met. That being said I’ve always really enjoyed anarchism as being the anti-thesis of dogma. I think the establishment left is an archaic dinosaur. It is still here haunting us and for that reason it is still relevant to engage with. I am personally very interested in the works of Max Stirner as well as the Situationist International and when post-leftism is at its best you can see the influence from both. I’m not sure on the theoretical distinctions but post-left often seems intertwined with insurrectionist ideas and I think that is a positive thing I particularly enjoy Wolfi Landstreicher as well as Alfredo Bonanno. The idea of anarchism as a constant tension, easily repeatable & spreadable actions, recognizing the totality of your own life, a union of egoists, the breakdown of social roles, détournement, the pursuit of desire, playfulness, the creation of situations, work avoidance, and the focus on the immediate here and now are all concepts that appeal to me whether they come under the brand of post-leftism or something else entirely. Though I will say as is true with many milieus, a lot of the writers and readers of post-leftist literature seem to embrace their ideas dogmatically and without the ability to self critique. Many embracing the aspects of post-leftism that appeal to me the least while ditching the ideas that make it useful.Davies, who will stand down as lead writer and executive producer of the show next year, has said that he would like to see Tovey, who appeared in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys, take the role.
His wish was revealed in an e-mail exchange with Benjamin Cook, a journalist, in which Davies also disclosed that he wanted JK Rowling to star in a Doctor Who Christmas special.
However, the idea was vetoed by the current doctor, David Tennant, who feared it would come across as a "spoof".
Tovey, 26, had a part in last year's Christmas Doctor Who special as Midshipman Frame. He is best known for his role as Rudge, the least intellectual of the boys in the stage and screen versions of The History Boys.
In an e-mail written in June last year, Davies tells Cook that he has cast Tovey as Midshipman Frame, "which is my favourite casting of the lot, because he's going to be huge, that man". He adds: "He's amazing. I think I'd make him the 11th Doctor."
The e-mails, previewed by The Times, provide an insight into Davies's working practices and his wish to scale back his involvement with the series, which he was instrumental in bringing back to the BBC in 2005.
In an e-mail sent in July 2007 Davies talks of involving Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, in the programme.
He wrote: "I was in the shower on Saturday morning (you may avert your eyes), thinking about how much I'd enjoyed that last Harry Potter book, how I'd love to write something like that, remembering that, back in 2004, I asked JK Rowling to write an episode of Doctor Who, though she politely declined, and reflecting that we can't possibly get someone to star in next year's Christmas Special who's as famous as Kylie... when all those things coalesced.
"BAM! I thought, don't ask J.K. to write a Doctor Who, ask her to be in a Doctor Who! Imagine it. A cold Edinburgh Christmas Eve. J.K. Rowling walking through the snow, pursued by a journalist. 'What are you going to write after Harry Potter?' Later, J.K. sits down to write. At the same time, a Space Bug, probably put there by the Rita Skeeter-type journalist [a character in Harry Potter], leaps on to her back. ZAP! J.K.'s imagination becomes real! A world of Victorian magic replaces the present-day world. The Doctor arrives and has to battle through a world of witches and wizards, with wands and spells and CGI wonders, to reach J.K. Rowling at the heart of it all."
However, an email written three weeks later described Tennant's luke-warm reaction to the idea. Davies wrote: "David doesn't like the J.K. idea. He thinks it sounds like a spoof, so we've paused slightly, wondering whether to win him round or just abandon something that he's not going to be happy with. We've got to keep him happy. He keeps us happy. Plus, he might be right. So that idea has parked."Jolson 101
Al Jolson: A Biography
by John Kenrick
(Copyright 2003)
(All the photos on this page are thumbnail images click on them to see larger versions.)
Al Jolson as he appeared on the program cover for the Broadway musical Hold On to Your Hats (1940). By then, he had come a long way from his childhood in Tsarist Russia.
Asa Yoelson was born in Seredzius (a.k.a. Srednike), a Jewish village ("schtetle") in the Lithuanian region of Imperial Russia. Although he would claim Mar. 26, 1886 as his birth date, no documentation exists to verify it it may have been anytime from 1884 onwards. The openly anti-Semitic authorities were not interested in recording the arrival of another Jew. Asa was the fourth surviving child of cantor Moshe Yoelson and his wife Naomi, after daughters Rose and Etta, and their son Hirsh. The Yoelsons raised their family according to strict orthodox tradition, and Moshe expected his sons would one day become cantors too. He trained both boys to sing, propping open their mouths with matchsticks to encourage them to sing loud and clear.
Moshe Yoelson wanted to get his family away from the ongoing threat of Tsarist oppression. Soon after Moshe's studies brought him the title of rabbi in 1890, he traveled to America, promising to send for his wife and children at the earliest opportunity. The emotionally strong but physically ailing Naomi held the family together, becoming the center of young Asa's world. When Moshe became head of a Washington D.C. congregation in 1894, Naomi and the children made the long journey to join him there. Any hopes the Yoelson's had of resuming a normal family life were dashed when Naomi's died in 1895. Eight year old Asa was in the next room, his world shattered.
"Asa Yoelson would never be the same again. He grew up in that moment probably as much as he would ever grow up. Al Jolson, for all his tough, earthy exterior, would remain an emotional child for the rest of his life a self assured braggart who was terrified of being alone, a sentimentalist with a heart of gold who made life miserable for those around him, and a lothario who chased, conquered, and in turn ignored young women. In short, a man-boy, full of seeming contradictions and haunted by the specter of his mother's death."
- Herbert G. Goldman Jolson: The Legend Comes to Life (New York, Oxford Univ. Press, 1988), p. 9.
Asa and his brother Hirsh soon immersed themselves in American culture, learning the ragtime songs performed on the streets and in the saloons of Washington. Moshe did what he could to keep his sons in line. To restore some semblance of a happy home, he married Cheysa Yoels (a.k.a. "Hessi"), an old neighbor from Seredzius who had genuine affection for the children. But nothing could keep the Yoelson boys from embracing a new way of life. Hirsh changed his name to Harry, and Asa became Al. Both boys ran away from home several times. At one point, Al spent several weeks at St. Mary's Industrial School for orphaned boys in Baltimore.
The Yoelson brothers both became obsessed with breaking into show business. Al sang in a traveling circus (1899), then toured in burlesque and vaudeville beginning in 1901. As part of an "illustrated singing act," he performed popular favorites while a series of lantern slides were projected on a sheet. Al and Harry managed to get bookings with a crude ethnic comedy act called "The Hebrew and the Cadet." They also changed their last name to "Joelson," and then the even less ethnic "Jolson." Wheelchair-bound comic Joe Palmer recruited the Jolsons for a three-man vaudeville comedy act that showed promise, but Al's self-conscious performances were holding them back.
In 1904, while playing an engagement at Keeney's Theatre in Brooklyn, Al started performing in blackface, supposedly at the suggestion of veteran blackface comedian James Francis Dooley. Working behind a burnt cork mask gave Al a sense of freedom and spontaneity he had never known before. The act became a surefire laugh-getter, and was soon booked on vaudeville's Orpheum circuit.
Blackface was not considered racially offensive in the early 1900s. White men smearing their faces black and imitating African Americans had been common on American stages since the 1830s, and was just one form of the coarse, humor that all racial and ethnic groups were subjected to at that time. We have no reason to believe Al Jolson's use of blackface was motivated by anything other than a desire to entertain. He was never known to express racist attitudes, and often went out of his way to befriend black performers who were subjected to segregation in theatres, hotels and restaurants. I am not defending blackface, a convention most people consider unthinkable today. However, I am suggesting Jolson's use of blackface is best understood in the context of his era. He was not making a statement; he was hiding behind a mask a mask that gave him an extraordinary sense of confidence while on stage.
"Jewish entertainers also put on blackface for another reason. According to Ronald Sanders, both groups felt a deep woe, had suffered at the hands of oppressors, and lived close to their pain. Many of the new songs hailed the brighter day and the aggressiveness necessary to live in the new land, but the singers invested blackface with a plaintive note, which kept them in touch with their past though with the pain once removed, hidden behind a black face."
- Lewis A. Erenberg, Steppin' Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture 1890-1930 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), p. 195.
Al Jolson in full blackface singing down on one knee -- one of his most celebrated poses on stage.
Harry Jolson eventually withdrew from the act to go it on his own. Palmer toured with Al for a time, but retired when he became convinced that he was holding Al back from stardom. In 1906, Al Jolson's solo career as a "singing comedian" began. He wore blackface with a dark suit, black shoes, white socks and gloves, and his mouth outlined in white. This drew maximum attention to his hands and mouth, the key tools for any vaudeville singer. A triumphant engagement in San Francisco made him a top star on the Western circuits. This was no small accomplishment. Smoking was still allowed in most theatres, and customers often paged through newspapers until something on stage demanded their attention. Electronic sound systems had not been invented yet, so performers had to rely on all sorts of tricks to catch an audience's attention. Jolson knew them all, and even invented a few of his own. He danced, stamped, cried real tears, improvised risqué jokes and outrageous physical gags even sashayed about with wildly effeminate gestures. Once he had an audience, Jolson wouldn't let go until they were begging for more.
First Marriage: Henrietta Keller
California native Henrietta Keller was an eighteen year old dancer with shapely legs and a shy smile. Twenty year old Al became infatuated, relentlessly courting Henrietta and her family. After nearly a year of refusals, Henrietta accepted Al's umpteenth proposal. They were married in September 1907. Henrietta would soon learn that she had tied the knot with one of the most maddening, self-centered men on earth.
Jolson continued to win raves in vaudeville, but he could not resist when Lew Dockstader offered him a chance to star in America's last great minstrel troupe. He took a major cut in salary to become Dockstader's second comedian in 1908, knowing it would open the way to greater opportunity. Audiences adored Jolson's antics. When the troupe played New York, he got the kind of acclaim he had always dreamt of. He went off to play a series of solo vaudeville engagements on the Orpheum circuit, and returned to Dockstader to tour in 1909. It was at this time that Jolson started whistling on stage, using loud melodic whistle trills to punctuate songs and gags. It would remain a trademark throughout his career. He was also working closely with musician Harry Akst, who became Jolson's ever-handy accompanist, song selector and personal crony.
Al was already showing signs of the colossal ego that would mark him for the rest of his life. When Florenz Ziegfeld extended an invitation to audition for the Follies, Jolson refused. Most performers would have leapt at such an opportunity, but Jolson insisted that he did not audition for anybody. Jolson returned to touring the UBO and Orpheum circuits in 1910, and played a vaudeville engagement at Hammerstein's Victoria in New York in February 1911. He was already in rehearsals for his Broadway debut.
Broadway Debut
The Shubert Brothers were opening their handsome new Winter Garden Theatre with a lavish production, La Belle Paree (1911 - 104). This musical about a wealthy widow gallivanting around Paris was just an excuse for a succession of variety acts. With a curtain-raising one act comic opera tacked on, the over packed show opened on March 20th, 1911, and ran over four hours. Jolson suffered from crippling nerves on opening nights a habit that only deepened over time. He won only a moderate response from the exhausted first night audience, but that changed as the Shuberts rearranged the show in the days that followed. Between the better placement of Al's solos and his personal determination to succeed, he was suddenly stealing the show.
Jolson kept introducing new gags and new verses to his songs, and audiences kept coming back to see what he would do from week to week. A show that had begun as an all-star cavalcade gradually became Jolson's personal vehicle. By the time the summer heat forced La Belle Paree to close in June, Jolson was the hottest new star in show business.The other day I was reading a great roundup of projected and wanted features in the upcoming Android 2.2 Froyo release, over at AndroidAndMe. The author, Taylor Wimberly, was going over what he thought was likely to be included next and then mentioned something about the Nexus One that instantly intrigued me. He said:
I spoke with Google’s Eric Tseng during CES and he told me there were many secrets left in the Nexus One that we would discover later.
Could it be that Google has loaded Nexus One with unactivated, hidden features, making the crowd favorite device into Pandora's box? Just when you thought you figured your little companion out inside and out, it turns into a mysterious stranger.
Nexus One With Wireless-N
The first such secret got uncovered when we found out that the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chipset Google and HTC put into the Nexus One is none other than the Broadcom BCM4329, which has hardware to support both 802.11n and FM radio. Google officially only supports b/g, as evident from the current specs.
Yesterday, Google and Broadcom released an updated version of the driver for Android, and in a flash, Cyanogen has been able to integrate it into his CyanogenMod ROM for the Nexus One, getting 802.11n running without a hitch.
In his reply to our tweet asking for clarification, Cyanogen pointed out that it's the following 2 changes by the Broadcom committer to the Android source tree that made this possible:
@kmobs, another Android developer quickly compiled CyanogenMod with the new changes and threw it up on his Nexus one in a quick video review:
So what does it mean to an average Nexus One user? You can wait for the latest official version of CyanogenMod to be released, flash your phone with it, and enjoy the new functionality (this is the beauty of custom ROMs for Android - quick turnaround time). Or if you don't want to flash a custom ROM, you can wait for Google to add support into the official Android version which make take any amount of time - possibly even months.
Nexus One With FM Radio
So if the Broadcom chip supports FM radio besides the 802.11n Wi-Fi, is there support for it seen somewhere on the horizon?
And before you say "who needs FM radio on a 3G phone?", consider how often you lose your 3G reception, how many people in other countries don't even have data plans, and how many stations don't broadcast online. Finally, if you are not convinced there is demand for FM radio on the phone, check out these 2 Google support threads full of users pleading for its support: thread 1, thread 2.
Neither Google nor Broadcom has made it clear yet whether they would be interested in supporting and enabling FM radio, so at this point we are unsure whether it would be coming. However, if we find out that the Droid Incredible, which already supports FM radio also sports the same Broadcom chip, it might not take Cyanogen or another ROM developer long to figure out how to take it out of one HTC phone and add it to another.
More Undiscovered Nexus One Secrets
What other undiscovered secrets can the Nexus One have in store for us?
Nexus One Video-Out
My first guess would be support for video-out, the same way the Droid Incredible supports it via a MicroUSB-HDMI adapter. Since Nexus One can play 720p video, there should be nothing but software stopping it from being able to support video-out.
We asked HTC for a more official response, and, as expected, it came back negative for now:
I understand how important it can be to receive information on using video out functionality on the HTC Nexus One. Unfortunate this HTC Device does not have the hardware or software to support the Video out functionality. Please keep updated on the support page for your Nexus One at www.htc.com/www to receive information on future updates or work a round for your HTC Device
No dice yet, but we're not losing hope.
What else do you think the Nexus One is hiding?Recently by Gary North: Who Are the Experts on Gold?
“Show me the money!” Cuba Gooding made this phrase famous in the 1996 movie, Jerry McGuire. The phrase soon got into the language.
“Follow the money!” That came from the movie, All the President’s Men. No one knows who said it. “Deep Throat” didn’t. The screenwriter says that he does not know where he got it. It has entered the language.
“Trust me.” That was Jimmy Carter’s phrase in 1976. It also got into the language. It has been used ever since as satire. It has been the mantra of every Chairman of the Federal Reserve System.
“Don’t ask. Don’t tell.” That was Bill Clinton’s phrase. I think he got it after watching Congress deal with Alan Greenspan.
“Never give a sucker an even break.” That was W. C. Fields’s famous line. This has been the FED’s operational policy since 1914.
AUDIT THE GOLD
In 2011, Congressman Ron Paul will introduce a bill in the House of Representatives calling for an audit of the gold held by the Federal Reserve System on behalf of the United States government. If he can successfully promote this bill by the phrase, “Show us the gold!” he will inflict enormous damage on the American Establishment. This damage could conceivably spread to the entire international Establishment, which rests on the sovereignty of the central banks over their domestic governments.
Most of those few Americans who have ever heard of the Federal Reserve System operate under the illusion that the government is sovereign over the FED. On paper, this is true. Operationally, it isn’t. We know this, because no government agency audits the FED.
You are surely not sovereign over the United States government. The United States government is sovereign over you. The supreme mark of this control is the fact that the Internal Revenue Service can tax you. It requires you to sign your tax forms, on penalty of perjury. You can be sent to jail if you lie about these forms. It can require you to provide evidence that you have filled out your income tax forms accurately. If you refuse to provide this evidence, the IRS will simply assess whatever it wants, and you will be required to prove that its assessment is inaccurate.
If you want to find out who is really in control in any situation, find out who has the legal right to audit the other one.
This is easy to understand with respect to individuals, corporations, and other organizations that are under the thumb of the tax man. This is understood by taxpayers all over the world. They fully understand who is in charge. In a modern society, the agency in charge is the agency that can and does compel other individuals and agencies to supply records relating to their income, capital, and bank accounts.
The Federal Reserve System has never been audited by an agency of the United States government. The FED hires private auditing firms, rotating them year by year, which undermines continuity, making it more difficult for them to follow the money. The FED limits those firms with respect to what they are allowed to audit. The FED then submits these internally audited facts to the United States Treasury.
Each year, the FED pays the Treasury any excess money beyond the FED’s operations expenses, if the money came from interest earned from its holdings of U.S. government debt. This has been the law since the early 1940s. In the good old days, the FED kept all of the money that it earned as interest payments from the Treasury. It paid nothing to the Treasury. That was a sweet deal.
When Congressman Paul persuaded the House of Representatives in 2009 to vote in favor of a general audit of the FED by the Federal government, the bill was blocked in committee. His original version of the audit bill never came to a final vote in the House as part of the banking reform legislation. The Senate never considered the amendment.
So, it is obvious who is in charge. Congress pretends that it is in charge, but in fact the Federal Reserve System is in charge. Congress accepts the word of the Federal Reserve System with respect to how much it cost the FED to keep its doors open, and it accepts whatever payment the FED makes to the Treasury.
It is obvious that if the Internal Revenue Service did not have the power to audit taxpayers, and if taxpayers have the authority to decide how much it cost them to “keep their doors open,” and pay the Treasury only that amount of money that is in excess of their costs of operation, the government would go bankrupt. It is equally obvious that the government does not intend to go bankrupt. The government does not intend to let individuals decide on their own authority how much to pay the government. This is because the government is in charge, and taxpayers are not in charge.
The Federal Reserve System is in charge of Congress; Congress is not in charge of the Federal Reserve. You can say that, on paper, the Congress is in charge. In response, I argue that this paper is rarely used, and with respect to an audit, it has never been used.
WHERE IS THE GOLD?
This leads us to what I think is the symbolic heart of the matter: the gold that the Federal Reserve purchased from the United States government in 1933 and 1934, when Roosevelt confiscated the citizens’ gold.
Officially, that gold belongs to the United States government. Unofficially, it does not. It no more belongs to United States government than Congress has authority over the Federal Reserve System. It doesn’t matter what is on paper. What matters is what Congress is willing to enforce.
There has been no audit of the gold held by the Federal Reserve since the mid-1950s. The government does not know how much gold is in Fort Knox. It does not know how much American gold there is in the vault of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, located at 33 Liberty St., New York City.
The gold remains in the possession of the Federal Reserve System. Most of the governments around the world have agreed to keep their gold stored at 33 Liberty St. This enables the employees at 33 Liberty St. to move bars of gold from one government’s pile to another government’s pile. This also lets them keep the records. The trouble is, no government anywhere has the authority to audit the holdings of gold at 33 Liberty St. The governments simply take the word of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that their gold is properly monitored and allocated in the New York FED’s vault.
It is quite possible that, beginning in 1968, the gold held in the vault at 33 Liberty St. was transferred to the London Gold Pool, a consortium of European central banks. From 1965 until the Pool collapsed in 1968, this gold was sold at $35 per ounce when the world market price began to climb above $35. You can read about this here.
Finally, in August of 1971, Richard Nixon unilaterally closed the American gold window. He refused to sell gold to other central banks at $35 an ounce, which the United States government had agreed to at the Bretton Woods meeting in 1944.
The government of the United States maintains the illusion that it owns all of the gold that is stored by the Federal Reserve System on its behalf. It also maintains the illusion that it is in control of the Federal Reserve System, merely because it is officially in charge of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. But the 12 regional banks of the Federal Reserve are not part of the government. You can prove this by going to any of the Federal Reserve bank websites. They end in.org. This includes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Only the website of the board of Governors of the Federal Reserve ends |
. The bulbs themselves have US-standard E26 screw fittings. They draw 8.5 watts each at peak power, putting out 600 lumens (roughly the same amount of light as a 50-watt incandescent bulb). They're rated for 15,000 hours of continuous use, which at eight hours a day should get you upwards of five years of fun colors.
The lights are wirelessly controlled by a central bridge using Zigbee Light Link, and the starter kit's lights are preconfigured to work automatically with the included bridge. A single bridge can control up to fifty bulbs. Reprogramming the starter kit lights to work with another bridge is difficult and requires some extra hardware. Philips clearly wants you to purchase a starter kit and then expand your Hue collection by buying individual bulbs rather than multiple starter kits.
The hookup
Setting up the kit was easy. The included instructions are minimal: plug the bridge in to power and network, screw in your lights and turn them on, then download and install the iOS or Android Hue app to your smartphone or tablet. The Hue app links with the bridge over your LAN. You are then able to transform your room into a soothing tone-appropriate workspace, an artfully lit scene echoing the colors of a cherished photograph, or a nightmare clown funhouse.
The app only works via Wi-Fi with your LAN by default. If you want to use it to control your lights while you're away, you'll need to link your Hue system to Philips Web portal. This is quickly done via the Web portal itself, and thereafter the app will function from anywhere.
The app
Philips clearly took a non-geek approach to the app—rather than immediately exposing a color wheel and other controls, the app on launch presents a set of "scenes." These are pictures provided by Philips (you can add your own pictures as well, or snap some with your phone's camera). The scenes provided by Philips are all colorful, and when you tap each of them, your Hue lights shift to display colors from that scene. This is the primary way you'll be interacting with the app—scenes are preset color bookmarks for some or all of your lights. The ones Philips includes in the app give you a broad range of different colors to choose from. You can also customize them or create your own.
The lights are assigned colors from the scene. When editing a scene, each light is represented by a drop-pin with that light's number on it. As you move each light's drop-pin around the image, the color of that point in the image is faithfully reproduced by the bulb. The color fidelity is good across most of the spectrum—browns are difficult to do, and greens aren't as deep as I'd like, but blues and reds are eye-wateringly rich.
Philips claims the idea behind letting you use photographs to determine the bulbs' colors rather than just giving you a bare color wheel is to let you tie in your room lighting with memories of your favorite photographs. Did you have an amazing outdoor sunset wedding? Stick a picture of it into the app and your Hue lights will glow with orange-gold sunset tones and the dark blue of the evening sky. Got pictures of yourself hanging from that one amazing pitch you climbed at E-Rock last summer? Your Hue lights can pick out the greens and grays and blues and try to recreate the mood.
In addition to the photograph-based scenes, there are also four "recipes" in the app's scene list. Rather than being based on photos, the "recipes" are specific hues of light which Philips says will complement or enhance specific states of mind. The "Relax" recipe bathes the room in dim golds, and "Concentrate" produces clear, almost sunlight-hued light. "Energize" sends the room into stark white with a hint of blue, and "Reading" looks a lot like standard yellow incandescent light. Philips has some pseudoscientific justification about how each setting alters your brain patterns or some such, but the recipes serve a far more important function: they are the only way to single-tap your lights into a uniform uncolored state. All of the other pre-made scenes involve some amount of non-neutral colors.
Fortunately, you aren't limited to using scenes to customize your lights—more granular controls are available. At the bottom of the scene selection page is a drag handle, which you can slide upward to reveal a screen full of sliders with which you can control each light's intensity.
Tilting the phone to the side changes the sliders into a color selection screen, where you can move each light's drop-pin to tweak its shade. The left half of the screen is given over to standard lighting hues, with a color temperature range between 2000-6500K. The right half of the screen contains the whole spectrum of colors the lights can produce. Dragging one light's drop-pin onto another's temporarily groups the lights together so they display the same color and can be adjusted in lock-step.
You can create your own scenes, using photos you provide or pulling from Philips library; the Hue portal also lets you grab scenes created by others. You can make scenes based on the four built-in recipes as well. When setting up a scene, you're able to choose which lights the scene affects (which is how you can separately control different Hue bulbs in different rooms), the lights' intensity, and their colors.
You can also add a timer to each scene, which adds some neat wrinkles to how the lights can be used. You can set your custom scene to automatically activate at a certain time, either coming on immediately or fading in over a 3- or 9-minute period. A scene could easily be constructed to flip the house lights on before you arrive home from work, or to gently fade in and wake you up in the morning.
At least, that's the theory—the scheduling utility is crippled into worthlessness by not being able to set a separate schedule for weekdays versus weekends. It's all well and good to be able to have my bedroom slowly fill with warm light at 6:00 a.m. on a weekday, but I sure as hell don't want that happening on Saturday morning.
Philips, though, has gone the unusual route of not locking down the Hue's bridge. Though there is no official SDK available yet—Philips promises one is coming soon—the bridge which controls the system is actually quite receptive to hacking (the good kind of hacking, not the bad kind). This opens up a world of awesome possibilities we'll get into in just a moment.Dunne made his first-team debut for Millwall in March 2002
Long-serving defender Alan Dunne is one of 18 players released by Millwall boss Neil Harris following their relegation from the Championship.
Dunne, 32, came through the south London club's academy and made a total of 388 appearances for the Lions, scoring 23 goals.
Carlos Edwards, Ricardo Fuller, Danny Shittu and Martyn Woolford are among the 17 other players leaving The Den.
Harris will offer new deals to Jimmy Abdou and John Marquis.
On the departure of Dunne, Millwall chairman John Berylson told the club website: "It is always sad when a member of your family who has lived with you for a long time leaves home.
"He has written his own chapter in Millwall's history and he will always be very welcome whenever he returns.
"While Alan will continue his playing career elsewhere, it would not surprise me to see him back here in some capacity further down the line."
Senior players Nicky Bailey, Matthew Briggs, Richard Chaplow, Magaye Gueye, Justin Hoyte, Stefan Maierhofer and Angel Martinez have all been deemed surplus to requirements by Harris, who was appointed boss last week following a spell in interim charge.
Youngsters Dylan Casey, Sofiane El-Bekri, Denzel Gerrar, Jake Goodman, Josh Siafa and Callum Webb will also depart the club.
Edwards, 36, has been sidelined with a serious knee injury since September but has been offered the chance to continue his rehabilitation with the Lions.Side Note: Why Am I Doing This?¶
At the AAS meeting this week, David Hogg of NYU joked that I'm taking the package with the worst interface (matplotlib), the package with the steepest learning curve (d3), and finally doing the world the service of combining them. I've run into several other people who are also incredulous about this whole project. Why force-fit browser compatibility into an old tool like matplotlib, rather than simply switching to a newer tool, something like Bokeh or plot.ly or glue or vispy or d3po or d3py or any of the other approaches that are being developed with this sort of interactivity included from the ground up?
For me, the answer is two-fold. First of all, matplotlib is extremely well-established in the Scientific Python community, and even if its successor were clear, there are still a lot of people who know the package well and use it regularly. Working within the matplotlib interface will give many, many people a very easy path toward making modern, interactive, web-embeddable visualizations.
Secondly, even as people move away from matplotlib's interface, there are many newer packages which depend on matplotlib as a core renderer. The creators of projects like prettyplotlib, seaborn, ggplot-py, and others have recognized the incredible investment that's been made in matplotlib: its variety of backends support nearly any imaginable computing system and file format; its flexible (if sometimes obscure) API has everything that's needed in a good medium-data visualization tool; and over a decade of active development in the presence of a wide-ranging user-base have resulted in an incredibly robust package. For all these reasons, matplotlib provides what is perhaps the ideal foundation on which to build new, more modern and streamlined data visualization interfaces, as the three packages mentioned above have begun doing. With this in mind, a distinct advantage of the mpld3 approach is that, once it is feature-complete, it will automatically provide d3 support to these new library interfaces as well.
People have also asked me whether what I'm doing here isn't duplicative of the WebAgg backend that the matplotlib developers have put together. An initial version has been released, and there are plans to create a seamless interface between this and the IPython notebook, resulting in an interactive notebook experience with plots tied to the Python kernel. This is extremely exciting, but it has a distinct disadvantage: because of WebAgg's dependence on the Python kernel, the results cannot be simply embedded in web pages like the plots you've seen here. This is a niche that mpld3 will fill even as matplotlib's WebAgg support becomes more mature.
So, although alternatives do exist, and matplotlib does have some distinct weaknesses, I think work on mpld3 is a worthy investment that will continue to enable good work well into the future.Return of NHL 36 spotlights Chicago Blackhawks organization by NHL Press Release / Chicago Blackhawks
The NBC Sports Group, National Hockey League (NHL) and NHL Original Productions today announced the return of the popular all-access series NHL 36. The episode, which will for the first time train its cameras upon an entire team, the Chicago Blackhawks, will premiere Tuesday, May 7, immediately following the live broadcast of Game 4 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals between the Minnesota Wild and Blackhawks on NBC Sports Network (8:30 p.m. CT). NHL 36: Chicago Blackhawks will re-air on NHL Network, Sunday, May 12, at 5 p.m. CT.
Part of the acclaimed 36 Series on NBC Sports Network, NHL 36: Chicago Blackhawks will provide an all-access pass to the club that began the 2012-13 regular season with a historic 24-game point streak and went on to capture the Central Division title and Presidents' Trophy. The Blackhawks are currently making their fifth consecutive appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, matching up against the Wild in the Western Conference Quarterfinals.
Providing the ultimate behind-the-scenes peek into the League, NHL Original Productions began following the Blackhawks on April 19 and stayed with the team through 36 hours as some of the NHL's biggest stars including Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Patrick Sharp played back-to-back home games against the Nashville Predators and Phoenix Coyotes.
From the coaching staff to chairman of the board, players and team personnel, all members of the Blackhawks' family were fair game for the NHL 36 cameras. In this episode, the cameras captured head coach Joel Quenneville at home with his family discussing the possibility of missing his daughter's graduation due to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the grueling schedule of an equipment manager, the players' lighter side and chairman of the board Rocky Wirtz¹s unique relationship with the fans.
"NHL 36 is about storytelling. It is about taking fans behind the scenes, bringing them closer to the game and allowing them to witness parts of it they wouldn¹t have seen otherwise," said Bob Chesterman, NHL Vice President of Programming. "The stories that unfold in front of our cameras have universal appeal."
"Compelling, story-driven programming is a staple of our network and the 36 Series," said Jon Miller, President, Programming, NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network. "The Blackhawks incredible season and the players on this year's team, make for a very exciting NHL 36 episode."
View LessThe presidents of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities are lifting a ban on travel to North Carolina just three days after implementing it.
The travel ban implemented May 2 meant that baseball teams from several MnSCU schools would not have been able to compete for national championships being held this month in North Carolina. That shouldn’t be an issue now that the ban is being lifted because of a U.S. Justice Department ruling that came down shortly after the MnSCU ban.
The travel ban was put into place to protest a recently enacted North Carolina law that bans transgender people from using locker rooms and bathrooms designated for the gender with which they identify. MnSCU’s ban came a month after Gov. Mark Dayton directed employees of state agencies to refrain from nonessential business travel to the state.
On Wednesday, the Justice Department notified North Carolina that its transgender legislation violates the U.S. Civil Rights Act and threatened to withhold education funds if the state enforces the law.
“In light of the intervention from the U.S. Justice Department, the presidents of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities are confident that the deplorable discrimination embedded in North Carolina’s legislation is being addressed,” the MnSCU presidents said in a statement Thursday. “Therefore, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities have lifted their ban on travel to North Carolina.”
Dayton also is considering lifting his ban, said spokesman Matt Swenson.
“Gov. Dayton agrees with the decision announced today by MnSCU’s leadership,” Swenson said. “In light of recent actions taken by the U.S. Department of Justice, Gov. Dayton is now considering whether to lift the travel ban for Minnesota’s state agency employees.”
The NCAA’s Division II baseball championship will be May 28-June 4 in Cary, N.C. St. Cloud State, ranked third nationally in the latest Division II poll, is a contender for the tournament.
The National Junior College Athletic Association championships for Division III schools also will be held in North Carolina, in Kinston. Century College in White Bear Lake and St. Cloud Tech were ranked seventh and eighth nationally in the latest poll.
MnSCU’s short-lived ban drew some ire from team coaches. When the ban was announced Tuesday, Century coach Dwight Kotila told the Pioneer Press that student-athletes would be the ones penalized.
“I support the opposition to the laws that were passed there. It’s not human what they’re doing,” Kotila said. “On the other hand, I have to look out for my student-athletes, too. Is this fair for them to be used to make a statement?”
On Thursday, Kotila said he was relieved that the ban was lifted. He said the situation has been a learning experience for his players, who saw how seemingly unrelated circumstances can impact their lives.
“I just told the guys this is out of our control. Let’s hope the people who make the decisions change their minds,” Kotila said. “And they ultimately did.”
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities include 30 community and technical colleges and seven state universities serving approximately 400,000 students.I don’t post to this site much any more (something I’m hoping to do better with from here on out) but I had to break my long silence to share this with you all. Ashes of the Singularity is a new twist on the large-scale RTS formula, a beast quite different from other large-scale RTS such as Supreme Commander or Planetary Annihilation. Its focus is almost more tactical than economical, and it uses a Company of Heroes-style territory capture system that I found to be quite interesting. In my overview of the game, I mentioned that I find its quanta system, which is used for upgrades, increasing the player’s supply cap, and for launching superweapons. It’s a tactical, constrained, interesting resource in a game that’s all about massive scale and epic battles, and its use creates opportunity costs and hard choices, which are some of the most interesting decisions players can make in games of any genre.
Stardock has just announced the game’s first expansion, an expandalone title called Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation. Upon receiving an email from Stardock’s media department, I immediately contacted them for some clarification. Here are some of the salient points:
They’ve got a new intro site up here.
Current owners will be able to get it for $15USD, while new owners can get in on the action for $40USD
They’re increasing the player cap and map size up to 8v8.
They’ve unveiled a strategic view, seemingly similar to what’s used in Deserts of Kharak and Act of Aggression, and possibly replacing the “super minimap” (I’m sure that wasn’t the official term) that the game launched with. Look at it, below. I’m already a fan – Even as someone who’s only played a few dozen hours of the game, I feel that this provides a lot of information about the larger-scale state of a battle.
Escalation will come with 2 new campaigns and a slew of challenge missions.
Both of the game’s factions will get new units and structures, including new air units for both factions (which will be very welcome for me, as someone who is a big fan of air superiority). Sadly there’s not a ton of specifics on this yet, though the Substrate are apparently getting an economic booster unit, which will just further cement them as my favorite of the game’s 2 current factions.
Full press release below:
Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation increases map size, player count, unit types, adds strategic zoom and more Next-Generation real-time strategy game gets bigger and better Plymouth, MI. – August 24, 2016 – Stardock revealed Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation today. The stand-alone expansion includes everything from the base game while adding features and
content requested by players. Escalation increases the player count per map from 8 to 16, doubles the size of the largest map type, introduces two new story-driven campaigns, adds strategic zoom to manage world-sized battles, includes many new units, supports upgradeable defensive structures and much more. “Bigger, better, bolder – that’s what Escalation is,” said Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock. “We listened carefully to the feedback the players gave us on the release, rolled up our sleeves, and have created what we hope is one of the most epic scale real-time strategy games ever.” The original release of Ashes of the Singularity was praised for both its innovative game mechanics and as being the first game to support Microsoft’s DirectX 12, enabling the game to deliver high scale with high fidelity. With Escalation, Stardock and Oxide have focused on making the game support a much wider user base. “With Escalation we’ve been able to use Oxide’s Nitrous engine to deliver stunning visuals while lowering the hardware requirements,” said Wardell. “Anyone running Windows 7 or later with a decent hardware setup who likes real-time strategy games becomes a potential player.” The game, set in a post-technological singularity future, puts the player in the role of the commander of either the post-singularity humans or their AI opponents called The Substrate. That game supports map sizes ranging from small, arena-style all the way up to world spanning massive maps with up to 16 players. All of the races from Ashes of the Singularity get new units and buildings in Escalation. For example, the PHC gains some new defensive structures, a strategic bomber, a gunship, new combat vehicles and more. Meanwhile, The Substrate gain defensive structures including an anti-air cannon, as well as
some new flying units and a unit that bolsters their economy, among others. While Ashes of the Singularity has many strong multiplayer features, Stardock expects most people to play the game exclusively single-player. To that end, Escalation adds two new campaigns that provide players a host of new custom challenges in addition to the already excellent single player sandbox game. Escalation will be available for pre-order on 8/25/16 and will release Fall 2016. At release, existing Ashes players can upgrade for $14.99 and new players can get Escalation for $39.99.After publishing my hands-on impressions with Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward at E3 this week, I received a wealth of questions from fellow FFXIV fans. A few of them I was able to answer based on my experience yesterday, but a few required that I go back and play the expansion again. So, I went on my second journey to Square Enix's booth this morning to answer some of the current unknowns regarding the expansion, most of which are about its new jobs and skills.
Check out the questions and answers below.
Question #1 by HeavenSplitter
Is there anyway you could tell me how much time Fang and Claw and Wheeling Thrust add to the timer of Blood of the Dragon and is there anyway you could explain which finisher is shown in the benchmark/skill trailer and what the animation looks like of the finisher that hasn't been shown? Plz :3
Fang and Claw as well as Wheeling Thrust (the new tier four Dragoon skills) increase Blood of the Dragon by 15 seconds. However, there is an imposed 30 second limit to Blood of the Dragon's buff. In the new job skills trailer Fang and Claw is shown. While I wasn't allowed to film Wheeling Thrust, its animation has your character perform a front flip with the spear slamming the foe, and then you do a 360 slash. Green spell effect appears during this animation. It looks much better than the other three Full Thrust combo skills.
Question #2 by Heavensplitter
I guess my last few questions would be did you notice a change in heavy thrust, phlebotimize, and life surge? I know they showed in the patch notes that they were getting changed. I'm assuming duration buffs for HT and Phleb, but not sure what they'd do with Life Surge. Definitely looking forward to seeing Wheeling Thrust myself. Also the big theorycrafting question. How much does Geirskogul reduce BotD for?
Heavy Thrust and Phlebotomize now have a 24 second duration. I'm unsure about Life Surge. Gierskogul reduces Blood of the Dragon by 10 seconds.
Question #3 by HeavenlyArmed
I'd like to know for sure if Gierskogul completely consumes BotD, even when its duration is at full, what they changed about Life Surge, and if possible see how strong the crit buff from Battle Litany is. Thanks for all the info, you've actually been more helpful to theorycrafters than the patch notes were.
Battle Litany is a 15% critical strike buff for yourself and nearby teammates that lasts 10 seconds.
Question #4 by Stoxastic
Not sure if you took notice of this, but do you happen to know the debuff(s) that the dark knight can put on enemies? I know they have a move that "weakens" enemies but I was wondering if you had more specifics.
Reprisal is a 10% damage reduction debuff that can only be used after a parry. Dark Mind lasts 10 seconds and "lowers magic vulnerability reduction to 30 percent" (bizarre wording). I didn't find any other major debuffs, as most of the skills activate mitigation or restore mana.
Question #5 by SilentLettersSuck
Also, was the stun on or off GCD?
The Dark Knight's Low Blow stun is off GCD.
Question #6 by orangemarmaladeftw
Do you know how the Mch debuffs work? Like the phys and magical dmg reduction ones?
Rend Mind hits the enemy with a 5% less damage dealt for 10 seconds debuff. It shares a recast with Dismantle.
Question #7 by Mockbuster
Could you find out what kinda potencies are on Astrologian regen moves? I'm mostly curious because attaching Regen until C1/C2 sounds so weird. The shield too would be nice.
Benefict is a 15 second HoT with 380 potency. Helios heals both you and your target for 290 potency.
Question #8 by hito-intus
The AOE lightning turret…. is it a PBAOE pulse around itself? or does it splash AOE on its target, like… chucking explosive lightning bombs, or something?
The Machinist's Bishop turret (AoE) pulsates around itself. You place it on the ground at a spot of your choosing (provided it's within range). Neither turret moves.
Question #9 by Vanriel
I was under the impression that Scholar was the healing class that relied on DoTs for damage?
The Astrologian is limited offensively, and two of its primary damage dealers (Combust and Combust 2) are DoTs.
Question #10 by therealkami
What was the cooldown on Sheltron?
The Paladin's Sheltron is a 30 second cooldown that blocks the next physical attack.
Question #11 by Drazzan
I'm unsure if it's been asked here, or if you've provided the answer, but did you fight any open-world monsters? Yoshida said that they will be much more challenging and an equal level monster will give adequate challenge, is that the case?
I battled a variety of mobs ranged from level 50 to 56 as a level 60 of each job in full endgame gear. They were certainly more difficult than what I was used to with A Realm Reborn. Astrologian was the only job that I truly struggled to compete with these mobs, though.
Question #12 by dijital
Did you mess with NIN at all? People are REALLY curious about their new positionals.
The only positional I found was a change to Aeolian Edge. It will now have a 240 base potency that increases to 320 when at the rear of the target.
Random Fact #1
The Dragoon's Fang and Claw has a 100 potency, but it's 290 from the rear of a target.
Random Fact #2
The Astrologian's Combust DoT deals 40 potency over 18 seconds.
Random Fact #3
The Monk's Tornado Kick has a cooldown of 60 seconds. It hits for 330 potency and drops all stacks of Greased Lightning.
Random Fact #4
Astrologian's Nocturnal and Dirunal Sect only appear to affect spells with the name "Aspected" in front of them. For example, there's a Helios and an Aspected Helios. Aspected Helios will either have a bonus shield or regen depending on which Sect you're in.
Random Fact #5
The Dragoon's Geirskogul is a 200 potency frontal cone AoE.
Thanks to everyone who submitted questions and left feedback. A special thanks to the FFXIV sub-Reddit for providing great discussion and questions. I had a ton of fun playing FFXIV: Heavensward, and can't wait for Early Access this Friday.
One last note. I managed to grab two of the E3 2015 exclusive Heavensward prints while at the show (you can see one here). I will be posting a giveaway tomorrow where you can enter for a chance to win one. Meanwhile, feel free to shoot over any questions you might have about FFXIV or Heavensward in the comments below.It’s 8:30 on a Friday morning at the Van Nuys airport, in Los Angeles, as a Gulfstream IV is preparing to take off for the two-hour flight to Denver. The passenger manifest sounds like the setup to a joke, or a road movie:
There’s Tyson, a tattooed dog trainer, seated on a couch with his pit bull, with whom he communicates using nonsense syllables and telepathy. On one side of a polished wood table that holds a fresh-fruit basket and a backgammon board is the actress Jennifer Tilly, glamorous even in torn jeans and a pair of Converse All-Stars. The tousled-haired guy in the window seat beside her, wearing a Bruce Lee T-shirt and drawstring pajama bottoms, is her boyfriend, World Series of Poker champion Phil Laak. In the seat facing mine, looking lovely in a platinum pixie-style haircut, sits Pamela Anderson, wearing no makeup, somehow managing to be dressed up and dressed down at the same time in a short but otherwise modest black dress and ankle boots with four-inch heels. She looks up from a phone—its pink case has the words “Mrs. Salomon” written in sparkly letters on it—and grins.
We are all headed to the 720-acre Wild Animal Sanctuary, just outside of Denver, where we’re hoping to catch a glimpse of six newly born bear cubs. The two new mothers were among 17 bears, fated to live their lives pacing back and forth in the concrete holes of a grim roadside bear-pit attraction in rural Georgia, subsisting on white bread and soda thrown to them by tourists, until our host for this trip paid to facilitate their release. We will also pay a visit to Marley, another rescued female grizzly, who is recovering from the two broken legs inflicted on her as a last-minute parting gift when she was badly beaten by her previous owners. Her surgery was also paid for by our host.
He is Sam Simon, 59-year-old comedy force of nature, co-creator of The Simpsons, animal-rights activist, ardent vegan and philanthropist, art collector, poker champion, and a friend for 30 years. In the field of comedy writing, full to overflowing with the sedentary, the professionally whiny, and the proudly self-involved, Sam Simon stands out as an anomaly. Diagnosed with terminal colon cancer in 2012 and given three to six months to live, he is now focused like a laser, in a race against time, making sure that all that money—hundreds of millions of dollars—made from his years of work on The Simpsons and other television shows is being channeled directly into the charitable causes he loves.
Sitting across the table from Tilly and Laak, next to makeup artist Kate Porter, a current girlfriend, is Sam himself, completely bald from the chemo but looking fit and even radiant in a black hoodie with a rainbow appliqué and white jeans. His most recent chemo was two days earlier. That means he probably doesn’t feel all that great today. But he seems to have more energy than anyone else on board.
Photograph by Mark Seliger.
“I’ve really just gotten to know Sam personally over the last few months, when we started working out together,” Pamela Anderson, also an animal-rights crusader, tells me later. “To be able to be so generous at this time in his life is so inspiring. I feel honored to know him.” Sam has already told me about the exercises he now does, taught to him by a trainer Pam brought over to his house. They allowed him to keep walking after neuropathy hit so hard that he became unable to feel his legs below the knees.
Jennifer Tilly is Sam’s ex-wife and now one of his best friends. She has accompanied him to all of his chemo sessions since the cancer hit, even making sure she got one day a week off to fly to Los Angeles written into her contract while she was performing in a play in New York.
As the plane taxis down the runway, Sam opens up a briefcase full of medical-marijuana-laced snacks. “Mention I have a vegan pot chef,” he calls to me. He holds up a container of strawberry cannabis lemonade and laughs. Sam punctuates most of his sentences with a distinct laugh. It starts out a big deep rumbling guffaw, which longtime Simpsons writer and producer George Meyer describes as “startling, like the squawk of a macaw,” except that it keeps on going, longer than you’d expect, “until it fades into a whoosh, like the last squeeze of a Sriracha bottle.” The laugh happens whenever Sam says something he knows is funny, which is often. And also when he says something that is dark and horribly unfunny. Like when he’s talking about an undercover PETA operation that recorded one of the roadside-bear-attraction owners talking about his bears.
“If they got a cub, they would kill the adult,” Sam tells me. “The cubs make more money—they’re cuter.” Then they’d eat the adult. “They said, ‘There’s nothing tastier than a bear raised on white bread and soda pop.’”
Sam laughs.
Sanctuary##
‘I’ve got sun bears, moon bears, grizzly bears, Syrian bears, brown bears,” Sam tells me as we approach the Wild Animal Sanctuary a few hours later. “I have 11 bears in Dallas and 23 in Colorado—but they just had six cubs.” There are also two rescued chimps at a sanctuary in Florida, a racehorse in Virginia, and some 500 chinchillas rescued from a chinchilla ranch in California. If all goes well, an elephant will soon join the roster.
The last time Sam visited the sanctuary was when the newly rescued bears had just arrived. He insisted on being the one who opened the cage door to welcome one of the 500-pound grizzlies to a life of freedom.
“Why was I doing shit like that?” he asks me, now slack-jawed as he views the CNN footage of himself, from January, standing an inch from the uncaged grizzly bear. “I don’t understand. It’s extremely dangerous. Dying young, you learn that life is precious, and you think, Why the fuck did I almost kill myself?” He laughs.
Unfortunately, when we arrive at the Wild Animal Sanctuary, the cubs are off in their dens with their mothers, choosing not to make an appearance. None of us, including their benefactor, gets so much as a glimpse of them. We do, however, pay an extended visit to the hospitalized Marley, who doctors say is recovering nicely from her successful antibiotic implants. As she roams around a cage full of bear toys at the sanctuary’s medical facility, her still-crooked front legs and the places where the hair hasn’t yet grown back make her look like an enormous man in a bad bear suit.
Sam approaches her cage and crouches down so they are eye to eye. He offers her a biscuit, which she gently accepts.
“I always try to tell them, I know the past few days have been rough, but everything’s going to be O.K. from now on,” he says later when I ask him what he was thinking when he was inches from Marley’s enormous head. “I used to say it out loud, until Jennifer Tilly overheard me.”
Dysfunctional Start##
Sam Simon was born in Los Angeles in 1955 to a beautiful, volatile, and occasionally violent mother who owned an art gallery in Venice Beach called the Functional Art Gallery, which featured “one-of-a-kind artist-designed home items.” Throughout Sam’s childhood, Joan Simon frequently entertained contemporary artists in their Beverly Hills home. “I did know a lot of famous artists growing up,” Sam recalls. “Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Ed Kienholz. Definitely all the California guys, like Chris Burden and Baldessari.”
Arthur Simon, Sam’s father, played basketball at U.C.L.A. until he lost a leg in World War II. He ended up owning a factory in Los Angeles that made a women’s line of designer-knockoff clothes called Sun and Sand. The Simon family lived comfortably in a two-level, midcentury home in the kind of celebrity-filled Beverly Hills neighborhood where, when the family dog went missing, “it was returned by my neighbor Elvis Presley in a limousine,” Sam tells me. “This was during a period when he wasn’t such a big deal,” he adds, and was considered “kind of schmaltzy.”
His parents’ marriage was rocky. “I think drinking fueled a lot of it,” he says. Sam’s relationship with his mother was “tempestuous.” “My mother hit me once for not making a martini dry enough, when I was nine years old,” he recalls. “We used to fight all the time and have extended periods where we didn’t talk.” He shifts into an oversize theatrically whispered aside, “I would have to say there were no winners,” then mutters, “I have cancer. You’re supposed to let go.
“I have to be very careful about how I phrase this traumatic childhood memory,” Sam tells me, recalling an incident, when he was five, between his mother and a famous neighbor. “I walked in on Groucho Marx and my mother in my parents’ bedroom. They were both on the bed. They were fully clothed. I saw him jump off the bed into my sight line, and then she was sitting up.” Sam starts chuckling. “I don’t know exactly what happened. My mother might have been fighting for her honor.” He laughs again. “Though I think I may have overheard Groucho saying, ‘I can see you in the kitchen, bending over a hot stove. Now I can’t see the stove.’ “ He laughs harder.
By the time Sam was in grade school, he was considered an art prodigy. His carefully crosshatched drawings were so articulate for a child that he became a recurring guest on a local television talk show, where he would stand at a drawing pad and illustrate any portion of a children’s book that the hosts read out loud. Eventually his abilities landed him at a lunch with Walt Disney, who predicted that one day Sam would come to work for his company.
During his years at Beverly Hills High, Sam wrestled and played offensive tackle and middle guard on the football team. But it was his cartoons for the school paper that won him “Most Humorous” and “Most Talented” in |
300th career goal on Sunday. He missed last season's playoffs because of a back injury.
Marco Scandella is also out week-to-week with a lower body injury. He went to the locker room during the first period after getting his right leg tangled in a scrum Thursday. Scandella has one assist in seven games this season.
Minnesota recalled forwards Tyler Graovac and Christoph Bertschy from AHL Iowa and sent down left wing Teemu Pulkkinen.Video released by the Mohave County (Ariz.) Sheriff's Office shows the seconds before a 9-year-old girl at a shooting range accidentally killed an instructor when she lost control of the Uzi he was showing her how to use. (Mohave County Sheriff's Office)
The family of a shooting instructor who was accidentally killed by a 9-year-old with an Uzi has filed suit, claiming it was unsafe to give the firearm to the girl.
“The Uzi was not a safe or appropriate weapon to entrust to a 9-year-old girl like the Child Shooter, which caused her to lose control of the weapon when firing,” states the wrongful-death lawsuit filed earlier this month in Mohave County Superior Court.
The lawsuit was filed against the Arizona gun range where the shooting occurred and businesses involved in its operation, attorney Marc Lamber told The Washington Post. It does not name the child who pulled the trigger or her family.
“They feel like she and her parents … have been scarred enough, they’ve endured enough, by having to live through this,” Lamber said Friday.
Killed in the shooting was Charles Vacca, an instructor at a shooting range about an hour from Las Vegas. The 9-year-old girl involved in the accident later said the gun was “too much for her,” according to a report released by the Mohave County Sheriff’s Department.
The incident, which happened Aug. 25, 2014, turned deadly after Vacca let the girl fire the Uzi on her own. The recoil on the gun sent it straight in the air, and Vacca was hit. He had set the gun to “automatic” before he was killed, video footage of the incident showed.
Vacca was struck in the head and died later that night.
[Previously: Girl who accidentally shot her instructor with an Uzi said the gun was too much for her]
“The Uzi was an inappropriate and unsafe weapon to entrust to a 9-year-old girl like the Child Shooter, thereby creating an unreasonably dangerous and unsafe environment for individuals in the area, including Charles J. Vacca, Jr.,” the lawsuit states.
A message left at the shooting range was not immediately returned Friday.
“What we have here is a complaint that says the operation we saw where Charlie Vacca was killed was fundamentally unsafe. It’s fundamentally unsafe to give machine guns to children,” James Goodnow, another attorney for the Vacca family, told ABC News.
The shooting prompted a debate about gun safety and children, and left many questioning whether someone so young should have been handling the powerful firearm. At the time, The Washington Post’s Sandhya Somashekhar and Mark Berman reported:
The incident, captured in part on a grainy video released by police, drew immediate rebukes from gun-control advocates, who said it highlighted the dangers of children having access to firearms. In a rare moment of agreement, some gun rights advocates also took the incident as a warning that perhaps such young children should not be allowed to handle such a notoriously difficult and deadly weapon. But the pro-gun advocates added that, when done safely, there are benefits to teaching even very young children to shoot certain guns. Youngsters learn hand-eye coordination. They learn what to do if they stumble upon a weapon on the playground. And they learn how to defend themselves if they are ever attacked.
In the wake of the fatal accident, Vacca’s children urged the girl to move on. No charges were issued after the incident.
“Our dad would want you to know that you should move forward with your life,” Elizabeth, one of his daughters, says in a video. “You should not let this define you.”
“You are only 9 years old,” said one of Vacca’s sons. “We think about you. We are worried about you. We pray for you. And we wish you peace. Our dad would want the same thing.”
The family of Charlie Vacca, who was killed in August when a 9-year-old girl accidentally shot him with an Uzi at the gun range where he worked, recorded a message to the young girl expressing concern for her and saying their dad would want her to move forward with her life and "love herself." (Courtesy of LamberGoodnow.com)
Read More:
Deaf man fatally shot by trooper in North Carolina
‘George Zimmerman 2.0’: Family demands justice after white homeowner kills black man
A white homeowner called 911 to report ‘hoodlums’ outside. Then he fatally shot a black man.Manolo Gabbiadini joined Napoli in 2015 from Sampdoria
Everton are in talks with Napoli to sign Italy forward Manolo Gabbiadini, according to Sky sources.
It is understood the Italian club want £25m for the 24-year-old and several reports in Italy claim the Toffees have already had a £19.6m offer rejected.
Gabbiadini signed for Napoli in January last year for £10.2m from Sampdoria and has scored 20 goals for the Naples club.
He was not part of Italy's squad for Euro 2016 but he has earned six caps for his country, the most recent in September 2015.
Ronald Koeman is keen to bolster his squad further before the transfer deadline
Everton, backed by wealthy new ownership, have spent significantly in the transfer window so far this summer - over £50m on five new players - and they are still looking to strengthen before Wednesday's deadline.
They are hoping to sign a new winger-forward. Gabbiadini began his career at Atalanta and signed for Juventus in 2012 but was shipped out on loan to Bologna and then sold to Sampdoria in 2013.By JAMES SLACK
Last updated at 17:22 16 December 2007
Sex slaves smuggled illegally into Britain are to share millions of pounds in compensation for their 'pain and trauma', it has emerged.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority - slated for long delays in making payments to the victims of violent crime - agreed to hand over £140,000 to the first four cases last week.
The women had suffered a'sustained period of sexual abuse' after being trafficked into the UK.
Another 10,000 are estimated to be eligible under a new interpretation of guidelines drawn up by CICA, a Government agency.
The authority told the London law firm Lovells, which is acting for a number of the victims, that it would 'officially recognise' the trauma experienced by thousands of women and children.
It is likely to re-open controversy over the way victims of sex trafficking should be treated.
The Home Office is already faced with a dilemma over the deportation of illegal immigrants forced to work in the sex trade, with Ministers indicating some may be allowed to stay.
But they also recognise the danger that offering help to trafficking victims - including compensation payments - could encourage illegal immigration.
The women who received £140,000 were smuggled from eastern Europe by British-based criminals using established international sex trafficking networks.
One girl was illegally brought into the UK five years ago, aged 13. Another was trafficked in 2003 when she was 16. Both were kept prisoner by the same trafficking syndicate until they managed to escape at the start of last year.
According to lawyers, who have agreed to protect the identity of claimants, they were subject to 'forced prostitution, multiple rapes and beatings' while being held captive in the UK.
In addition, their captors refused to give the victims money and warned they would be killed if they fled. The highest award paid to the four was £62,000, and the lowest £16,500.
The payments were made for 'false imprisonment and forced prostitution during the time of their imprisonment'.
Last week, CICA was attacked by the Government's official spending watchdog for delaying payments to people who have been attacked by violent thugs.
Inspectors said the body is taking longer to deal with cases, failing to reduce the number of ineligible applications and missing its targets.
A growing backlog of cases means more than 81,000 people are still waiting to find out if they will receive any support.
Gillian Guy, chief executive of Victim Support, said: 'Delays in processing claims are worrying and the long-term increase in turnaround time does need resolving.'This question on Stack Overflow is a fairly common one. Here is the data:
And the question was about how to get RavenDB to create an index that would have the following results:
{ CarId: "cars/1", PersonId: "people/1235", UnitId: "units/4321", Make: "Toyota", Model: "Prius" FirstName: "Ayende", LastName: "Rahien" Address: "Komba 10, Hadera" } { CarId: "cars/2", PersonId: "people/1236", UnitId: "units/4321", Make: "Toyota", Model: "4runner" FirstName: "test", LastName: "test" Address: "blah blah" } same unit different person owns a different car
Now, if you try really hard, you can probably try to get something like that, but that is the wrong way to go about this in RavenDB.
Instead, we can write the following index:
Note that this index is a simple multi map index, it isn’t a multi map/reduce index. There is no need.
This index can return one of three types.
Car – just show the car to the user
Person – now that we have a person, we have the id, and we can query for that:
Unit – now that we have a unit, we have the id, and we can query for that:
This method means that we have to generate an additional query for some cases, but it has a lot of advantages. It is simple. It requires very little work from both client and server and it doesn’t suffer from the usual issues that you run into when you attempt to query over multiple disjointed data sets.
Now, the bad thing about this is that this won’t allow me to query for cross entity values, so it would be hard for me to query for the cars in Hadera owned by Ayende. But in most cases, that isn’t really a requirement. We just want to be able to search by either one of those, not all of them.Relaxnews
A team of Canadian researchers has quashed the theory behind a popular diet that prescribes eating foods according to your blood type.
The news may come as a blow to faithful followers of the internationally best-selling book “Eat Right for Your Type” first penned by naturopath Peter D’Adamo in 1996. Disappointed fans may include celebrities such as Miranda Kerr, Demi Moore and Elizabeth Hurley, who are said to be followers.
For their study, published in PLoS One this week, researchers from the University of Toronto examined the dietary intake and blood type of 1,455 healthy young adults.
After comparing the information against the food items listed in the book, researchers came to the unequivocal conclusion that the blood type diet is baseless.
“It was an intriguing hypothesis so we felt we should put it to the test,” said study author Ahmed El-Sohemy in a statement.
“We can now be confident in saying that the blood type diet hypothesis is false,”
According to D’Adamo, different foods are said to react chemically with individual blood types. To lose weight and decrease the risk of chronic diseases, the naturopath advises eating -- and avoiding -- certain foods in relation to one’s blood type.
For example, those with a type O blood type are advised to follow a high-protein diet that’s light on grains, beans and dairy. Those with type B blood are advised to avoid everything from corn, wheat and lentils to tomatoes and chicken in favor of greens, eggs, and low-fat dairy.
The book has sold more than 5 million copies in 50 languages around the world.
The Canadian study follows on the heels of another review that debunked the blood type diet, published last year in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.Oscar winning animated film “Frozen” is set to be premiered in Hindi on Disney Channel. And songstress Sunidhi Chauhan has decided to lend her voice to the popular character of Elsa.
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“After a lot of research and watching the movie at least three times, Sunidhi will bring the magic alive of the Kingdom of Arendelle by playing the iconic role of Elsa, which will include singing ‘Fanaa ho’, an Indian adaptation of the hugely successful song from the English version of the film, ‘Let it go’,” said a source.
The 2013 movie will be aired on the channel on December 12 at 12 p.m.
[related-post]
“Frozen” is about a newly crowned Queen Elsa, who accidentally uses her power to turn things into ice and eventually curses her home in infinite winter. The story is about how her sister teams up with a mountain man, his playful reindeer, and a snowman to change the weather condition.It’s been nearly two weeks since Russell Simmons’ RushCard mysteriously froze their financial accounts and left their customers without access to their funds. Now, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is stepping in to suss out what the fuck is going on.
Here’s the statement from CFPB’s Facebook page on their RushCard investigation:
“It is outrageous that consumers have not had access to their money for more than a week. We are looking into this very troubling issue. Consumers increasingly are relying on prepaid products to keep their funds, make purchases, and manage their money. Customers who are still affected by this situation should consider stopping their direct deposit, so that they can get their next paycheck by check or have it deposited in another account. Consumers can also ask anyone who has charged them a late fee on a payment affected by this delay to waive that fee. More generally, all consumers using prepaid cards should watch the transactions on their accounts, and report any problem promptly to the prepaid card issuer. The Bureau accepts consumer complaints at or by phone toll-free at 855-411-2372.”
As the fallout continues, Russell’s been tweeting jilted RushCard customers personally and promising to fix it.
This is better than his original tweet (now deleted but captured on Jezebel and elsewhere) on the matter, in which the mogul discussed praying for those affected but didn’t discuss returning funds.
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Consumer Reports has retracted its initial support of the RushCard and advised their readers to explore other options, according to ThinkProgress. Brass at the RushCard company told the publication that the “vast majority” of the customers have had their monetary issues rectified though a “handful” are still in the shit, thanks their “tech change.”
As my colleague Jia Tolentino wrote, companies like the RushCard prey on those with little financial means, bad credit, precarious jobs, unstable income, little financial literacy and language barriers. Even if one doesn’t live check-to-check, the inability to access your own money or have chunks go missing is unacceptable.
With the benefit of hindsight, the RushCard was never a great deal for anybody except the people who profited from its use. It charged$20 activation fee, a $10 monthly fee and transaction fees up to $2.50. Furthermore, if someone steals a Rushcard customer’s identity and empties their account, there’s little recourse; the card doesn’t really help in building a solid credit history and once you sign up, you can’t sue the company.
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Contact the author at hillary@jezebel.com.I love stories of women being inspired by their moms' styles. Maybe because I can't relate at all.
Mother-influenced fashion is the basis of a new book, photographer Jeannette Montgomery Barron's lovely paeon to her own late mother, a ladylike fashion-lover who in later years suffered from Alzheimer's. As the Washington Post's Robin Givhan says,
The fur coat, with her mother's name "Ellie M." embroidered in the lining, is spread out on the green grass. The princess lines of the coat swing out jauntily. That lush lawn emphasizes that the choice of fur by a woman who lived in Atlanta had little to do with practicality and everything to do with style and desire. A single gold slingback looks suspended in midair. It's angled downward as if a photographer captured a ghost in the middle of a pirouette. The gold brocade pattern of an Yves Saint Laurent coat competes with the gold and pine green print wallpaper in the background. It is a cacophonous image of indulgence. You can practically hear "Ellie M." walking into a party, the swish-swish of her coat as it brushed against her legs.
This inheritance of style, the conjuring of prior generations through a garment, is also a staple of Vogue's remembering first-persons, in which writers reminisce fondly about raiding their mothers' closets. In her book I love Your Style, Amanda Brooks showcases designer fashions from generations past - a surrealist cape, a diamond bracelet, a Dior original. And an interview with the HuffPO, fashion blogger Garance Doré reveals,
During the '70s and '80s, [my mother] was really very stylish. She would travel and go to The Palace, a discothèque in Paris. She was wearing crazy things and she was a little bit rebellious. She would wear Thierry Mugler, and you couldn't really wear that in the little city where she lived [in Corsica], but she didn't care. She was doing it.
In a recent photo contest, the Sartorialist (Doré's partner, incidentally) called for stylish family pictures and the response was enormous: generations of dapper folk in Schiaparelli and Chanel or ingenious homemade masterpieces, gallivanting around the world in high style. I briefly thought about submitting a picture. I dutifully looked through the photo-albums my aunt had helpfully uploaded and scanned through hundreds of pictures. And there was nary a one. Clearly, "style" was not a priority for any member of my family ever — be it in Europe, Arkansas, the South Bronx or a depression-era Washington D.C. My grandparents seem to have been wholly disinterested in the New Look. Their parents totally missed the memo about at-home dressmaking. And as for the 70s, when everyone's mom was supposed to be the epitome of Me-Decade glam, well, I guess my mom was busy doing something else. (Although the great-great aunt pictured above looks undeniably awesome.)
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I mean no disrespect to my mother when I say this; she'd be the first to say — not without a certain pride — that she could care less about clothes. And it's also not to say that, in these pictures, she doesn't look beautiful because she does (and, as she's quick to point out, when her three gay roommates dressed her, she looked perfectly stylish and was never once turned away from Studio 54, thank you very much.) And let me add that even were her closet a cache of vintage Halston, it's not like I could wear it: she's more than three inches taller than I and with none of the curves. There are associations, of course - her "dress sweats," or the controversial linen jumper she wore winter and summer until, one weekend when she was out of town, my dad and brother bundled into the car and drove it two states away, then denied all knowledge of its whereabouts. But I can't say any of them are of the style-inheritance varietal, and it must also be said that I looked positively bizarre for the years she dressed me in a series of oversized flannel sacks. "Well, you have the books," she said matter-of-factly when I jokingly brought it up. "And you're welcome to the dress sweats."
Jeannette Barron Tries To Draw memories, Knowledge From Mother's Clothes [Washington Post]
Garance Doré Talks Blogging, High Heels & Being The Sartorialist's Girlfriend [Huffington Post]
The Sartorialist Talks About His Vintage Photo Contest [Huffington Post]Matija Nastasic is currently on loan at Schalke until the end of the season.
Matija Nastasic says he would like to make his loan move from Manchester City to Schalke permanent.
Nastasic, 21, joined the Bundesliga club until the end of the season in January, having failed to impress Manuel Pellegrini at City.
Schalke have the option to buy the Serbia international in the summer, and having featured in all three of their games since the winter break, he is keen to remain at the Veltins-Arena.
"I am happy to be here and I am looking forward to every single match," he told Bild. "After the end of the season we all need to get together and see what the best solution is.
"But it is a fact: I would like to stay on long-term at this club. My long-term plan is playing for Schalke."
Nastasic received little playing time under Pellegrini this season and failed to make a single appearance in the Premier League before joining Schalke.The expansion and evolution of our brains can be likened to the growth of villages into vast sprawling cities over hundreds of years. We started with a few houses, slowly building up and out as we needed more housing or more services, connecting the different parts of our cities with highways, and building specific areas to specialise in certain tasks, be it food, financial services, or manufacture. Similarly, the human brain is the result of millions of years of evolution and growth, it is a magnificent sprawling metropolis enshrining the very best (or worst) of what evolution can produce. The brain can be looked at in this way, with the oldest parts of the brain encased near the centre.
While this metaphor is a bit clunky, in that it doesn’t quite do our brain’s incredibly complex inner workings true justice, it does work on one level to help us understand how our brain has evolved. The amygdala, and other parts of the limbic system, were present in early fish and have come quite a way since then. As mammals evolved, so did their brain, allowing them to live, hunt, and survive in packs, master fire, language, civilisation (for the most part), and eventually land where we are today. Yet what we rely on today, for a lot of our decision making, is often still the amygdala and the limbic system, rather than the expanded frontal cortex.
The “old brain” deals with emotions like fear, anger, and aggression – this is where your animal instincts and “fight or flight” mechanism comes from. These processes and reactions work without conscious thought because conscious thought is far too slow and lumbering to have been useful to animals and humans millions of years ago! Yet while our brains have evolved to allow us to use higher cognitive functions that society as a whole now requires like reasoning and logic, it is often still the “old brain” that will drive our reactions – particularly when we become scared or angry.
This problem rears its head in society more often than you would think, in the hyper-partisan politically charged times we are living in these “old brain” functions suddenly become much more relevant. When we see a screaming baby on a bus, although we may be irritated, our logical brain tells us not to scream or lash out at the child or the parent (as much as we may want to at times). Yet when it comes to politics many people are being manipulated by fear without even noticing, and often at the loss of reason and logic. While the politics of fear is far too great a topic to discuss at length here, it does raise an interesting question. Can people become aware that they are being manipulated by fear? And if so how can they reach this realisation?
The amygdala is often the dominating part of the brain in children, they have to learn to understand and control their reactions. Rather than simply crying or screaming like a child, they have to learn to deal with disappointment, to understand the feelings and emotions that are hardwired into the animalistic nature of our brains. Similarly, U.S. Navy SEALs are put through a rigorous test to see how they react when faced with visceral fears. They are placed underwater and someone is sent to turn off their breathing equipment and tie it in knots – the best applicants can master their fear and try to untie the knots, whereas many panic and swim to the surface gasping for air.
There have been many ways proposed to help better understand and “talk” to your amygdala; mindfulness meditation, breathing, and focusing on the task at hand, have all been known to help curb the power and influence that your amygdala can have on your decisions. Political rhetoric has often relied on playing on people’s fears; the 2016 US Presidential election was focused on fear. Fear of Hillary Clinton as President, fear of Donald Trump as President, fear of immigrants and terrorism, fear of the erosion of “White America”. But manipulation of these fears by politicians or the media is much harder to get a hold on then you might realise, you might not even realise it is happening.
If you’d like to look at the way news media can use fear to manipulate minds you can check out Jen Senko’s documentary “The Brainwashing of My Dad”. We will be having Jen on as a guest on our podcast due to launch in August, so follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep up to date with everything we are covering, or sign up to our mailing list here!
Vox also did a fantastic video on how 24 hour news channels react to terrorism and how your brain reacts to it that you’ll find below.UPDATED: MundoFox, a partnership with Colombian broadcaster RCN Television, is scheduled to launch in the fall and bring "a similar sensibility as the Fox network" to Latino audiences.
NEW YORK - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is looking to challenge U.S. Spanish-language broadcast networks Univision and Telemundo, owned by NBCUniversal, by launching a rival in partnership with Colombian broadcaster RCN Television.
MundoFox, which will be part of News Corp.'s Fox International Channels unit, is scheduled to launch in the fall as the Hispanic audience continues to be a sought-after demographic, the companies said. They added that the goal is to bring "a similar sensibility as the Fox network" to Latino audiences.
Said Hernan Lopez, president & CEO of Fox International Channels: “There is an increasing demand for quality Spanish-language content in the U.S. from both viewers and advertisers. Fox saw similar dynamics in play 25 years ago when it launched the Fox network, and it would be a missed opportunity not to provide an alternative for the 50-plus million Latino viewers who currently have limited options in Spanish-language broadcast television. Our partnership with RCN will help us do this and we aim do it in a big way.”
MundoFox plans to be carried on stations covering 75 percent of U.S. households and is finalizing deals in top Hispanic markets across the country, the partners said.
Fox already has three Spanish-language cable networks, which target such niches as sports and nature.
Content for the new broadcast network will come from RCN, Fox International Channels, sports network Fox Deportes, News Corp.'s Shine Group, which will produce its first original Spanish-language content, and more.
“RCN has provided the main Hispanic networks in the US with much of their prime-time content for over two decades," said Gabriel Reyes, CEO of RCN. We now plan to maximize our capabilities and bring an increasing variety of fresh and innovative productions directly to Spanish-speaking viewers. I am certain that Fox is the best partner to make this a successful network.”
Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalaiCritical Mass event turns ugly in the Marina district
A YouTube video showing an altercation between Critical Mass cyclists and a driver in San Francisco’s Marina District on Friday August 28, 2015. A YouTube video showing an altercation between Critical Mass cyclists and a driver in San Francisco’s Marina District on Friday August 28, 2015. Photo: YouTube / Bike42363 Photo: YouTube / Bike42363 Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Critical Mass event turns ugly in the Marina district 1 / 18 Back to Gallery
A YouTube video showing a tense altercation between Critical Mass cyclists and a driver in San Francisco’s Marina district captured a man pounding a woman’s Zipcar and smashing her window with a bike lock.
The video was purportedly shot Friday night at 8:16 p.m. on Marina Boulevard at Lyon Street during a Critical Mass bike ride.
About a dozen cyclists were seen riding against traffic on Marina Boulevard when one person stopped in front of a dark-colored station wagon and yelled, “Hey! Stop that! No, no, no, no, no.”
The man’s buddies then surrounded the car.
“You ain’t going nowhere,” another man is heard saying.
“You f— hit my bike,” the original rider shouted to the driver.
“Selfish, bitch,” someone else yelled.
The cyclists then lectured the Zipcar driver for several minutes while Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta” blared from a speaker attached to another cyclist’s backpack.
Apparently the driver had enough. She backed up and tried to drive around the pack only to be blocked again. Meanwhile, several other drivers appeared to keep a safe distance from the altercation.
Finally, the Zipcar slowly pushed past the group while one rider landed four blows on the side of the car with a U-lock, smashing the driver’s side window.
San Francisco police officials initially said they were aware of the video, but were not looking for the lock-wielding man because apparently no police report was filed.
“If a victim does not file a report, there is no crime that we can charge the person with,” Officer Albie Esparza, a San Francisco police spokesman, said Monday. “The person needs to file a report for an investigation to be initiated.”
Esparza later said the department had assigned an investigator to the case and would be working with Zipcar to look into the incident, but added, “we are hoping to speak with both parties involved to obtain a full picture of what happened.”
A Zipcar spokeswoman said she was aware of the incident and that “the well-being of anyone involved is our top concern,” but she declined to comment further on the incident or identify the driver.
A YouTube user who goes by the name bike42363 posted the video Saturday. It had more than 14,000 views by Monday afternoon and was inspiring an enthusiastic discussion in the comments section.
“Wow. You guys are pieces of s— for doing that,” YouTube user One TwiztidMunky wrote in part referring to the rowdy Critical Mass cyclists.
“It was a protest Einstein,” user drie wiel fired back.
Critical Mass is a monthly protest ride that happens on the last Friday of every month in San Francisco. The demonstrations began in the city in 1992 but are now held in nearly 300 cities around the world, according to the organization’s Web page.
On its website, SF Critical Mass tells participants “Don’t ride into oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the road” and “Don’t pick fights with motorists, even if they’re itching for one.”
Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
Video
To see the video of a Critical Mass rider attacking a motorist, go to http://bit.ly/1hP7QtT[/caption]
A small asteroid will pass extremely close to Earth tomorrow (January 27, 2012). Named 2012 BX34, this 11 meter- (36 feet-) wide 8 meter- (26-foot-) space rock (astronomers have updated their estimates of the size) will skim Earth less than 60,000 km (37,000 miles,.0004 AU)>, at around 15:30 UTC, (10:30 am EST) according to the Minor Planet Center. The latest estimates have this small bus-sized asteroid it traveling at about about 8,900 meters/second (about 20,000 miles per hour). 2012 BX34 has been observed by the Catalina Sky Survey and the Mt. Lemmon Survey in Arizona, and the Magdalena Ridge Observatory in New Mexico, so its orbit is well defined and there is no risk of impact to Earth.
Via the @AsteroidWatch Twitter feed, scientists from JPL said “It wouldn’t get through our atmosphere intact even if it dared to try.”
Amateur astronomers in the right place and time could view this object, as it should be about magnitude 14 at the time of closest approach. Click here to see a current orbit diagram, and here to view the ephemeris data. Nick Howes, with the Faulkes Telescope Project said his team is hoping to observe and image the asteroid, — although they aren’t sure if they will be able — but we hope to share their images later.
Update: see images from astronomers on our latest article regarding 2012 BX34
Hat Tip: Nick HowesAs a kid, I loved NFL football. The walls of my childhood room were plastered with Sports Illustrated photos of New York Giants. Before falling asleep each night, I gazed at the shadowy outlines of Phil Simms, Joe Morris and Lawrence Taylor. On Sundays, I attached myself to the TV set, full of awe and expectation, waiting for the next touchdown or sack.
Yet, sadly, I never actually saw the Giants play. I never witnessed firsthand the hulking, mythical characters of my youth. If you took away the televised games and magazine articles, my memories of the Giants would cease to exist. In fact, to claim that I loved NFL football is inaccurate. I should say, rather, that I loved a television network’s filtered rendition of NFL football.
Big-time sports have always been a mass-mediated affair. From the first live radio broadcast of baseball in 1921 to Super Bowl LI, which pulled 111.3 million television viewers, media have served as the bones and muscle of pro sports.
Even in ancient Greece, the development of sports depended on media, or its early equivalents, such as the epic poems of Homer and sports-related art and architecture. Plato was not exactly the Zach Lowe of ancient Athens, but he was an outstanding athlete himself—the “A show” in wrestling—and his famous writings celebrated several sports.[1]
The oldest athletic events in history owe their standing, in part, to media. Boxing, wrestling, equestrian events, javelin and discus (my favorite) stood the test of time because writers, sculptors and other artists told their stories (well and often).
As for sports that did not receive much media attention … well, have you ever heard of bull leaping? Included in the X Games of 1450 BC, the event involved springing toward a bull, grabbing it by the horns and allowing it to catapult you over its back. Although bull leaping sounds like fun (to watch), it was relatively short lived. As Scanlon argues, “the lack of monumental civic media publicizing the sport suggests that these events never sought or obtained the popularity that Greek and Roman sports did in later centuries.”[2]
Considering the importance of media to sports, I recently began researching disc golf’s position in today’s media landscape. Although niche outlets and social media are now packed with tournament coverage and other stories about disc golf, how well, I wondered, does the sport do in the mainstream news? The answer, I found, is not spectacular. If, as the saying goes, “popularity is for mediocre people,” then disc golfers are outstanding.
I began the study with my childhood love, Sport Illustrated. Using multiple electronic archives, I found only one significant article on disc golf (or Frisbee golf). There were a few other articles with small references to the sport, but nothing substantial. (“Love bites, love bleeds”).
I also used the large, electronic archive Lexis Nexis to look for mentions of disc golf (or Frisbee golf) in television news broadcasts. Going back more than 20 years in some cases, I searched ABC News, American Public Media, CBS News, CNBC News, CNN, CTV Television, Fox News Network, MSNBC and NBC News, and found a combined total of 40 transcripts with disc golf references. All but a few of these offered only brief, incidental mentions of the sport.
A search of National Public Radio transcripts (1992-current) turned up seven items, but only one item included a serious discussion of disc golf and offered quotes from disc golfers. The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal—the opinion-leading press—were also disc golf deserts.
The flying disc did better in major-metro and small-town newspapers. To include as much of the press as possible in my search, I used the massive, proprietary archive America’s News, which houses full-length articles from more than one thousand U.S. newspapers. My search, using the terms disc golf and Frisbee golf, returned 49,227 newspaper articles published over the last 20 years (4/18/1997 – 4/19/2017).
That sounds like a lot of coverage, right? Unfortunately, given the expansive period and large number of sources, it’s difficult to interpret what a lot is. To put this estimate in context, I ran the same search using 99 other sports and recreational activities. I also split the search period into two parts to examine changes in the volume of coverage over time.
A full, alphabetically ordered list of results appears at the end of this article. If I missed your favorite sport, please don’t fry me up for dinner; instead, drop me a note in the comment box below and I’ll add your sport soon.
As shown in Table 1, disc golf’s nearly 50K in news items is a drop in the basket compared to the ocean of media devoted to traditional sports. Football, for instance, was covered in 273 times more newspaper articles than disc golf over the last two decades. Disc golf came in 65th place out of 100 hundred sports.
Table 1. Ten Sports with Highest Number of Mentions in U.S. Newspapers (1997-2017)
Sport Published Articles (4/18/1997-4/18/2007) Published Articles (4/19/2007-4/19/2017) Total Percentage Change Football 5,321,404 8,141,363 13,462,767 +53 Basketball 5,033,329 7,342,892 12,376,221 +46 Baseball 4,297,495 6,426, |
pay US$19.99 per year for the service's "Plus" plan, she said. Both services are available to users of Yahoo Mail Classic and the New Yahoo Mail.
Another Web giant faced technical problems in recent days: Amazon's main site had availability and performance problems on Friday and Monday.While playing Skullgirls, fighting game fan "Dan Hibiki" found this message on his screen:
Er, what?
The Internet can be a lonely place sometimes. It often feels like no one is listening, as if you're simply shouting into the void alongside millions of other voices. But sometimes, someone responds.
When Hibiki posted the photo above, he also tweeted at the official Skullgirls account. A huge reason Skullgirls raised nearly $1 million to create more Skullgirls characters was because the game's developer, Lab Zero Games, is constantly talking with its community.
So it wasn't a surprise when the Skullgirls account responded. Hibiki probably didn't expect this, though.
//@Skullgirls So I got this message after beating story with both Para and Cere and I have no idea what it means... pic.twitter.com/Nv5bH1vqkV — Dan Hibiki (@SaikyoChamp) July 8, 2014
@SaikyoChamp Oh that? It means you should probably buy the game instead of pirate it. o:) — Skullgirls (@Skullgirls) July 8, 2014
Oops.
Skullgirls isn't the first game to include a message aimed at players who haven't paid for the game they're playing. Mirror's Edge, for example, would slow players down before crucial jumps. EarthBound was probably the most cruel, though. (As cruel as a game punishing pirates can be, anyway.) If players somehow made it past the game's anti-piracy screen, EarthBound would spawn way more random encounters, often with enemies far more difficult than would be present at that point in the story. Furthermore, if players made it to the final boss, the game would freeze. When players reset the game, they'd discover their saves were gone.
But Skullgirls doesn't do that, and the developers were content with teasing Hibiki, who immediately realized he'd been caught red handed.
//@Skullgirls... I'm sorry. I kinda did a trybeforeyoubuy thing. I already bought it on PS3 and I'm planning on buying it for Steam, soon. — Dan Hibiki (@SaikyoChamp) July 8, 2014
//@Skullgirls I was about to buy it this morning BUT GAMESTOP DOESN'T SELL IT DIRECTLY ONLINE AND I DON'T WANNA LEAVE MY HOUSE!!! — Dan Hibiki (@SaikyoChamp) July 8, 2014
@SaikyoChamp It’s all good, man. Well... I mean, it isn’t really, but I get it. Just try to do the right thing eventually. — Skullgirls (@Skullgirls) July 8, 2014
One of the reasons I answer virtually every private message or email that comes my way is because I've experienced the benefits of open communication. For Lab Zero Games, that's people playing Skullgirls. For me, it's people who read, view, and comment on what I write and record. Even when people passionately, vehemently disagree with me (which happens all the time, as it turns out!), I've been able to have worthwhile dialogues in which we come away with a better understanding of each side. When people realize others are watching, behavior changes. Often, but not always, behavior changes for the better. More listening happens.
It would have been completely understandable for Lab Zero Games to be upset at Hibiki. A sale was lost. Instead, the two sides began to have a conversation about the game, and what features might be coming.
//@Skullgirls Thanks for not flipping the fuck out. Quick question, though. Any plans to add 1PvCPU or CPUvCPU into the game? — Dan Hibiki (@SaikyoChamp) July 8, 2014
@SaikyoChamp I’ll have to ask Mike. Don’t think there are any plans for that now, though. — Skullgirls (@Skullgirls) July 8, 2014
@Skullgirls //@Skullgirls I'm assuming they'd be pretty cheap (if not free) to add in. Thanks for answering! — Dan Hibiki (@SaikyoChamp) July 8, 2014
The last time I wrote about Skullgirls, it was during the game's Indiegogo campaign. Lab Zero Games had asked for $150,000 to build several new characters for Skullgirls, and people couldn't understand why it needed so much money. The rise of crowdfunding has been interesting for many reasons. Games that wouldn't exist any other way, like Broken Age, are now on Steam. It's also opened our eyes to the realities of development. Making games costs more than people realize, especially given our sky-high expectations today.
A conversation that started about piracy now becomes a teachable moment about development.
@SaikyoChamp Nothing is ever cheap or free, because it still has to be implemented, UI updated, strings localized, QA tested, etc. — Skullgirls (@Skullgirls) July 8, 2014
//@Skullgirls Of course I forgot about patches, testing, coding, porting, etc. No wonder I thought twas cheap. Thanks for the consideration. — Dan Hibiki (@SaikyoChamp) July 8, 2014
I wish more conversations on the Internet were like that.It was probably unavoidable that when federal bureaucrats met with reporters on Thursday to discuss how the government is handling the growing number of people entering Canada illegally from the U.S. it would boil down to numbers.
Officials said Thursday more people made refugee claims at inland points — places other than official border crossings — during the first seven weeks of this year: 2,281 compared to 1,803 during the same period last year.
Over that same brief period, 435 people have crossed illegally into Canada and were arrested by the RCMP.
And then there was this number: officials said no one has been charged, at least not yet, for doing so.
Seven asylum seekers walk down a train track into the town of Emerson, Man., where they will seek asylum at Canada Border Services Agency. (John Woods/Canadian Press)
For Canadians who've seen the images of entire families arriving at the border, toting their luggage and little else, the numbers shouldn't be much of a surprise in the aftermath of U.S. President Donald Trump's orders directing the immediate arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants on Jan. 25 and the temporary ban on travellers from seven mostly Muslim countries signed two days later.
The fear of being forcibly removed, in many cases to a country the asylum seeker fled to avoid persecution or death, has prompted some to head north in the depths of winter.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order to impose tighter vetting of travellers entering the U.S. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
Many would have already known of Canada's generous refugee policy, the income supports and basic health benefits they would receive as refugee claimants. Some might even have seen the tweet by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after the announcement of Trump's travel ban, since suspended by the courts, welcoming all those fleeing persecution, terror and war.
To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WelcomeToCanada?src=hash">#WelcomeToCanada</a> —@JustinTrudeau
And most would have been aware that they had to cross illegally into Canada, at unofficial and largely unpoliced points along the world's longest undefended border, or risk being returned to the U.S. under a deal called the Safe Third Country Agreement. It requires asylum seekers entering at land border crossings to apply for refugee status in the country where they first arrived.
Such agreements are intended to prevent "asylum shopping," where people move from country to country until they find one they like, and situations where people ruled inadmissible in one country move to another and another until their refugee claim is accepted.
Critics of the agreement say it should be suspended to reduce the risks faced by those trying to get into Canada, risks that include frostbite and being abused by smugglers.
Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, says before the Safe Third Country Agreement became law in 2004, Canada dealt with asylum seekers without these issues and without overwhelming the RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency or other government departments.
"It never caused the fall of Canada. There's no reason to think we couldn't go back to what we had in the past, and we would avoid the situation that we've been seeing with people crossing irregularly."
Jenny Kwan, the NDP's critic for immigration and refugees, argues the U.S. is no longer a safe alternative to Canada.
"The executive orders from President Trump, the massive crackdown on undocumented immigrants … all make it very clear that the United States under Trump no longer meets that criteria," she said in the Commons earlier this month.
Jenny Kwan, the NDP's critic for immigration and refugees, says the U.S. is no longer a safe alternative to Canada for asylum seekers. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)
Others, including most if not all of the Conservative leadership candidates, want the agreement enforced — and enforcement strengthened, including by having officers on the border ordering asylum seekers to turn back.
"We have a fair and generous process for refugees around the world," leadership candidate Erin O'Toole said in an interview with CBC Radio's The House.
"And it's unfair to them to allow people to use politics to jump ahead of the queue and to overwhelm rural parts of our border."
'Queue-jumping' problem
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale concedes the public perception of "queue jumping" is a problem. A spokesman for Goodale said it's important to note that no one already in the regular refugee system is being displaced by the people crossing into Canada illegally.
And Goodale insists the processes Canada has in place ensure there's no threat to Canadian security.
Government officials involved in Thursday's technical briefing told reporters that biometric data is being gathered from everyone who enters the country illegally to determine if any are inadmissible to Canada on security grounds.
Still, a 2013 report by the auditor general on illegal entry into Canada found gaps in the system, and says failing to prevent illegal entry not only compromises security but costs taxpayers an estimated $26,000 for each rejected refugee claimant.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says he will be meeting with U.S. officials to discuss what can be done to stem the flow of asylum seekers crossing the border into Canada. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Scrap agreement?
So how much of a problem is it that so many people are now trying to get into Canada illegally? Should Canada suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement until the situation created by Trump's executive orders is clearer?
John Manley, the former Liberal cabinet minister who negotiated the deal with the U.S. back in the early 2000s, says the answer to the second question is no.
"If you suspend it, then they can cross at regular border crossings," Manley told CBC News Network's Power & Politics this week. "Forget 30 here, 20 there that are going through Minnesota into Manitoba — now, you're starting to deal with thousands of people."
Dench argues suspending the agreement would lead to a more orderly flow of people wanting to claim refugee status.
"It's important to realize that people coming through the U.S., although there's a lot of focus on those people who are concerned about Trump, in fact quite a large number of people who are coming were destined for Canada anyway."
Emerson-Franklin Reeve Greg Janzen points out where asylum seekers from the U.S. have been making the freezing trek into his Manitoba community. (Lyza Sale/CBC)
Immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman believes Canada needs to educate potential asylum seekers south of the border that they won't necessarily be any better off in Canada.
"If you've lived in the Unites States, for example, for seven or eight years illegally and you come to Canada to make a refugee claim you're going to have a hard time convincing a judge in Canada that you have a fear of returning, not to the United States, but to your country of nationality that you haven't lived in for nine or 10 years."
Ralph Goodale says he will be meeting with U.S. officials to discuss what can be done to stem the flow.
For now, there's every reason to expect more and more people will cross into Canada illegally to claim refugee status. And for Canadian authorities who must sort through the claims, and identify any potential risks, that adds up to a lot more than just numbers.Sanders wins most delegates at Clark County convention
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders scored a surprise victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday at the Clark County Democratic Convention, where Sanders won the largest number of delegates a month after losing the Nevada caucuses.
Long lines, a packed convention center and the controversial suspension of the county party’s credentials chair threatened to disrupt the operation of the convention throughout the day. But after five hours of registration and check-in, thousands of people had packed into the Cashman Center, and by early evening, the delegates had been counted and Sanders announced as the winner.
The county convention was the second in a three-step process for Nevada to choose its delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention this summer. The first was the February caucuses, the results of which are used to apportion 23 of the delegates Nevada will send to the national convention. The second step, the county convention, is when delegates are selected to the state convention in May. The third step is the state convention, when 12 more delegates are apportioned based on attendees’ preferences.
Nearly 9,000 delegates were elected on caucus day in late February, but only 3,825 showed up to Saturday’s convention. An additional 915 elected alternates and 604 unelected alternates also turned out to support their favored candidate.
The final delegate count was 2,964 for Sanders and 2,386 for Clinton. That means the Sanders campaign will send 1,613 delegates to the state convention, while the Clinton campaign will send 1,298.
“We pretty much won Nevada,” said Sanders’ state director, Joan Kato, smiling as the results were announced.
What that means is the delegates from Clark County — along with the delegates selected by Nevada's other counties Saturday — will attend the state convention in May, where they will help select delegates to go to July’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. But, because of the way delegate-selection rules work in Nevada, they will only get to decide the proportion of 12 delegates — five pledged party leaders and elected official delegates and seven at-large delegates — that go to each candidate.
The apportionment of 23 delegates, known as “district-level” delegates, is already decided, as they are based proportionally on the Feb. 20 caucus results in each district. In the February caucuses, Clinton had won 55 percent of delegates to the county convention — 4,889 to Sanders’ 4,026.
There are an additional eight unpledged party leaders and elected official delegates who will attend the national convention.
Sanders supporters were surprised and pleased Saturday.
“I’m friends with a lot of people that support Bernie, and they were bringing people here,” said Zamir Anderson, a 20-year-old College of Southern Nevada student. “Especially with how we did in Utah, Alaska, I feel like he’s gaining a lot of traction.”
The convention wasn’t without its hiccups. Convention-goers complained of expectedly long lines and having to wait outside without shade for hours.
“I thought it was going to be more organized and faster,” said Elda Armenta, a 43-year-old Sanders supporter from Las Vegas. “It doesn’t even look like the organizers know what they’re doing.”
Others who had hoped the convention would run more smoothly than the caucuses were disappointed.
“It’s our first time here, so we weren’t sure how things were going to be handled,” said grad school student Fabiola Gutierrez, 27, who lives in Las Vegas and attended with a friend. “The caucus was pretty awful, so we’re hoping for a better experience than the caucuses.”
But the biggest threat to the convention’s success appeared to be the suspension of the county party’s credentials chair early Saturday morning. Christine Kramar was suspended from her post after Clinton campaign officials raised concerns about her neutrality.
The issue came to the fore late Friday night, when Kramar learned from Sanders campaign staffers that the Clinton campaign was pressing for her removal. When Kramar showed up at Cashman Center just before 8 a.m. Saturday, she discovered she had been suspended for not showing up earlier.
In protest, Kramar and a few others staged a sit-in in the hall where the convention was held and were almost cited with trespassing.
Kramar said state Sen. Aaron Ford sat on the ground with the group and helped smooth over the situation to prevent further law enforcement involvement.
“At the end of the day, no one is going to care who is to blame,” Ford said. “At the end of the day, I was able to broker a compromise between the interested parties.”
Ford also passed along a password to the event registration account from Kramar, which allowed registration and check-in to proceed smoothly. (Kramar contends registration could have continued without her password, saying other county party officials had access to the registration information.)
The concerns over Kramar’s neutrality surfaced when Clinton’s general counsel, Marc Elias, sent a letter to county party Chair Chris Miller on Wednesday, requesting that Kramar be removed from her post. In the letter, the campaign alleged Kramar had shown bias by exposing confidential information to Sanders’ campaign and making personal attacks against members of the Clinton campaign.
A Clinton campaign official said some of that sensitive information included data about delegates and alternates, along with contact and other proprietary information.
Kramar denied the allegations and said she had tried to make the credentialing process as transparent as possible. Kramar said that when something was wrong with one of the registrations — such as when someone’s information didn’t match the official delegate list, or he or she had registered multiple times — she would email the two campaigns to let them know.
Kramar also denied showing any bias toward the Sanders campaign — though she does support the Vermont senator — and noted that she had volunteered for Clinton’s campaign in 2008. Kramar also served as credential chair for the 2012 county party convention.
“I’m just in shock,” Kramar said. “I’m trying to keep it equal and fair. I pissed off an equal number of Clinton supporters and Sanders supporters.”
Miller declined to comment.
The Clinton campaign also took issue in the letter with what it said was an “ultimatum” from Kramar: that either the convention continue as planned or that it be delayed to allow discussion of changes to credentialing rules. Kramar said the Clinton campaign had asked for a number of rule changes ahead of the convention and that she believed more time was necessary if it wanted to “radically change” the convention rules.
“They were fishing to see if this could be done or that could be done,” Kramar said.
The Clinton campaign said in the letter that it had “always” been its position to continue with the convention as scheduled with the existing rules.
Representatives from the Sanders campaign balked at the suggestion that Kramar had shown bias. Kato said she hadn’t seen any of the allegations made by the Clinton campaign but thought the process by which Kramar was removed was unfair.
“I felt like she was pretty impartial, and the fact that she served on the committee before, it seemed like nobody had an issue with her until last night,” Kato said. “It seemed all of a sudden.”
A few convention-goers had heard rumors of Kramar’s removal or the early-morning sit-in — a picture of which was retweeted by the official Bernie Sanders Twitter account — but most didn’t notice any effect on the convention process.
“The lines were very long, but once we got in, it was very straightforward, very easy,” said Pat Smith, 69, from Henderson.
The delegates chosen Saturday will attend the state Democratic convention on May 14. The Democratic National Convention will be July 25-28.In a new study conducted by Aclara Research, medical use of cannabis has once again been shown to be a successful substitute for dangerous addictive opioid painkillers for many patients in pain.
The study surveyed over 400 patients and 500 pharmacists to glean their views on the medical use of cannabis and its effect on the use of prescribed opioids.
Sixty-seven percent of the patients surveyed indicated that they were able to cease their use of opioid medications once they had access to a state medical marijuana program. Another 29 percent of the patients were able to reduce their use of opioids, leaving just 1 out of 25 patients (4 percent) whose opioid use was unaffected by marijuana use.
This comports with a study released last year in the journal Health Affairs that showed an average of 1,826 fewer doses of painkillers prescribed annually under Medicare Part D from 2010 to 2013 in the 17 states with a medical marijuana law. Another study in The Journal of Pain found "medical cannabis use was associated with a 64 percent decrease in opioid use" among 244 chronic pain patients in the Michigan medical marijuana program.
More incredibly, 30 percent of the patients surveyed by Aclara indicated they were able to cease use of all prescription drugs after they started using medical cannabis. For the patients who swapped the use of cannabis for prescription pill usage, over 60 percent reported making fewer trips to the pharmacist.
This echoes the findings of another study, published in the National Bureau of Economic Research, that found, "states permitting medical marijuana dispensaries experience a relative decrease in both opioid addictions and opioid overdose deaths compared to states that do not."
It's not the legalization of cannabis for medical use alone that brings about the reductions in opioid addiction and mortality, write the authors, "the mitigating effect of medical marijuana laws is specific to states that permit dispensaries."
Of the pharmacists surveyed by Aclara, 87 percent agreed that medical use of cannabis should be legal, and 69 percent believe that pharmacists should dispense medical cannabis and counsel patients on its use.
Just 15 percent of the patients indicated that they spoke with their pharmacist about their cannabis use, compared to 40 percent of them who get their information about medical marijuana from the internet and social media.
Only five of the thirty states with medical cannabis programs - Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Arkansas - require pharmacist involvement in medical cannabis dispensaries.
Aclara's survey is just the latest study to confirm that legal access to cannabis may be our best opportunity to fight back against the ever-growing crisis of drug overdose deaths which have claimed over 60,000 lives in 2016. Overdose death is now the leading killer of Americans under age 50.
Yet President Trump's commission tasked with finding solutions to the opioid crisis has soundly rejected any increasing access to medical cannabis as a potential solution.
"The Commission acknowledges that there is an active movement to promote the use of marijuana as an alternative medication for chronic pain and as a treatment for opioid addiction," writes the commission's chair, outgoing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. "Recent research out of the NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse found that marijuana use led to a two-and-a-half times greater chance that the marijuana user would become an opioid user and abuser. The Commission found this very disturbing."
Gov. Christie then proceeds to compare medical marijuana today, after twenty years of existence on the West Coast, to the early days of Oxycontin in the 1990s, when ignorance about its deadly addictive nature was hidden by the corporations pushing this brand-new painkiller.
While his claim about marijuana being a gateway drug to opioid addiction has been debunked for almost two decades now, it's also irrelevant. What are we going to do for the adults who are already addicted to and dying from these opioid drugs? How does continuing prohibition - which doesn't stop any kid who wants to from trying pot - help the people dying now under that policy?
We know access to medical cannabis helps.
Way back in 2014, JAMA Internal Medicine published data showing that "states with medical cannabis laws had a 24.8 percent lower mean annual opioid overdose mortality rate compared with states without medical cannabis laws."
And it's not some connection to a marijuana dealer that's leading people to opioid overdoses. It's a connection to a pharmacist. That 2014 study found about "60 percent of all opioid analgesic overdoses occur among patients who have legitimate prescriptions from a single provider."
Another study from 2016 in the American Journal of Public Health found that states that implemented a medical marijuana law then saw a 21 percent lower likelihood of detecting opioids in the bloodstream of a driver killed in a car crash. For drivers aged 21 to 40, they were half as likely to find opioids in dead drivers.
That study isn't making any conclusions about impairment and driving; rather, the idea is that dead drivers are a fairly random sample of the population, so finding fewer of them with opioids in their system may mean that fewer people are taking opioids or taking them less often in the states with medical marijuana laws.In Retrospect: Wilderness Rejuvenation II & W345 We're aware we could have done more. We will.
Wilderness Rejuvenation II
Adjusting the Revenant graphics. It seems many have mixed opinions on how these should look. Your feedback is encouraged. Do you want them to pay homage to the Revenants of old?
Addressing the drops within the Revenant Cave to better align with the polled GP rates, as they are currently under what we had hoped to achieve. Once again, your feedback is welcomed. The caves currently do not offer close to what we polled.
Rework the Mage Arena 2 boss mechanics to make it feel more challenging.
Completely recreate the Mage Arena 2 boss graphics with new assets.
Nerf the Twisted bow's effectiveness in Mage Arena 2.
Expand on the story and ensure Mage Arena 2 follows typical lore.
Consider enhancing the power of charged God spells vs the Mage Arena 2 bosses.
W345 Permanent Deadman
The addition of a Grand Exchange has long been the most popular and requested change to the server. We're very much aware of that, but haven't been able to deliver it due to the nature of the work involved in the setup and ongoing maintenance of the extra server, as well as reprogramming the game engine to communicate with it. Ideally, we'd like to introduce this alongside all changes listed below, but it may not be possible. We are, however, very keen to get this for you in future if the required resources can become available for it.
We've always said transferring XP from the seasonal servers to the permanent one isn't possible, nothing has changed there. An alternative option we'd like to explore is the option of rewarding players that have "done well" in the Seasonal Deadman server by giving them a bonus XP multiplier for a certain period of time in the Permanent Deadman world. We cannot give a timescale as to when this may happen, but we're working on putting together the best solution possible.
The ability to un-note food was one of the first major changes we made to the seasonal. Although many have accustomed themselves to using this method, it encourages too safe of an environment. With this in mind we'd like to remove it.
In addition to preventing players un-noting food, we want to remove the ability to eat/drink potions the instant the bank interface closes by adding the same delay found in the Seasonal Deadman servers.
We'd like the PoH Spec Pool nerf from Seasonal Deadman servers to be added. This would prevent players from using it for 3 minutes after combat.
Player versus Player combat within safe zones has been disabled for a long time within the Seasonals. We'd like to make this change on the Permanent Deadman world too.
We'll be investigating ways to prevent players using low cost gear to farm high level content due to no XP lost on death whilst unskulled.
We want to look at lowering the cost of unique untradeable items purchased with bespoke currencies, such as the Rune pouch.
We're going to look into the PJ timer and how it can be improved.
One of the biggest changes is to introduce a 6-hour immunity for new accounts with a vastly increased experience rate, such as 50x. This immunity would be lost upon attacking another player or by speaking to the Doomsayer within Lumbridge.
In addition to the immunity, we want to vastly increase the effectiveness of the starter gear that is given from the Lumbridge Tutors (which can only be used whilst the 6-hour immunity is active). This will include making the Training Sword/Shield be equivalent to Rune items, the Mage Tutor giving an improved Elemental staff, and the Ranged Tutor giving the equivalent of what is a Magic shortbow.
. This will include making the Training Sword/Shield be equivalent to Rune items, the Mage Tutor giving an improved Elemental staff, and the Ranged Tutor giving the equivalent of what is a Magic shortbow. We do not want to change the base XP rates outside of the immunity period mentioned above.
As with every update we release, we like to take time to look back and assess it. When looking back at Wilderness Rejuvenation II, we can see many things that went well. The content achieved its desired impact of improving Wilderness activity (as shown in this graph from the 2017 Data Stream), and members of the PvP community have largely praised the content. Unfortunately, there are quite a few things that we could have, and more importantly, should have done better. It's clear that we didn’t meet your expectations. The overall synergy between content and graphics in particular was not up to your standards. This post is our commitment to resolve what we see as the current major issues with the update. During early 2018, we want to focus on the following:All feedback regarding Wilderness Rejuvenation II should be directed to this forum thread World 345 is the Permanent Deadman world. Unlike the Seasonal Deadman servers, this server does not reset and many of the QoL updates introduced to the Seasons are not required. We'd like to start discussing applying major content changes, as well as applying some of the more fitting QoL changes which already exist within Seasons. The aim of this would be to help bring more life to the server. The changes we'd like to make are as below:As always, we welcome your feedback on the proposed suggestions. All feedback regarding the W345 Permanent Deadman server changes should be directed to this forum threadThe document notes that Guelph Transit offers longer hours of service Mondays through Saturdays.
"Since the introduction of the Council-approved transit route system in 2013, ridership growth and revenues have been lower than anticipated, resulting in revenue projections not being realized," the document states. "Guelph Transit has assessed ridership volumes and determined that a reduction in Sunday, holiday and summer service frequency would have the least impact on transit riders."
That doesn't sit well with Ward 3 Councillor Phil Allt, who thinks Sunday bus service should actually be increased and not reduced.
"People work on Sundays and reducing the service will cause hardship," Allt said. "I think we should increase Sunday service. I don't think the savings (through service reductions) are actually there. And we'll never get people off the roads if we reduce service."
But when it comes to fare increases, Allt believes it has to happen.
"The reality is we have to fund this service. It has to pay for itself. I think the province has to assume greater responsibility for transit as well, though. It's well and good to have rapid bus service between cities, but we also have to get people to work in Guelph," Allt said.
Allt predicted close votes when council gets down to the nuts and bolts of deciding what's in and what's out of the budget.
Council has already approved the nontax supported budget, which will see a four per cent increase in water and wastewater rates.
The next important budget dates are:
Nov. 10 staff will present the tax-supported operating budget.
Nov. 16 is presentations by Local Boards and Shared Services.
Nov. 18 an explanation of proposed expansions (new hires) and their justification.
Nov. 19 an explanation of proposed reductions and the savings that should be realized.
Nov. 30 public delegations.
Dec. 9 council will debate and make final decisions on the operating and capital budget.
jshuttleworth@guelphmercury.comDonald Trump this weekend put his well-honed attack-counter attack game into full general-election mode -- mocking progressive stalwart and Senate Democrat Elizabeth Warren, in a likely preview of the next six months.
On Saturday, Trump turned to his go-to Twitter account to attack Warren, of Massachusetts, whom some Democrats wanted to run for president and now as Hillary Clinton’s running mate, if the front-running Clinton wins the party’s presidential nomination.
“Goofy Elizabeth Warren is weak and ineffective,” Trump, now the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, tweeted Saturday.
Warren nearly lost her Senate bid in 2012, amid criticism that she claimed to have Native American roots to further her academic career and become an Ivy League professor.
The fury mostly died as she emerged in the Senate as strong voice against Wall Street and economic inequality.
However, Trump appears determined to revisit the controversy -- in an apparent effort to quickly dispose of Warren as either a worthy Democratic presidential surrogate or potential vice presidential candidate, as he did with his primary rivals.
“Does nothing. All talk, no action -- maybe her Native American name?” Trump also tweeted. “Goofy Elizabeth Warren and her phony Native American heritage are on a Twitter rant. She is too easy! I'm driving her nuts.”
In rallies on Friday in Nebraska and Oregon, Trump called Warren a "goofus" and a "basket case," who as a senator has had little impact on Washington, much less the country.
Warren had insulted Trump earlier on Twitter, calling him "a bully who has a single play in his playbook."
She started her attack after Trump’s primary win Tuesday in Indiana that knocked out remaining GOP rivals Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
In a series of late-night tweets, Warren accused Trump of racism, sexism, xenophobia, narcissism and a host of other faults.
The battle lines appeared to have been drawn a couple of weeks earlier.
When Trump was asked about another Warren tweet storm in which she called him a “loser,” the billionaire businessman said in response "Who's that, the Indian? You mean the Indian?”
The response appeared quintessential Trump, considering he thrives off detecting weakness and pouncing and Warren being a target-rich environment.
From 1986 to 1995, she listed herself as a minority in the Association of American Law Schools directory. Harvard Law School cited her alleged Indian heritage in dealing with criticism that it lacked a diverse faculty. Her recipe in the "Pow Wow Chow" cookbook became the subject of derision, after charges it was plagiarized from a New York Times cookbook.
"I think she's a fraud," said longtime nemesis and Boston conservative talk radio host Howie Carr. "I think her entire success in academia and in politics is based on a lie that she's a Native American."
Carr suspects Warren was stuck professionally as an instructor at the University of Texas Law School before “checking the box” as Native American, then becoming a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, then at Harvard University’s law school.
Warren's office did not respond earlier this week to requests for an interview.
One of the ironies of this fight is that the two are vying, at least in part, for the same voters -- blue-collar workers and swing-state independents who may well decide the election.
Trump is trying to pull them right with promises of more coal and less regulation, while Warren, with her strong progressive bona fides, is pulling left with a call for more government safety nets and regulation.
Fox News Channel’s Doug McKelway and The Associated Press contributed to this report.Dinosaurs are changing all the time. That might seem strange for animals known from petrified bones. Those skeletal parts are the biological core of the terrible lizards, stable through millions and millions of years. Yet our ideas about what dinosaurs were like is always shifting, their bodies rearranged and restructured. And it’s the classic dinosaurs – the species that defined saurian style in the 19th and early 20th centuries – that undergo the most change. Even though they’re familiar, they are also the most likely to be buffeted by scientific alterations. Just look at Ankylosaurus.
“Despite its household name status,” paleontologists Victoria Arbour and Jordan Mallon write in their new paper on the living tank, “Ankylosaurus is known from far fewer remains than its Campanian–Maastrichtian relatives Euoplocephalus and Anodontosaurus.” Fossils are scarce, and we’re far from a complete view of what this dinosaur really looked like. That’s why different experts have arranged and rearranged the look of Ankylosaurus over and over again during the past century. Some are fatter. Some are skinnier. Some have dense coats of armor and others have a wider spread. And while a more complete Ankylosaurus skeleton – hopefully preserved somewhere out there in North America – would go a long way towards restoring this low-slung plant chomper, Arbour and Mallon draw from other ankylosaur finds and analyses over the past decade to create a new image of the epitome of armored dinosaurs.
Different armor arrangements for Ankylosaurus. Credit: Arbour and Mallon 2017
Just like Stegosaurus looks unusual compared to other stegosaurs, Ankylosaurus looks weird when placed side by side with its close relatives. The dinosaur’s teeth are relatively small for its jaws, its nostrils were placed towards the sides of the snout instead of at the front, and it was significantly larger than other ankylosaurs – some Ankylosaurus skulls are over one and a half times as broad as those of better-known anylosaurs like Euoplocephalus. And then there’s the armor.
Ankylosaurus was originally envisioned as having “a suit of armor of closely packed thoracic osteoderms”, or scutes, Arbour and Mallon write. This became the standard image, popularized throughout classic paleoart. And while other experts gave Ankylosaurus makeovers in 2003 and 2004, discoveries of other ankylosaurs in North America and Asia have provided additional information about how these dinosaurs wore their armor. The resulting image is still a hypothesis, naturally, but it presents an Ankylosaurus with broader spacing between relatively stubby scutes arranged in rows along its body. It’s not the dinosaurian armad |
KD Lang tracks on a loop, with which to torture her captives until they cough up whatever intelligence she is after.
International jobs would include swooping into Russia, not because Lezzer is looking for nuclear weapons intended to use to achieve world dominance, but to warn Vladimir Putin against his grotesque policies on the lesbian and gay community and other such human rights abuses. Lezzer Bond would do similar in the 80-odd countries around the globe that criminalise same-sex relationships
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘The iconic martini that the original Bond favours would have to be changed. I would suggest a pint of Stella with a sausage-roll chaser.’ Photograph: Allstar/United Artists
As a ploy to keep women from feeling they need men to do DIY, Lezzer Bond would cross rivers and drive cars up mountains to fix a shelf, open the gherkin jar or retune the TV remote control.
If Bond were a lesbian, women across the world would line up to be Moneypenny. I am thinking of the crime writer Val McDermid for this role, as she would be stern yet caring of Lezzer Bond, and would see baddies coming even before Bond did. McDermid is a first-class flirt, as is Lezzer Bond, so much time would be taken up with them teasing each other about arm-wresting competitions and who would win in a line-dancing competition.
International jobs would include swooping into Russia to warn Vladimir Putin against his policies on the LGBT community
The iconic martini that the original Bond favours would have to be changed. I would suggest a pint of Stella with a sausage roll chaser. After all, if Lezzer Bond is going to be hurling herself over counters at B&Q to stop heterosexual men taking the last drill bit – so badly needed by a damsel in distress – she needs to be well nourished.
The theme tune would need to shift to something like the Power of Two by the Indigo Girls, and rather than play golf, Lezzer Bond would be a dab hand at playing pool with panache. She would make it her life’s mission to end male violence towards women, including shutting down the entire sex trade by capturing pimps and traffickers, and would lock up religious extremists that practice forced marriage, gay conversion therapy, and attacks on abortion doctors.
Even in this day and age it is extremely brave to be an out lesbian, and if Lezzer Bond is in her 50s and came out in her youth, she would have encountered threats and bigotry on a massive scale. This, I would argue, gives her the very qualities necessary to be the best ever Bond.Originally published by the Jerusalem Post.
France’s plan to use its position at the UN Security Council to bring about the deployment of international monitors to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem has been condemned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers as biased, unhelpful and detached from reality.
Certainly it is all those things. But France’s decision to use its diplomatic position to advance a plan which if implemented would end Israeli sovereignty over Judaism’s holiest site is first and foremost a French act of aggression against the Jewish state.
Contrary to what the French government would have us believe, France’s Temple Mount gambit is not an effort to quell the violence. French protestations of concern over the loss of life in the current tempest of Palestinian terrorism ring hollow.
France doesn’t really oppose Palestinian terrorism.
To the contrary, it facilitates it.
Every year, the French government pays millions of euros, dollars and shekels to Palestinian NGOs whose stated goal is to destroy Israel. Through its NGO agents, France finances the radicalization of Palestinian society. This French-financed radicalization makes Palestinian terrorism inevitable.
Much of the current rhetoric used by the Palestinians to reject Israel’s legitimacy and justify violence against Jews is found in strategic documents that France paid Palestinian NGOs to write.
According to NGO Monitor, between 2010 and 2013, France gave $6.5 million to a consortium of Palestinian NGOs called the NGO Development Center. It paid for the NDC to put together a strategic plan to advance its members’ goals. That French-initiated and financed document includes a list of activities not aimed at promoting peace, enhancing the daily lives of Palestinians, or expanding economic growth.
Rather, the French-financed strategic planning document provides a list of activities that the NGOs will undertake to delegitimize and criminalize Israel and ensure that Palestinians hate the Jewish state and view it as the cause of all their suffering.
The paper called for “Establish[ing] monitoring databases by relevant NGOs on sectoral issues and themes (expansion of colonies, [i.e. Israeli neighborhoods and towns beyond the 1949 armistice lines,] construction of Separation and Annexation Wall, Gaza siege, Jerusalem, house demolitions and evictions, water resources, environment, political prisoners, etc.)”; “Implement[ing] and disseminat[ing] in depth thematic studies about Israeli violations of human rights in the occupied territories”; “Development of a unified NGO strategy for international advocacy.”
A 2008 NDC document required all member groups to ban all “normalization activities with the occupier, [both] at the political-security [and] the cultural [and] developmental levels.”
The document went on to call for Israel to be destroyed. No action on the part of any Palestinian entity can be carried out it said, “if it undermines the inalienable Palestinian rights of establishing statehood and the return of refugees to their original homes,” that is, the immigration of millions of foreign-born Arabs to the ruins of Israel.
The “international advocacy” referred to in the document includes lobbying foreign governments and societies to wage economic war against Israel. To this end, for instance, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee, which has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the French government, uses racist language to demonize Jews and Israel by among other things assaulting the so-called “Judaization of Jerusalem” and attacking Palestinians who work with Israeli companies.
In 2011, PARC sabotaged a trade delegation in France comprised of Israeli and Gazan farmers organized by Agrexco, Israel’s main exporter of agricultural products. Rather than welcome Israel’s actions on behalf of Gaza farmers, PAR C organized a boycott of the delegation – causing direct harm to Gazan farmers.
In its press release following its action, the beneficiary of French government financing wrote, “PARC salutes all activists and international supporters for the BDS campaign and especially our French friends and partners who were able to frustrate the Agrexco attempt to conduct a joint press conference with a few exploited Palestinian producers.”
Not to put too fine a point on it, but these are not the actions that peaceful groups interested in a non-violent, peaceful resolution of the Palestinian conflict with Israel undertake. By paying these groups to carry out these sorts of activities, the French government has made clear that far from seeking to advance the cause of peace, its actual goal is to block all prospects of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
These sorts of actions are the norm, rather than the exception in France’s treatment of Israel. And France makes no bones about its hostility toward the Jewish state.
On December 2, 2014, barely a week after two jihadists from Jerusalem butchered like sheep four rabbis in prayer at a synagogue in the city and murdered a policeman who tried to rescue them, the French parliament recognized the non-existent “State of Palestine.”
That Islamic State-styled massacre was part of a larger Islamic terrorism offensive against Jews in Jerusalem that was incited by the leaders of “Palestine.”
Just as it does today, last fall the Palestinian Authority, led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, spread the lie that Israel was planning to destroy the mosques on the Temple Mount and called on the Palestinians to attack Jews.
The French government’s policies on the ground in Israel and the PA are a natural complement to its anti-Jewish policies at home.
Whereas France seek to reward Islamic terrorists on the international stage by helping them to weaken the Jewish state, back home the French government is willing to place its own Jewish community at risk in order to pretend that Islamic terrorism doesn’t exist.
Since Jews are among the top targets for French jihadists, the French government’s policy of refusing to acknowledge or combat Islamic extremism and violence in France is an anti-Jewish policy.
Last January, in the wake of the jihadist massacre at the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris, which had followed the massacre at Charlie Hebdo magazine, French President Francois Hollande refused to acknowledge that the murderous violence was rooted in Islam. To the contrary, Hollande perversely insisted, “These terrorists and fanatics have nothing to do with the Islamic religion.”
In a further act of hostility toward the grieving Jewish community, two days after the massacres Hollande told Netanyahu to stay away from Paris and not participate in his solidarity march with the victims of the attacks.
When Netanyahu insisted on participating in the march anyway, Hollande invited Mahmoud Abbas to participate as well, despite his direct sponsorship of anti-Jewish terrorism.
French authorities tried to push Netanyahu to the second row of marchers to prevent anyone from seeing him. Ahead of the march, they left him exposed, in an unsafe area, where his life was in danger every second, as he waited for a bus to pick him up and take him to the event.
In the evening after the march, Hollande refused to appear with Netanyahu at the memorial ceremony for the victims of the Hyper Cacher massacre. In a tangible snub, Hollande left the synagogue where it was being held before Netanyahu arrived.
In the nine months since the attacks, rather than go after the Islamic communities of France that infect their members with Nazi-like Jew hatred marinated in Koranic dispensations for murder, French authorities have forced French Jewry to live under lock and key. Jewish communal institutions are required to shoulder astronomical security costs as their buildings have come to look more like military garrisons than elementary schools and synagogues.
As a French professor writing under the pen name Alain El-Mouchain explained this month in Mosaic Magazine, the French government’s “refusal to identify either the culprits [of anti-Semitic violence] or their [Jewish] victims by their proper names... has perversely combined with the swift posting of police and military guards at Jewish institutions to make Jews feel that at best they have become ‘protected citizens’ in their own country, reinforcing the idea that they are no longer at home in France but are rather a new kind of dhimmi [a minority group that lives at the pleasure of the ruling Muslims].”
In rejecting France’s bid to destroy Israel’s sovereignty over the Temple Mount, Netanyahu and his ministers have all noted that such a position will do nothing to protect the Temple Mount or guarantee freedom of religion. Only Israeli control of the holy site, Netanyahu explained, protects members of all faiths.
Again, while their statements are correct, they miss the point. It isn’t that France is doing nothing to ensure freedom of religion. Through its actions, France has shown that it isn’t even vaguely interested in promoting freedom and peace. The policy of the French government, revealed yet again by its bid to end Israeli control of the Temple Mount, is to delegitimize Israel and curry the favor of jihadists at the expense of the Jews of Israel and of France alike.ROME The Italian government has dissolved the administration of the mafia-plagued southern city of Reggio Calabria after a city counselor was arrested on mafia charges.
Interior Minister Annamaria Cancellieri announced the decision Tuesday. It came after an investigation into the city administration following the arrest last year of a city counselor on mafia association charges. Calabria is home to the powerful `ndrangheta organized crime syndicate.
Italian law calls for such investigations to determine if there was any possible mafia infiltration in the city administration. Cancellieri said the decision was taken to prevent any "contagion" in the city government.
While smaller city administrations have been dissolved for similar reasons, Cancellieri said this was the first time the administration of a provincial capital had been dissolved. Three commissioners will run the city for 18 months until elections.Starbursts in dwarf galaxies played a bigger role than expected in the early Universe, according to new data from the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), onboard NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
Although galaxies across the Universe are still forming new stars, the majority of the stars were formed between 6 and 2 billion years after the Big Bang.
Studying this early epoch is a key in order to fully understand how these stars formed, and how galaxies have grown and evolved since.
New Hubble data have allowed astronomers to take a step forward in understanding this crucial epoch by peering at a sample of starburst dwarf galaxies.
These galaxies form stars at a furiously fast rate, far above the ‘normal’ star formation rate expected of galaxies.
“We already suspected that dwarf starbursting galaxies would contribute to the early wave of star formation, but this is the first time we’ve been able to measure the effect they actually had. They appear to have had a surprisingly significant role to play during the epoch where the Universe formed most of its stars,” said Dr Hakim Atek, an astronomer with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and the first author of a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal (arXiv.org pre-print).
“These galaxies are forming stars so quickly that they could actually double their entire mass of stars in only 150 million years – this sort of gain in stellar mass would take most normal galaxies 1-3 billion years,” said study co-author Dr Jean-Paul Kneib, also of EPFL.
This finding contributes to a decade-long investigation to understand the links between galaxies’ mass and their star-forming activity, and helps paint a consistent picture of events in the early Universe.
As well as adding new insight into how and where the stars in our Universe formed, this finding will certainly help to unravel the secrets of galactic evolution.
It is unusual to find a galaxy in a state of starburst, implying that they are the result of some strange incident, such as a merger, a tidal interaction with another galaxy, or the shockwave from a supernova.
By studying these galaxies more closely and understanding how they formed and behaved in their earliest years, astronomers hope to discover the cause of these violent bursts and learn more about galactic evolution throughout the Universe.
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Hakim Atek et al. Hubble Space Telescope Grism Spectroscopy of Extreme Starbursts across Cosmic Time: The Role of Dwarf Galaxies in the Star Formation History of the Universe. ApJ 789, 96; doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/789/2/96Director Adam McKay, left, and actors Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Will Ferrell arrive for the Australian premiere of McKay’s movie “Anchorman 2” in Sydney on Nov. 24. (Steve Christo/Associated Press)
Filmmaker and Funny or Die co-founder Adam McKay will become the latest honoree of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence at a gala tonight in Los Angeles. McKay is appalled at the lack of congressional action on “even basic gun safety and background checks,” as he noted when the honor was announced. When I spoke with him by phone in an anticipation of the award, McKay said he wanted to make a connection between the state of gun policy and an issue that runs through many of McKay’s movies, from police comedy “The Other Guys” to his mockery of David and Charles Koch’s funding of tea party challengers in “The Campaign” to the “Anchorman” franchise: the relationship between money and politics.
“I was talking to someone when we were doing the press junket for ‘Anchorman 2,’ and I said ‘I refer to this as the Age of Corruption,” McKay said, noting that the journalist to whom he was talking told McKay,”‘I refer to it as the Age of Fraud.’ Big money has just completely washed almost every aspect of American life.”
There are few places where he believes the influence of money on policy is clearer than guns, McKay told me. He credited organizations such as the National Rifle Association with creating a climate in which any effort to regulate gun ownership gets treated like it is politically motivated rather than based in research or public health concerns. And McKay rejected the idea the idea that Americans are as divided on gun regulation as the NRA suggests they are.
“I think it’s as simple as they put out enough information to act like there’s a fake debate going on, and then they just buy Congress,” McKay said. The post-apocalyptic scenarios that NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre spins in front of Congress are not representative of most Americans’ concerns, McKay insisted. “It’s really just if you pay people enough money, you can stand up like Wayne LaPierre and say that crazy nonsense and they won’t laugh at you because you’re paying them enough. You pay people enough money, they will show up for weird daytime judge shows here in Los Angeles.”
The solution? McKay singled out Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as one of his favorite political communicators (even including President Obama), and suggested that despite Warren’s denials during the publicity tour for her new book, she might feel called to run for president.
“I don’t think she wants to because she’s such a sane human being, but she’s such a public servant that I think she might have to, just to primary Hillary [Rodham Clinton],” McKay reflected. “I don’t know that we can afford Hilllary for president right now, she’s just too corporate and too conservative.”
He acknowledged that a Warren campaign would be a steep climb because “all the people who would give you that big money are the people who are terrified of her. It would have to be the greatest grass-roots campaign in history.”
The same ideas that inform McKay’s politics drive his movies, often made in collaboration with actor Will Ferrell. “Anchorman,” which was rooted in the fluff that characterizes local news, and “Anchorman 2,” a fake history of the rise of the car-chases and talking-heads model of cable news, were about the way the profit motive distorts the media. The 2006 movie “Talladega Nights,” about NASCAR drivers, was made at what McKay recalls as a politically sensitive time and is his effort to understand Americans who were supportive of then-President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq, as well as the country’s consumer culture. Even “Step Brothers,” the least political of McKay’s films was, McKay said, was “animated by how adults in this country are turning into these consumer children.”
McKay says that his original political films with Ferrell were driven by the rich potential for satire in subjects like television news. But the politics became just as important as the comedy. “By the time we got to ‘The Other Guys‘ [a police comedy about the financial crisis] we started talking out being much more overt,” he recalled. “Is this a time to be subtle with this stuff, with what Wall Street’s done to the country? In the end, we’re like, in case anyone missed it, we put those end credits in.” The sequence, set to a Rage Against the Machine cover of “Maggie’s Farm,” explains how a Ponzi scheme works and lays out in stark terms the cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the AIG bailout.
McKay is working on an adaptation of “The Big Short,” financial writer Michael Lewis’s chronicle of the housing bubble. “You want to bring the audience in so you can realize how exciting and infuriating this is,” he said. “You don’t want to make it so light and so popcorn-y that you lose what’s going on.”
Given how inextricable his comedy is from his politics, it is no surprise that McKay laughed when I told him that I often get angry letters from readers suggesting that I am imagining a political subtext to McKay’s movies.
But he admitted that on the subject of guns, it would be difficult to make a comedy without descending into despair. One model, McKay suggested, might be the approach writers for the Superman radio show used, creating a fictional racial group called the Clan of the Fiery Cross based in real Ku Klux Klan practices to expose the organization’s ideology. Another might be the dark British terrorism comedy “Four Lions,” which employs radical shifts in tone to explore the motivations of incompetent, wannabe martyrs.
“Wayne LaPierre is obviously just an old, crumpled-up road apple who’s half out of his mind and just wants money and power,” McKay said. “I’m fascinated by the mid-level people, the people who work at the manufacturers’ headquarters, who do marketing for Smith and Wesson.... Can you do a funny movie about child soldiers? Can you do a funny movie about a genocidal dictator? Because the gun thing in this country is that disturbing. Not quite the same thing as genocide, but that dark.”
Until McKay figures out that question, he avoids using guns in action setpieces, unless a setting such as a police department demands it. He prefers the personal, eccentric brawls that the “Anchorman” movies made famous because they’re more revelatory of character.
“It’s got to be hyper-real for me to care about a gun in a movie,” he said. “You’re talking about car chases and guns and helicopters, and it’s just boring. How do you make that come to life? What’s the tweak on that? What’s the twist? I find that pretty boring unless it’s a movie like [school shooting drama] ‘Elephant,’ like ‘Man Bites dog,’ [about a film crew getting involved with a criminal], where you’re emphasizing the gun.”
Gary Sanchez, McKay’s production company, even replaced a gun in its logo with a bullwhip after McKay started to feel like the revolver was incompatible with the company’s focus on comedies.
In his films and his political advocacy, it is clear that McKay feels a real sense of urgency.
“It’s time to panic. Climate change, the level of violence, the level of income inequality? ” he said. “It’s time to full-on lose our cool.”Libertarians divide into two broad classes: those who espouse a free society because it gives better results than an unfree society, and those who espouse a free society because they believe that it is wrong to deny or suppress a person’s right to be free (unless, of course, that person is suppressing the equal right of others to be free). “Consequentialists versus deontologists” is the oft-encountered labeling of this difference. It is unfortunate that so much energy has been devoted to infighting between these two groups.
I first embraced libertarianism on utilitarian or consequentialist grounds related to my training as an economist. I was convinced that a free society—certainly in the long run, if not at every moment—would be healthier, wealthier, and happier than an unfree society. From economic theory and economic history, I came to understand the horrendous failures of the centrally planned economies in the USSR, China, and other countries. This understanding struck me as an adequate basis for anyone’s embrace of libertarianism.
Lacking a solid background in philosophy, I did not spend much time thinking about the moral case for libertarianism, at least in the early stages of my journey. Yet no one really needed to persuade me that people by nature deserve to be free, that each person possesses a natural right to control his own life insofar as the exercise of that right does not conflict with other people’s exercise of the same right. So, when I was first asked—more than twenty years ago as a panelist at a libertarian conference—whether I was a consequentialist or a deontologist in my libertarianism, I answered that I was both: I believed that people ought to respect other people’s right to be free of aggression (the initiation of violence or the threat of violence) and that if everyone behaved in this way, people would attain the best possible social and economic outcomes for the whole society.
Over time, I found myself making moral arguments for libertarianism more and more frequently. In some ways, I was simply expressing the grounds for my outrage against one coercive evil or another of which I became aware. Yet I never surrendered my belief that a free society works better than an unfree society along many social and economic dimensions. I was also persuaded by the great rule-utilitarian Leland Yeager that in the deepest possible sense, we must all be consequentialists. No one of good will can cling to the rule “fiat justitia ruat caelum” (let justice be done though the heavens fall) all the way down. If the most committed libertarian deontologist knew for certain that adherence to every critical element of libertarianism would entail, say, the utter destruction of the human race, even he would have to relent and to rest his decision on the consequences of a no-exceptions adherence to a normally binding moral rule.
Fortunately, this dilemma is one we do not face in reality. Indeed, almost always, if not always, we can follow the rule of perfect freedom and rest assured that not only will doing so not cause destructive outcomes, but it will actually conduce to the realization of the most constructive feasible outcomes.
In any event, after the more recent decades of my libertarian journey, I am now struck by a different aspect of this longstanding debate, which has to do with our strategy for winning people over to libertarianism. Strategy 1 is to persuade them that freedom works, that a free society will be richer and otherwise better off than an unfree society; that a free market will, as it were, cause the trains to run on time better than a government bureaucracy will do so. Strategy 2 is to persuade people that no one, not even a government functionary, has a just right to interfere with innocent people’s freedom of action; that none of us was born with a saddle on his back to accommodate someone else’s riding him.
In our world, so many people have been confused or misled by faulty claims about morality and justice that most libertarians, especially in the think tanks and other organizations that carry much of the burden of education about libertarianism, concentrate their efforts on pursuing Strategy 1 as effectively as possible. Hence, they produce policy studies galore, each showing how the government has fouled up a market or another situation by its ostensibly well-intentioned laws and regulations. Of course, the 98 percent or more of society (especially in its political aspect) that in one way or another opposes perfect freedom responds with policy studies of its own, each showing why an alleged “market failure,” “social injustice,” or other problem warrants the government’s interference with people’s freedom of action and each promising to remedy the perceived evils. Anyone who pays attention to policy debates is familiar with the ensuing, never-ending war of the wonks. I myself have done a fair amount of such work, so I am not condemning it. As one continues to expose the defects of anti-freedom arguments and the failures of government efforts to “solve” a host of problems, one hopes that someone will be persuaded and become willing to give freedom a chance.
Nevertheless, precisely because the war of the wonks—not to mention the professors, pundits, columnists, political hacks, and intellectual hired guns—is never-ending, one can never rest assured that once a person has been persuaded that freedom works better, at least in regard to situation X, that person has been won over to libertarianism permanently. If a person has come over only because of evidence and argument adduced yesterday by a pro-freedom wonk, he may just as easily go back to his support for government intervention tomorrow on the basis of evidence and argument adduced by an anti-freedom wonk. As John Maynard Keynes once cleverly replied to someone who asked him about his fluctuating views, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” If libertarians choose to fight for freedom solely on consequentialist grounds, they will be at war forever. Although one may accept this prospect on the grounds that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” this kind of war is deeply discouraging, given that the anti-freedom forces with which libertarians must contend possess hundreds of times more troops and thousands of times more money for purchasing munitions.
In contrast, once the libertarian has persuaded someone that government interference is wrong, at least in a certain realm, if not across the board, there is a much smaller probability of that convert’s backsliding into his former support for government’s coercive measures against innocent people. Libertarianism grounded on the moral rock will prove much stronger and longer-lasting than libertarianism grounded on the shifting sands of consequentialist arguments, which of necessity are only as compelling as today’s arguments and evidence make them. Hence, if we desire to enlarge the libertarian ranks, we are well advised to make moral arguments at least a part of our efforts. It will not hurt, of course, to show people that freedom really does work better than state control. But to confine our efforts to wonkism dooms them to transitory success, at best.
If we are ever to attain a free society, we must persuade a great many of our fellows that it is simply wrong for any individuals or groups, by violence or the threat thereof, to impose their demands on others who have committed no crime and violated no one’s just rights, and that it is just as wrong for the persons who compose the state to do so as it is for you and me. In the past, the great victories for liberty flowed from precisely such an approach—for example, in the anti-slavery campaign, in the fight against the Corn Laws (which restricted Great Britain’s free trade in grains), and in the struggle to abolish legal restrictions on women’s rights to work, own property, and otherwise conduct themselves as freely as men. At the very least, libertarians should never concede the moral high ground to those who insist on coercively interfering with freedom: the burden of proof should always rest on those who seek to bring violence to bear against innocent people, not on those of us who want simply to be left alone to live our lives as we think best, always respecting the same right for others.
Tags: Civil Liberties, Free Market, Law, Liberty, Morality, Natural Law, Personal Liberty, Philosophy, The State, Utilitarianism“This is, I think, pushing the envelope quite a bit and is highly counterproductive,” Lawrence O. Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, said. “I can’t think of a situation where any jurisdiction in the United States in modern times has simply quarantined a whole class of people.”
In a new era of mass travel and global pandemics, public health officials have seen the utility of quarantines to rein in outbreaks that appear to be spiraling out of control. But the approach, experts said, is an extreme one.
“It doesn’t seem like we’re to that stage yet,” Steven D. Gravely said, a lawyer who helped Virginia rewrite its laws on quarantine to make it easier for the state to respond quickly to disease outbreaks. Instead, he said, “there’s so much anxiety right now, that’s become the problem.”
Government officials, he added, need to explain “why are you doing this, what do you hope to accomplish. Because otherwise people read into it things that are not there.”
The power to impose quarantines derives from the general police power granted to states in the Constitution. But over the last century, state and federal authorities have moved away from broadly quarantining categories of people, said Mr. Gostin, adding that one would have to reach back to the influenza pandemic of 1918 to begin to find the sort of blanket approach being employed in response to Ebola in New Jersey.
General quarantines, seen as having only limited effectiveness even when employed against the flu a century ago, fell out of favor as antibiotics and other treatments were developed to more directly address the contagious without affecting those who might have been exposed but display no sickness.
At the height of the AIDS epidemic, quarantines were supported in some quarters, but no such measures were ever adopted. Similarly, there were no quarantines in the United States during recent pandemics of H1N1 or SARS.In making Dana Boente acting attorney general, President Trump has elevated a longtime federal prosecutor best known for his handling of public corruption cases.
Boente, a 33-year veteran of the Justice Department, oversaw the prosecution of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell (R), whose conviction was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court. Previously, Boente oversaw the government’s cases against former congressman William J. Jefferson (D-La.) and former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin (D).
Lawyers who have known Boente, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said he has a reputation for being tough but evenhanded. Although he has not been vocal about his political views, they said, he would not have agreed to be thrust into the role of defending Trump’s controversial executive order banning some migrants unless he believed it is legally sound.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said Tuesday that Boente will remain in his position there as he serves as acting attorney general.
[Trump fires acting attorney general Sally Yates ]
(Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
“Dana was very circumspect about his politics,” said former assistant U.S. attorney Gene Rossi, now a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in Virginia. “I never saw Dana, in the 22 years I worked with him, make what I considered to a political decision.... He will try his best to enforce what he thinks is the law.”
But Rossi added, “If he thought that the executive order was illegal, I doubt very seriously he would have taken the position of acting attorney general.”
Longtime defense attorney John Zwerling shared that sentiment.
“I don’t think he would do it if he felt that it was morally wrong to do it,” Zwerling said. “I believe he looked inside himself and decided he could morally and legally defend the position. I don’t know how he votes, but he’s no liberal. The Eastern District of Virginia is a very tough jurisdiction, and he ran it as a very tough jurisdiction.”
Mike Dry, who worked as a prosecutor under Boente until he left recently for the firm Vinson & Elkins, said whatever Boente’s views on the memo were, they were likely not informed by politics. Dry, who led the McDonnell prosecution and was involved when the office was tasked with investigating former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, said, “the only guidance that I ever got from Dana on any case was, ‘We’re gonna follow the facts, we’re gonna follow the law, and we’re gonna do the right thing.’”
“He has a strongly held belief that [the Department of Justice] should not be politicized, and that senior leadership at [the Department of Justice], one of their primary roles is to ensure it’s not politicized,” Dry said. “Dana’s the least political guy I know. I think Dana’s view is he’s going to follow the law.”
The Trump administration said Boente, who replaced fired acting attorney general Sally Q. Yates, was sworn in about 9 p.m. Monday.
In an interview, Boente noted that his office had already begun supporting the president’s order against a challenge brought in a Virginia federal court.
“I was enforcing it this afternoon,” Boente said. “Our career department employees were defending the action in court, and I expect that’s what they’ll do tomorrow, appropriately and properly.”
Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg of the Legal Aid Justice Center, who filed a complaint on behalf of two Yemeni men sent away from Dulles International Airport under the executive order, said he had spoken with Boente about the case by phone Sunday and Monday.
It’s unclear why Trump chose Boente, a longtime Justice Department lawyer who seemed to hold no greater ambition than keeping his job as U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. President Obama had spelled out a succession order in January that listed the three other U.S. attorneys as being in line to succeed the attorney general should something happen, though Trump, of course, had the option to pick his own person.
Two in that line – U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon in Chicago and U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips in D.C. – were not asked, according to people familiar with the process. (Phillips, though, lacks Senate confirmation, which might have precluded him from serving).
The U.S. attorney’s job in the Eastern District of Virginia is an important and high-profile one. The Eastern District is home to the CIA and the Pentagon, and its prosecutors often handle terrorism cases. The office has about 300 lawyers and other employees working in Alexandria, Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News.
Boente was sworn in to head the office in February 2016, but he had served in that post on an interim basis since replacing Neil MacBride in late 2013. He also served as acting U.S. attorney there in 2008 and 2009.
When Boente was sworn in, then-Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch called him one of the department’s “consummate utility players” and said he was “one you could always count on to be there for you.”
Under Boente’s leadership, prosecutors won corruption convictions against McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, although those outcomes were overturned by the Supreme Court. Boente’s office pushed to retry the McDonnells, but those moves were overruled by higher-ups at the Justice Department.
In their investigation of Clinton’s use of a private email server; prosecutors in Boente’s office found little evidence that she intended to break classification rules.
Prosecutors working for Boente also won convictions of CIA leaker Jeffrey Sterling under the Espionage Act and television news analyst Wayne Simmons for pretending to be a CIA agent. Boente has overseen 10 prosecutions of Americans accused of supporting the Islamic State, eight of which have yielded convictions. The other two are set for trial this year.
In the past several years, Boente’s office also has aggressively targeted opioid dealers implicated in fatal overdoses, taking on what Boente has described as a worsening epidemic in Virginia.
“I’m very concerned that we haven’t seen the worst of this,” Boente said at a forum late last year in Loudoun County. “If you don’t know someone who’s had a problem with addiction, you will.”
Boente was nominated to lead the U.S. attorney’s office in Virginia by President Barack Obama on Oct. 8, 2015, and confirmed by the Senate two months later.
Before he became a U.S. attorney, Boente worked in the tax division and as an interim attorney in both the Eastern District of Virginia and the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Boente, who is from Carlinville, Ill., lives in Northern Virginia. He said he expects to serve as acting attorney general until Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is confirmed.For opposing the use of birth control pills made by Bayer, a consumer advocate has lost his voting power on a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel.
The FDA cited “intellectual conflict of interest” for its decision regarding Wolfe, whose group publicly warned women not to use |
the Oval Office wasn't the one who did it. It's exactly what you'd expect from Cheney. All fear, all the time.
But this is why we all should be very afraid.
As Romney considers possible running mates, it's worth remembering that he pointed to Dick Cheney as the "kind of person I'd like to have" working with him. Likewise, the policies that Romney has advocated -- like indefinitely leaving our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example -- are continuations of the Bush-Cheney doctrine, version 2.0. [...] Out of Romney's 24 special advisors on foreign policy, 17 served in the Bush-Cheney administration. If Romney were to win, it's likely that many of these people would serve in his administration in some capacity -- a frightening prospect given the legacy of this particular group. The last time they were in government, it was disastrous.
The puppet-master is back. Mitt Romney might be a little bit sharper than Cheney's last tool, but when it comes to foreign policy, it doesn't show. This is someone still talking about the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia in the present tense, who says the Russian Federation is our greatest threat. With that level of knowledge, he's putty in the hands of Cheney (and Cheney stand-ins like John Bolton).
And, true to form, they're trying to keep this all secret.
@thinkprogress via TweetDeck Media BANNED from taking pictures of Romney with Cheney http://t.co/...
Romney is probably smart enough to understand that there's little to gain by appearing with Cheney, but that doesn't mean he won't be controlled by him in private. To paraphrase Cheney himself: Be afraid. Be very afraid.It’s been another tough offseason for Patrick Kane. The dynamic young Chicago Blackhawks forward found himself in the news again, this time after photos and reports surfaced of a wild Cinco de Mayo weekend in Madison, WI.
A sampling of the photos show Kane speaking with police, alcohol being poured down his throat, and him passed out on top of a bar. It was also reported that he was telling girls how attractive he thought they were to their faces, locked lips with a fraternity president’s girlfriend, and was eventually kicked out of a party for trying to choke a girl.
Needless to say, it’s not the kind of attention the Blackhawks were hoping one of their most marketable players would bring to the organization.
In August of 2009, Kane made headlines when he, along with his cousin, allegedly punched a cab driver in Buffalo, NY who wasn’t able to provide them with the proper change for their fare.
The charges in the cab incident were eventually reduced to noncriminal disorderly conduct, but they still tattooed Kane with the mark of immaturity, one that will stick with him for many years, especially if he continues to put himself in the media spotlight for less than respectable reasons.
At the time of the first incident, Kane was only 20 and many were able to pass it off as the type of mistake that a young person makes when caught in the wrong situation. Now 23, the patience of both the Blackhawks and critics alike has appeared to grow thin.
There was heavy speculation in the offseason that the Blackhawks would deal the Buffalo native to bring in a new goalie (or Rick Nash?) and rid themselves of the headaches that he has caused with his not-so-secret lifestyle.
Trading Kane this offseason would have been a mistake.
Let’s go back and take a look at what Kane did during the 2009-2010 season, which some fans might remember as the year that the Windy City hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961.
Without a doubt, that season marked the best of Kane’s career. He scored 30 goals and had 58 assists to give himself 88 points on the season – a season in which he was the Blackhawks’ leading scorer by a substantial 19 points and finished ninth overall in the NHL.
After leading the team through the regular season, “Kaner” maintained his solid performance for the duration of the playoffs. Many will remember that in the first round series against the Nashville Predators, Kane scored a shorthanded goal with 13.6 seconds remaining to tie game 5. The Blackhawks went on to win the pivotal game in overtime, shifting the momentum in their favor and allowing them to avoid a “must-win” situation for the rest of the series.
Following the Nashville series, Kane continued to perform well against the Canucks, Sharks, and Flyers, compiling 28 points in 22 games, trailing captain Jonathan Toews by one point for the team lead in playoff scoring. He made a strong case for winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player, the honor that was eventually bestowed on Toews.
While it may be a stretch to say that his successful season was a direct result of the offseason incident, there may be some correlation between the two. According to the Chicago Tribune, Kane believes his offseason workouts following the altercation, where he worked out “15 out of 17 days back in Buffalo, about three hours a day,” were the most intense of his career.
Knowing that he had something to prove in 2009, Kane came out firing on all cylinders, notching four points in the season’s first two games against the Florida Panthers in Helsinki, Finland. At one point during the middle of the season, he tallied 18 points in just 11 games, carrying the team offensively during an 8-2-0-1 run.
Before the 2009-2010 season began, it was much easier for the front office to support Kane. They could write off the altercation with the cab driver as a youthful mistake that wouldn’t happen again. As Kane put it, the Blackhawks’ front office supported him “110 percent.”
Those feelings were absent this offseason when General Manager Stan Bowman avoided discussing the ugly weekend like the plague. Soon to turn 24 and entering his 6th NHL season, the team had been hoping Kane would not only continue to develop offensively, but also accept a role as a leader in the locker room.
Don’t expect #88 to disappoint.
Kane knows he’s on a short leash. His offensive output was disappointing by his standards last season, when he registered only 66 points in 82 games. However, Kane was bounced between center and wing by Head Coach Joel Quenneville and was never really given the opportunity to develop chemistry with those around him.
It may take a bit of time for him to repair his reputation, but the best way to make fans forget is to produce on the ice. That’s exactly what happened after the 2009-2010 season. Many fans were conveniently able to forget the mishaps from the past summer when Kane somehow managed to squeeze the puck underneath Michael Leighton to clinch the ultimate honor for the ‘Hawks.
Everyone knows that Kane possesses unique and game-changing talent, including himself. He’s an absolute wizard with the puck, often leaving fans and opposing defenders with their jaws on the floor. Just take a look at the video below where Kane undresses Minnesota Wild goalie Nicklas Backstrom in the shootout:
With a friend and teammate like Jonathan Toews, the consummate pro, it’s hard to believe that Kane hasn’t received at least a couple of stern lectures from “Captain Serious,” who has supported the young dynamo through the troubling offseason.
Alternate captain Patrick Sharp has also encouraged Kane, calling him a “world-class talent, [who] does all kinds of things on the ice.”
In a sign of perhaps increased maturity, Kane didn’t shy away from questions about the turbulent offseason from the Chicago Tribune, displaying a legitimate desire to become a better ambassador for the team.
“[The photos] are pretty embarrassing,” he told the Chicago newspaper. “Hopefully it’s something that can make me a better person…I know the person I am and I know the person I can be. I have to make these things stop happening.”
In a season that will go a long way toward determining the type of player Patrick Kane will be in this league, expect him to come out (again) with something to prove.
This is, of course, assuming that there is a 2012-2013 NHL season…
Follow Tim on Twitter @tpigulski.Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told Newsmax TV Wednesday that he would "bomb the hell" out of the Islamic State (ISIS) if he was elected to the White House."I would attack the oil. I would take away their source of power," the billionaire businessman said in an exclusive "Newsmax Prime" interview with J.D. Hayworth to air Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern time. "I would take away their source of wealth. You will defeat ISIS."Watch Newsmax TV on. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system – Click Here Now That wealth comes from the oil and gas fields that ISIS has captured since beginning its campaign across Syria and Iraq last year. The terrorist group makes about $1 million a day through extortion and taxation, The New York Times reports, and its oil assets brought in $100 million last year."They are very wealthy," Trump told Hayworth. "They're building a hotel in Syria. A hotel. They're competing with me."They're building a hotel in Syria. … They're wealthy. You know why they're wealthy? From the oil," he said. "I would absolutely cut off their source of wealth, which is the oil. I would bomb the hell out of them."Trump added that he would seek to cut off aid to the Islamic State by other Arab nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally."I would find out whoever gives donations. Those are the enemy," he told Hayworth. "They're coming out of Saudi Arabia and other places."Beyond airpower, Trump said he would bring the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters into the game because "they're good fighters and we treat them terribly — and they're the ones that really seem to be the ones that fight."We do have some great fighters with the Kurds, and they're the ones that really do seem to be the fighters — and they know what they're ding. But they don't have the equipment. We're giving our equipment to people that run every time a bullet gets fired."So, I would look very strongly at doing what I said and we would win and win quickly," Trump said.Turning to the nation's crumbling infrastructure, the billionaire developer said he would rebuild the country through a program based heavily on contractors that would get the U.S. government out of the construction business and would create jobs."Our country has a tremendous infrastructure problem," he told Hayworth. "We have to build — and that also creates jobs. That's a really good situation if you know what you're doing."What would I do is I'd make sure that we have a system in place that lets us get the best bids. I would generally bid out to contractors; I hate seeing government projects where you have government employees doing it. I would bid out."I'd have a great system of bidding. I'd also create an awards system. I sometimes don't give to the lowest bidder," the hotelier said, "because sometimes I'd have a bidder that was low, but I know he's not good. I know he's a big extras guy."I know he's going to try and rip me off in the end — and I'll give to a guy who's actually a little bit higher, but in the long run he's a much better contractor and it'll end up being much cheaper."Trump added that he was "essentially" financing his own presidential campaign."I don't want anybody's money. But a lot of people are sending in money because they like my message."Essentially, they're tired of being ripped off — and with me, we're not going to be ripped off anymore," he said. "We're paying Iran hundreds of billions of dollars. Why don't we hold those payments until such time as the nuclear deal is done?"Because we have people that are incompetent," Trump concluded. "Everything about our country and our representatives seems to be incompetent."President Trump’s critics predicted that the economy would crash as a result of his policies in office.
In preparation for a completely unpredictable Trump presidency, I sold all stocks in my kids' education accounts today. I urge u to do same. — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) September 26, 2016
Trump picks Mnuchin and Bannon. How many times are we going to let Goldman Sachs execs crash our economy? When will we learn? #riggedsystem — John Wisniewski (@JohnWisniewski) November 30, 2016
But that’s not what happened at all. In fact, the economy is looking better off, via CNN Money:
A slew of economic data came out this week. Almost all of it was positive. Americans are still going to stores and spending big (retail sales came in better than expected for January). They’re also buying houses. And cars. And using their credit cards. On top of that, small and medium-sized business owners are giddy. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index is at its highest level since 2004.
And the stock market, it went through the roof, breaking 20,000 points for the first time in its history.
Another one of Trump’s critics was Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign top strategist Mark Penn. In an interview with Business Insider, he described how the beginning of the 2016 race was going for Trump:
“Usually, becoming the presumptive nominee would give people a lift,” he said. “In this case, I’m not so sure he’s had a single good day since he’s become the presumptive nominee. I think he might have been better off while he was in the [primary] fight.”
However, Penn has changed his tune in at least one area concerning the commander-in-chief — the economy.
The Hill reported on a poll aimed at Republicans and Democrats, the Harvard-Harris poll, which Penn was the co-director of:
Among Republicans surveyed in the Harvard-Harris poll, 60 percent are satisfied with the economic trajectory, versus 23 percent who are dissatisfied. Only 33 percent of Democrats said the economy is on the right track, while 48 percent said it is headed in the wrong direction.At 65 percent, Trump voters are the likeliest to say the economy is headed in the right direction. “It’s really a surprising turnaround given how negative voters have been about the economy since 2009,” said Mark Penn, co-director of the Harvard-Harris poll. “But jobs remains the number one issue and a lot of the change in sentiment anticipates tax cuts and infrastructure programs.“
Meanwhile, the stock market continues making gains under a Trump presidency.Image copyright Getty Images
The US Army is working on a new hand grenade that can operate as either a fragmentation or a blast pressure device.
It means collateral damage can be limited in certain circumstances.
It is the first new grenade in more than 40 years, said the Picatinny Arsenal where it is being developed.
Unlike traditional grenades, the Enhanced Tactical Multi-Purpose (ET-MP) hand grenade is designed to be thrown with either the right or left hand.
"Current grenades require a different arming procedure for left-handed users," said a statement by the US Army.
One of the project's managers, Matthew Hall, added that another benefit was the use of an electronic component to set off the explosion.
"Detonation time can now be narrowed down into milliseconds, and until armed, the hand grenade will not be able to detonate," he said.
However, one expert told the BBC the grenade was not revolutionary.
"I'm slightly surprised the US has earmarked funds for it as it's a relatively niche improvement at a time when budgets are stretched," said Justin Bronk, research fellow in military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) think tank.
"The old grenade doesn't really have any deficiencies per se. This is much more scalable - it can be used as traditional hand grenade or dialled back if you are trying to minimise collateral damage."
While left-handed soldiers have to be trained to use a traditional grenade slightly differently, it is not a huge issue for them, Mr Bronk added.
"It might marginally reduce the chances of dropping it but they are not particularly difficult to use."
Image copyright Ardec Image caption The US Army released a graphic of the new grenade
Fighters can select which of the device's dual functions to use by flicking a switch, the US Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (Ardec) said.
"Soldiers will not need to carry as many types of hand grenades," added the unit's Jessica Perciballi.
"They are currently carrying one M67 grenade that provides lethal fragmentation effects.
"With the new multi-purpose grenade, they can carry one ET-MP grenade and have the ability to choose either fragmentation or concussive effects desired for the situation."Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
A cyclist has been driven potty by an eight-month battle with Coventry City Council over its refusal to pay for damage caused to his bike.
Steve Frazer, 44, from Wyken, claims that a three-lane pothole, at junction one of the Coventry ring road with Foleshill Road, caused more than £130 worth of damage to his bicycle during one of his daily commutes to work.
But, after contacting the council to seek compensation, he was met with a steadfast refusal to pay for the repairs to his yellow Carrera road bike.
Following the accident in January, Mr Frazer took matters into his own hands and decided to withhold council tax until the matter was addressed. But he eventually backed down after receiving tax demands from the council and pressure from his worried wife.
Mr Frazer, who works with adults with learning disabilities, said: “They are just quoting rules at me, they say because they checked it 30 days before they have no responsibility to me.
“I couldn’t avoid the pothole, if I had gone left instead of right I would have been killed by the cars, but swerving right meant I couldn’t avoid it.
“The only option available to me now is legal action, I did stop paying my council tax, but I had so many threatening letters my wife made me reinstate the direct debit.
“Having to pay that amount of money to fix my bike means I have paid more by cycling than I would have by driving to work. I had to pay for the damage to be fixed myself as it was impossible to ride.
“I have paid my council tax for 15 years here now, I have a poorly paid job and I just feel shafted.”
He added the claim had now become a ‘matter of principle’ and vowed to pursue the matter through the courts – even if it ultimately ended up costing him more than the original claim.
He said: “I won’t stop until I get the money back. I will go to every possible avenue. By the time I have finished it will have cost the council £200 to £300 just to say no. They will spend more by saying no rather than just saying ‘oh look at this poor chap’.
“It’s all about the principle, it’s a relatively small amount of money in the grand scheme of things. It’s not how you treat people who are trying to do things right.”
Mr Frazer claims to have sent almost 10 pieces of correspondence over the matter and has provided images of the pothole before and after the repairs. He also provided photographs of the damage to the bicycle which included a buckled rear wheel that caused the brakes to rub.
A spokesman for Coventry City Council said: “We are not liable for any claims for damage if we have maintained an appropriate inspection regime and have responded where there is a need for repairs promptly and we believe this is the situation in Mr Frazer’s case.
“While we sympathise with Mr Frazer, clearly we cannot set the precedent of paying for claims where we do not believe we are liable. Claimants always have the option of proceeding to the Small Claims Court should they not agree with our decision.”Take a minute to consider this: Canada’s finance minister is engaged in an effort to sell a controversial new tax change. His pitch is that the change is aimed at rich people who have been taking unfair advantage of existing rules to minimize their taxes.
He accuses a “privileged few” of using “fancy accounting schemes” to produce “inappropriate” tax savings. His goal is to enforce “tax fairness” by making them pay more.
In the midst of his effort it becomes known that the minister, a very wealthy man, hasn’t separated himself from his wealth, as expected under established procedures. He hasn’t sold off his assets, or placed them in a blind trust that removes them from his control. It’s a basic safety measure, put in place to ensure the person in charge of the country’s finances can’t take unfair advantage of his position to benefit personally from his official actions.
The minister, Bill Morneau, says Canada’s ethics commissioner told him he didn’t have to put his holdings in a blind trust. Instead, CTV News reported on Tuesday that Morneau put tens of millions of dollars of stock into two holding companies, which he controls. This means he legally does not “directly” control the shares, the companies do. Morneau insists this is entirely on the up and up and says he worked with the ethics commissioner “to ensure that all my affairs were arranged appropriately and comply with the spirit and letter of the rules.”
So. An extremely wealthy cabinet minister found a loophole
The ethics commissioner, for her part, agrees that what Morneau has done is legal, but she doesn’t agree it should be. “This provision has sat there since I came in,” Mary Dawson told CTV. “I made a recommendation in 2013 that it be adjusted and it wasn’t, so my job is to fulfill the will of Parliament on what the rules are.”
So. An extremely wealthy cabinet minister found a loophole, one identified as problematic years ago, to dodge reasonable rules put in place to prevent exactly the sort of problem he’s now in. He didn’t feel the need to explain the arrangement in detail, so reporters had to figure it out on their own, just as he didn’t feel the need to reveal its existence before it was uncovered. Yet we’re supposed to take him at his word that he’s not a member of the “privileged few” using “fancy accounting schemes” to get an “inappropriate” break.
He wants us to trust him, even as he maintains that far less wealthy business owners can’t be trusted to play fair, even if nothing they do is illegal or hidden from tax authorities.
Morneau must rue the day he uttered the words “fancy accounting schemes” as a disparaging term. Judging by the extent of his wealth and complexity of his financial arrangements, he must require a small army of accountants using fancy schemes to minimize the tax he has to pay. He’s got numbered companies up the wazoo. He has holdings in Alberta, though he lives in Ontario, perhaps because Alberta offered tax advantages. He has a chateau in France owned by a company he forgot to mention. He has holding companies for his own family, and participates in one for his wife’s family. He’s got investment companies, real estate companies and condos in Florida. And, of course, he has the companies that hold his shares in the family firm, if technically indirectly.
Morneau must rue the day he uttered the words fancy accounting schemes
It’s highly unlikely — skilled though he undoubtedly is at high finance — that he sorts out the tax implications of all these assets and operations all on his own. It’s possible there are people who spend entire days finding ways to save Bill Morneau from overpaying tax.
Morneau no doubt acts in the same manner as other people in his rarefied income category. You don’t get rich by handing over excess money to the government, so he pays his share but doesn’t go out of his way to kick in any extra. He has people to help him with this, because tax laws are complicated. There’s nothing wrong with seeking to minimize your liabilities, just as tax officials do their best to maximize the amount they can legally squeeze out of you.
Morneau seems never to have quite grasped this, at least as it pertains to others. Since the launch of his reform plan he has characterized his targets as tax dodgers, people who deserve to be treated with suspicion due to the fact that they are wealthier than average. Even as the chorus of complaints rose against his plan, he persevered in suggesting Canadians were being hoodwinked by sharp operators using “scare tactics” and spreading “misinformation.” The accountants, economics, lawyers and fellow politicians who questioned his claims were deemed to lack credibility. They didn’t understand things the way he did. The leader of the opposition, he suggested, was too dumb to get the complexities of the issue. The Conservatives’ finance critic was too dishonest to be believed.
The second most important figure in government is a much reduced figure
Such has been Morneau’s mishandling of the affair that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did his best to keep him from the spotlight Monday when they made a quickie trip to a friendly location to announce a tax change they greatly hope will shift attention from the fix they’re in. When Morneau was asked questions, Trudeau jumped in to answer them. The finance minister’s staff has already been beefed up with a senior adviser from Trudeau’s office, to act as policy and budget director. Two years after the Liberals’ election win — the anniversary of which falls on Wednesday — the second most important figure in the government hierarchy is a much-reduced figure, viewed with less confidence than he was on his first day.
Once again this government is looking weak in an area in which it strives to excel: the optics of the Morneau crisis are terrible. He lacks the glib, everyman image Trudeau arduously cultivates. He’s supposed to be the serious one, the one who handles intricate financial matters while the prime minister shakes hands and wows the crowd. Yet he forgot to mention his chateau and still can’t grasp that it’s bad politics to denounce others for using tax opportunities to their best advantage, just as he does himself.
It’s getting late in the day to still be learning such basic lessons. The prime minister can’t spend the rest of his term protecting the minister from the danger of uncomfortable questions. Someone here has to pick up their game, and quickly.
National PostIn July 2015 Walker Books UK will publish a major re-issue programme of New York Times No.1 bestselling The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare to attract a whole new audience as well as being a collectable for existing fans.
New Mortal Instruments book covers
Each of the six titles in the series features gorgeous cover illustrations by Mila Furstova, the artist who created the album artwork for Coldplay's Ghost Stories. The first book in the Mortal Instruments series, City of Bones, was a major movie release in 2013.
Irresistibly drawn towards a group of demon hunters, Clary encounters the dark side of New York City - and the dangers of forbidden love.
The Shadowhunter Chronicles span several series: The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, The Bane Chronicles and The Shadowhunter's Codex.
There are more than 35 million copies of Cassandra Clare's books in print worldwide. Rights have been sold in over 30 countries, and the books have appeared on bestseller lists all over the world.
Keep an eye out on www.walkerbooks.co.uk.
by Lucy Moore for www.femalefirst.co.uk
find me on and follow me onThe U.S. Coast Guard offloaded thousands of pounds of cocaine seized in South and Central America at the Port of San Diego Thursday morning. NBC 7's Liberty Zabala shares the story. (Published Thursday, June 15, 2017)
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) crews offloaded about 18 tons of cocaine seized from across the eastern Pacific Ocean in San Diego Thursday.
Crews used interceptor boats to go after drug smugglers from different parts of south and central America for the past three months. Several suspects were taken into custody to face prosecution in the U.S.
"When they go out at night in rough seas in the dark, they don't know what they're going to face," said commanding officer of USCG Cutter Waesche Capt. James Passarelli. "And despite those fears, despite those challenges, despite the dangers, the crew will take that on."
Crews had mostly finished off-loading an estimated 36,000 pounds of cocaine, valued at more than half a billion dollars, Thursday morning from the Cutter Waesche.
One member of the U.S. Coast Guard, Danielle Sanchez, said this was her first deployment and she was glad to make a difference, she told NBC 7.
"I think it's awesome to see all these drugs, and actually see all the drug smugglers," said Sanchez. "We are the first people on scene with the law enforcement. It's amazing -- I never thought I'd be able to do this."
The Waesche worked along with seven other cutters to make more than 17 drug seizures from March to June 2017, usually in dark, rough waters. The cutters include crews from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Waesche, Hamilton, Mohawk, Dependable, Valiant, Active, Campbell and Confidence.
The load of cocaine was seized from 15 interceptions of suspected drug smuggling vessels, known as pangas, along with three cases of seized bales of cocaine dumped by suspected smugglers, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
"Our nation faces significant threats posed by transnational organized crime networks that spread violence and instability throughout the Western Hemisphere," said Capt. Passarelli in a statement. "The crew of Waesche meets those threats head on as far from the U.S. border as possible."
Last year, USCG crews seized more than a record 400,000 pounds of cocaine. They are currently on track to pass that record again this year.
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A courageous victim of a paedophile church elder who preyed on her as a naive schoolgirl spoke out because she feared he may abuse other youngsters.
Brave Karen Morgan, 38, told how she reported her uncle’s depraved behaviour to the police in order to protect others.
Jehovah’s Witnesses elder Mark Sewell stripped to his underwear to fondle his niece and bribed her with alcohol – then cynically told her no-one would believe her if she reported the abuse.
Depraved grandfather Sewell, 53, was today jailed for 14 years after being found guilty of eight historic sex charges, including rape, between 1987 and 1995.
Three of the seven indecent assaults he was convicted of relate to his systematic abuse of Karen when she was aged between 12 and 14.
Mother-of-two Karen, who has waived her legal right to anonymity to speak with us, described disgraced businessman Sewell as “dangerous”.
She said: “I’m relieved that everybody now knows what he has done, what he is capable of.”
During a three-week trial at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court jurors heard how manipulative Sewell would kiss his niece using his tongue and would pull her on top of his body as he lay on the sofa of his £200,000 terraced house in Porthkerry Road, Barry.
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93: Kay Felder had 23 points, 13 assists and a career-high eight steals to lead the Golden Grizzlies.
Felder, who made 14 of 16 free throws, has scored 20-plus in all 12 of Oakland's games this season.
Oakland (8-4), coming off a win at Washington and an overtime loss to No. 1 Michigan State, made 10 3-pointers in the first half and led by 11 points at the break.
A 3-pointer by Clemmye Owens V gave Chicago State a 63-60 lead — its first since 7-4 — but it went without a field goal for nearly four minutes during Oakland's 9-0 run. Back-to-back Chicago State 3-pointers made it a three-point game with 1:15 left, but Felder made 6 of 6 free throws to seal it.
Fred Sims Jr. led Chicago State (4-11) with 18 points. Trayvon Palmer added 10 points and 11 rebounds.
State women
Central Michigan 76, Rider 58: Da'Jourie Turner scored a season-high 20 for the Chippewas in the opener of the Hawk Classic in Philadelphia.
Aleah Swary recorded her first career double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) and Presley Hudson added 16 points and six assists for Central Michigan (6-4), which will play in the championship game against host Saint Joseph's at 3 p.m. today.
Rider is 3-7.
Big Ten men
(At) Rutgers 89, Massachusetts-Lowell 66: Omari Grier's 22 points led four Rutgers players in double figures.
Jonathan Laurent had 13 points and 15 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights (6-7), who completed their non-conference schedule on a two-game winning streak. Corey Sanders added 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Mike Williams had 10 points.
Jahad Thomas had 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the River Hawks (4-8), who lost their fourth straight.
After three ties and three lead changes in the first half, Rutgers expanded on a 27-26 advantage by scoring 10 straight.
Top 25 men
(At) No. 7 North Carolina 96, UNC-Greensboro 63: Brice Johnson had 16 points and 16 rebounds to help the Tar Heels (11-2) roll.
Francis Alonso scored 11 of his 17 points after halftime to help UNCG (4-9) hang around.
(At) No. 9 Butler 92, IUPUI 54: Kelan Martin scored 19 and Roosevelt Jones had 17 points and five steals as Bulldogs (11-1) romped to their eighth straight win.
IUPUI (4-11) was led by Darell Combs with 11 points and T.J. Henderson with 10.
(At) No. 15 Duke 105, Elon 66: Freshman Brandon Ingram matched a season high with 26 points and added 11 rebounds for the Blue Devils.
Freshman Luke Kennard added 18 points and Grayson Allen and Matt Jones had 17 apiece for Duke (10-2).
Tanner Samson had 17 points to lead Elon (9-4), which never led, shot 38 percent and had its six-game winning streak snapped.
(At) No. 16 Villanova 77, Penn 57: Freshman Jalen Brunson scored 22 to help the Wildcats roll.
Villanova (10-2) scored the first 14 points and led 30-3, cruising in its final game before the Big East opener Thursday against No. 6 Xavier.
Jackson Donahue led Penn (5-7) with 18 points.
(At) No. 21 Utah 115, College of Idaho 74: Dakarai Tucker and Kyle Kuzma both scored 17 points to help the Utes survive an early scare.
Jakob Poeltl made all six of his field goal attempts on his way to 15 points and 10 rebounds for Utah (11-2).
Aitor Zubizarreta scored 19 points and Joey Nebeker had 15 for the College of Idaho (7-7), an NAIA school.Ipswich have signed former Nottingham Forest captain Luke Chambers on a three-year contract.
The 26-year-old defender was out of contract after making 229 appearances for Forest in six seasons.
Media playback is not supported on this device Chambers saddened by Forest exit
"I spoke to a few people in the game who know the manager and Ipswich and they had nothing but good words to say. Coming here was a no-brainer for me," he told the club's website.
Chambers trained with his new team-mates for the first time on Monday.
And following Town's disappointing 15th-place finish last season, he expects it to be even harder to try and mount a promotion challenge in the new campaign.
"Every single year it gets tougher and tougher and this year looks the toughest I've seen on paper with the teams that are in the league now," he told BBC Radio Suffolk.
"But as long as we take care of our jobs, I think we'll have as good a chance as anyone."
Chambers is the Championship club's second summer signing following the arrival of right-back Elliott Hewitt from Macclesfield for an undisclosed fee.
"There were a few clubs in for Luke but I always felt confident we would get him and I'm delighted we have," said Ipswich boss Paul Jewell.
"He's always played well against us and he can play as a full-back as well as centre-half, which gives us another option if needed.
"He's a leader as well and that's what we want from him on the pitch."The forecast called for record snowstorms, and Luis Octavio López Vega had no heat in his small hide-out.
Thieves had run off with the propane tanks on the camper that Mr. López had parked in the shadow of a towering grain elevator, near an abandoned industrial park. Rust had worn through the floor of his pickup truck, which he rarely dared to drive because he has neither a license nor insurance. His colitis was flaring so badly he could barely sit up straight, a consequence of the breakfast burrito and diet soda that had become part of his daily diet. He had not worked in months and was down to his last $250.
Going to a shelter might have opened him to questions about his identity that he did not want to answer, and reaching out to his family might have put them at odds with the law.
“I cannot go on like this, living day to day and going nowhere,” Mr. López, 64, said one night last winter. “I feel like I’m running in place. After so many years, it’s exhausting.”
Mr. López, a native of Mexico, said in Spanish that he has lived under the radar in the western United States for more than a decade, camouflaging himself among the waves of immigrants who came across the border around the same time. Like so many of his compatriots, he works an assortment of low-wage jobs available to people without a green card. But while Mr. López blends into that resilient population with his calloused hands and thrift-store wardrobe, his predicament goes far beyond his immigration status.
Mr. López played a leading role in what is widely considered the biggest drug-trafficking case in Mexican history. The episode — which inspired the 2000 movie “Traffic” — pitted the Mexican military against the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. Throughout the 1990s, Mr. López worked closely with them both. He served as a senior adviser to the powerful general who was appointed Mexico’s drug czar. And he was an informant for the D.E.A.
His two worlds collided spectacularly in 1997, when Mexico arrested the general, Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo, on charges of collaborating with drug traffickers. As Washington tried to make sense of the charges, both governments went looking for Mr. López. Mexico considered him a suspect in the case; the D.E.A. saw him as a potential gold mine of information.
The United States found him first. The D.E.A. secretly helped Mr. López and his family escape across the border in exchange for his cooperation with its investigation.
Dozens of hours of testimony from Mr. López about links between the military and drug cartels proved to be explosive, setting off a dizzying chain reaction in which Mexico asked the United States for help capturing Mr. López, Washington denied any knowledge of his whereabouts and the D.E.A. abruptly severed its ties with him.
The reserved, unpretentious husband and father of three has been a fugitive ever since, on the run from his native country and abandoned by his adopted home. For more than a decade, he has carried information about the inner workings of the drug war that both governments carefully kept secret.
The United States continues to feign ignorance about his whereabouts when pressed by Mexican officials, who still ask for assistance to find him, a federal law enforcement official said.
The cover-up was initially led by the D.E.A., whose agents did not believe the Mexican authorities had a legitimate case against their informant. Other law enforcement agencies later went along, out of fear that the D.E.A.’s relationship with Mr. López might disrupt cooperation between the two countries on more pressing matters.
“We couldn’t tell Mexico that we were protecting the guy, because that would have affected their cooperation with us on all kinds of other programs,” said a former senior D.E.A. official who was involved in the case but was not authorized to speak publicly about a confidential informant. “So we cut him loose, and hoped he’d find a way to make it on his own.”
These are the opaque dynamics that undermine the alliance between the United States and Mexico in the war on drugs, a fight that often feels more like shadow boxing. Though the governments are bound together by geography, neither believes the other can be fully trusted. Mr. López’s ordeal — pieced together from classified D.E.A. intelligence reports and interviews with him, his family, friends, and more than a dozen current and former federal law enforcement officials — demonstrates why the mutual distrust is justified.
The absence of any facts to either condemn Mr. López or exonerate him of corruption has wrought havoc on the former informant, and his fugitive’s existence has been a ball and chain on his family, whom he sees during sporadic rendezvous. They all exhibit symptoms of emotional trauma, bouncing among flashes of rage, long periods of depression, episodes of binge drinking and persistent paranoia.
During several long interviews, Mr. López repeatedly said he was not guilty of any wrongdoing. He said he has refused to turn himself in to the Mexican authorities because he believes he will be killed rather than given a fair hearing. But years of living an anonymous, circumscribed life have been nearly as suffocating as a jail cell.
He starts most mornings at McDonald’s, where breakfast costs less than $2 for seniors and free Wi-Fi allows him to peruse Mexican newspapers on his battered laptop for hours, his mind replaying the life choices that landed him there.
“I risked my life in Mexico because I believed things could change. I was wrong. Nothing has changed,” Mr. López said. “I helped the United States because I believed that if all else failed, this government would support me. But I was wrong again. And now, I’ve lost everything.”
The Military Steps In
These days, Mr. López wonders whether he is losing his mind as well. Last September, he took his troubles to a psychiatrist at a health clinic, telling her how his emotions were running erratically from hot to cold and about his difficulty sleeping. An hour later, he left with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and a bottle of pills he decided not to take.
Sipping Diet Coke in a sunlit hotel room, Mr. López explained that he felt it was riskier to become dependent on medication that could be confiscated if he fell into police custody. More important, he said, the whole diagnosis was based on a lie — one of the many he tells to get by each day. When the doctor asked him what might be causing his stress, he told her that his family had turned against him.
“Imagine telling her what is really going on in my life,” Mr. López said. “Where would I start? That I once helped capture El Güero Palma, and now I’m being treated like a delinquent?”
Ballads were written in Mexico about the day in 1995 when the authorities took down Héctor Luis Palma Salazar, known as “El Güero,” the fearsome kingpin of the Sinaloa cartel. Mr. Palma met his fate on the outskirts of Guadalajara in suburban Zapopan, a nexus for everybody who was anybody in the drug war.
Mr. López served nearly two decades in the municipal police department there, most of them as chief. Politically astute and streetwise, he caught the attention of the D.E.A., which developed him as a confidential source during the mid-1990s and valued him for the reliability of his information.
Drug violence was raging. When things got too heated, Mr. López sought backup from General Gutiérrez, a powerful ally whose territory spanned five Mexican states. It was part of a secret arrangement, Mr. López said, in which his officers shared information about the cartels with the military and the general provided extra muscle to the Zapopan police.
At home, Mr. López’s wife and three children lived surrounded by bodyguards and snipers. With her husband often absent, Soledad López had her hands full with the children. Their oldest child, David, got his high school girlfriend pregnant. Luis Octavio failed eighth grade three times. Cecilia, the youngest, did not understand the tumult around her, and Mrs. López worked to protect her from it.A food-analytics start-up (Christ, these fucking buzzwords) has apparently found evidence of things in hot dogs that, uh...aren’t supposed to be there.
Clear Foods is a new California-based (where else) start-up whose goal is apparently to conduct genetic tests on mass-produced food in an effort to combat food-borne illness. To that end, they recently product-tested 345 commonly-available hot dogs and sausages to find everything in them that should not have been, and released it under the extremely clever and original name “The Hot Dog Report.” Spoiler: boy, did they find some stuff that wasn’t on the ingredients list.
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The report says Clear Foods “found evidence of meats not on the labels” in about 15% of all tested samples, which make sense, as you wouldn’t expect hot dog-makers to actually tell you they’re serving you weasel rectums. OK, OK, to be fair, they didn’t actually find any weasel rectums in the hot dogs (that they’re willing to tell us about, anyway—never know if Big Anus is threatening them to keep it under wraps), but they did find a surprising amount of pork being substituted in chicken and beef hot dogs. This is an obvious issue, since as the report points out, there are a lot of people who don’t eat pork for religious reasons. Also, 10% of the vegetarian samples tested positive for chicken or pork, which I am reasonably sure are not vegetables.
More problematic is the fact that in 2% of the samples tested, Clear Food claims to have found “Human DNA.” Distressingly, they don’t elaborate on what the hell that means. We can probably assume it doesn’t mean hot dogs are MADE OF PEEEEEEOOOPLLEEE! But does that mean a skin flake that fell into the meat machine, which would be bad enough, or does it mean something far worse? I’m going to leave what could be worse to your imagination.*
So...enjoy your processed meat tubes, I guess?
* Semen. It’s semen. I’m referring to the possibility of jizz dogs. Just want to make sure everyone got that.
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Image via Elena Shashkina/Shutterstock.In our quest for convenience, we are trading away our free choice. This is the free choice that our forebears fought wars of independence for: the right to decide where, how, and with whom we live, and the sacred rights of self-determination, a full life, and the opportunity to reach our full potential.
Yet today, AI makes decisions for us in every area of our lives without our conscious involvement. Machines mine our past patterns and those of allegedly similar people across the world, and then decide not just what news articles we see, but with whom we should commune and forge bonds, what goods and services we should purchase, or for whom we should vote in our political processes. This influences our opinions, our relationships, and our social fabric.
By replacing human-curated judgement with data-backed judgement, AI ultimately narrows our field of vision and reduces our social and economic choices—in retail, dating, entertainment, education, health care, and job opportunities. Taken individually, the nudges of mercantile and political interests may be of little consequence. But en masse, our lives become more and more subtly influenced and molded by the companies we let make decisions for us.
In this way, the salient tradeoff in the AI age is not privacy, but choice itself.
Money-making decisions
Sponsors are tuned in to our behavior, adding a mercantile sway to the information we receive. It started with consumers trading our data for convenience. In our cars, we share behavior patterns with automakers and insurance companies so they can deliver better navigation, automated driving, and lower insurance rates. In our home lives, companies use our socioeconomic profiles, life patterns, and our cognitive and visual preferences to keep us “engaged” in richer, more customized entertainment—with the hopes that we’ll pay for that next episode, in-game advantage, irrigation system, video-monitoring service, or smart-home thermostat.
Shopping online gives us the convenience of searching a catalog of billions of products from our couch—but more often only shows us our recent searches, purchases, and similar products based off them. Is that really free choice? The Amazon experience theoretically offers a vast range of products that no print catalog can match. But it also reinforces our own tastes over and over again, based on past transaction data. In practice, we stew in our own consumer characteristics; our range of exposure and choice is limited by upping the odds we’ll buy.
Or look at how hard it can be to find something new to watch on Netflix or Hulu: A search for “film noir” often only shows part of the cinematic canon based on your device, and further orders the results based on your prior watching habits. While practical, an Apple TV, an Amazon FireTV, or a Google Chromecast narrows your natural exposure to art, even when you go searching for it.
Predicative analysis
Not only are our choices narrowed by monetary incentives—they are narrowed by the use of algorithms that put us into what statistics calls “clusters,” which are groups with similar behavior profiles. If you happen to watch 1930s classic movies, enjoy swing dancing, are close to paying off your mortgage, and buy deluxe birdseed for the window feeder, the machine may place you in a retired baby-boomer group. Now you’ll be hearing a lot from cruise lines, who find their clientele in that particular cluster, and you’ll stop receiving promotional coupons from The Gap or being suggested music by Ed Sheeran in your streaming channels.
As a result of your perceived cluster, your consumption choices may be adjusted. The options that appear before you narrow, and you cease to imagine the alternatives that aren’t presented to you. The lack of choice affects your free will to really choose.
Beyond the narrowing effect of clustering is the growth-limiting effect of predicting preference from past behavior. Rather than being presented new and potentially challenging experiences, we see echoes of our past trajectory. Amazon keeps us in clusters of like-behaved shoppers; Google of like-behaved searchers; and Facebook, tragically, of like-behaved citizens. Reliant on behavior data, the machine constrains us to what we have been, rather than what we wish or hope to become.
The results
The 19th-century historian Alexis de Tocqueville observed that Americans are continually evolving. We have long prized the freedom to reinvent ourselves—to move to a new town or country, to take up a new trade, career direction, or hobby, or even a new religion or way of life. Choice and free agency are central to this character.
As AI narrows our choices, will it keep our careers on a single track? Will it guide our lives so that we meet only like-minded people, with whom we get along, and thus deprive us of the encounters and frictions that compel us to evolve into different, perhaps better human beings?
When our choices are constrained to narrow trajectories of consumption, relationships, news, and products, we cease to see these possibilities and life paths. If we trade more and more choice for convenience, we shut out other people’s divergent points of view and rest in the comfort of our cluster. Following this trend to its natural conclusion would extinguish our culture of constructive debate; further divide and stratify our society across political, intellectual, and commercial lines; erode our empathy, social coherence, and loyalty to those fellow humans not in our trajectory; and stifle innovation borne of cognitive and behavioral diversity, as well as the tensions that come from ideas, preferences, and tastes colliding.
In the name of our environment, economy, and humanity, we can’t afford to risk these consequences. Privacy was at the top of policymakers’ lists during the first wave of the internet. Choice and free agency deserve a top spot in the AI age.
This article is part of Quartz Ideas, our home for bold arguments and big thinkers.CHIEF MINISTER Mamata Banerjee on Thursday claimed that if the BJP-led NDA government sent one more Trinamool Congress leader to jail, the people of Bengal would put one lakh BJP workers behind bars.
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She was apparently responding to BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya’s statement on May 2 that those who got money from Narada, Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund scams, would be imprisoned.
Without using Vijayvargiya’s name, Mamata said: “For the last two days, a BJP leader who was shunted out of the civic body in Indore over corruption charges has been saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi had instructed CBI to arrest Trinamool leaders Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Paul. He also said more TMC leaders will be arrested. Is he God or the CBI director to say such things? Has the PM whispered in his ears to go to West Bengal and say this publicly? As a citizen, I have every right to know.”
“My Cabinet minister Subhendu Adhikari is from an affluent family. He does not need a lakh from Narada to be rich. Another minister, Firhad Hakim, too belongs to an affluent family and does not need money. It is same with Mukul Roy. But they are TMC leaders, this politics of vendetta will not last for long,” she added.
“On the other hand, there are lots of allegations against BJP leaders — ranging from corruption to child trafficking. I have cases ready for them. I will advise them not to fly so high… I challenge you to send one more Trinamool leader to jail… Then people of Bengal will put one lakh BJP workers behind bars,” she said.
The CM also came down heavily on BJP for accusing Trinamool of abducting tribal couple Raju and Gita Mahali and forcing them to join the ruling party. “Yesterday, the party spent the entire day abusing us. Even their ministers were abusing our party. A Union minister said there is reckless violence in West Bengal. What words…. I told Derek O’Brien what is this?… People in Bengal are at peace and the happiest. There is no injustice, no trouble. BJP has no work and are bad-mouthing about us. I want to tell the leaders of Delhi if anyone maligns the state, then there will be no bigger enemy than me,” she said.
On Wednesday, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said, “The tragedy is that for many years, West Bengal had been a victim of fear and violence under the Left parties. Now, it is a victim of fear and reckless violence under Trinamool.”
Taking on a BJP leader who allegedly called her an eunuch, Mamata said: “In a television news channel, I saw a BJP leader was calling me an eunuch. I am ashamed to say that he was saying ‘Is Mamata Banerjee a woman, or a man, or a eunuch?’ This is the kind of language they are using. I am ashamed that I was born here. How dare they question my birth, my mother, my father, my religion? Such audacity and arrogance they have.”
On Sunday, BJP leader Shyamapada Mondal had in Chandrakona said: “Today it is not clear whether she is a man or a woman. If anyone has seen hijra in Banaras recently, then I will tell him that Banerjee has turned into a hijra here.”
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At an administrative meeting, Mamata ordered a probe into students sitting on the floor during their Part 1 exams at Malda College on April 28.Conservatives have long had justifiable concerns with today’s colleges. Parents send their children to school, only to have them inundated with liberal lessons in the classroom and progressive events on campus. Commencement speakers with explicitly liberal ideologies outnumber conservatives by 4-to-1.
To put it bluntly, conservative ideals are demonized and conservatives have officially had it, at least according to a new Pew Research Center study.
A majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (58%) now say that colleges and universities have a negative effect on the country, up from 45% last year. By contrast, most Democrats and Democratic leaners (72%) say colleges and universities have a positive effect, which is little changed from recent years.
This study makes even more sense when taking a look at the political breakdown of today's campuses. In a study of dozens of college faculty, the Econ Journal Watch found that professors clearly favored one party over the other.
We investigate the voter registration of faculty at 40 leading U.S. universities in the fields of Economics, History, Journalism/Communications, Law, and Psychology. We looked up 7,243 professors and found 3,623 to be registered Democratic and 314 Republican, for an overall D:R ratio of 11.5:1.
President Trump has done much to expose the liberal bias rampant in today’s universities. More than once this past year, a professor has been busted for spewing hate against the commander-in-chief. Orange Coast College Professor Olga Perez Stable Cox said Trump’s election was an “act of terrorism” and called the president "one of the most anti-gay humans in this country.”
St. Joseph University Professor David Parry said that Trump’s victory was an act of “violence.”
“People are going to die because of what happened,” he told his students.
There are plenty more opinionated professors where they came from.
Roger Ream, president of the Fund for American Studies, said the culture needs to change – now.
“With the price of a college education skyrocketing and the landscape of the American economy rapidly changing, we must make sure that students are graduating with the ability to think critically and form nuanced opinions. That can’t happen if they only encounter one point of view. Students deserve to receive a balanced educational foundation and it’s the job of college administrators to ensure they do so.”Photo credit: CBS Philly
A brutal display of political violence resulted in the murder of an innocent GOP Committeeman in West Goshen, Pennsylvania.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Clayton Carter is facing 1st degree murder, accused of shooting neighbor and Chesco GOP committeeman Brooks Jennings. <a href="https://twitter.com/KYWNewsradio">@KYWNewsradio</a> <a href="https://t.co/FDCqo0z7mE">pic.twitter.com/FDCqo0z7mE</a></p>— Jim Melwert (@JMelwert) <a href="https://twitter.com/JMelwert/status/894997177818386433">August 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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A completely deranged Anti-Trump marxist, Clayton Carter, shot his Pro-Trump neighbor twice in the head on the man's property while his wife watched his execution.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/BlissTabitha">@BlissTabitha</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DagnyRed">@DagnyRed</a> I was right again!! Clayton Carter was a Trump hater. Look at this sign was in his yard facing GOP neighbor home <a href="https://t.co/aesavT7wdq">pic.twitter.com/aesavT7wdq</a></p>— Eric Dondero R. (@DonderolibtR) <a href="https://twitter.com/DonderolibtR/status/895315380683415552">August 9, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The mentally disturbed Leftist had a history of placing Anti-Trump signs in his front yard and making insane statements about Trump supporters, according to reports.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Clayton Carter shot his neighbor twice in the head on the victim's property, the criminal complaint states. <a href="https://t.co/8RppjY5ZZv">https://t.co/8RppjY5ZZv</a></p>— WPMT FOX43 (@fox43) <a href="https://twitter.com/fox43/status/895043194173444096">August 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The victim, G. Brooks Jennings was killed in front of his wife in cold blood. She is now a widow due to the deranged liberal mentality of Anti-Trump hate and bigotry.
<a href="http://6abc.com/man-gunned-down-outside-home-in-west-goshen/2286340/">Local news ABC6 Reported:</a>
<i>”A man is under arrest, accused of killing his next door neighbor in West Goshen, Chester County.“</i>
<i>”Police have charged Clayton Carter, 51, in the shooting death of G. Brooks Jennings.“</i>
<i>”Shortly before 8 PM Monday, police responded to the 300 block of Box Elder Drive for a dispute between Carter and Jennings about cursing and video recording in the back yard. Police said they were able to resolve that dispute.“</i>
<i>”Then at approximately 1 AM Tuesday, police say the neighbors got into another dispute. Carter told police that Jennings shined a light into his eyes while he was outside. Carter then allegedly pulled a car onto his lawn, shining the high beams of the car on Jennings’ property.“</i>
<i>”Carter then allegedly retrieved a.380 semi-automatic handgun from his house and confronted the victim again outside.“</i>
<i>”Officials say Carter shot Jennings once in the head, knocking him to the ground. Carter then allegedly stood over Jennings’ body and shot him once more in the head.“</i>
<i>”The victim was on his own property, police said. Jennings’ wife allegedly heard the first gunshot, then saw Carter stand over her husband as he fired the second shot.“</i>
<i>”Police recovered two shell casings, the gun and a knife at the scene. One shell casing was located on Carter’s property. The second shell casing was found on the victim’s property, near Jennings’ body.“</i>
<i>”Carter has been charged with murder and related offenses, and is currently being held at the Chester County Prison.“</i>
<i>”Neighbor Brian Dougherty got emotional when speaking of Jennings.“</i>
<i>”“You don’t want to sound cliche, you see this on TV all the time, but he is probably the nicest, best guy I’ve ever met in my whole life. Really, seriously,” Dougherty said.“</i>
<i>”Police say Carter had disputes with a number of other neighbors, and even pulled a gun on Jennings during a past altercation.“</i>
<i>”Neighbors say Carter was a quarrelsome, argumentative man. Court records claim Carter had a history of disputes with multiple neighbors. His front yard was crowded with cars and hand lettered anti-Trump signs.“</i>
<i>”On hearing of a shooting Tuesday morning, former neighbor Mary Beth Wallace came to the scene fearing the suspect had been involved in harming someone.”</i>
<i>”My heart sunk to my feet, because I knew something had happened," Wallace said. "I had seen that there was a shooting on Box Elder, and my heart just sunk to my feet. I knew all the way over here, I just suspected what I was going to find”</i>
<i>”Wallace said she first feared that the target might have been someone from Carter's family.”</i>
<i>”She says she did not know Mr. Jennings, but that her heart goes out to his family.”</i>
Why isn't the mainstream media covering this? Possibly because they have blood on their hands continuously pushing lies and propaganda that help drive deranged men and women to act out in such horrific violence.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In June, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Illinois?src=hash">#Illinois</a> Democrat James Hodgkinson shot 20 GOP House mbrs in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Virginia?src=hash">#Virginia</a>. Now <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pennsylvania?src=hash">#Pennsylvania</a> Dem Clayton Carter kills GOP Prct Chair <a href="https://t.co/p2KLkQ8Ref">pic.twitter.com/p2KLkQ8Ref</a></p>— Eric Dondero R. (@DonderolibtR) <a href="https://twitter.com/DonderolibtR/status/895266770038263808">August 9, 2017</a></blockquote>
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These events continue to happen. First the GOP Congressional Baseball Practice shooting and now another unspeakable act of violence against an American based upon his political ideology.
This is a travesty. The Goldwater offers our prayers and condolences to the victim and his family.In a shocking turn of events, MINI corporate in Munich have released an official statement that based on the overwhelmingly negative response to the spied photos of the F56’s pre-production interior, they’re sending the MINI Design Team back to the drawing board. Way back, in fact. They’re sending them all the way back to 1958.
April 1st 2013, Munich. Official release: Due to overwhelming negative response on the MINI news site MotoringFile.com, the MINI Design Team have decided to scrap the planned interior redesign in the upcoming 2014 MINI. Instead, based on consistent feedback that the interior be in touch with its Mini roots, the team have opted to retrograde the design back to the original 1958 Mini interior design.
To stay on schedule for a fall release, they’ve worked feverishly over the weekend to integrate modern technology and conveniences that consumers around the world demand. As seen in the accompanying photographs, designers have managed to integrate airbags, infotainment, HVAC controls paired with large vents, and a stand-alone tachometer. However, there is work yet to be done. Designers are working feverishly to render a rear-view mirror larger than the classic unit, which is roughly the size of “a deck of cards.” Additionally, updated upholstery will be fitted throughout, following yet more consumer feedback that the original materials reminded drivers of “their grandmother’s couch.”
Safety considerations have not been forgotten in devolving the new MINI’s interior. Soft touch foams and plastics will be used throughout to help soften any occupant “contact” during unexpected decelerations. The team is considering departing from the original Mini even further by including seat belts.
MINI Designers were puzzled to find that once their evolutions to the original were complete, they’d arrived at approximately the interior design for the current generation MINI Hardtop. However, this still has room for improvement. The team plans to look into enlarging the navigation screen, simplifying the HVAC and radio controls, and combining the tachometer and speedometers into a single gauge cluster for better driver convenience. Finer materials are also in consideration, as well as possibly better technological integration for today’s ever more connected drivers. The final design will be unveiled later this year, and the MINI Design Team has high hopes that given all this incorporated input from the MINI enthusiast community, the newly re-refreshed interior will be a big hit with MINI fans around the world.We are going off for a little weekend holiday in Thailand tomorrow, thought it would be fitting that I make a spice-themed lunch for my husband’s bento today to set the mood for our little getaway. Its a combination of Indonesian and Thai recipes in this box.
Tumeric Saffron Rice (Indonesian)
Ingredients: 1 cup rice, a pinch of sea salt, 1 clove, 1 cardamom pod, 1/2 inch piece of cinnamon, 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds or coriander seeds, 1 crushed garlic clove, 1/8 teaspoon turmeric, 1-2 inches pandan leaf.
Cover the rice with normal amount of water needed for the rice cooker. Throw in all the spice ingredients and start the cooker. Discard the pandan leaf and cinnamon stick after the rice is cooked.
Famous Sukhamvit Soi 5 Fried Chicken (Thai)
This is one of my all-time favourite fried chicken recipe from Thailand. Thanks to a wonderful writer, who managed to track down the owner of a small well-known street hawker in Bangkok in 2009 and miraculously got the family recipe! You can read the little story behind this dish and the recipe on http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2009/ |
who was Trump’s lawyer/mentor/consigliore in the 1970s and ’80s. Cohn was also close to Reagan and is said to have been a major factor in securing a federal judgeship for Trump’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Donald Trump sought to attach himself to the newly elected Reagan, inviting the president to everything from the 1983 opening of Trump Tower (declined) to a LaToya Jackson concert (also declined). Trump contributed $1,000 to Reagan’s re-election campaign and got an invitation of his own, to a White House state dinner for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia (yes, a Muslim, but Trump accepted).
Trump said of Reagan in a recent TV interview, “I have great respect for him. I helped him. I knew him. He liked me and I liked him.”
Former Reagan aides have suggested that this was some typical Trump overstatement, but it seems unlikely that Trump was unaware of the Republican icon’s slogan and just happened to coin the very same one for himself.
In filing the trademark back in 2012, Trump did not seem to anticipate how popular it would become. He failed to claim the exclusive right to use “Make America Great Again” on clothing such as T-shirts and hats like the one Trump now famously sports.
In what may be seen as a bit of what goes around comes around, Meri Bares and Bobby Estell of California took note of Trump’s oversight. They filed application number 86716074 on Aug. 5 of this year to trademark the use of “Make America Great Again” not just on hats and T-shirts, but also on everything from sweatshirts to socks and swimsuits, from backpacks to change purses to wallets, even “dog apparel.”
Two days later, Estell, who goes by Bobby Bones, tweeted:
“hey @realDonaldTrump, if you donate 100k to @stjude, I will give you your clothing trademrk back. thanks!—Bobby”
St. Jude being St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Estell posted a follow-up tweet later on Aug. 7:
“Hey @realDonaldTrump. I don’t even want this trademark. Let’s get this thing done. I want no money. Just for @StJude”
On Oct. 27, Trump issued a check for an undisclosed amount—reportedly the full $100,000—to the hospital.
“Transfer of Trademark,” read an accompanying notation on the check.
On Nov. 11, a U.S. Trademark examiner made the transfer official. Trump continued to sell Make America Great Again hats ($25 regular, $30 camouflage) and sweatshirts ($50) and even a Trump Presidential Dog Raglan sweater ($15).
He also continued to repeat the slogan at seemingly every opportunity, including the Republican debate in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.
“All I want to do is make America great again. We want to make America great again.”
At one point, a moderator noted that America’s bombers, missiles and submarines are all aging out and asked Trump which part of the nuclear triad would be his priority.
Trump had thought to appropriate and trademark his slogan for his latest bid to become commander-in-chief more than two years ago, but he did not seem even to understand what the triad was, much less what he would do regarding a president’s biggest responsibility.
He still had his slogan. And at the end of the debate he offered a slight variation, after expressing his determination to beat Hillary Clinton.
“If I do, we will make this country great again,” he promised.
The slogan may have been Reagan’s, but during the debates, Trump’s mouth had pursed and twisted in pouts and sneers such as The Gipper would have never contemplated.
Win one for The Lipper!Part No. GPU-RX560-TB3-S - Out of Stock
Work Hard. Play Harder. External GPU to Go!
Sonnet's eGFX Breakaway™ Puck is a portable, high-performance, all-in-one external GPU for Thunderbolt™ 3 computers (such as Ultrabooks and All-in-One computers) that provides accelerated graphics and multi-display connectivity. With a Puck connected to a supported computer, you drastically accelerate popular graphics-intensive games and pro applications anywhere – at a friend's house for a gaming LAN party or at work, rendering the latest video production.
Pack a Puck. It's Ready to Go.
The eGFX Breakaway Puck conveniently packs with your notebook in a backpack or computer bag when you need GPU acceleration while on the go. An included portable power adapter and 0.5-meter Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) cable powers and connects the Puck to your computer. The Puck provides 60W of Power Delivery, which means it will power and charge most notebooks while connected, even when not in use, allowing you to leave your computer’s power brick behind.
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Measuring a compact 6 inches wide by 5.1 inches deep by 2 inches tall, the eGFX Breakaway Puck has a minimal footprint on the desktop, and is the right size to compliment your thin/light notebook. The Puck houses your choice of a value-oriented Radeon RX 560 or a ultra-powerful Radeon RX 570 graphics video card. An integrated fan helps keep everything cool. Three DisplayPorts and one HDMI port provide ample display support. A Thunderbolt 3 (40Gbps) port provides connectivity between the Puck and your computer.
Zero Desktop Footprint with PuckCuff
Using Sonnet's PuckCuff, an optional VESA Mounting Bracket Kit, you can free up desk space and mount the eGFX Breakaway Puck to the back of a monitor with open VESA mounting holes (VESA 75 and Vesa 100 hole patterns supported).
Multi-Display Graphics Dock for Ultrabooks
With its three DisplayPort ports and one HDMI port, the eGFX Breakaway Puck leverages AMD’s Eyefinity™ multi-display technology to support up to four 4K displays with its single Radeon GPU! With the Puck connected as a multi-display graphics dock, there’s no need to compromise between the super-light notebook you want and the number of displays you need on your desktop.
AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology supports up to four 4K displays configured for the perfect gaming, productivity, and entertainment setups
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eGFX Breakaway Puck supports AMD XConnect™ technology, enabling easy connection and disconnection of the Puck without having to power cycle your computer.
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eGFX Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 560: Ultra-Portable Graphics Acceleration
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eGFX Breakaway Puck Models Comparison eGFX Breakaway Puck
Radeon RX 560
Best value for gaming portability and as a graphics dock for multi-display support eGFX Breakaway Puck
Radeon RX 570
High-performance, portable eGPU system delivering best GPU acceleration for gaming and pro video applications Graphics Card Radeon RX 560 Radeon RX 570 Video Memory 4 GB GDDR5 4 GB GDDR5 DisplayPorts Three Three HDMI Ports One One Thunderbolt 3 Ports One One Thunderbolt 3 Cable 0.5-meter Thunderbolt 3 cable (included) 0.5-meter Thunderbolt 3 cable (included) Notebook Charging Power Delivery Up to 60W Up to 60W Power Adapter Universal 160W, 100-240V AC,
50-60 Hz Universal 220W, 100-240V AC,
50-60 Hz Warranty 2-year 2-year Supported Technologies AMD Eyefinity Technology Yes Yes AMD Radeon FreeSync Technology Yes Yes AMD XConnect Technology Yes Yes HDC 2.2 Yes Yes HDR (High Dynamic Range) Yes Yes DirectX® 12 Yes Yes Intelligent Fan Control Yes Yes OpenCL 2.0 Yes Yes OpenGL 4.5 Yes Yes Comparison Memory Bandwidth 112 GB/s 224 GB/s Floating-point Performance 2,611 GFLOPS 5,095 GFLOPS Texture Rate 81.6 GTexel/s 159.2 GTexel/s Pixel Rate 20.4 GPixel/s 39.81 GPixel/s Shading Units 1,024 2,048 Texture Mapping Units 64 128 Render Output Processors 16 32 Compute Units 16 32 PassMark Score 4,703 7,223 Currently Selected Model Learn More
Computer notebook, displays, and PuckCuff VESA mounting bracket shown for illustrative purposes; not included.
View eGFX Breakaway Puck Multi-Display Configurations
View eGFX Breakaway Puck as a Multi-Display Graphics Dock Setup for Work
Watch the eGFX Breakaway Puck as a Powerful and Portable Gaming eGPUUPDATE: I’ve gotten a couple more details on T-Mobile’s HTC 10 launch plans. T-Mo will offer the HTC 10 in Glacier Silver, and JUMP! On Demand pricing will be set at $0 down and $28.50 per month.
T-Mobile has been pretty quiet about the HTC 10 ever since HTC’s new Android flagship was announced one month ago, but today T-Mo is finally breaking its silence.
The HTC 10 will launch at T-Mobile on May 18 at a price of $0 down and 24 payments of $28.34, or a full retail price of $679.99. T-Mo is also offering a free HTC Rapid Charger and HTC Ice View Case to anyone that buys the HTC 10 between May 18 and May 24.
The HTC Ice View Case lets you do things like quickly take photos, read texts, adjust volume, and more without lifting the cover of the case. It also supports third-party notifications from the likes of Instagram, Tumblr, and Google+. Meanwhile, the HTC Rapid Charger does exactly what its name suggests, charging the HTC 10 faster than the standard charger. The combined value of these two accessories is $85.
As a refresher, the HTC 10 features a 5.2-inch 2560×1440 Super LCD 5 display and a 5-megapixel camera with OIS on its face, and around back lives a 12-megapixel UltraPixel camera with OIS, laser autofocus, and a dual LED flash. Inside the HTC 10’s metal body lives a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage (expandable with a microSD card), and a 3000mAh battery. Also of note is the HTC 10’s new BoomSound configuration, which ditches the dual front-facing speakers found on past HTC flagships and instead uses a tweeter in its earpiece and a woofer at the bottom of the phone.
So now that we finally know when the HTC 10 will be hitting T-Mobile’s shelves, will you be picking one up?
Source: T-MobileJackie Iverson (Canada) of Saskatoon, Canada gave birth normally to a boy Christopher, on 21 November 1993, a girl Alexandra, on 29 November 1993 and was delivered of another boy and girl, Matthew and Sarah, (by Caesarean) on 30 November 1993, nine days later. Seah Siew Hwee (Singapore), gave birth to her first quadruplet (a boy) on 14 September 2004 at 9.43 pm. The remaining three quadruplets (all girls) were delivered by Caesarean section on 23 September2004 between 11.34 and 11.36 pm, nine days 1 hr 53 mins later.
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Comments below may relate to previous holders of this record.by PAUL REVOIR
Last updated at 21:24 22 March 2007
The BBC has been accused of "shameful hypocrisy" over its decision to spend £200,000 blocking a freedom of information request about its reporting in the Middle East.
The corporation, which has itself made extensive use of FOI requests in its journalism, is refusing to release papers about an internal inquiry into whether its reporting has been biased towards Palestine.
BBC chiefs have been accused of wasting thousands of pounds of licence fee payers money trying to cover-up the findings of the so called Balen Report into its journalism in the region, despite the fact that the corporation is funded by the British public.
The corporation is fighting a landmark High Court action, which starts next week, in a bid to prevent the public finding out what is in the review, which is believed to be critical of the BBC's coverage in the region.
BBC bosses have faced repeated claims that is coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict has been skewed by a pro-Palestianian bias.
The corporation famously came under fire after middle-east correspondent Barbara Plett revealed that she had cried at the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004.
The BBC's decision to carry on pursuing the case, despite the fact than the Information Tribunal said it should make the report public, has sparked fury as it flies in the face of claims by BBC chiefs that it is trying to make the corporation more open and transparent.
Politicians have branded the BBC's decision to carry on spending money, hiring the one of the country's top public law barrister in the process, as "absolutely indefensible".
They claim its publication is clearly in the public interest.
The BBC's determination to bury the report has led to speculation that the report was damning in its assessment of the BBC's coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict that the BBC wants to keep it under wraps at all costs.
Others believe that the BBC is using the case to test the law about how much protection it has got from making its editorial activities public and also because it fears that if it loses the case it will create a precedent.
The BBC's action over the case have provoked inevitable charges of hypocrisy as the BBC itself makes frequent used of freedom of information requests to get stories.
The BBC's own website boasts of 69 stories that it says it has broken with the help of the Freedom of Information Act.
If the BBC loses the High Court case next week it could appeal again and again until the case reaches the European Court in Strasbourg.
This would soak further thousands from BBC coffers, which should be spent on making TV programmes.
Conservative MP David Davies said: "An organisation which is funded partly to scrutinise governments and other institutions in Britain appears to be using tax-payers money to prevent its customers from finding out how it is operating. That is absolutely indefensible."
He added: "I think the BBC are guilty of shameful hypocrisy. What could possibly be in this report that could possibly be worth £200,000 to bury. What is it they feel is so awful in this report."
A source close to the case said they believed that the BBC had spend in the region of £200,000 on the case so far, while another legal expert claimed the cost could be as much as £300,000.
The document was put together by BBC editorial advisor Malcolm Balen in 2004 but never released.
The High Court action next week is the latest episode in what has become a lengthy legal battle which has been pursued by London solicitor Steven Sugar, who made the initial FOI request.
Initially Information Commissioner Richard Thomas agreed with the BBC's decision not to release details of the report.
But Sugar appealed the Information Tribunal and they backed his claims in September. This then saw the BBC appeal to the High Court.
The BBC claims public broadcasters do not have to disclose material that is held for the purposes of "journalism, art or literature".
But the BBC is now facing accusations it is using this rule as a smoke-screen.
It claims the measures are there to protect the integrity of its reporting and protects its journalists from interference from the public.
The BBC Believes that this includes the Balen Report.
The BBC also claims that if the court finds in Sugar's favour it could lead to a sudden increase in FOI requests which would require more staff and a further burden on the licence fee.
While the BBC did not reveal the findings of the Balen Report, which was compiled in 2004, the corporation did last year make public the findings of an independent panel report into the BBC's impartiality on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
That report found said that there was "no deliberate or systematic bias" in the BBC's reporting, but said its approach had at times been "inconsistent" and was "not always providing a complete picture" which had been "misleading".
But some claimed that the independent panel report only took a snapshot of the BBC's activities and should have looked more deeply at the reporting of the most troubled moments of the conflict.
Steven Sugar, who said he was prepared to take the case all the way to European court, said: "What I would like to see is the disclosure of an important document which will give us an insight into what the BBC itself thinks of its own performance.
"I would like to see the BBC facing up to its professed interest in transparency and openness."Emily Lakdawalla • June 15, 2016
Curiosity is at a turning point in its mission to Mount Sharp, both literally and figuratively. On sol 1369 (June 12, 2016), having descended the western edge of the Naukluft Plateau and drilled at three sample sites in 7 weeks, the rover took a left turn, changing its trajectory from a generally westward driving path to a southward one.
Curiosity turned south because it has finally reached the gap in the Bagnold dune field that has stood in the way of the rover's access to the mineralogically interesting rocks of Mount Sharp since landing day. The rover's southward course will take it into a landscape of isolated knobs called the Murray Buttes, and the rover will begin to steadily climb in elevation as it proceeds south. In this most recent self-portrait, the rover gazes toward the south, in the general direction of its future travel.
Cuirosity took the photos for this self-portrait after drilling at two adjacent sites near the western edge of the Naukluft plateau, on so 1338 (May 11, 2016). It was the second Mars anniversary of the landing. Okoruso is the site in front of the rover; the much brighter Lubango drill site is visible behind the rover (close to the mast). There is also a low ridge to the left of the rover, where rocks have been crushed by the rover's wheels. Curiosity took a close look at those rocks before driving away to the west. In this unusual view, the rover is looking toward the west, and we can see the back of the mast, for the first time since the rover's landing.
This turn south might also mark a shift in the style of the mission. From the time that Curiosity left Yellowknife Bay around sol 324 to its arrival at Pahrump Hills around sol 753, the rover's main focus was driving; it sampled at only one location in those 420 sols. Since arrival at Pahrump Hills, although westward driving progress has been a goal, the rover has done much more sampling, at 10 sites in 602 sols. Its westward course has taken it up and down across the boundary between two main rock units (the Murray mudstone, interpreted by the mission to be lakebed sediment, and the Stimson sandstone, interpreted to be aeolian sand) several times. With this southward turn on sol 1369, the mission style is going to shift again to something that's a hybrid of the two. Curiosity will be driving on Murray bedrock for a long, long time. Instead of exploring along a geologic contact, scientists will be surveying up a geologic section, more like the earlier traverse phase. That's not to say there won't be sampling: scientists will monitor composition and morphology variations and will likely want to sample the Murray from time to time as the rover climbs in elevation, steadily traveling south.
Here's a wider look at the terrain to the south; use your 3D glasses to see the elevation, or click one of the links below the image for alternate viewing options. Curiosity's near-future course will hew relatively close to the western edges of the dunes, but it could then diverge to travel among the buttes.
A wide view of Curiosity's future traverse. At full resolution it is 1 meter per pixel. North is about 7 degrees to the left of up. Murray Buttes are at the left of the image, and the dark swath is the Bagnold dune field. Curiosity's route is based on mapping by Phil Stooke. More formats: Left stereo | Right stereo | Flicker gif
With all this focus on driving, it's worth checking in on the status of the damage to the wheels. I've been concerned about the potential for wheel damage from the Naukluft crossing ever since I wrote my long explainer on wheel damage one Mars year ago, but that concern seems to have been misplaced. While the wheels are continuing to degrade, there was no acceleration in the rate of damage during the crossing; the wheels are holding up better than I expected. Driving on Murray rocks will likely see a continuation of this trend. The terrain ahead has more potential to damage wheels than sand would, but it's not as bad as some that Curiosity has seen.
As usual it's the left-middle wheel I'm most concerned about, so here is an updated view of the progression of damage to it. There are no broken grousers (the raised ridges on the wheels) yet, but I'm keeping my eye on the left-middle wheel, which has several grousers that are nearly isolated by cracks all the way through the webbing that formerly connected them. Once one grouser breaks, damage to that wheel will likely accelerate rapidly, but for now, things are looking okay. Really, there's been surprisingly little change since sol 962.
An editorial note: I saw a recent web story that stated that Curiosity's wheels were going to doom the mission eventually. While that is possible, it's not very likely. Curiosity's wheels are a problem, but they are not nearly as serious a problem as many other missions have dealt with. The problems with Curiosity's wheels are more serious than Opportunity's broken right front wheel steering actuator, but less serious than the problems caused by Spirit's broken right front wheel driving actuator. The wheel problems are less serious than the failure of two of Dawn's reaction wheels, and Dawn has majorly surpassed its mission goals. The wheel problems are less serious than the flash memory problems that plague both Opportunity and Mars Express, and those two machines are still doing great science after 12 years at Mars.
Things do break on space missions, and we accommodate the problems, and learn how to work around them, and in the grand scheme of things the wheel problems are a medium-small issue that can be managed effectively by modifying how we operate the rover. What will doom Curiosity for certain, if nothing else does, is the declining power output from the radioisotope thermoelectric generator, which will be putting out barely 50 watts by the end of 2025, after sol 4700 or so. At that point the rover may no longer be able to wake up. But that's a long time in the future -- Curiosity can do a lot of science between now and then, and with care the wheels will be able to carry Curiosity forward at least another 10 kilometers (it has traveled about 12 kilometers to date, 4 of them since sol 708, when I wrote the wheel explainer).
As of May 2016, Curiosity has drilled and sampled at eleven locations on Mars. They are (left to right and top to bottom): John Klein, drilled on sol 182; Cumberland, on sol 279; Windjana, on sol 621; Confidence Hills, on sol 759, Mojave, on sol 882; Telegraph Peak, on sol 908; Buckskin, on sol 1060; Big Sky, on sol 1119; Greenhorn, on sol 1137; Lubango, on sol 1320; Okoruso, sol 1332, and Oudam, sol 1361. All of these images were taken with the MAHLI camera on the end of the arm from a distance of about 5 centimeters. The drill holes are 1.6 centimeters wide.
Since my last update on sol 1310, Curiosity has drilled three times: at Lubango on sol 1320, Okoruso on sol 1332, and Oudam on sol 1361. Lubango and Okoruso were located close to each other in the Stimson sandstone, sampling altered (Lubango) and then unaltered (Okoruso) material, close to and away from a bright, silica-rich halo around a rock fracture. The Lubango/Okoruso pair was similar to Greenhorn (altered) and Big Sky (unaltered) drill sites, which Curiosity sampled back on sols 1137 and 1119, respectively. They were so similar, in fact, that Curiosity was permitted to skip the step of doing a "mini-drill" to test the rock drilling properties before proceeding to the full-depth drill. That saved a couple of sols at each site, contributing to the speed of the campaign -- only 12 sols separated the two drilling days!
Curiosity descended the edge of the Naukluft plateau on sol 1353, leaving the Stimson behind and returning to the Murray formation. The Murray formation is widespread, but is not the same everywhere. Mission geologists have mapped out its different appearance from orbit, noticing areas where it is more orange or more blue (relatively speaking), and are investigating whether there are any correlations between the Murray's apparent color as seen from orbit, and its composition. The Murray formation near Curiosity's descent location had an unusual color, so they proceeded directly to drilling it, at Oudam. Again, though, the rock's properties as seen in Mastcam and MAHLI images and ChemCam and APXS compositional measurements were similar enough to previous Murray drill sites that they were able to proceed with no mini-drill.
That's pretty much it for the operational update, this time around. Three drill holes in two months is a new record for Curiosity.
Last month, on May 11, the mission celebrated two Mars years on the surface, an event that they marked by publishing this cool infographic showing weather variations over that period. With two complete seasonal cycles on the graphs, you can see both repeating variations (like the double-peaked distribution of the air pressure variations, which has to do with shrinking of the polar caps during each polar summer) and year-to-year variations.
To celebrate the Martian anniversary, there was, of course, a cake.
Here are all of the USGS updates from the last two months. Keep up with the mission at the USGS Astrogeology website, and stay tuned to this site for the next update -- hopefully after Curiosity has put several hundred more meters on the odometer!
Sol 1311 update by Ryan Anderson: Take Me To Fracture Town (13 April 2016)
Today I was on duty as KOP again, but we got to sleep in: we started at 7 am instead of 6:30!
Curiosity is in good shape and our drive was successful. In the Sol 1311 plan, we have ChemCam observations of the targets "Garnet Koppie", "Amspoort", "Soutrivier", and "Uubvley". Garnet Koppie and Amspoort will allow us to compare the composition of a bright fracture halo and the nearby bedrock, Soutrivier is targeting a small white vein, and Uubvley is a fin of material sticking up near a large fracture. ChemCam also has a long distance RMI observation of the Peace Vallis channel off to the north. We talked a lot about possible places to image with Mastcam, but decided that we will have a better view of everything of interest after another drive or two, so Mastcam just has documentation images of the ChemCam targets.
After the targeted observations, we have a short drive to put the rover in a better position to see the terrain in front of it. This will allow us to drive into the area with large fractures visible from orbit, which we have started informally calling "Fracture Town" but which will probably get a more official name soon.
The plan finished with some early morning atmospheric observations on Sol 1312, including a ChemCam passive sky observation, Mastcam observation of the amount of dust in the atmosphere, and Navcam movies to watch for clouds.
Sol 1312 update by Lauren Edgar: The best laid plans… (14 April 2016)
The original plan for today included an ~11 m drive to get closure to a fracture in the Stimson formation. However, during science discussion, the team talked further about how to best sample both altered and unaltered Stimson bedrock, and realized that some of the best places to accomplish the proposed sampling were likely behind us! As a result of this discussion, the drive in today’s plan was pulled at the last minute.
So the modified plan for Sol 1312 includes several ChemCam and Mastcam observations to assess the composition of both altered and unaltered Stimson bedrock, and Mastcam imaging to document the fractures that run through the outcrop. We won’t drive, but we’ll still take images to set us up for contact science and remote sensing in the weekend plan. Talk about late-breaking science!
Sols 1313-1315 update by Ken Herkenhoff: Full MAHLI wheel imaging (15 April 2016)
Tactical planning was a bit hectic today as we reacted to yesterday's change in the near-term science goals, but the team quickly determined what is feasible and put together a good plan. There are no good brushable targets in the arm workspace, so the DRT will not be used. Rather, we selected 3 targets for MAHLI imaging and APXS measurements of natural surfaces. I'm MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead today, and have been very busy!
The Sol 1313 plan starts with a mid-day ChemCam observation of the sky and Mastcam images of the Sun to measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere. The arm will be deployed that afternoon to take MAHLI images of "Kasane" and "Uau," on either side of a bright/dark boundary in the outcrop. MAHLI will then take pictures of another bedrock target dubbed "Onesi" and of the rover wheels. The APXS will be placed on Onesi for a couple evening integrations, then on Uau for an overnight integration.
Early the next morning, Navcam will search for clouds and Mastcam will measure dust again by imaging the Sun. Later that morning, MAHLI will take pictures of the REMS ultraviolet sensor, which is done periodically to see how much dust is on the sensor. Then the remote sensing instruments get busy: Mastcam will take a multispectral image of "Gariep," a few rocks that were broken/crushed by the rover wheels, then ChemCam and Mastcam will observe Uau, Kasane and a bedrock target named "Kolmanskop." The RMI will acquire a 5x1 mosaic of Mount Sharp, Mastcam will take stereo images of the "Rasthoff" area and image the Sun again, and Navcam will search for clouds. Finally, the APXS will be placed on Kasane for an overnight integration, in parallel with a SAM scrubber cleaning activity.
On Sol 1315, the rover will complete the full set of MAHLI wheel images, bumping in between images to ensure that all parts of the wheels are imaged. The usual set of post-drive images will then be acquired to set us up for planning on Monday, when we will probably drive again.
Sol 1316 update by Ken Herkenhoff: Back to Lubango (18 April 2016)
All of the activities planned for last weekend completed successfully, including the full MAHLI wheel imaging and associated rover motion of just over 1 meter. The science team decided to return to the Lubango outcrop based on ChemCam results that show unusually high silica there. Therefore, the Sol 1316 plan includes a drive back toward Lubango to find good targets for drilling. Before the drive, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe bedrock targets "Outapi" and "Okongo," the RMI will acquire a 5x1 mosaic of "Piambo," Mastcam will take images of the Lubango area, and Navcam will search for dust devils. Active DAN measurements are planned both before and after the drive, and CheMin will perform some calibration activities overnight. I'm MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead again today, and had only the usual MARDI twilight image to plan.
Sol 1317 update by Lauren Edgar: Preparing to Drill (19 April 2016)
On Sol 1316, Curiosity drove ~15 m back toward the "Lubango" target, which we first observed on Sol 1310. "Lubango" is a high silica target that sits along a fracture in the Stimson formation. The team decided to drill near this fracture to better understand both the altered and unaltered Stimson bedrock. "Lubango" is the flat block on the right side of the above Navcam image. The fracture is still slightly out of reach, so today’s plan involves a short bump to set us up for drilling activities.
The plan starts with six ChemCam activities aimed at identifying high silica targets. We’ll also acquire a large Mastcam mosaic of the area to document the targets and potential drill sites. Then we’ll bump forward and take post-drive imaging for targeting. If all goes smoothly, we should be ready to DRT and start contact science tomorrow!
Sol 1318 update by Lauren Edgar: DRT at Lubango (20 April 2016)
The bump on Sol 1317 went well, and we’re ready to start our drilling campaign at the "Lubango" fracture zone. After a lot of discussion this morning, the plan evolved to include contact science at three targets near "Lubango." First we’ll use the DRT to clear off a fresh surface. This DRT location is slightly offset from the intended drill location, so we’ll use MAHLI to image both the DRT location and the intended drill location. Then we’ll do a short APXS integration on the intended drill target. In the evening, we’ll squeeze in another APXS integration on a target named "Congula" which is a block of outcrop adjacent to "Lubango." Then we’ll place the APXS on the DRT location for an overnight integration. I’ll be on duty tomorrow as GSTL, so it was good to catch up on all of the potential drill locations today. Should be an exciting week of operations!
Sols 1320-1322 update by Lauren Edgar: Drilling at Lubango (22 April 2016)
The contact science activities on Sol 1319 went well, and we analyzed another DRT location with MAHLI and APXS. The drill pre-load test suggested that the Lubango block might have moved slightly, but the RPs feel comfortable to go ahead and drill in the weekend plan.
I was on duty as GSTL again today, and it’s always exciting when we get to drill a new sample on Mars. In addition to the main drill activities, the plan includes several targeted science blocks, which will be used to characterize the drill location and search for the next potential drill site on unaltered Stimson bedrock. On the second sol, the science block includes Mastcam multispectral characterization of the drill hole, followed by several Mastcam mosaics. The color information provided by Mastcam is really helpful in distinguishing altered versus unaltered bedrock. We also planned a small mosaic to assess a fracture that crosscuts an impact crater. Then we’ll shoot several ChemCam targets to assess the block that we’re drilling, and a few sites that we might bump to next. The science block on the second sol includes an additional target to assess unaltered Stimson bedrock. Fingers crossed for a successful drilling campaign!
Sol 1323 update from Ken Herkenhoff: A new drill hole (25 April 2016)
So far, all of the activities planned for last weekend have completed successfully, and we have a new drill hole on Mars! The Sol 1323 plan is therefore to continue the Lubango drill campaign, transferring the sample to CHIMRA, sieving it, and delivering some of the
I'm SOWG Chair today, and the only significant problem I've had to deal with is how to fit everything we'd like to do into the available power. We were able to squeeze in all of the top-priority activities, so I'm happy with the plan!
Sol 1324 update by Ken Herkenhoff: Power-constrained (26 April 2016)
As expected, the Sol 1323 data we needed for planning today were received later than usual, so tactical planning started 3 hours later than normal. This makes for a long day, especially for the European members of the MSL operations team |
is so good at what it does that no other firm can offer a close substitute.” While not exactly useful for consumers, it’s good advice for entrepreneurs: Strive for monopoly power, he says. Otherwise, competition drains away your profits.
Google is a monopoly, Thiel says, just as Microsoft once was. Now we face the question: Is Uber?
I’ve argued before that the car-service platform has developed as its primary product something of a commodity business: That’s why Uber has to be so aggressive about under-cutting its competitors’ fares while still guaranteeing driver wages, moves that put pressure on its profit margins, just as Thiel worries. The technology behind matching mobile customers with cars just isn’t that difficult to implement at scale—at least, not difficult enough to keep competitors out.
Of course, this isn’t to diminish Uber’s successes or the strength of its network: Like Facebook in the social world, it is the dominant platform, in part because of momentum—it has the most regular users, the most cars and the most brand visibility. Its strategy has been to ride that early lead to a dominant position in the market. And so far, so good, even if regulatory battles are boosting its burn rate.
But now it may face an even larger challenge: Bloomberg reports that Google, an investor in Uber, is developing its own car-sharing app—designed to take advantage of the company’s development of self-driving car technology—and has proceeded far enough that the company’s top lawyer is considering stepping down from Uber’s board.
While a cryptic tweet and a Wall Street Journal story cast doubt on whether Google is all that close to launching an Uber competitor, it’s likely not coincidental that Uber is going for broke and hiring an entire lab of Carnegie Mellon engineers and scientists to develop its own self-driving cars.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has talked about putting self-driving cars on the Uber platform before, though he walked back those comments in the face of criticism from the human drivers he still needs to keep his business afloat until we reach a driverless utopia. But even Google is years away from street-legal robot cars—for one thing, they just don’t handle adverse weather conditions all that well.
In the meantime, however, there’s no reason Google couldn’t launch Google Cars to start building out its own network. It surely has the capital and the technical expertise to do so, and with so many Google users in the world, it has a waiting market.
But perhaps Google’s executives realize that, using Peter Thiel’s logic, the car service business isn’t that profitable because it’s so competitive. Perhaps Google and Uber alike feel the real killer app to protect a car service’s juicy profit margins is ditching the labor altogether and making automatic cars—a truly difficult product to substitute—even if putting a fleet on the road is massive capital investment. Pity the poor drivers.On Sunday, the St. Louis Rams scored one of the wildest, sneakiest touchdowns in recent memory, faking a punt return to distract from the Seattle Seahawks from the actual return that was happening 30 yards away. It was a play no one saw coming, literally. Watch this GIF a few times and see if you can figure out what’s happening. A complete breakdown is below.
Stedman Bailey of the Rams lined up on the gunner, seemingly playing the role of a blocker. It’s a punt formation you’ll see dozens of times on an NFL Sunday.
Ryan punted the ball and everything seemed normal. The Rams players followed the ball to the near corner of the field, in preparation of blocking for Tavon Austin, who ran left from his spot in the middle of the field toward the imaginary punt.
But there was Bailey, subtly peeling off the gunner and continuing his pursuit on the high side of the field. He was going toward the actual ball. The rest of his teammates were going to the fake one. It was all part of the ruse and it fooled everyone, from the Seahawks to the television booth to the cameraman.
When the ball came back to the ground, the Seahawks were converged around Austin at the bottom of the screen. Bailey was all alone at the top, catching the punt with no one around him. Look at all the Seahawks in the screenshot below. All their eyes are on Austin. No one notices Bailey.
It’s like that rhetorical question from the end of The Shawshank Redemption, only having nothing to do with a man’s shoes: How often do you look at the football during a punt?
Once Bailey caught the ball, the only man to beat was the only man wearing white who knew where the punt had actually gone: Jon Ryan, the guy who kicked it. Burning a punter wasn’t a problem, especially with a 30-yard head start.
Pete Carroll immediately ran down the sideline, pleading with officials to throw a flag.
Carroll apparently thought Austin had called for a fair catch while faking out the Seahawks.
Replays showed he hadn’t. No flag meant Rams touchdown and one of the best special teams fakes you’ll ever see. (Though it may have looked familiar. The Chicago Bears did something similar in 2011.)
On Fox, Daryl Johnston said Jeff Fisher had told him how the Rams were aware Ryan’s rugby-style punts tended to go left off his foot, which apparently helped put the ruse in action. Praise goes to the coaches for realizing a weakness in Seattle’s special teams and exploiting it perfectly.
Give credit to Austin for his Academy Award performance in selling the fake. Give credit to the rest of the Rams for playing key extras in the ruse. But the biggest on-field credit, of course, goes to Bailey, who did just as good an acting job while running 40 yards backward to field the punt and then sprinting 90 more yards for the touchdown. It was just your every-day, over-the-shoulder, untouched 130-yard punt return for a TD.NewsFaith, Family
MONTREAL, December 7, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Quebec’s Court of Appeal has ruled that a private Catholic high school in Montreal must cease teaching a Catholic course on religion and morality and switch to the “secular” and “neutral” Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) course provided by the province’s government.
The judges ruled on Tuesday that “exposing students to the global study of religions in a neutral perspective without requiring them to adhere to it, is not an infringement of freedom of religion”.
Patrick Andries, secretary of the Coalition for Freedom in Education, told LifeSiteNews.com that he was “surprised” that three Quebec judges found it to be “perfectly reasonable” to “secularize the education provided in a Catholic private school.” He pointed out that the move is an “oxymoron at the very least.”
The Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) called the ruling “a grand social experiment” that raised the “legitimate objections of religious parents”.
“With this decision, the Court of Appeal has seriously infringed upon the right of parents to direct the religious education of their children,” said League President Philip Horgan.
The CCRL pointed out that the decision “creates a dilemma” for Catholic parents in Quebec who send their children to private Catholic schools “to avail their children of an authentic moral and religious upbringing in accordance with their faith”.
The case arose in 2008 when the Education Minister at that time forbade the Jesuit run Loyola High School from covering the mandatory curriculum by means of an already developed equivalent course but from a Catholic perspective. The Minister argued that Loyola’s course would not meet the requirements because it was faith-based rather than secular, and thus manifested a religious bias.
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The ERC program was mandated at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year for all students, and spans from grade one to the end of high school. The course purports to take a “neutral” stance on world religions, giving equal merit to Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and aboriginal spirituality, as well as pseudo-religions such as atheism.
The highly-controversial course has been criticized for its “relativistic” approach to moral issues, teaching even at the earliest grades, for instance, that homosexuality is a normal/healthy expression of sexuality.
Loyola argued that the ERC program was “incompatible with Catholic beliefs of the school and it is not really neutral because it promotes an ideology of relativism”.
Loyola responded by taking the Education Ministry to court and won a resounding victory.
In the 2010 strongly-worded ruling, the Quebec Superior Court ruled that the Ministry’s attempt to force Loyola to teach the strictly secular course violated their freedom of religion under the Quebec Charter of Rights. The Superior Court reversed the Ministry’s decision and allowed the school to teach its substitute and equivalent program.
The judge at that time found it “surprising” that Quebec’s Ministry of Education had assumed what he called “a totalitarian character essentially equivalent to Galileo’s being ordered by the Inquisition to deny the Copernican universe”.
The Ministry appealed that decision and this week the Court of Appeal overturned the lower court.
“The program offered by Loyola seems to target the teaching content similar to that of the Ministry, but the perspective adopted is unquestionably religious,” wrote judge Jacques Fournier, whose decision was supported by judges Allan Hilton and Richard Wagner.
The judges ruled that “in light of the political will to secularize education” Loyola’s Catholic-perspective course cannot be considered “equivalent” to the ERC program, because the ERC course was specifically designed to be religiously “neutral”.
Judge Fournier pointed out that if the ECR course were to harm the faith of students, the “damage” would be “negligible because this is only one course among many.”
The judges noted in their ruling that teachers are not being asked to “refute the teachings of the Catholic religion, but to refrain from expressing their opinion or belief.”
Andries noted that the judges do not explain in their ruling why the “new ‘secular’ ERC program is a more effective way to learn for students than the old proven Catholic approach of Loyola”.
“Ultimately, this judgement strongly reinforces the discretion of the Ministry of Education to decide what is an equivalent program. This raises the bar for private schools who oppose the ideology or the pedagogy set out in the curriculum by the Ministry.”
Andries scored it, “State: 1—Parents and private schools: 0.”
Douglas Farrow, a McGill University professor, who testified at Loyola’s original case, told LifeSiteNews that “there is currently in Canada no more important case respecting religious liberty than this one.” Farrow noted that Loyola is considering an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.This week, our NFL coverage is focusing on franchises that are a small nudge — in one direction or the other — from taking their rightful place in the NFL hierarchy. While Bill Barnwell is homing in on teams and coaches that have reached a tipping point, I decided to build a list of players facing a step up or a drop down in 2015.
On the Cusp of Stardom
John Grieshop/Getty Images
Jeremy Hill, RB, Bengals
Two years ago, I remember glancing at some of the advanced stats for the Bengals’ running game and being a little confused. Giovani Bernard looked like an exciting young running back, and Cincinnati’s offensive line had as much talent as just about any other group in football. Yet, the 2013 Bengals finished 20th in rushing DVOA. In other words, their running game was somehow less effective than letting Andy Dalton throw the ball.
More 2015 NFL Preview It's almost here. For everything you need to know about the new season, follow all of Grantland's coverage. Team Predictions: The Contenders
Team Predictions: The Rising
Team Predictions: Falling Stars
Team Predictions: Cellar-Dwellers
Can Chip Kelly Save Sam Bradford?
The Curious Case of Jay Cutler
Have We Seen Beckham's Best?
The Tackle-to-Guard Conversion
Antonio Brown and Shrinking WRs
Joe Thomas, Cleveland's Rock
Ascending Pass-Rushers to Watch
The Value of Tom Brady
The All-Bad-Contracts Team
The NFL 100 Rankings, Part 1
The NFL 100 Rankings, Part 2
All of our NFL preview coverage! Thankfully, Jeremy Hill is here to right the world. The Bengals finished 10th in rushing DVOA last year on the strength of a monster second half by Hill, who was one of the most efficient per-carry backs in the league. With a bigger workload this year, it would be surprising to see the second-year back crack 5 yards per carry again, but his talents remain perfectly suited for an offensive line that just wants to line up and run over teams.
Cincinnati doesn’t have the luxury of trotting out Tony Romo at quarterback, but it’s easy to imagine the Bengals trying to replicate the 2014 Dallas offense: a high-quality line, a powerful running back, one specimen of a wide receiver, and plenty of manageable third downs. If that formula works, Hill’s per-carry numbers might drop, but he’ll have a very real chance to win the rushing title.
Ryan Tannehill, QB, Dolphins
In each of his three seasons, Tannehill’s improved in all the primary areas. Last year, his completion percentage jumped 6 percentage points, and he threw three more touchdowns and five fewer interceptions. On the whole, Tannehill completed 66.4 percent of his passes, posted 27 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, and threw for over 4,000 yards. Despite what look like pretty nice numbers, he still hasn’t been able to throw the ball downfield consistently. Miami finished 30th in QBR on throws that traveled 20 or more yards in the air, and even though the offense was top 10 by DVOA last year, the Dolphins are still missing the ability to gain big chunks of yards.
That’s not all on the quarterback, though. And every non-Suh move Miami made this offseason seemed to be part of an effort to fix that problem. Of players with double-digit targets at least 20 yards downfield, no one had a better catch rate (60 percent) than Kenny Stills, who came over in a trade with the Saints. And in case you haven’t seen much of Miami’s first-round pick, DeVante Parker, just know that he will go and get it.
It’s also tough to make any deep throws when you don’t have the time. In Weeks 1 through 9 — when star left tackle Branden Albert was still in the lineup — Miami faced pressure at the ninth-lowest rate in football. After Albert tore his ACL, the Dolphins dropped to 27th over the final eight weeks. The offensive line continues to be a question mark, but this group should at least be better than last year.
With Albert’s return and a couple of new downfield threats, Tannehill has the skill set and the situation to gain some serious ground on the Elite Quarterback tier.
Anthony Barr, OLB, Vikings
Vikings fans are really going to hate me and Barnwell by the time the season starts. This team has tons of young, exciting talent, and Barr might be the best of them all. Just two years after moving from offense to defense at UCLA, Barr went through another significant transition as a rookie, moving from the purely pass-rushing role he played in college to linebacker in Mike Zimmer’s defense.
Barr had just four sacks in 12 games last year, but expect that number to jump a bit in his second season as he gets a better handle on his responsibilities. And even if Barr’s sack volume never gets too high, his versatility — he plays both as a pass-rusher and a cover linebacker in a way few guys still do — makes him an invaluable building block for Minnesota. It wasn’t totally clear just how he’d fit in Zimmer’s scheme when the Vikings took him ninth overall in 2014, but right now, it looks like he’s well on his way to being a star.
Johnathan Hankins, DT, Giants
There aren’t many stars left among the Giants defense, but if you had to pick one, it’d be Hankins. Although they finished 24th in defensive DVOA last year, Perry Fewell’s group was able to generate pressure on a higher percentage of opponent dropbacks than every team other than the Eagles. Underrated edge guys like Damontre Moore and a post-hype Robert Ayers help, but their job’s much easier when there’s a massive pocket destroyer wreaking havoc on the inside. Despite playing plenty of nose tackle in 2014, Hankins had seven sacks.
He isn’t quite built in the way most other effective pass-rushing defensive tackles are, either. Hankins is listed at 320 pounds, which seems generously low, and his ability to both get after quarterbacks and be a force in the run game reminds me of Haloti Ngata. That may seem like high praise, but consider this: Hankins is already among the better interior linemen in football and by season’s end, he’ll still be only 23. On a defense that’s really searching for foundational pieces, he figures to be one for a long time.
On the Brink of Irrelevance
Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Robert Griffin III, QB, Washington
I don’t want to spend too much time on Griffin’s “I feel like I’m the best quarterback” comments, so I’ll just say this: Nah.
If we’re envisioning a season in which Griffin at least returns to the ranks of decent NFL quarterbacks, though, it starts in the same place it did for Kyle Shanahan’s offense in 2012: play-action. Since Griffin came into the league, this is the list of quarterbacks with a better QBR on play-action throws: Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Tony Romo, and Philip Rivers. He’s seventh — behind six star quarterbacks and ahead of Andrew Luck, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees.
But on throws without play-action? Well, it’s not great. Griffin’s QBR of 45.0 is 26th among 31 qualifying quarterbacks since 2012. The only ones who’ve been worse? Tannehill, Mark Sanchez, Chad Henne, Brandon Weeden, and Josh Freeman.
From the beginning, Griffin’s success was built on the threat of the running game — both with him keeping the ball and Alfred Morris toting it. The scampering quarterback we saw three years ago is probably gone, but for there to be any hope of Griffin inching toward the heights of his rookie year, Washington will need Morris and that offensive line to be better than they were last year. Getting star tackle Trent Williams healthy and bringing in rookie mauler Brandon Scherff at guard should help with that, but if they’re not enough to give Washington the kind of run-friendly environment Griffin will need to succeed, this could really be the end of the quarterback’s time in the nation’s capital.
Nick Fairley, DT, Rams
Even with a massive, Ndamukong Suh–shaped crater at defensive tackle — one that exists despite the newly signed Haloti Ngata being in town — Detroit still elected to let Fairley walk. Before a midseason knee injury, Fairley was playing some of the best football of his career in 2014. The sack numbers weren’t impressive, but with him and Suh shoving guards back into opposing quarterbacks, the Lions built the best defense in football over the first half of the season. Detroit fell off a bit in the second half, and while that had to do with more than just Fairley’s knock, missing its second star tackle certainly didn’t help.
Come the offseason, Fairley’s free-agency value on the open market was one of the more intriguing story lines. Yet, when he signed a one-year deal with St. Louis for $5 million, it was a clear indication that most teams were hesitant to give him a long-term deal in the price range he wanted.
At this point, it looks like it’s going to take a full year of Fairley producing at a high level for a team to trust him with a big deal. In St. Louis, he’ll see his share of single-teams with Aaron Donald next to him and Robert Quinn and Chris Long on the outside, but there’s also a chance that the depth across the Rams’ line limits his number of snaps. However much he ends up playing, if Fairley can both look motivated and stay healthy for an entire season, the 27-year-old should get one more significant multiyear contract in 2016.
Dre Kirkpatrick, CB, Bengals
One of the rare defensive picks from that 2012 draft who hasn’t turned into a star, Kirkpatrick finally started to make his way into the Bengals lineup late last season while Terence Newman struggled with injuries and a dip in play. Cincinnati has enjoyed one of the better pass defenses in football in recent years, and part of that is because of the depth of quality at cornerback. With Adam Jones, Leon Hall, and Newman holding down the starting spots, Kirkpatrick’s struggled to break through, and this year provides what might be his last chance to do so.
Newman is off to join former coordinator Mike Zimmer in Minnesota, but last year’s first-round pick, Darqueze Dennard, is lurking, hoping to avoid the spot on the bench that Kirkpatrick occupied during his first few seasons. If Kirkpatrick can’t get a firm grasp on a starting job this season, it’s unlikely he ever will.
Sam Bradford, QB, Eagles
I’d like to hop in a time machine to go back and see Bradford’s reaction when he learned he was traded to Philadelphia. Few players in the entire league needed a change of scenery more than him, but going from the uninventive Brian Schottenheimer to the mad genius of Chip Kelly is like going from a unicycle to a smart car.
That the Eagles figured him worth acquiring is already a good sign for Bradford’s future. You can see Kelly’s thought process here, too: When he starred at Oklahoma, Bradford was the point man for the fastest offense in college football, and that’s what he’ll be operating under Kelly. He’s at his best when he’s making quick throws to the middle of the field, and he’ll have plenty of those chances in this offense. It’s no coincidence that the Eagles’ nominal no. 1 receiver, Jordan Matthews, plays in the slot.
Bradford will also be aided by the kind of effective running game he never had in St. Louis. In his four seasons as a starter, the Rams’ best finish in rushing DVOA was 19th, and in three of those years, they finished in the bottom five. The Eagles finished 13th last season after running away with the top spot in 2013. Even with the departure of Evan Mathis, some better offensive line health, coupled with the arrival of DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews, should bring the Eagles back near where they were in 2013.
With the run game and the construction of their receiving corps, this is an offense perfectly suited for Bradford’s talents. He’ll have every chance to succeed with Kelly, and if he doesn’t, I’m not sure there’s a scenario in which he can.This summer, hundreds of homes Brooklyn and Queens will be recruited in an experiment to create a "clean virtual power plant" that feeds the utility grid with solar energy.
New York utility Consolidated Edison (ConEd) is partnering with solar companies SunPower and Sunverge on a $15 million pilot program that offers high-efficiency rooftop PV panels plus a lithium-ion battery to more than 300 participating homeowners in the two New York City boroughs.
The aim is to build a mini power plant synchronized by a massive fleet of residential solar and energy storage systems. If everything goes to plan, the virtual power plant—which will be operated with cloud-based technology—will have a total capacity of 1.8 megawatts of solar power and 4 megawatt-hours of storage, making it the largest residential energy storage project in the U.S., as Bloomberg reported.
"This ambitious program with Con Edison represents a significant milestone in U.S. energy delivery, demonstrating that combining solar and energy storage can result in a stronger, more resilient grid while providing end customers the opportunity to save on electricity bills," Howard Wenger, SunPower president of business units, said.
This experiment could mean big things for clean power production in the U.S. "If it all works out," as CleanTechnica wrote, "New York City—and the New York State power grid—could provide the model for practically every other metropolis to follow."
ConEd explained in its executive summary of the project that while solar energy has many benefits, from improved air quality to reduction in greenhouse gases, a solar system's peak generation hours do not coincide with the utility's peak load hours, which typically occur after 5 p.m. Because of this, high-carbon peaking turbines are still being used in the evenings, negating the environmental benefits of solar. CleanTechnica noted that these speaker plants probably burn natural gas from fracking operations.
But with the implementation of this clean virtual power plant, ConEd will be able to dispatch stored solar power to customers during peak periods instead of electricity generated by fossil fuels. Voltage fluctuations from partly cloudy days are also negated.
Homeowners in the program will receive a 7-9 kilowatt rooftop PV system and a 6 kilowatt/19.4 kilowatt-hour storage system. If a blackout occurs, these homes can tap into the energy stored by their batteries, meaning they no longer have to rely on a central power station.
"When a grid outage occurs, the integrated system will provide the customers participating in this demonstration continued power to critical components in their home automatically," ConEd said. "This solution offers a simpler, cleaner alternative to the gasoline backup generators available in the market today."
Batteries, such as the ones manufactured by Tesla for homes, businesses and utilities, are clearly beneficial because they supply power after the sun sets or when the power is out. Beyond that, batteries can potentially help the world transition to a carbon-free grid and ensure a cleaner future.
The project is part of New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision initiative that aims to integrate renewable energy into utilities’ power grids.
ConEd is working with the New York Fire Department to have Sunverge’s lithium-ion battery technology approved in the state. Sunverge says their "Sunverge Solar Integration System (SIS) is an intelligent distributed energy storage system that captures solar power and delivers it when needed most. It combines batteries, power electronics, and multiple energy inputs in a UL-certified appliance controlled by software running in the cloud. The SIS is a utility-grade product designed for the consumer market."
"The units are designed to be both a local and an ISO [Independent System Operator] resource, with direct control room integration, not just a lower power load modifying source,” Sarah Singleton, senior vice president of marketing at Sunverge, told Green Tech Media.
So how does a homeowner qualify for the program? According to SI Live, "Under the program, qualified participants will have leased high-efficiency SunPower solar systems installed on their homes to help reduce monthly electricity costs... For an additional low monthly payment, participants will have Sunverge Energy battery systems, owned by Con Edison, installed and connected to their SunPower systems. In the event of an outage, solar power stored in a participant's battery storage system will be available to power certain appliances in the home."
ConEd residential homeowner customers interested in participating in the program should click here.
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Solar War Continues in North Carolina: Nonprofit vs. Duke EnergyTEPIC, Mexico (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In Peru’s snow-capped Cordillera Blanca mountains, fast-melting glaciers are pushing the cobalt waters of Lake Palcacocha dangerously high, raising fears it could overflow and send a huge wave of water and mud crashing to the town of Huaraz below.
Aerial view of the Cordillera Blanca (White Mountains) shows snowcaps and glaciers near Huaraz in Ancash, November 27, 2014. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo
Huaraz farmer and mountain guide Saúl Luciano Lliuya, who blames the world’s biggest emitters for the warmer temperatures shrinking the glaciers, will appeal his civil case on Monday against German utility RWE, which he thinks should contribute to reinforcing the lake – even though it has no operations in Peru.
“The glacial melt is very fast there and some glaciers are about to disappear due to global warming,” Luciano, a 38-year-old father of two, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from Germany.
“Those responsible are the big industries that have burned coal... that have burned petroleum. The main objective of what we want to achieve is that these businesses stop polluting.”
The case against RWE, which ranks as one of Europe’s biggest polluters due to its coal-fired power stations, is being closely watched as climate change lawsuits slowly stack up against some of the world’s biggest oil, power and industrial firms.
The claim brought by Luciano - whose Quechua-speaking family farms potatoes, corn and a few animals – accuses RWE of emitting carbon dioxide and helping raise global temperatures.
It seeks about $20,000 which would help fund a $4-million local government scheme to prevent flooding from the lake.
“This is the thin end of the wedge,” said Justin Gundlach, a fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.
“If this case causes a court to declare that a utility is liable for greenhouse gas emissions in Peru, then all of a sudden, a million plaintiffs will bloom and you can expect a lot of people to bang, not only on German courthouse doors, but others as well.”
Last year, the regional court in RWE’s home city of Essen dismissed Luciano’s case, saying there were countless emitters of greenhouse gases worldwide and any flooding risk linked to the melting of glacial ice could not stem solely from RWE.
The higher regional court in Hamm will hear Monday’s appeal from Luciano, whose claim is supported by environmental non-profit Germanwatch.
In an email, RWE reiterated its position that there was no legal basis to the claim it says does not comply with German civil law. The company said it was not judicially possible to relate “specific/individual consequences of climate change to a single emitter”.
‘TAKING RESPONSIBILITY’
Roda Verheyen, Luciano’s Hamburg-based lawyer, said the case was “not about guilt”. “It’s about taking responsibility for what they have done and what they continue to do,” she said.
The amount sought is based on estimates that RWE was responsible for around 0.5 percent of global historical industrial emissions, so should pay 0.5 percent of the cost of measures to stop Palcacocha overflowing, she added.
Should the court rule in favor of Luciano, a scientist could then be appointed to consider the link between RWE’s emissions and the glacial melting, said Verheyen.
Despite measures to drain the lake, Palcacocha’s levels are much higher than in 1941 when a falling chunk of glacial ice caused a huge wave and mudslide that killed up to 5,000 people in Huaraz, some 22 km (14 miles) away.
Villagers now monitor the lake and give regular updates by radio or satellite phone, providing a warning system for the area where up to 50,000 people are at risk from flooding, said Noah Walker-Crawford, an anthropologist advising Luciano.
“It’s not a solution for every small-scale farmer to file a lawsuit against a large emitter,” he said. “There should be international mechanisms or solutions for these people who are affected by climate change to receive support, and at the moment, there’s nothing like that.”
PROOF ELUSIVE?
A handful of Californian cities and counties have brought public nuisance suits against major oil companies, seeking billions of dollars to help protect against rising sea levels they blame on climate change.
Separately, prosecutors for New York and Massachusetts are investigating ExxonMobil over the possibility it misled investors about the risks of climate change.
And last year, a rights group in the Philippines asked 47 global oil, mining and cement firms to answer a complaint that their carbon emissions caused human rights violations.
While legal experts compare these cases to the long-running legal battles against tobacco, asbestos or pesticide manufacturers over harm to human health, some say it could be much harder to establish the link between individual emitters and climate change impacts.
But they agree the RWE case could be the tip of the iceberg.
“I don’t believe these cases will go away even if we lose this one, because the damage is there and people will not stop trying to get their rights in front of the judiciary,” said Verheyen.Major League Baseball’s amateur draft is something of a crapshoot. Even in the early portion of the first round, where teams reap significant value from their picks on average, busts aren’t uncommon. Delmon Young, Matt Bush, Bryan Bullington, Matt Hobgood. The list goes on. Meanwhile, Mike Trout fell all the way to the 25th overall pick, and quickly blossomed into a generational talent.
Some degree of volatility is expected due to the sheer difficulty of what teams are tasked with doing. Figuring out how good a 21-year-old college kid will be at age-25 is a tall order, while doing so for a high schooler is an even taller order. Amateur players are inherently risky assets, which almost certainly helps explain the unevenness of first round draft returns.
But I’d posit that at least some of that unevenness isn’t purely the result of random chance. Some of this is likely a case-by-case basis thing: More thorough scouting of the New Jersey area might have predicted Mike Trout’s star potential, for example. But perhaps there’s also something that runs deeper than that. Perhaps there are systemic biases in the way teams evaluate first-round talent, causing certain types of players to be overvalued or undervalued in the first round.
As you probably guessed, I did some math to search for these biases. If you’re not interested in reading about the nitty-gritty and would rather just read my conclusions, feel free to skip to the paragraph that starts with “That last paragraph was a bit wonky.” Everyone else, let’s get nerdy.
I ran some regressions to identify possible biases. My data set includes all players drafted within the first 30 picks from 2002-2009, which I split into hitters and pitchers. I excluded draftees who did not sign. It’s still a little early to know what to make of players drafted in 2010 and later, especially for some of the high school draftees like 2010 No. 2 overall pick Jameson Taillon, who just made his major league debut this week.
My dependent variable was WAR over a player’s first four years of team control. For players who haven’t eschewed their first four team control years yet, I filled in the remaining years using RoS 2016 projections from the FanGraphs depth charts. Most of the players I had to use projections for weren’t good enough for it to make a noticeable difference: Only six from this category were projected for more than 1 WAR this year.
To start, I included a variable for a player’s draft selection in my regression to act as a proxy for his perceived value. It isn’t uncommon for a player to fall a few picks in the first round of the draft for signability reasons, which muddies the calculus a bit. But by and large, the spot at which a player is drafted correlates strongly with his perceived value.
From that baseline, I tested out the following variables in my regressions: a player’s handedness, his height, and whether he was drafted out of high school or college. For hitters, I also tested defensive position at the time of the draft. If teams are acting optimally, the variables pertaining to a player — his background, handedness, height and position — would not turn up statistically significant. After controlling for draft position, a college draftee would be no more or less likely to achieve big league success than a high school draftee. Nor would a left-handed pitcher compared to a righty, or a short player compared to a taller one.
On the pitching side, this is exactly what I found. Nothing came up significant. None of the characteristics I looked at — handedness, educational attainment or height — appeared to be over- or under-valued in the first round. Teams seem to be acting optimally.
Things looked much more interesting on the hitting side, however. The data suggest teams haven’t been valuing all demographics appropriately in the draft.
Since I’m a good boy who tries to avoid overfitting my statistical models, I partitioned my data set into two separate pieces before I got started: one included draftees from 2002-2005 and the other included draftees from 2006-2009. Within both subsets, I found a similar-looking interaction between a hitter’s draft selection and whether he was drafted out of high school or college. Here are the resulting coefficients R spit out when I applied these variables to the full data set: 2002-2009.
REGRESSION COEFFICIENTS PREDICTING WAR FOR DRAFTEES Variable Coefficient P-Value Intercept 15.564 0.00 Log(Pick) -4.172 0.00 College Pitcher -6.373 0.07 High School Hitter -10.575 0.00 High School Pitcher -10.593 0.05 Log(Pick) * College Pitcher 2.025 0.14 Log(Pick) * High School Hitter 3.916 0.01 Log(Pick) * High School Pitcher 4.068 0.05
That last paragraph was a bit wonky, and the interpretation of the regression coefficients is the opposite of straightforward. But the main takeaway is this: In the early part of the first round, college hitters tend to outperform high school hitters by a substantial margin. A visual might help make this clear.
Here’s what it looks like when I also include pitchers in the regression.
The high school versus college trend holds for pitchers as well, though the gap wasn’t large enough to trip the “statistically significant” alarm when I looked exclusively at pitchers. That doesn’t necessarily mean the high school versus college disparity doesn’t also exist for pitchers. The data just aren’t as convincing as they are on the hitting side, where the effect is more pronounced. The relative lack of high school pitchers selected in the first round (less than 17 percent of my data set) might explain why nothing super-substantial turned up.
Those graphs and equations are cool and all, but I’ve barely named any of the players who made them look the way they do. Let’s change that. The table below lists the high school hitters selected with the first 10 picks in the first |
comprehensive nature, its popular propagation, and its ease of entry through recitation of his Name. (B) "pure land"; the untainted, transcendent realm created by the Buddha Amida (Amitabha in Sanskrit), into which his devotees aspire to be born in their next life.
(more..) Japanese term for "Pure Land." Though all Buddhas have their Pure Lands, the Land of Amida Buddha became the most well-known and desired in China and Japan because of its comprehensive nature, its popular propagation, and its ease of entry through recitation of his Name."pure land"; the untainted, transcendent realm created by the Buddha Amida (in Sanskrit), into which his devotees aspire to be born in their next life. nembutsu
(A) "The practice of reciting Namu-Amida-Butsu (the Name of Amida) is known as recitative nembutsu. There is also meditative nembutsu, which is a method of contemplation. Nembutsu is used synonymously with myogo, or the Name." (Unno) (B) "remembrance or mindfulness of the Buddha," based upon the repeated invocation of his Name; same as buddhānusmriti in Sanskrit and nien-fo in Chinese.
(more..) "The practice of reciting(the Name of Amida) is known as recitative. There is also meditative, which is a method of contemplation.is used synonymously with, or the Name." (Unno)"remembrance or mindfulness of the Buddha," based upon the repeated invocation of his Name; same asin Sanskrit andin Chinese. nirvana
In Buddhism (and Hinduism), ultimate liberation from samsara (the cycles of rebirths or the flow of cosmic manifestation), resulting in absorption in the Absolute; the extinction of the fires of passion and the resulting, supremely blissful state of liberation from attachment and egoism.
(more..) In Buddhism (and Hinduism), ultimate liberation from(the cycles of rebirths or the flow of cosmic manifestation), resulting in absorption in the Absolute; the extinction of the fires of passion and the resulting, supremely blissful state of liberation from attachment and egoism. Pure Land
"Translation from the Chinese ching-t’u (jodo in Japanese). The term as such is not found in Sanskrit, the closest being the phrase ‘purification of the Buddha Land.’ Shinran describes it as the ‘Land of Immeasurable Light,’ referring not to a place that emanates light, but a realization whenever one is illumined by the light of compassion." (Unno)
(more..) "Translation from the Chinesein Japanese). The term as such is not found in Sanskrit, the closest being the phrase ‘purification of the Buddha Land.’ Shinran describes it as the ‘Land of Immeasurable Light,’ referring not to a place that emanates light, but a realization whenever one is illumined by the light of compassion." (Unno) Shinran
Shinran (1173-1262): attributed founder of the Jodo Shin school of Buddhism.
(more..) Shinran (1173-1262): attributed founder of the Jodo Shin school of Buddhism. sutra
Literally, "thread;" a Hindu or Buddhist sacred text; in Hinduism, any short, aphoristic verse or collection of verses, often elliptical in style; in Buddhism, a collection of the discourses of the Buddha.
(more..) Literally, "thread;" a Hindu or Buddhist sacred text; in Hinduism, any short, aphoristic verse or collection of verses, often elliptical in style; in Buddhism, a collection of the discourses of the Buddha. Tradition
(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) (as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives. adam
In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness.
(more..) In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness. Vasubandhu
In Shin Buddhism, the second great teacher in Shinran’s lineage. A major Mahayana teacher who laid the foundation of the Consciousness-Only school. In Pure Land tradition his commentary to the Larger Pure Land Sutra is a central text. To Zen Buddhism, he is the 21st Patriarch. Vasubandhu lived in fourth or fifth century (C.E.) India.
(more..) In Shin Buddhism, the second great teacher in Shinran’s lineage. A major Mahayana teacher who laid the foundation of the Consciousness-Only school. In Pure Land tradition his commentary to the Larger Pure Land Sutra is a central text. To Zen Buddhism, he is the 21st Patriarch. Vasubandhu lived in fourth or fifth century (C.E.) India. zazen
a Japanese word used to describe sitting meditation practiced in Zen Buddhism.
(more..) a Japanese word used to describe sitting meditation practiced in Zen Buddhism. humanism
The intellectual viewpoint increasingly prevalent in the West since the time of the Renaissance; it replaced the traditional Christian view of God as the center of all things by a belief in man as the measure of all things.
(more..) The intellectual viewpoint increasingly prevalent in the West since the time of the Renaissance; it replaced the traditional Christian view of God as the center of all things by a belief in man as the measure of all things. natura naturans
Literally, “nature naturing”; the active power that constitutes and governs the phenomena of the physical world.
(more..) Literally, “nature naturing”; the active power that constitutes and governs the phenomena of the physical world. natura naturata
Literally, “nature natured”; the phenomena of the physical world considered as the effect of an inward and invisible power.
(more..) Literally, “nature natured”; the phenomena of the physical world considered as the effect of an inward and invisible power. philosophy
love of wisdom; the intellectual and ‘erotic’ path which leads to virtue and knowledge; the term itself perhaps is coined by Pythagoras; the Hellenic philosophia is a prolongation, modification and ‘modernization’ of the Egyptian and Near Eastern sapiential ways of life; philosophia cannot be reduced to philosophical discourse; for Aristotle, metaphysics is prote philosophia, or theologike, but philosophy as theoria means dedication to the bios theoretikos, the life of contemplation – thus the philosophical life means the participation in the divine and the actualization of the divine in the human through the personal askesis and inner transformation; Plato defines philosophy as a training for death ( Phaed.67cd); the Platonic philosophia helps the soul to become aware of its own immateriality, it liberates from passions and strips away everything that is not truly itself; for Plotinus, philosophy does not wish only ‘to be a discourse about objects, be they even the highest, but it wishes actually to lead the soul to a living, concrete union with the Intellect and the Good’; in the late Neoplatonism, the ineffable theurgy is regarded as the culmination of philosophy.
(more..) love of wisdom; the intellectual and ‘erotic’ path which leads to virtue and knowledge; the term itself perhaps is coined by Pythagoras; the Hellenicis a prolongation, modification and ‘modernization’ of the Egyptian and Near Eastern sapiential ways of life;cannot be reduced to philosophical discourse; for Aristotle, metaphysics is, or, but philosophy asmeans dedication to the, the life of contemplation – thus the philosophical life means the participation in the divine and the actualization of the divine in the human through the personaland inner transformation; Plato defines philosophy as a training for death (.67cd); the Platonichelps the soul to become aware of its own immateriality, it liberates from passions and strips away everything that is not truly itself; for Plotinus, philosophy does not wish only ‘to be a discourse about objects, be they even the highest, but it wishes actually to lead the soul to a living, concrete union with the Intellect and the Good’; in the late Neoplatonism, the ineffable theurgy is regarded as the culmination of philosophy. psyche
(usually transcribed as psyche): soul; breath of life, life-stuff; Homer distinguishes between a free soul as a soul of the dead, corresponding with psuche (and still regarded as an eidolon), and body souls, corresponding with thumos, noos and menos: following the Egyptian theological patterns, the Pythagoreans constituted the psuche as the reflection of the unchanging and immortal principles; from Plato onwards, psuchai are no longer regarded as eidola, phantoms or doubles of the body, but rather the human body is viewed as the perishable simulacrum of an immaterial and immortal soul; there are different degrees of soul (or different souls), therefore anything that is alive has a soul (Aristotle De anima 414b32); in Phaedrus 248b the soul is regarded as something to be a separate, self-moving and immortal entity (cf.Proclus Elements of Theology 186); Psuche is the third hupostasis of Plotinus.
(more..) (usually transcribed as): soul; breath of life, life-stuff; Homer distinguishes between a free soul as a soul of the dead, corresponding with(and still regarded as an), and body souls, corresponding withand: following the Egyptian theological patterns, the Pythagoreans constituted theas the reflection of the unchanging and immortal principles; from Plato onwards,i are no longer regarded asphantoms or doubles of the body, but rather the human body is viewed as the perishableof an immaterial and immortal soul; there are different degrees of soul (or different souls), therefore anything that is alive has a soul (Aristotle414b32); in248b the soul is regarded as something to be a separate, self-moving and immortal entity (cf.Proclus186);is the thirdof Plotinus. Radhakrishnan
(1888 -1975 C.E.) An eminent Hindu philosopher and a prolific writer, who is known for interpreting Hinduism to the west.
(more..) (1888 -1975 C.E.) An eminent Hindu philosopher and a prolific writer, who is known for interpreting Hinduism to the west. ratio
literally, "calculation"; the faculty of discursive thinking, to be distinguished from intellectus, "Intellect."
(more..) literally, "calculation"; the faculty of discursive thinking, to be distinguished from, "Intellect." Vedanta
"End or culmination of the Vedas," a designation for the Upanishads (Upaniṣāds) as the last portion ("end") of the Vedas; also one of the six orthodox (āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy who have their starting point in the texts of the Upanishads (Upaniṣāds), the Brahma-Sūtras (of Bādarāyana Vyāsa), and the Bhagavad Gītā ; over time, Vedānta crystallized into three distinct schools: Advaita (non-dualism), associated with Shankara (ca.788-820 C.E.); Viśiṣṭādvaita (qualified non-dualism), associated with Rāmānuja (ca.1055-1137 C.E.); and Dvaita (dualism), associated with Madhva (ca.1199-1278 C.E.); see "Advaita."
(more..) "End or culmination of the," a designation for the Upanishads () as the last portion ("end") of the; also one of the six orthodox () schools of Hindu philosophy who have their starting point in the texts of the Upanishads (), the(of Bādarāyana Vyāsa), and the; over time,crystallized into three distinct schools:(non-dualism), associated with Shankara(ca.788-820 C.E.);(qualified non-dualism), associated with Rāmānuja(ca.1055-1137 C.E.); and(dualism), associated with Madhva (ca.1199-1278 C.E.); see "Advaita." imam
In relation to ritual: he who presides when a number pray together; head of a religious community.
(more..) In relation to ritual: he who presides when a number pray together; head of a religious community. Talmud
Literally, “learning, study.” In Judaism, the Talmud is a body of writings and traditional commentaries based on the oral law given to Moses on Sinai. It is the foundation of Jewish civil and religious law, second in authority only to the Torah.
(more..) Literally, “learning, study.” In Judaism, the Talmud is a body of writings and traditional commentaries based on the oral law given to Moses on Sinai. It is the foundation of Jewish civil and religious law, second in authority only to the Torah. tanzil
Designates revelation in the theological sense, i.e. the “descent” of the sacred “Books.”
(more..) Designates revelation in the theological sense, i.e. the “descent” of the sacred “Books.” Torah
"instruction, teaching"; in Judaism, the law of God, as revealed to Moses on Sinai and embodied in the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
(more..) "instruction, teaching"; in Judaism, the law of God, as revealed to Moses on Sinai and embodied in the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). Tradition
(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) (as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives. adam
In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness.
(more..) In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness. gnosis
(A) "knowledge"; spiritual insight, principial comprehension, divine wisdom.(B) knowledge; gnosis is contrasted with doxa (opinion) by Plato; the object of gnosis is to on, reality or being, and the fully real is the fully knowable ( Rep.477a); the Egyptian Hermetists made distinction between two types of knowledge: 1) science ( episteme), produced by reason ( logos), and 2) gnosis, produced by understanding and faith ( Corpus Hermeticum IX); therefore gnosis is regarded as the goal of episteme (ibid.X.9); the -idea that one may ‘know God’ ( gnosis theou) is very rare in the classical Hellenic literature, which rather praises episteme and hieratic vision, epopteia, but is common in Hermetism, Gnosticism and early Christianity; following the Platonic tradition (especially Plotinus and Porphyry), Augustine introduced a distinction between knowledge and wisdom, scientia and sapientia, claiming that the fallen soul knows only scientia, but before the Fall she knew sapientia ( De Trinitate XII).
(more..) "knowledge"; spiritual insight, principial comprehension, divine wisdom.knowledge;is contrasted with(opinion) by Plato; the object ofis, reality or being, and the fully real is the fully knowable (477a); the Egyptian Hermetists made distinction between two types of knowledge: 1) science (), produced by reason (), and 2)produced by understanding and faith (IX); thereforeis regarded as the goal of(ibid.X.9); the -idea that one may ‘know God’ () is very rare in the classical Hellenic literature, which rather praisesand hieratic vision,, but is common in Hermetism, Gnosticism and early Christianity; following the Platonic tradition (especially Plotinus and Porphyry), Augustine introduced a distinction between knowledge and wisdom,and, claiming that the fallen soul knows onlybut before the Fall she knewXII). cit
"consciousness"; one of the three essential aspects of Apara-Brahma, together with sat, "being," and ānanda, "bliss, beatitude, joy."
(more..) "consciousness"; one of the three essential aspects of, together with, "being," and, "bliss, beatitude, joy." idea
in non-technical use the term refers to the visual aspect of anything; for Plato and Platonists, it is the highest noetic entity, the eternal unchanging Form, the archetype of the manifested material thing; in Plato, idea is a synonim of eidos, but in Neoplatonism these two terms have a slightly different meaning.
(more..) in non-technical use the term refers to the visual aspect of anything; for Plato and Platonists, it is the highest noetic entity, the eternal unchanging Form, the archetype of the manifested material thing; in Plato,is a synonim of, but in Neoplatonism these two terms have a slightly different meaning. Tradition
(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) (as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives. caritas
Selfless “love”, as of God for man and man for God; human compassion for one’s neighbor; equivalent of Greek agapē.
(more..) Selfless “love”, as of God for man and man for God; human compassion for one’s neighbor; equivalent of Greek agapē. cit
"consciousness"; one of the three essential aspects of Apara-Brahma, together with sat, "being," and ānanda, "bliss, beatitude, joy."
(more..) "consciousness"; one of the three essential aspects of, together with, "being," and, "bliss, beatitude, joy." gnosis
(A) "knowledge"; spiritual insight, principial comprehension, divine wisdom.(B) knowledge; gnosis is contrasted with doxa (opinion) by Plato; the object of gnosis is to on, reality or being, and the fully real is the fully knowable ( Rep.477a); the Egyptian Hermetists made distinction between two types of knowledge: 1) science ( episteme), produced by reason ( logos), and 2) gnosis, produced by understanding and faith ( Corpus Hermeticum IX); therefore gnosis is regarded as the goal of episteme (ibid.X.9); the -idea that one may ‘know God’ ( gnosis theou) is very rare in the classical Hellenic literature, which rather praises episteme and hieratic vision, epopteia, but is common in Hermetism, Gnosticism and early Christianity; following the Platonic tradition (especially Plotinus and Porphyry), Augustine introduced a distinction between knowledge and wisdom, scientia and sapientia, claiming that the fallen soul knows only scientia, but before the Fall she knew sapientia ( De Trinitate XII).
(more..) "knowledge"; spiritual insight, principial comprehension, divine wisdom.knowledge;is contrasted with(opinion) by Plato; the object ofis, reality or being, and the fully real is the fully knowable (477a); the Egyptian Hermetists made distinction between two types of knowledge: 1) science (), produced by reason (), and 2)produced by understanding and faith (IX); thereforeis regarded as the goal of(ibid.X.9); the -idea that one may ‘know God’ () is very rare in the classical Hellenic literature, which rather praisesand hieratic vision,, but is common in Hermetism, Gnosticism and early Christianity; following the Platonic tradition (especially Plotinus and Porphyry), Augustine introduced a distinction between knowledge and wisdom,and, claiming that the fallen soul knows onlybut before the Fall she knewXII). logos
(A) "word, reason"; in Christian theology, the divine, uncreated Word of God (cf. John 1:1); the transcendent Principle of creation and revelation. (B) the basic meaning is ‘something said’, ‘account’; the term is used in explanation and definition of some kind of thing, but also means reason, measure, proportion, analogy, word, speech, discourse, discursive reasoning, noetic apprehension of the first principles; the demiurgic Logos (like the Egyptian Hu, equated with Thoth, the tongue of Ra, who transforms the Thoughts of the Heart into spoken and written Language, thus creating and articulating the world as a script and icon of the gods) is the intermediary divine power: as an image of the noetic cosmos, the physical cosmos is regarded as a multiple Logos containing a plurality of individual logoi ( Enn.IV.3.8.17-22); in Plotinus, Logos is not a separate hupostasis, but determines the relation of any hupostasis to its source and its products, serving as the formative principle from which the lower realities evolve; the external spech ( logos prophorikos) constitutes the external expression of internal thought ( logos endiathetos).
(more..) "word, reason"; in Christian theology, the divine, uncreated Word of God (. John 1:1); the transcendent Principle of creation and revelation.the basic meaning is ‘something said’, ‘account’; the term is used in explanation and definition of some kind of thing, but also means reason, measure, proportion, analogy, word, speech, discourse, discursive reasoning, noetic apprehension of the first principles; the demiurgic(like the Egyptianequated with Thoth, the tongue of Ra, who transforms the Thoughts of the Heart into spoken and written Language, thus creating and articulating the world as a script and icon of the gods) is the intermediary divine power: as an image of the noetic cosmos, the physical cosmos is regarded as a multiplecontaining a plurality of individual.IV.3.8.17-22); in Plotinus,is not a separatebut determines the relation of anyto its source and its products, serving as the formative principle from which the lower realities evolve; the external spech () constitutes the external expression of internal thought ( mors janua vitae
"death is the gate to life."
(more..) "death is the gate to life." sephiroth
literally, "numbers"; in Jewish Kabbalah, the ten emanations of Ein Sof or divine Infinitude, each comprising a different aspect of creative energy.
(more..) literally, "numbers"; in Jewish Kabbalah, the ten emanations ofor divine Infinitude, each comprising a different aspect of creative energy. theology
divine science, theology, logos about the gods, considered to be the essence of teletai; for Aristotle, a synonim of metaphysics or first philosophy ( prote philosophia) in contrast with physics ( Metaph.1026a18); however, physics ( phusiologia) sometimes is called as a kind of theology (Proclus In Tim.I.217.25); for Neoplatonists, among the ancient theologians ( theologoi) are Orpheus, Homer, Hesiod and other divinely inspired poets, the creators of theogonies and keepers of sacred rites.
(more..) divine science, theology,about the gods, considered to be the essence of; for Aristotle, a synonim of metaphysics or first philosophy () in contrast with physics (.1026a18); however, physics () sometimes is called as a kind of theology (Proclus.I.217.25); for Neoplatonists, among the ancient theologians () are Orpheus, Homer, Hesiod and other divinely inspired poets, the creators of theogonies and keepers of sacred rites. Torah
"instruction, teaching"; in Judaism, the law of God, as revealed to Moses on Sinai and embodied in the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
(more..) "instruction, teaching"; in Judaism, the law of God, as revealed to Moses on Sinai and embodied in the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). Tradition
(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) (as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives. adam
In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness.
(more..) In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness. vacare Deo
literally, "to be empty for God"; to be at leisure for or available to God; in the Christian monastic and contemplative tradition, to set aside time from work for meditation and prayer.
(more..) literally, "to be empty for God"; to be at leisure for or available to God; in the Christian monastic and contemplative tradition, to set aside time from work for meditation and prayer. abd
(A) In religious language, designates the worshiper, and, more generally, the creature as dependent on his Lord (rabb. (B) "servant" or "slave"; as used in Islam, the servant or worshiper of God in His aspect of Rabb or "Lord".
(more..) (A) In religious language, designates the worshiper, and, more generally, the creature as dependent on his Lord (. (B) "servant" or "slave"; as used in Islam, the servant or worshiper of God in His aspect ofor "Lord". sophia
(A)wisdom; the term covers all spheres of human activity – all ingenious invention aimed at satisfying one’s material, political and religious needs; Hephaistos (like his prototypes – the Ugaritian Kothar-wa-Hasis and the Egyptian Ptah) is poluphronos, very wise, klutometis, renowned in wisdom – here ‘wisdom’ means not simply some divine quality, but wondrous skill, cleverness, technical ability, magic power; in Egypt all sacred wisdom (especially, knowledge of the secret divine names and words of power, hekau, or demiurgic and theurgic mantras, which are able to restore one’s true divine identity) was under the patronage of Thoth; in classical Greece, the inspird poet, the lawgiver, the polititian, the magician, the natural philosopher and sophist – all claimed to wisdom, and indeed ‘philosophy’ is the love of wisdom, philo-sophia, i.e. a way of life in effort to achieve wisdom as its goal; the ideal of sophos (sage) in the newly established Platonic paideia is exemplified by Socrates; in Neoplatonism, the theoretical wisdom (though the term sophia is rarely used) means contemplation of the eternal Forms and becoming like nous, or a god; there are the characteristic properties which constitute the divine nature and which spread to all the divine classes: good ( agathotes), wisdom ( sophia) and beauty ( kallos). (B) "wisdom"; in Jewish and Christian tradition, the Wisdom of God, often conceived as feminine (cf. Prov. 8).
(more..) wisdom; the term covers all spheres of human activity – all ingenious invention aimed at satisfying one’s material, political and religious needs; Hephaistos (like his prototypes – the Ugaritian Kothar-wa-Hasis and the Egyptian Ptah) isvery wise,, renowned in wisdom – here ‘wisdom’ means not simply some divine quality, but wondrous skill, cleverness, technical ability, magic power; in Egypt all sacred wisdom (especially, knowledge of the secret divine names and words of power,or demiurgic and theurgic mantras, which are able to restore one’s true divine identity) was under the patronage of Thoth; in classical Greece, the inspird poet, the lawgiver, the polititian, the magician, the natural philosopher and sophist – all claimed to wisdom, and indeed ‘philosophy’ is the love of wisdom,, i.e. a way of life in effort to achieve wisdom as its goal; the ideal of(sage) in the newly established Platonic paideia is exemplified by Socrates; in Neoplatonism, the theoretical wisdom (though the termis rarely used) means contemplation of the eternal Forms and becoming like, or a god; there are the characteristic properties which constitute the divine nature and which spread to all the divine classes: good (), wisdom () and beauty ()."wisdom"; in Jewish and Christian tradition, the Wisdom of God, often conceived as feminine (. Prov. 8). Tradition
(as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives.
(more..) (as the term is used by "Traditionalists" and in the "Perennial Philosopy":) Divine Revelation and the unfolding and development of its sacred content, in time and space, such that the forms of society and civilization maintain a "vertical" connection to the meta-historical, transcendental substance from which revelation itself derives. adam
In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness.
(more..) In Sufism this expression includes on the one hand the positive sense of non-manifestation, of a principial state beyond existence or even beyond Being, and on the other hand a negative sense of privation, of relative nothingness. Atman
the real or true "Self," underlying the ego and its manifestations; in the perspective of Advaita Vedānta, identical with Brahma.
(more..) the real or true "Self," underlying the ego and its manifestations; in the perspective of, identical with Brahma
God in the aspect of Creator, the first divine "person" of the Trimūrti; to be distinguished from Brahma, the Supreme Reality.
(more..) God in the aspect of Creator, the first divine "person" of the; to be distinguished from, the Supreme Reality. karma
action; the effects of past actions; the law of cause and effect ("as a man sows, so shall he reap"); of three kinds: (1) sanchita karma: actions of the past that have yet to bear fruit in the present life; (2) prārabdha karma: actions of the past that bear fruit in the present life; and (3) āgāmi karma :actions of the present that have still, by the law of cause and effect, to bear fruit in the future.
(more..) action; the effects of past actions; the law of cause and effect ("as a man sows, so shall he reap"); of three kinds: (1): actions of the past that have yet to bear fruit in the present life; (2): actions of the past that bear fruit in the present life; and (3):actions of the present that have still, by the law of cause and effect, to bear fruit in the future. karma
action; the effects of past actions; the law of cause and effect ("as a man sows, so shall he reap"); of three kinds: (1) sanchita karma: actions of the past that have yet to bear fruit in the present life; (2) prārabdha karma: actions of the past that bear fruit in the present life; and (3) āgāmi karma :actions of the present that have still, by the law of cause and effect, to bear fruit in the future.
(more..) action; the effects of past actions; the law of cause and effect ("as a man sows, so shall he reap"); of three kinds: (1): actions of the past that have yet to bear fruit in the present life; (2): actions of the past that bear fruit in the present life; and (3):actions of the present that have still, by the law of cause and effect, to bear fruit in the future. Muruga
The god whom the Tamils regard as their own, he is the same as Subrahmanya, Skanda (Kanda), Karttikeya or Kumara. (The name means beautiful.) There are many temples to Muruga in the South, some of them built on hills like Pazhani (Palni) and Tiruttani. A considerable section of Tamil hymnal literature is devoted to him of which the Tiruppugazh is particularly famous.
(more..) The god whom the Tamils regard as their own, he is the same as Subrahmanya, Skanda (Kanda), Karttikeya or Kumara. (The name means beautiful.) There are many temples to Muruga in the South, some of them built on hills like Pazhani (Palni) and Tiruttani. A considerable section of Tamil hymnal literature is devoted to him of which the Tiruppugazh is particularly famous. philosophy
love of wisdom; the intellectual and ‘erotic’ path which leads to virtue and knowledge; the term itself perhaps is coined by Pythagoras; the Hellenic philosophia is a prolongation, modification and ‘modernization’ of the Egyptian and Near Eastern sapiential ways of life; philosophia cannot be reduced to philosophical discourse; for Aristotle, metaphysics is prote philosophia, or theologike, but philosophy as theoria means dedication to the bios theoretikos, the life of contemplation – thus the philosophical life means the participation in the divine and the actualization of the divine in the human through the personal askesis and inner transformation; Plato defines philosophy as a training for death ( Phaed.67cd); the Platonic philosophia helps the soul to become aware of its own immateriality, it liberates from passions and strips away everything that is not truly itself; for Plotinus, philosophy does not wish only ‘to be a discourse about objects, be they even the highest, but it wishes actually to lead the soul to a living, concrete union with the Intellect and the Good’; in the late Neoplatonism, the ineffable theurgy is regarded as the culmination of philosophy.
(more..) love of wisdom; the intellectual and ‘erotic’ path which leads to virtue and knowledge; the term itself perhaps is coined by Pythagoras; the Hellenicis a prolongation, modification and ‘modernization’ of the Egyptian and Near Eastern sapiential ways of life;cannot be reduced to philosophical discourse; for Aristotle, metaphysics is, or, but philosophy asmeans dedication to the, the life of contemplation – thus the philosophical life means the participation in the divine and the actualization of the divine in the human through the personaland inner transformation; Plato defines philosophy as a training for death (.67cd); the Platonichelps the soul to become aware of its own immateriality, it liberates from passions and strips away everything that is not truly itself; for Plotinus, philosophy does not wish only ‘to be a discourse about objects, be they even the highest, but it wishes actually to lead the soul to a living, concrete union with the Intellect and the Good’; in the late Neoplatonism, the ineffable theurgy is regarded as the culmination of philosophy. Tradition
(as the term is used by "Traditionalists |
, it does not make it so. One can claim all day long that downing a few tablets of echinacea will boost the immune system to prevent colds (it doesn’t), it doesn’t make it scientifically accurate. Nor does it create an accurate description of the immune system.
The science of the immune system
Now comes the science part of the article. I, and others, always complain that the junk science world massively oversimplifies the mechanisms of the immune system. Simplifying complex science makes it easy to consume – but it is a fundamental aspect of pseudoscience.
The junk medicine pushers attempt to characterize the immune system as a one pathetic, weak, hardly functional little organ – which it is not.
In fact, the immune system is a huge, complex, interrelated bunch of biomolecules, cells, tissues, and organs, usually all working in harmony. And it’s pretty resilient. If the immune system was such a weakling, we would all be dead from pathogens before we made it to our 5th year of life. And there is a reason, why we make it past your 5th year of life, but I’ll get to that.
So, if someone says “this boosts your immune system,” your first question must be “which of the thousands of different parts of our immune system is boosted?”
Your second question should probably be “do you have a peer-reviewed extraordinary evidence that supports that extraordinary claim?”
Let’s get all science-y and describe the immune system. Admittedly, I’m writing this not only to be informative but also to overwhelm the notion that the immune system is some simplistic entity within the body.
Here we go:
Parts of the Immune System
Part 1. The innate immune system – This part of the immune system includes its ability to prevent or detect foreign material, then eliminate it without an antigen- or pathogen-specific physiological response of the body. It is the body’s quick and initial general response to disease-causing organisms (pathogens) which invade our body.
The innate response works in one of two ways: first, it directly prevents an infection, such as the skin blocking bacteria from entering the bloodstream. And second, it delays the invasion sufficiently for the slower but more effective and selective adaptive Immune system to activate its response to the pathogens.
But the innate immune system isn’t a simple thing, it is extremely complex, consisting of:
Anatomical barriers– These consist of physical barriers. One of the best examples is the skin itself, which is impermeable to pathogens providing defenses like a solid wall. There are many other examples that are very apparent like hairs in the nose, or mucous.
These consist of physical barriers. One of the best examples is the skin itself, which is impermeable to pathogens providing defenses like a solid wall. There are many other examples that are very apparent like hairs in the nose, or mucous. Inflammation– This response includes the symptoms we associate with inflammation – fever, swelling, increased blood flow, repair of damaged tissue, and removal of foreign and dead tissue.
This response includes the symptoms we associate with inflammation – fever, swelling, increased blood flow, repair of damaged tissue, and removal of foreign and dead tissue. Complement System– This system is a group of biochemicals, produced by the liver, that helps or “complements” the ability of antibodies and phagocytic cells to clear pathogens from an organism. It is part of the immune system that is not adaptable and does not change over the course of an individual’s lifetime. However, it can be recruited and brought into action by the adaptive immune system.
This system is a group of biochemicals, produced by the liver, that helps or “complements” the ability of antibodies and phagocytic cells to clear pathogens from an organism. It is part of the immune system that is not adaptable and does not change over the course of an individual’s lifetime. However, it can be recruited and brought into action by the adaptive immune system. Cells – Mostly white blood cells (WBC) are involved in the innate immune system: Mast Cells – A group of cells that mediate the inflammatory response. Although they are often associated with allergies, they are a critical part of the immune response. Phagocytes – Large cells that move like an amoeba. They “eat” other cells by surrounding them with their plasma membranes producing “bubbles” in which they can release enzymes safely without damaging other cells. They also have a “clean-up” role to remove the body’s dead and dying cells. Macrophages – Large phagocytic cells that efficiently consume multiple pathogens. Heavily motile and actively cross from the bloodstream into tissues to hunt down pathogens. They kill by manufacturing and releasing free-radical oxygen in a local area. Neutrophils/Eosinophils/Basophils – A group of similar cells that are the “first responders” to migrate to an inflammation site. They appear at the site of a wound within a few minutes of trauma. Natural Killer Cells – These cells recognize the body’s own cells that are infected by viruses or are cancerous. They then induce controlled cell death to halt the spread of the infected or cancerous cells. Recent research shows that Natural Killer Cells also play a role in the adaptive immune response. Dendritic Cells and Gamma/Delta T Cells – These are the bridge between the innate and adaptive systems and their main role is antigen presentation. They harvest antigenic proteins from damaged pathogens and present them to T-cells, which allows them to find and attack the pathogens.
Mostly white blood cells (WBC) are involved in the innate immune system:
Part 2. The adaptive immune system–The dendritic cells, from the innate immune system, activate the body’s adaptive (or acquired) immune system. The adaptive immune system is composed of highly specialized, systemic cells and processes that eliminate or prevent pathogen growth.
In acquired immunity, pathogen-specific receptors are “acquired” during the lifetime of the organism (whereas in innate immunity, pathogen-specific receptors are already encoded in the germline). The acquired response is said to be “adaptive” because it prepares the body’s immune system for future pathogenic attacks. In some cases, the acquired immune response can be maladaptive when it results in autoimmunity.
Antibodies, produced by B-lymphocyte cells, are the main weapon of the body’s immune system to battle pathogens. It is a larger response than innate immunity and once sensitized to an antigen, the adaptive immune system often fights off diseases even before we can present with symptoms of a disease.
Immunizations introduce the pathogen’s antigen to the adaptive immune system so that it can form those pathogen-specific receptors and, thereby, are able to quickly and efficiently respond to an attack by a pathogen, before it harms the host.
There are three types of cells involved in the adaptive immune response:
T – Lymphocytes (also known as T-cell) – The main role of the cell is to recognize cells infected by viruses and trigger the apoptotic pathway that destroys the cell and its viral contamination. Since viruses only replicate inside cells by hijacking the cell’s manufacturing process, this apoptosis kills the virus (and the host cell) and phagocytes swoop in to consume the destroyed cell debris and digest the contents. The antigen of the viral cell is recognized by surface antibodies on the T-Lymphocyte, which activate it. There are also helper T-Cells whose role is control and organization of the apoptosis response to the infected cells.
The main role of the cell is to recognize cells infected by viruses and trigger the apoptotic pathway that destroys the cell and its viral contamination. Since viruses only replicate inside cells by hijacking the cell’s manufacturing process, this apoptosis kills the virus (and the host cell) and phagocytes swoop in to consume the destroyed cell debris and digest the contents. The antigen of the viral cell is recognized by surface antibodies on the T-Lymphocyte, which activate it. There are also helper T-Cells whose role is control and organization of the apoptosis response to the infected cells. B – Lymphocytes – The main role of these cells is to produce humoral (free floating) antibodies that recognize pathogens and mark them for destruction by other cells. This process occurs by activating the complement system and by causing the pathogen to become “sticky” but only with other pathogens. This causes them to clump together and make them easier to kill by T-cells.
The main role of these cells is to produce humoral (free floating) antibodies that recognize pathogens and mark them for destruction by other cells. This process occurs by activating the complement system and by causing the pathogen to become “sticky” but only with other pathogens. This causes them to clump together and make them easier to kill by T-cells. Memory Cells – After an infection has passed (and most of the T-cells and B-cells have died), a few do remain in circulation to remember the antigens of the pathogens who attacked. In future infections, these are rapidly activated to produce a humoral response which quickly destroys any new infections even before they produce any symptoms. There are two types of these cells: Memory B cells, which, produce the antibodies that recognize the pathogens, and Memory T cells, which remember the viral antigens that infect cells.
And there’s actually more. In Infants, there is a version of the immune system called passive immunity. Certain classes of antibodies can cross the placental barrier and can be absorbed through milk particularly the colostrum (first milk). These give the newborn baby the same range of protection as the mother.
However, the baby’s immune system does not develop its own adaptive immune response from these antibodies, and eventually must be presented with one of the millions of antigens it inhales every day to form its own adaptive immune system.
So take a deep breath. That was a boatload of science.
The innate and adaptive immune systems are pretty freaking awesome, but it’s not perfect. Pathogens have evolved over a billion years or so in response to other organisms’ immune systems, so they have developed all kinds of tricks to avoid being massacred by the human immune system.
The influenza virus is one of the experts of quickly evolving to change itself almost annually to avoid the immune system. HPV (human papillomavirus) avoids the immune system by actually integrating itself into the human DNA.
So, we have an effective and highly aggressive immune system already. So obviously there are ways to boost this system. Right?
Immune system myths – any science?
I just described the awesome complexity of the immune system. There is a multitude of immune system related cells, each produced in different areas of the body, each with a different responsibility. Some of these cells produce literally millions of different antibodies, each with a separate responsibility to attack diseases.
The description I wrote above is difficult for anyone, even a trained immunologist, to understand completely. When someone talks about the immune system, I wonder if they understand that it’s so complicated that it could take years to understand just one component.
And is there any physiologically plausible method to boost or enhance all of this system or even a small part of it? In general, the immune system is an on/off type of network. It’s either working perfectly well, or it isn’t, and we know the precise conditions that might cause the immune system to start working less perfectly.
According to the Harvard Medical School; the University of Rochester Medical Centre; and Science-Based Medicine, we can conclude that:
There are some chronic conditions, such as stress and malnutrition (I’m not talking about not enough oranges, but large, long-term calorie and micronutrient deficits), that can reduce the performance of your immune system. There are a few chronic diseases that can have an impact on the quality of the immune response, diabetes being one of the more prevalent, but there are many others. Some people are born with impaired immune systems. Some may acquire an immune deficiency as a result of certain diseases (HIV/AIDS being the most famous). Even some medical treatments, like chemotherapy or immunosuppressive therapies, can weaken or even destroy the immune system. One of the tropes of the immune system pseudoscience is that an infection weakens the immune system; in fact, the sick feeling you have during a cold or other diseases, can be a part of the immune response. Almost everyone has a perfect and highly effective immune system–there is no way to make it better. There is little evidence that a normally functioning immune system can be “boosted.” And by evidence, I mean high quality randomized clinical or epidemiological studies published in high-quality peer-reviewed journals. “Boosting” the immune system is probably not a good idea – see the next section. There are ways to prevent diseases like cancer. But it has nothing to do with boosting the immune system.
Too much boosting
On the other hand, if you really could boost your immune system, is that even a good idea? How can you even fine-tune a “boost” without figuring out the exact amount necessary to get the effect you want?
In fact, there are reasons why we shouldn’t have a too powerful immune system. For example, overactive immune systems are responsible for allergic conditions such as asthma and eczema. And there’s a type of runaway immune response known as a “cytokine storm” which may be responsible for the high mortality in severe flu pandemics.
Inflammation is normally a healthy response to injury or pathogen invasion, but in some autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, it can be painful and debilitating.
In addition, an overactive immune system can become misdirected and start attacking the cells of the host body. This immune system error can cause autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and Type 1 diabetes.
So, no, it really is not a good idea to boost your immune system, even if you could (and you really can’t).
Vaccines boost the immune system
So what we need is a way of beating diseases at their own game. A way of acquiring immunity to diseases without the pathogen causing a disease. Let me think of a way, it’ll come to me.
That way is vaccination. Despite the complexity of the innate and adaptive immune systems, vaccinations are among the simplest medical procedures ever – we take known antigens and inject them into the body, but in a way that they cannot become infectious.
The body’s adaptive immune system recognizes these antigenic particles of the pathogen, and produce an immune response as if there were a real threat. Then the memory cells stick around to attack subsequent infections from that same pathogen. Every future infection your immune system stops actually increases the quality and speed of your immune response.
As long as we have been vaccinated, the adaptive immune system can respond quickly to a pathogen, prior to the pathogen having a long-lasting deleterious effect on the body or becoming infectious and spreading to others. No one makes the claim that vaccines are 100% effective, but as long as the vast majority of individuals are immune to a disease, it has a lower chance of spreading.
So there. That’s the one way, with strong scientific support, and we call it a vaccination.
TL;DR version
The immune system is an extremely complex interaction of organs, cells, proteins, other biochemicals, and tissues.
The immune system basically works well as a result of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Only a chronic disease or malnutrition can make it work less than ideal.
No, we can’t boost the immune system with a handful of supplements or eating organic foods.
If you really could boost the immune system, it’s probably a bad idea to do so.
The one way we make the immune system work better is through the vaccination, based on evidence that vaccines make our immune systems think that it has fought off a disease when in reality it has not. Then it is ready to fight the disease when it does actually show up.
Just relax. Your immune system is so powerful, you really don’t have to worry about it. In almost every healthy individual, the immune system is running nearly perfect levels without you worrying about it.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in September 2013. I have copyedited the article for clarity. Also, broken links were fixed, formatting was improved, and splines were reticulated. Yes, describing the immune system is difficult, and I have probably insulted real immunologists, who have 8-10 years of education and another 10-20 years of clinical experience. I have two years of graduate level classwork in immunology, and I am an amateur in the field. You will not become an expert on the immune system by spending an hour Googling stuff or reading this article.
Note: I have, without any conscience, liberally stolen the idea for this article, and some of the supporting information from fellow blogger and Australian Graham Coghill of the most excellent blog, Science or Not.
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The Original Skeptical Raptor Lifetime lover of science, especially biomedical research. Spent years in academics, business development, research, and traveling the world shilling for Big Pharma. I love sports, mostly college basketball and football, hockey, and baseball. I enjoy great food and intelligent conversation. And a delicious morning coffee!
Please help me out by Tweeting out this article or posting it to your favorite Facebook group.There are two ways you can help support this blog. First, you can use Patreon by clicking on the link below. It allows you to set up a monthly donation, which will go a long way to supporting the Skeptical RaptorFinally, you can also purchase anything on Amazon, and a small portion of each purchase goes to this website. Just click below, and shop for everything.PETALING JAYA: Yet another video of taxi drivers harassing a Uber driver and his passengers has emerged, this time from Penang.
A video has been shared on social media, showing two men, presumably airport taxi or limo drivers, knocking on the Uber car driver’s window, and also asking the passengers to get down.
The two men had driven their vehicles, blocking the Uber driver’s car in its path near the Penang International Airport, where the latter had just picked up a couple of passengers.
One of the taxi/limo drivers is seen threatening to break the windshield wiper of the Uber driver’s car, as the other then approaches the window and orders the driver to go to the police station.
“Mari kita pergi balai. (Let’s go to the station),” the Uber driver replied and the passenger was heard saying it out loud too.
The Uber driver opened his window slightly to speak to the taxi driver and was almost hit as the man stuck his arm in.
The couple did not get out, and one of them also reportedly called the police, in the meantime.
This latest incident follows months of prior attacks by taxi drivers in Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru and Penang against those providing transport via ride-sharing services, such as Uber and Grab.
However, notably, the number of incidences have been fewer, if any, since the government agreed to legalise ride-sharing services.
The Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), which has jurisdiction over Peninsular Malaysia, made the annnouncement of the Cabinet’s decision in August.
There have been recent incidences of harrassment and even arrests of Uber drivers in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, as the efforts by SPAD are not in effect over there.
Sabah and Sarawak have their respective state Commercial Vehicle Licensing Boards, which govern public transport.If Ramsay wants rapid transit, its residents and businesses must make a decision: which side of its busiest street should be sacrificed?
It’s an unusually stark choice confronting those living and working around 11th Street S.E. And the city needs to know soon, because it intends to nail down by October the final alignment for the future southeast LRT and its precursor, the bus-only transitway that crews will start building in 2017.
For years, the city had planned an option with less impact on the neighbourhood. As the train/bus route leaves the Ramsay escarpment and heads south toward Crossroads Market and beyond, the original plan had it following an S-curve along Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railway right-of-way and leave 11th Street — and most buildings along it — nearly unscathed.
But in part because of CP’s recent reluctance to part with land in that busy stretch, the city is now recommending the bus and train line go straight down 11th, either elevated or next to the traffic lanes that handle about 10,000 cars daily. Any of those options will require the city to acquire and possibly demolish many of the properties on the street’s west side, a row that includes a bridal shop, small offices and the Shamrock Hotel.
Sticking with the old S-curve option amid CP’s current stance would probably imperil both century-old brick buildings on the east side of 11th, including the C.C. Snowdon Building, newly restored and designated last year as a heritage structure.
“One side is two historical buildings, and the other side is residential and businesses,” said Fabiola MacIntyre, project manager for the southeast transitway.
“So this is why we want to talk with the public and see what they decide to be the worst of the trade-offs.”
One ugly trade-off for Yale Gelfant would spell the end of his motorcycle parts shop, which he opened four years ago to be near Kane’s Harley-Davidson in Inglewood. He’s frustrated that the city can’t more easily share with the railway.
“They should (tell CP) they’re taking the 15 metres we need and make it very simple, and run in behind the buildings,” he said Wednesday.
“It wouldn’t disturb the buildings or nobody if CP doesn’t use that land. It’s awfully selfish of them to say no, tear down all these buildings, cut off access to Ramsay so you can only get in through Spiller Road, and destroy a community, basically.”
CP officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Calgary’s plan to use CP lands on the S-curve dates back decades. But more recently, CP has apparently decided that it needs to preserve its own lands at this key four-point junction, though MacIntyre said the city doesn’t fully understand its requirements.
“We just simply know we’re respecting their operational needs now and into the future,” she said.
The CN lands on the south part of curve, below the Shamrock, are still part of the city’s proposed options, MacIntyre added.
Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said that while the city’s relationship with CP has been quite good lately — including talks of transit near its new Ogden headquarters — it’s a “very tight space” in the Ramsay area. He said he sees potential for a modern transitway that isn’t just a daily commuter route for the deep suburbs.
“I think the community is wary, concerned, but also excited by the idea of creating an urban main street kind of character, served by a tramway,” Carra said.
With a low-floor train, he said, it would look “more like Europe than suburbia” — or, perhaps, more like the transit route planned down Centre Street, on the north leg of the Green Line.
Calgary Transit is hosting a public session on three design options for an 11th Street bus-only roadway, at Inglewood’s Venue 1008 (1008 14th St. S.E.) on Thursday evening. The transit corridor can be along a two-lane street with turning lanes, or sit next to a four-lane road, or run along an elevated guideway above the lanes.
The four-lane road option would require the most encroachment onto private land, but building pillars for the elevated transit corridor would also require widening the road and property acquisition, MacIntyre said.
One proposed perk in Ramsay for a roadside transitway is the option of a new busway stop at 19th Avenue, either instead of, or in addition to, the Crossroads Market station.
MacIntyre said if neither of the trade-offs work for Ramsay, the city can simply nix the Green Line transitway in that area and continue to run buses in mixed traffic on 11th Street S.E.
The $400-million, bus-only transitway to Douglasdale is planned for a 2021 opening. In the future, the city would run rails and LRT cars along that transit-only corridor.
The city’s southeast LRT maps for several years included plans to buy and possibly demolish the Snowdon building site, MacIntyre said. But owner Neil Richardson of Heritage Propery Corporation said nothing worked when he tried to negotiate a land deal or agreement with the city. Instead, he opted to secure heritage status in early 2014 and has restored the structure with two new storeys on top.
Calgary Transit is also considering an on-street transit corridor in Ogden, where there’s enough room to share the main-line route with CP. However, Carra and transit planners are eyeing options to take the train right along Ogden Road and 24th Street S.E., to better integrate with the neighbourhood and entice dense redevelopment.
jmarkusoff@calgaryherald.comDisgruntled, underpaid park rangers are poisoning and killing elephants in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, conservation sources told the U.K. newspaper the Telegraph Tuesday. At least 62 wild elephants in the southern African country have died from cyanide poisoning in the past month.
Many of the carcasses were found with their ivory tusks still intact, which suggest the perpetrators either were interrupted or were perhaps killing the elephants for another reason. A source close to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority told the Telegraph some of the poisonings may be the work of park rangers who risk their lives to protect wildlife from poachers and yet are paid very little. The rangers might be resorting to poaching to make extra cash or they might be poisoning the pachyderms as a form of “protest,” the source told the Telegraph.
"I am afraid there are serious management problems within parks,” he told the Telegraph. “Some of the rangers are very dissatisfied with their remuneration and say that they are not getting some allowances they believe they should get. But they know that management in Harare do get these allowances, such as help with school fees for their kids.”
"So many of us believe that some of the poaching at the moment is organized and executed by some rangers in parks, and we don't know how this will be sorted out,” the source added.
Wildlife authorities discovered Monday at least 22 more elephants poisoned from cyanide in Hwange National Park, 372 miles west of the capital. Only three ivory tusks were removed from the carcasses and the latest poisonings brought the total to 62 for October alone, the Associated Press reported.
Photo: Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images
Most of the killings have taken place in Hwange. But in all cases, the killers have laced salt licks, maize cobs or oranges with cyanide to lure the large mammals to their death. The poison has killed not only the elephants but other animals too, including predators who feed off the carcasses.
The spate of poisonings in western Zimbabwe have been blamed largely on poachers, who began using cyanide in 2013, when as many as 300 elephants died in Hwange from salt pans lined with the poison. Cyanide is commonly used in Zimbabwe’s mining industry, making it relatively easy to obtain.
"The suffering is horrible. They get weak very quickly and collapse. You might not die quickly, but you don't walk very far,” Dave Dell of Friends of Hwange, which raises donations to run pumps for about 80 watering holes in Hwange National Park, recently told the Los Angeles Times.
Headman Sibanda, owner of Nyala Safaris who was charged with illegally allowing an American gynecologist to kill a lion near Hwange park, said some rangers were involved in the poisonings. One of two rangers recently arrested on suspicion of poisoning elephants earns just $429 per month, including allowances, the Telegraph reported. Meanwhile, an average elephant can yield 10 kilograms of ivory, with each kilogram fetching as much as $3,000 on the lucrative black market, according to Conservation Magazine.
"They are angry because of lack of allowances,” Sibanda told the Telegraph Tuesday. “Some of them believe they should be getting allowances and they are not, but some senior management are getting allowances unfairly."
Zimbabwe has a large elephant population of about 100,000, but the number has sharply declined in recent years. The population in the northern Sebungwe district has dropped 75 percent since 2001 -- from 14,000 to 3,500 -- while the number of elephants in middle Zambezi Valley complex fell 40 percent to from 18,000 to 11,500, according to the Zambezi Society, a local conservation group.Image caption Prosecutors said the Uzi, like the one shown here, is too unstable for a boy to handle safely
A Massachusetts jury has acquitted a man who organised a gun fair where a boy accidentally shot himself dead with an Uzi sub-machine gun.
Prosecutors said Edward Fleury, a former police chief, should have foreseen the risk in providing Christopher Bizilj, 8, with the gun.
He was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter after showing the boy's father allowed him to fire the weapon.
The boy lost control of the weapon, which flipped and shot him in the head.
Mr Fleury was also acquitted on Friday on three charges of furnishing machine guns to minors.
At the trial in Springfield, in the state of Massachusetts, jurors viewed a gruesome video clip of the accident, filmed by the boy's father, Dr Charles Bizilj.
Christopher was aiming at pumpkins at the annual Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club in October 2008.
Prosecutors argued Mr Fleury was criminally reckless in allowing the boy to shoot the high-powered weapon, which was developed by the Israeli military. Christopher's 11-year-old brother Colin shot it without incident.
Dr Bizilj signed a waiver allowing the boys to shoot the guns but was not charged in the accident because prosecutors said that, as a layman, he had reason to trust the fair organisers' word that the activity was safe.
After the verdict, Mr Fleury said he regretted holding the machine gun event and would never do it again.
Also charged were two men who brought the weapon to the fair. They have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.After a year in Egyptian jail, journalists will attend hearing more in hope than expectation as supporters keep focus on their plight
Three al-Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt are due back in court on Thursday to appeal against their convictions, over six months after they were sentenced and over a year since they were seized from a Cairo hotel.
The hearing is expected to last for one day, and will only assess whether legal procedures during their first trial were correctly observed, rather than focusing on the facts of the case itself. Based on his findings, the judge can then choose to uphold the original verdict, throw the case out, or send it to retrial, in which case he must also decide whether to release them on bail.
The parents of one of the three, the former BBC correspondent Peter Greste, said they were tempering their expectations. “We have very high hopes for the [hearing], but our expectations are modest,” said Juris and Lois Greste, who were allowed to visit their son in jail on Christmas Day. “We have approached landmark dates expecting a positive change, only to be bitterly disappointed.”
Greste, the former CNN reporter Mohamed Fahmy, and local producer Baher Mohamed were initially jailed last June on charges of abetting terrorists, spreading false news and endangering national security. The move was a prominent episode in an ongoing crackdown on all forms of domestic opposition. But it was also seen as part of a wider diplomatic spat between Egypt and Qatar, the owners of al-Jazeera and the funders of Egypt’s Islamist opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Internationally, the case was viewed as a trumped-up attack on freedom of expression, with the court proceedings considered comically flawed and politicised. But in Egypt, where the coverage on al-Jazeera’s Arabic sister channels strongly favours the brotherhood, many government supporters saw the journalists as a legitimate target.
Since the verdict, Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has several times expressed regret that the journalists were jailed rather than deported, and in November issued a new law that would technically allow him to deport Greste, who is an Australian citizen, and possibly Fahmy, a dual Canadian-Egyptian national. But fearing a backlash among his supporters, he has not yet shown strong intent to use the law, or to issue a pardon.
Officials have privately indicated that he will wait until at least the conclusion of the appeal before taking any decisions.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A protest in support of the al-Jazeera journalists outside Egypt’s embassy in London. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
In the six months since the verdict, the three defendants have followed different paths to fight their incarceration. Greste and Mohamed, and their families, continue to frame the case as one that purely relates to press freedom.
“The noise you all have been making,” Greste wrote in a Christmas message to his supporters, “sends a clear and unequivocal message to politicians around the world: a free press is an indivisible part of a free society.”
By contrast, Fahmy has positioned himself as a pawn in the battle between Egypt and Qatar, rather than simply the victim of a media crackdown. He has distanced himself from al-Jazeera, issuing messages from jail that condemned the coverage of the network’s Arabic channels, and also criticised al-Jazeera for placing its journalists in danger before their arrest and for failing to secure them better lawyers. He is expected to amplify these claims during the appeal session.
“If the judge looks past our affiliation with al-Jazeera and Qatar, and judges us as journalists who have committed no crime, then we may be freed,” he said in a message to the Guardian delivered from prison by his family. “If he considers us agents of al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr [the network’s Egyptian affiliate] … then we may face a lengthy retrial.”
Fahmy is now paying for his own legal team without money from al-Jazeera. International rights lawyer Amal Clooney is giving pro-bono advice and sending a representative to Thursday’s hearing.
Reporters Without Borders revealed in December that Egypt is the fourth-biggest jailer of journalists in the world, imprisoning 16 in 2014 – 9% of the global total. The government has arrested at least 16,000 political detainees in the past 18 months, by its own figures. Independent estimates suggest the figure is closer to 40,000."We do our best to look for redeployment opportunities for them elsewhere within out business and at other mines in the industry."
The underground mine, in the southern highlands of NSW about 75 kilometres south-west of Sydney, has been operating since 1979 and last year produced 2.1 million tonnes of metallurgical coal used in steel making.
Like other miners, Glencore has been hit hard by the collapse in commodity prices linked to slowing demand from China. It has also slashed production of copper and oil as well as cutting investment and costs.
"The decision has been made as a result of continued low prices in global coal markets, which has meant the economic return from reserves still available at Tahmoor are not sufficient to warrant the investment required to mine them," Glencore said in a statement.
Global metallurgical coal prices have dropped from more than $US300 a tonne in 2011 to around $US94 in step with weakening steel prices.Sen. Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulThe Hill's Morning Report — Emergency declaration to test GOP loyalty to Trump The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump escalates fight with NY Times The 10 GOP senators who may break with Trump on emergency MORE (R-Ky.) suggested Thursday that the National Security Agency might have records on President Obama's phone calls.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Paul noted that the NSA has acknowledged that it collects data, such as phone numbers, call times and call durations, on all U.S. phone calls.
"My question is, are they tapping the president's phone, also?" Paul asked on Bloomberg's "Political Capital." "He's got a cellphone … I mean, think about it."
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Paul said he was making the comment a "bit facetiously" but that the court orders authorizing the NSA surveillance are "so expansive and without limit and nonspecific that they apply to all cellphones."
"So conceivably, the NSA could be spying on the president's phone,” Paul said.
"Now, I think he's encrypted. He's protecting himself from his own spy agency because he's got his phone encrypted. But do the rest of Americans have to get encrypted phones?"
Paul is a co-sponsor of a bill with Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that would end the NSA's bulk phone record collection program.
The phone record collection was one of the most controversial revelations from the leaks by Edward Snowden.
In a separate interview on Fox News Thursday, Paul demanded that Obama respond to allegations that the NSA spied on the Vatican as cardinals met to select a new pope earlier this year.
The NSA has categorically denied targeting the Vatican, which was first reported in an Italian magazine.
"The NSA also says collecting bulk data on Americans is not spying," Paul said. "So you have to parse their words."Trump Promises to Reduce Drug Prices
So, there was a lot of hoopla over Trump’s press conference, most of it concentrating on the release of the oppo research file on him, containing not one proven assertion.
I decided, once again, to read the actual transcript. And found out that there was little coverage of something which should matter more to most Americans: Trump’s promise to lower Pharma prices.
We’ve got to get our drug industry back. Our drug industry has been disastrous. They’re leaving left and right. They supply our drugs, but they don’t make them here, to a large extent. And the other thing we have to do is create new bidding procedures for the drug industry because they’re getting away with murder. Pharma has a lot of lobbies and a lot of lobbyists and a lot of power and there’s very little bidding on drugs. We’re the largest buyer of drugs in the world and yet we don’t bid properly and we’re going to start bidding and we’re going to save billions of dollars over a period of time.
The business press seem to be taking this seriously.
It is also, AGAIN, something which should have been tackled long ago. Obama deliberately refused to allow price negotiation with pharma and so did Bush. In both cases, they gave into the lobby. Insane.
Nor, as some say, will this mean that pharma prices will have to rise overseas. Pharma is a profitable industry which spends more on marketing and advertising than on drug research, which researches mostly the wrong drugs, and so on. They can just make less money–high profits to Pharma are mis-allocated resources.
Next Trump talked about the F-35 (for those who don’t keep track, it basically can’t fly and is |
for almost a week now, and I only noticed it yesterday. After making a "test blimp", I decided to expand it a little, add a few guns...Even so, she's no slapdash hackjob. Between the redundant gas cells, buoyancy pitch control, walkable interior, viewing balconies and CIWS system, I'm pretty proud of what I've managed to assemble here. If there's one issue with the design, it's probably that she could afford carry heavier (and cheaper) steel armor without sinking too much. Didn't take any chances with weight. Find Reply
GeneralRizza
Enclave Corporation CEO
Threads: 74
Joined: Jun 2016
Reputation: Posts: 401Threads: 74Joined: Jun 2016Reputation: 0 #6 Is it explosive? Find Reply
GeneralRizza
Enclave Corporation CEO
Threads: 74
Joined: Jun 2016
Reputation: Posts: 401Threads: 74Joined: Jun 2016Reputation: 0 #7 I'm not seeing any helium pumps, and I updated the day before yesterday Find Reply
RavingManiac
Member
Threads: 18
Joined: Oct 2015
Reputation: Posts: 92Threads: 18Joined: Oct 2015Reputation: 2 #8 Odd, this was built on the latest stable branch (V1.95871). There should be one helium pump at each end of each gas cell, at the top.
If she flies, at least they're doing their job. Find Reply
ComradeGreen
CCF Directorate
Threads: 41
Joined: Dec 2015
Reputation: Posts: 1,800Threads: 41Joined: Dec 2015Reputation: 8 #9 I wouldn't worry about this things combat capabilities =w=
(Yes thats a reference to the name) Centralised Communities Front Directorate
Kiso best Light Cruiser. Nagato Best BB.
3100 Hours Ingame and Counting
best Light Cruiser. Nagato Best BB.3100 Hours Ingame and Counting Find Reply
LampostSamurai
Professional Nobody
Threads: 4
Joined: Oct 2015
Reputation: Posts: 32Threads: 4Joined: Oct 2015Reputation: 0 #10 (2016-08-12, 04:03 AM) RavingManiac Wrote: If there's one issue with the design, it's probably that she could afford carry heavier (and cheaper) steel armor without sinking too much. Didn't take any chances with weight.
Probably not. I've been building a similar design, but I ended up cheating it because the steel belly overencumbered the machine. Probably not. I've been building a similar design, but I ended up cheating it because the steel belly overencumbered the machine. Find ReplyA Kuwait beauty salon refused to treat a woman and her trans friend, when they protested the police arrested the woman while the trans narrowly escaped
A transgender woman narrowly escaped arrest when a beauty salon owner reporter her and a female friend to the police.
A transgender woman and her female friend visited a beauty salon in Riggae, Kuwait City for a beauty treatment on Saturday (3 Novemeber) but the owner refused to attend them.
The transgender woman was described by the local press as “pretty boy” a derogatory euphemism to a male to female transgender woman.
However the owner refused to apply make-up on the transgender woman and both were told to leave the premises.
The friend of the transgender woman allegedly ‘attacked’ the owner in protest. The police arrived and arrested her but the transgender woman escaped.
Police say they are launching an investigation.
This is the latest incident in Kuwait’s year old morality crackdown that also target LGBT people.
Last week GSN broke a report that six transgender women have been arrested only since 15 October.
A transgender activist in Kuwait told Gay Star News: ‘We are suffering daily abuse here in Kuwait.
‘The continual use of the law against “imitating the opposite sex” is abuse in the name of morality.
‘It encourages hatred and discrimination, its easy for anyone to pick up the phone and simply report an transgender person.
‘Police acts accordingly and throw them into prison.
‘This is one of many incidents, and I know there are at least 11 transgender people still held under custody, some of them for nearly a month.’
On 10 December 2007, the Kuwaiti parliament passed a bill proposed by Islamic MPs that amended article 198 of penal code so that anyone ‘imitating the appearance of a member of the opposite sex’ could be jailed for up to a year or fined up to 1,000 dinars ($3,500 €2,800).
This law is causing substantial persecution and misery to transgender people in Kuwait which was slammed in a Human Rights Watch report published on 15 January this year criticizing arrests, torture and abuse of transgender people in the country.
Kuwait has been experiencing political turmoil, when earlier this month the Emir disbanded the parliament which was dominated by the Islamic Popular Action Bloc, as well as ordering the arrest of some its leaders.
The Emir announced new elections will take place on 1 December under a new electoral rules which are widely criticized and protested against by the Islamists opposition.
In the fight between the government controlled by the royal al-Sabah family and the Islamists opposition, morality and often LGBT people are used as scapegoats; the issue of sexuality is used as a weapon by the opposition to portray the ruling family and its liberal allies as corrupt and morally defunct and dependent on an immoral West.
The authorities, in an attempt to portray themselves as morally just and defend against the criticism of the opposition have been actively pursuing ‘morality’ campaigns throughout this year which also target lesbian, gay and transgender people.
Commenting on the news, Omar Kuddus, a gay Muslim LGBT rights advocate based in the UK said: ‘The continual "morality" campaigns against LGBT people by Kuwait’s authorities is unacceptable and a violation of basic human rights.
‘The law against “imitating the opposite sex” is continuously used to harass Kuwait’s transsexual and transgender citizens, it is open to abuse and in effect makes their lives intolerable due as they face constant threat of imprisonment and false allegations.
‘The Kuwaiti trans community are living in no better conditions and situations than the Jews, gays and gypsies were in Nazi Germany.
‘This has to change and international pressure needs to be applied to make the Kuwaiti government respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for all of its citizens.’Infielder Dawel Lugo, acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the J.D. Martinez trade, could be Ian Kinsler’s heir apparent. (Photo: Mike Janes, Associated Press)
That nearly month-long baseball seminar known as Instructional League broke up Saturday at the Tigers’ complex in Lakeland, Fla., where farm-fresh players the Tigers got in July and August deals showed their skills and, at times, sore spots.
The Tigers got 10 players in four trades for Justin Verlander, J.D. Martinez, Justin Upton, Justin Wilson and Alex Avila.
Jeimer Candelario, one of the hot shots the Tigers grabbed from the Cubs in the Wilson-Avila trade, played with the Tigers through September and was excused from TigerTown’s camp, which is a concentrated teaching session reserved for 60 of the club’s best prospects.
Another blue-chipper from the Cubs trade, shortstop Isaac Paredes, was freed to be with his wife in Mexico as she prepared to give birth.
Grayson Long, the first half of the Tigers’ return in August’s swap involving Justin Upton, had worked sufficient innings during the regular season and headed home once Double-A Erie finished business.
Seven others were on hand: Daz Cameron, Franklin Perez, Jake Rogers, Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara, Jose King and Elvin Rodriguez, who was the player to be named later in the Angels trade involving Upton.
Dave Littlefield, the Tigers vice president for player development, took notes during the four-week camp, as did the team’s minor-league staff. Tigers general manager Al Avila and the Tigers’ front office likewise were in Lakeland during much of the camp’s final two weeks that followed the regular season’s wrap-up.
Littlefield’s thoughts on some of the players brought aboard to partially restock what had been more of a sand-and-rocks Tigers farm landscape:
■ Cameron, 20, center field: He was a first-round pick (37th overall) in 2015 and was one of the three showpiece prospects the Tigers got from the Astros in the Verlander deal.
Cameron is 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, bats right-handed, and had a huge second half at Single-A Quad Cities when he hit.332, with eight home runs, a.406 on-base percentage, and.552 slugging mark, for a two-month OPS of.958.
“One of the more exciting guys we have, position-wise,” said Littlefield, who needn’t have mentioned that the Tigers have a notoriously small warehouse there.
“He really performed well during camp.
“Maybe it was the fact we got him late and could see him for a longer stretch. But he’s got some pop with that bat. He can run, he’s aggressive, smart, with a strong body — just a lot of things to like there.”
Cameron, of course, carries big-league DNA. His dad, Mike, played 17 big-league seasons, from 1995-2011.
“He’s serious about his craft, works hard, and appears to be an achiever,” Littlefield said. “He showed off his bat very well during Instructional League — both manipulating the barrel to the ball and showing some pop.”
■ Lugo, 22, second base: Lugo is perhaps next in line to the second-base throne after Ian Kinsler departs. He should find his way to Detroit next season.
“A real interesting guy,” Littlefield said of a right-handed swinger who is 6-0, 190. “When he squares it up, he’s just one of those guys where the ball comes off the bat a little more rapidly than others.
“One of the things noticed when we got him is that he had kind of a lower set-up with his hands. In general, some of our hitting people and scouts thought an adjustment to get him a little higher and on time more would help. He’s done a nice job and shown an even more-promising bat.”
Defensively, there are no issues.
“He has a real good arm,” said Littlefield, “and has handled second base well.”
■ Rogers, 22, catcher: Rogers was supposed to have been playing this month in the Arizona Fall League. But roster quotas have, at least temporarily, kept him from the AFL.
The Tigers instead got an extended peek at Rogers in Lakeland and saw even more closely why scouts insisted he be part of the Verlander parcel.
“Confident, aggressive player,” Littlefield said of a third-round pick by the Astros, from Tulane, in 2016. “Good body, above-average arm. Works well with pitchers, a smart guy —and he can drive the ball. He takes a real aggressive hack.
“He’s just got that look of a ballplayer.”
Sergio Alcantara, also acquired from the Diamondbacks for J.D. Martinez, is a shortstop who looks to add weight and muscle. (Photo: Associated Press)
■ Alcantara, 21, shortstop: Alcantara was among the freight shipped to Detroit in July’s trade of Martinez.
Along with Lugo, Alcantara has a challenge common to Latin players, who haven’t always been exposed to strength-and-conditioning equipment or to regimens more common with United States athletes.
He is only 5-9, 168, and is sticking for a few weeks at Tigertown in a bid to add muscle and work more protein into his diet.
“He’s energetic and athletic, a live-body shortstop,” said Littlefield, mentioning Alan Trammell, the Tigers star from yesteryear who works as a special assistant to Al Avila, was particularly impressed with Alcantara’s defense.
“We’ve just got to get him stronger,” Littlefield said. “He had a real good winter last year with Licey, which is one of the top teams in the Dominican Winter League, “and we’re pretty excited about seeing a young guy play at that level.”
Alcantara will head for the Dominican Republic and a reunion with Tigres del Licey once his Lakeland muscle marathon has wrapped up.
■ King, 18, shortstop: On a scout’s 20-to-80 scale, King is known has having 70 speed.
In other words, he’s a cheetah.
“And he’s just a baby, physically, but a real exciting kid,” Littlefield said of this left-handed hitter listed at 6-0, 160. “Great enthusiasm and energy, very engaged, a real smart player.”
King showed a better bat than was initially forecasted.
In 28 games with the Tigers’ Gulf Coast League team, he batted.321, with a.356 on-base percentage.
“Like so many, he just needs strength and some body mass,” Littlefield said.
“But a real overall interesting guy with all the skills.”
■ Long, 23, right-handed starter: Although he wasn’t on the Instructional League roster, Long was a third-round pick (Texas A&M) by the Angels in 2015 and had firm numbers with Double-A Mobile ahead of his Aug. 31 trade to the Tigers: 2.52 ERA in 23 starts, 1.13 WHIP,.226 opposing batting average. He had a lone start for Double A Erie during the season’s final weekend and gave up eight hits and six runs in four innings.
“We saw him at the very end, and it was clear he was kind of worn out from the whole season,” Littlefield said. “But in the meetings with scouts who had seen him, Bruce Tanner and Scott Bream, the report is we have a big, strong, durable guy — kind of an innings-eater.
“He’s a four-pitch guy who throws strikes. I know scouts saw a better fastball than we did at the end of the year, but he’s a tall kid (6-5) with a good angle on the ball.”
Grayson Long, acquired from the Los Angeles Angels in the Justin Upton trade, is a former third-round pick, projects as an innings-eater starter. (Photo: Mike Janes, Associated Press)
■ Rodriguez, 19, right-handed starter: The Tigers liked Rodriguez’s numbers from 2017, particularly his 11 starts in the Angels’ rookie league: 2.50 ERA, 1.04 WHIP.
“He’s tall, lanky, with an average to a tick-above-average fastball,” Littlefield said. “Has a lot of baseball awareness. Just a young right-hander with a good arm.
“At his age, he’s a nice arm to have at the lower end of A-ball as we keep building depth.”
He is 6-3, 160.
■ Paredes, 18, shortstop: Although he was granted paternity leave from Instructional Camp, the Tigers had known enough, and seen enough, about Paredes to appreciate why he was central to the Cubs trade.
He has a chance to be exceptional.
“An athletic guy with something of an advanced bat,” Littlefield said of a teenager who is 5-11, 175, and who bats right-handed. “Like a lot of young guys, he’s got to tighten some things up, but the ball comes off that bat barrel pretty well, particularly for an 18-year-old.”
It isn’t clear that Parades will stick at shortstop. It’s more likely he’ll be shifting to third base, all because of his body.
“Infield prospects come in all sizes and packages,” said Littlefield, “but right now, he’s middle infield. We’ll work on shaping his body. Getting him better-quality food, better choices at the dinner table.
“And more time in the weight room.”
Paredes will play winter ball in the Mexican League for his hometown Hermosillo team.
lynn.henning@detroitnews.com
twitter.com/Lynn_HenningCHICAGO — The 606 elevated bike trail will open June 6 with a weekend of music, food and fun.
The 2.7-mile-long trail begins in Bucktown and Wicker Park and goes to Logan Square and Humboldt Park. Its opening will be celebrated June 6 to June 7 with a festival, processions and events along the trail and in its four parks.
Click here for an interactive map of the trail, nearby Divvy stations, food/drink options, and more.
June 6
8 a.m.: Ribbon cuttings at each access ramp of The 606.
9 a.m. to 9 p.m.: Community processions led by Opera-Matic, West Town Bikes, Voice of City/ChiArts and Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center.
10 a.m. to 9 p.m.: The 606 Festival at Humboldt Boulevard, which will feature music stages at the corners of Humboldt Boulevard and Wabansia Avenue and Humboldt Boulevard and Cortland Street, beer, food vendors, SummerDance and other activities.
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Family races and other activities in the parks: Julia de Burgos at 1805 N. Albany Ave., Milwaukee Leavitt at Milwaukee Avenue and Leavitt Street, Churchill Park at 1825 N. Damen Ave. and Walsh Park at 1722 N. Ashland Ave.
9 p.m.: Illumination hour at the parks.
June 7
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Pancake breakfast at McCormick Tribune YMCA, 1834 N. Lawndale Ave.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:As you all know, Google partners up with an Android OEM each year and releases a Nexus smartphone which is kind of a showcase device for new versions of Google's Android operating system. The last few Nexus devices were rather affordable, until the Motorola-made Nexus 6 phablet launched last year that is. The Nexus 6 features a 6-inch QuadHD (2560 x 1440) display on the front and is nowhere near as affordable as some previous Nexus offerings like the LG-made Nexus 4 and Nexus 5. Google has decided not to introduce a smaller Nexus last year, but that doesn't mean the company won't release it this year however.
We've already seen a couple of rumors claiming that the next Nexus will be made either by LG or Huawei. The rumors were rather quiet for quite some time and now we finally have something to share with you. As you probably know by now, Google has launched the company's wireless carrier project called 'Project Fi' a couple of days ago. Well, in a promo video for that project entitled 'Project Fi: Guide to Checking Data Usage' the company has used a rather interesting render. If you take a look at the video itself which is embedded down below (or just check the provided image above), you'll see the device in question. Now, this is quite probably just a generic render that Google is using in order to demonstrate certain aspects of 'Project Fi', but there's always a possibility that it's the upcoming 2nd-gen Nexus 5 handset.
Google has actually showed off the Nexus 5 before it was released as well, at the unveiling of Android KitKat statue. So, it's not exactly impossible that this is the upcoming Nexus smartphone, but it's quite improbable. The handset does fit the bill though, it's rather minimalistic in terms of design and it kind of resembles the Nexus 5 in general shape. Besides, it makes us wonder why didn't they just used the Nexus 6 in order to promote the Google Fi. Is this the Huawei or LG-branded Nexus 5? Well, probably not, but we'll let you be the judge of that.During the last few decades, the incidence of sleep-onset insomnia, due to delay of circadian phase, has increased substantially among adolescents all over the world. We wanted to investigate whether a small dose of melatonin given daily, administered in the afternoon, could advance the sleep timing in teenagers. Twenty-one students, aged 14-19 yrs, with sleep-onset difficulties during school weeks were recruited. The study was a randomized, double blind, placebo (PL)-controlled crossover trial, lasting 5 wks. During the first 6 d in wks 2 and 4, the students received either PL or melatonin (1 mg) capsules between 16:30 and 18:00 h. During the first 6 d of wk 5, all students received melatonin. Wks 1 and 3 were capsule-free. In the last evening of each week and the following morning, the students produced saliva samples at home for later melatonin analysis. The samples were produced the same time each week, as late as possible in the evening and as early as possible in the morning. Both the student and one parent received automatic mobile text messages 15 min before saliva sampling times and capsule intake at agreed times. Diaries with registration of presumed sleep, subjective sleepiness during the day (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, KSS) and times for capsule intake and saliva samplings were completed each day. Primary analysis over 5 wks gave significant results for melatonin, sleep and KSS. Post hoc analysis showed that reported sleep-onset times were advanced after melatonin school weeks compared with PL school weeks (p <.005) and that sleep length was longer (p <.05). After the last melatonin school week, the students fell asleep 68 min earlier and slept 62 min longer each night compared with the baseline week. Morning melatonin values in saliva diminished compared with PL (p <.001) and evening values increased (p <.001), indicating a possible sleep phase advance. Compared with PL school weeks, the students reported less wake up (p <.05), less school daytime sleepiness (p <.05) and increased evening sleepiness (p <.005) during melatonin weeks. We conclude that a small dose of melatonin given daily, administered in the afternoon, could advance the sleep timing and make the students more alert during school days even if they continued their often irregular sleep habits during weekends.The Pentagon announced Friday that it has confirmed a senior al-Shabaab leader was killed in a U.S. airstrike in July in Somalia.
"We can now confirm that that strike killed one of their senior leaders, Ali Muhammed Hussein, also known as Ali Jabal," said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman."Ali Jabal was a senior al-Shabaab terrorist and one of the top leaders of the organization, responsible for leading al-Shabaab forces in the Mogadishu and Banaadir regions, in planning and executing attacks against the capital Mogadishu," Davis said. "His removal disrupts a-Shabaab's ability to plan and conduct attacks in Mogadishu and to plan and coordinate attacks with al-Shabaab regional commanders."The strike, which sources say was carried out by a U.S. drone, was conducted in Tortoroow, in southern Somalia about 8 pm Eastern time Saturday night, which was Sunday morning in Somalia.The drone strike was conducted under new authorities granted by President Trump in March, which allow U.S. military forces to go after al-Shabaab within a defined area in Somalia in support of partner forces.Image copyright AFP Image caption Loach won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for I, Daniel Blake
Director Ken Loach has warned that the UK's withdrawal from the European Union could make it more difficult to get films made in Britain in the future.
Loach, who directed last year's award-winning I, Daniel Blake, predicted that Brexit would make it harder to make co-productions with other EU countries.
I, Daniel Blake was a collaboration with companies from France and Belgium.
But, since the referendum, Hollywood studios are spending more in the UK - partly because of the pound's drop.
Loach told the Hollywood Reporter: "Our co-production deals depend on workers from other countries coming to [the UK] to work on our films.
"If it is made very bureaucratic and difficult, if we leave the EU, that will make it more difficult and there is a danger that could happen."
Image copyright Clay Enos/Warner Bros Image caption Wonder Woman is one of a number of Hollywood films to be shot in the UK
Loach predicted that "a lot of producers and distributors" would "just not bother" with making co-productions if there was too much red tape.
"If free movement stops and it becomes a big bureaucratic process for people to work in Britain, then that is going to inhibit [co-productions] because it is cumbersome," he said.
He was speaking at the Czech Republic's Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where he and scriptwriter Paul Laverty received Crystal Globes for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema.
Figures show that the number of feature film co-productions based in the UK has dropped in the last few years. There were 61 in 2013/14 - but that fell to 21 in 2016/17, according to the British Film Institute (BFI).
The UK has co-production treaties with 10 countries and bodies outside the EU, including China, Australia and Brazil.
The result of the Brexit referendum has had one positive effect for the film industry - the drop in the value of the pound has made the UK a more attractive place for Hollywood studios.
Blockbusters like Wonder Woman, Transformers: The Last Knight and the recent Star Wars films were all shot in Britain.
Image copyright Jonathan Olley Image caption The new Star Wars Han Solo film is being shot at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire
More than £1.64bn was spent by foreign film studios in the UK in the 12 months until 31 March, according to the BFI - up £400m on the previous year, and almost double the amount spent in 2011/12.
A report commissioned by the BFI into the likely effects of Brexit found that, depending on the type of deal the UK government reaches with the EU, the British film industry could end up losing up to 14,100 jobs or gaining up to 5,000 more.
But the report - which was gained under a Freedom of Information request by film blogger Stephen Follows last week - says that, based on the way the negotiations are most likely to go, the overall effect is likely to be negative.
'Boom time'
Adrian Wootton, who is chief executive of Film London and the British Film Commission, said: "Everyone's concerned about freedom of movement and access to talent.
"Certainly there's a group of significant film-makers including Ken who have accessed talent and financing from across Europe and there is obviously a risk."
But he said most films that are made in the UK are not funded with European money.
He said: "The overwhelming majority, apart from domestic funding, come from across the Atlantic. Europe has a small but significant impact on a small but significant group of film-makers.
"But for the overwhelming majority of films it's irrelevant. And the fact is we've got a boom going on at the moment.
"The only thing Brexit might have done, ironically, is accelerated that a bit because it's lowered our currency and that's made it even more attractive for the Americans to come over and spend more money."
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.MARCH 26--Last week's bombshell Los Angeles Times report claiming that the 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur in the lobby of a Manhattan recording studio was carried out by associates of Sean "Diddy" Combs and that the rap impresario knew of the plot beforehand was based largely on fabricated FBI reports, The Smoking Gun has learned.
The Times appears to have been hoaxed by an imprisoned con man and accomplished document forger, an audacious swindler who has created a fantasy world in which he managed hip-hop luminaries, conducted business with Combs, Shakur, Busta Rhymes, and The Notorious B.I.G., and even served as Combs's trusted emissary to Death Row Records boss Marion "Suge" Knight during the outset of hostilities in the bloody East Coast-West Coast rap feud.
The con man, James Sabatino, 31, has long sought to insinuate himself, after the fact, in a series of important hip-hop events, from Shakur's shooting to the murder of The Notorious B.I.G.. In fact, however, Sabatino was little more than a rap devotee, a wildly impulsive, overweight white kid from Florida whose own father once described him in a letter to a federal judge as "a disturbed young man who needed attention like a drug." Sabatino is pictured in the above mug shot.
The Times story, which was first posted online March 17 and then appeared in the newspaper itself last Wednesday, relied on "FBI records recently obtained by The Times" and interviews with several unnamed sources in its reexamination of the November 30, 1994 shooting of Shakur at Quad Studios near Times Square. Included in the paper's online package was a PDF of two key FBI interview reports cited in the 2800-word story, which was six months in the making and written by veteran reporter Chuck Philips, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for his coverage of corruption in the entertainment industry.
In addition to the documents posted on the Times site, a third purported FBI interview report was included by Sabatino in court papers he filed four months ago in U.S. District Court in Miami. In that civil case, Sabatino is suing Combs for $16 million over an alleged soured business deal from nearly a decade ago. According to Sabatino's complaint, which he prepared and filed himself from the Allenwood federal penitentiary in White Deer, Pennsylvania, Combs stiffed him on a $175,000 payment for audio and video recordings Sabatino made in 1994 of The Notorious B.I.G. (real name: Christopher Wallace).
But those FBI reports, dubbed "302s" due to the numbered government form on which they are prepared, are nowhere to be found in the bureau's computerized Automated Case Support database, TSG has learned. The ACS system allows investigators to search various bureau indices to determine whether particular individuals, groups, or topics have been referred to in FBI "302" reports or various other bureau documents.
The suspect documents contain information supposedly provided to agents in the FBI's New York office by an unnamed "confidential source." The records, which Sabatino himself has distributed, conveniently contain black redaction marks covering up the name of the agent (or agents) who prepared the "302s" as well as the corresponding FBI case number. However, since the documents are filled with the names of individuals and corporations, they can be tracked within the FBI system by working backwards (by subjects as opposed to case number or agent name).
And while Sabatino claims to have been provided the FBI reports during the discovery phase of a 2002 criminal case, a federal law enforcement official involved in that successful prosecution told TSG that the probe was headed by Secret Service representatives and that the FBI had no role whatsoever in the case. The official added that, at the time, investigators "had no inkling" of Sabatino's supposed role in the rap music world and never saw investigative reports detailing his purported involvement with hip-hop's leading figures or its assorted bloody disputes.
Additionally, an examination of the three documents revealed that the bodies of the respective "302s" were actually created on a typewriter (the "frame" of the reports is consistent with an authentic "302" template). In some instances, you can see where one letter was typed on top of an existing character, a so-called overstrike. In an interview, Bruce Mouw, a former FBI supervisor who headed the bureau's pursuit of John Gotti, estimated that agents ceased using typewriters about 30 years ago.
Riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, the purported "302" documents vary sharply from standard FBI reports in terms of phraseology and use of certain acronyms, according to several law enforcement sources who examined the documents at TSG's request.
For example, the reports contain the acronyms "TNU," which apparently is short for "true name unknown," and "NFI," short for "no further information." Two ex-FBI agents said that they had never seen those acronyms in bureau reports. Both men also alerted to how the reports were dated, with month, day, and year set off with periods, instead of the customary slashes.
Most telling, though, are the obvious similarities (type size, font, line spacing, individual character renderings) between the purported "302s" and certain court filings created by Sabatino while he has been incarcerated at Allenwood (he was transferred last May from a Florida prison to the high-security penitentiary in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains). As with all other Bureau of Prisons (BoP) facilities, Allenwood provides inmates with access to photocopying machines, office supplies, and typewriters, according to the BoP's 2008 Legal Resource Guide. Inmates, the guide states, are "permitted a reasonable amount of time...to conduct their own legal research and to prepare legal documents."
A comparison of the "302s" and Sabatino's own court filings shows that the authors of each set of documents share remarkably similar spelling deficiencies. For instance, the word "making" appears as "makeing" in both the "302s" and Sabatino's pro se court pleadings. Similarly, the authors also have difficulty with the word "during." It appears as "durring" in both sets of documents.
While a federal judge once referred to Sabatino as "articulate" and "an extraordinarily intelligent man," spelling and grammar are not strong suits for the ninth-grade dropout. And typewriters, of course, do not offer spell check.
After a reporter provided Philips and Marc Duvoisin, the deputy managing editor who edited the Times story, an account of TSG's findings, Duvoisin said that the newspaper would launch its own investigation to determine if the FBI documents cited in its story are real.
In response to a TSG interview request, Sabatino wrote a March 20 letter stating that "there is a lot of lies cirulating arround right now. But this is all going to backfire on Puff. I know him too well." As a result of the Times story, Sabatino wrote that he has been "receiving letters from all over the country. Reporters and regular people alike." While he offered to call a reporter and talk "off-the-record," Sabatino had not been heard from at press time.
The "302s" in question also carry redaction marks on a "government exhibit" sticker seen in the upper right corner of the opening pages of the three FBI reports. On the documents filed by Sabatino in his lawsuit against Combs, the number "3500" remains visible on the stickers, indicating that the material was turned over during the discovery phase of a criminal trial ("3500" refers to the section of the United States Code which entitles a defendant to receive prosecution records that could be used to impeach a trial witness). For some reason, when the Times posted the FBI reports on its web site, the paper itself covered up the "3500" reference on the documents.
The first mention of the existence of the purported "302s" came in filings Sabatino made late last year in a civil lawsuit against Combs. According to the convict, he received the explosive "302s" during "discovery, trial, and other proceedings" in a federal fraud prosecution brought against him in New York in August 2002. That case, though, never went to trial. Sabatino pleaded guilty to two felonies in August 2003 and was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.
While he described the contents of four separate "302s" in his court papers, Sabatino attached only two of those reports to a November court motion. One of those documents was posted on the Times web site, along with another report that was referred to in Sabatino's filings, but not included as an exhibit. So, between Sabatino and the Times, three of the four purported FBI reports have been made public (those documents can be found here, here, and here). Details from the fourth supposed "302," dated July 1, 2002, are included in recent Sabatino court filings.
Notably, the convicted felon publicly filed the two "confidential" FBI records as exhibits to a motion seeking a court order barring Combs from distributing the documents to journalists. The bizarre motion surfaced six weeks after Sabatino filed his original October 4 complaint, which made no mention of "302s," Shakur, or any confidential FBI source. But that document does contain some of Sabatino's traditional flights from reality.
Along with claiming that he had been promised a "creative consultant" credit on Wallace's posthumous album "Born Again," Sabatino charged that Combs had delayed paying off his outstanding $175,000 debt because, in late-1998, "it was reported that the Los Angeles police had named [Sabatino] a 'person of interest' in the murder of Christopher Wallace," according to a December 6 court filing.
Of course, no news reports back this claim.
Sabatino then goes on to contend that this 1998 "theory" originates from an FBI "302" reporting that he was to meet Wallace on the night of his murder, "but never showed up." This purported "302," which Sabatino supposedly got in discovery, is further described by Sabatino in a court complaint: "The report goes on to say that prior to Mr. Wallace's murder [Sabatino] had contact with a 'close associate' of Marion 'Suge' Knight, a long time suspect in the murder of Mr. Wallace."
This story, not surprisingly, has a couple of structural deficiencies:
While the Sabatino-clipped-B.I.G. claim supposedly surfaced in 1998 when he was named a "person of interest," the "302" from which he says this "theory" originated would not be generated for another four years. Sometimes, when you're rewriting history on the fly, it's hard to maintain temporal continuity.
And then there's the small matter of Sabatino's whereabouts on March 9, 1997, when Wallace was gunned down while seated in a GMC Suburban outside the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. While he enjoys repeating the "theory" that he mysteriously bailed on a planned meeting with the rapper that fateful night, Sabatino was actually 2400 |
middle class has kept its wealth in housing, something bankers and government leaders encouraged them to do. Thanks to Wall Street, that wealth is gone, replaced by debt for real estate value that no longer exists.
Rresidential real estate has lost more than $6 trillion in value since 2008, after 57 consecutive months of decline -- although a large chunk of that money is still being repaid as bank loans. ($6 trillion in lost value -- and the banks are government are quibbling about a proposed $20 billion settlement for mortgage fraud.)
Housing values are down by a third over the last three years. Even more ominously, they're down 4.6% since their 2009 lows, and they're still falling. Fewer homes were sold in the first three months of this year than... well, since they started keeping records. Eight million homeowners are now at least one month behind on their mortgage payments.
The New Lost Generation
Young people aren't just jobless. College tuition has gone up 900% since 1978. The country's total student debt is now greater than its credit card debt, and will reach $1 trillion this year. And in a statistic that should bring tears to any thoughtful person's eyes, only 44% of those polled believe that children will have "a better life than their parents."
Ten years ago that figure was 71%. Like the old song says: The dream is over.
It gets even worse
Not weeping yet? Try this:
Gasoline went up 30% over the last twelve months. Crops are lousy this year, so food prices are going to go up.
Consumer confidence is falling. When consumers aren't confident, they don't spend money. And when they don't spend money, people don't work. Small business confidence is falling, too. Why shouldn't it? Their customers don't feel like buying very much.
Millions for Misers, Misery for Millions
So what are people talking about in Washington? Less spending, and no new taxes for corporations or the wealthy. Bear in mind, for the wealthy -- one person in 100 -- things are great. They now own one-third of everything, while the lower 50% of Americans own 2.5% of everything.
Meanwhile the other 99 people are watching their dreams of a better life die, and there's no serious talk about investing to create jobs and turn this economy around. There's jive talk instead: "Business doesn't like economic uncertainty," we're told, "so it won't hire and invest." But John Boehner just went to Wall Street and threatened to bring about an economic collapse if his radical demands weren't met. That's a recipe for massive uncertainty. How did business react?
The stock market went up.
They're pushing "job creating" tax breaks for big businesses and wealthy individuals, even though corporations are sitting on two trillion dollars in cash and the wealthiest among us are richer than they've been at any time in modern history.
It. Does. Not. Compute.
Free the Arsonists!
Meanwhile the people who caused this catastrophe -- the banks -- are being unleashed from the few restraints that were imposed on them last year. It's increasingly clear that the government still has no tools for winding down a "too big to fail" bank when it's imploding.
There's no political discussion about turning these explosive banks into something smaller and less combustible. Pretty smart people are beginning to agree that the government hasn't been given the tools it needs to prevent the next crash.
Scroogenomics
It's not that the recurring deficit doesn't need to be controlled. It does -- but only after we've rescued the economy, and those who are suffering within it. And cuts alone can't -- and shouldn't -- do the job.
Which programs do the Republicans want to cut? They've already voted to decimate seniors by eliminating Medicare (which, in Alice-in-Wonderland style, they insist wouldn't eliminate Medicare). And they would also slash Medicaid, which would be a gut-punch to the poor, the disabled, and children. They want to cut Social Security just as a new wave of retirees enters the program, along with a whole range of programs designed to help the newly-struggling victims of the economic collapse.
Eliminating tax cuts for the wealthy would make a major contribution to reducing the deficit -- so, of course, Mr. Boehner has taken this off the table.
These policies are against the public's interests and against the public's will. The American Majority project (I'm a contributor) has the details: most people want higher taxes for the wealthy, oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare, would like to see the defense budget reduced, and want the government to address jobs and economic growth before focusing on deficits.
Good economists think that's a smart way to go. But the Acela crowd doesn't agree. Apparently unprecedented levels of wealth aren't enough to satisfy them. Guess who's winning in Washington?
Unenlightened Self-Interest
If humanity is becoming more rational (how is that for an debatable question?), people will one day look back on this moment with amazement, awe and pity. They'll wonder how a few influential people could be so blind and so heartless, when so many people are so brokenhearted. Self interest plays a big part, of course. Politicians win campaign contributions this way. Misguided Democrats can fool themselves into thinking they look "moderate" for embracing the warped priorities of the Acela crowd and compromising with its radical demands. Journalists can repeat false economic truisms, secure in the knowledge that editors and billionaire-funded foundations will have their back.
The real question isn't why so many people serve the AcelaCrats: It's why the rest of us tolerate it. Why do people still vote for politicians who work against their interests, or watch and read journalists who fail to report the facts impartially and thoroughly?
If you're wondering the same thing yourself, you're probably not reading this in the Business Class car of the Acela Express.
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About author Richard (RJ) Eskow, a consultant and writer, is a Senior Fellow with the Campaign for America's Future. This post was produced as part of the
No Middle Class Health Tax
A Night Light
Richard (RJ) Eskow, a consultant and writer, is a Senior Fellow with the Campaign for America's Future. This post was produced as part of the Curbing Wall Street project. Richard blogs at:Looking for the wide range performance of XX1 but can’t afford the price tag? At OneUp components they believe in working less and riding more which is why they came up with a solution to that very problem. As their debut product, OneUp is essentially giving your cassette an extra life with their 42t replacement sprocket. Designed to fit on your standard 10 speed mountain bike cassette, the sprocket offers the super low range of the 42t cassette without having to make huge changes to your drivetrain. Intrigued? Shift past for more! Thanks to the advent of high quality non-drop chainrings like Wolf Tooth Components, drivetrain experimentation is at an all time high (at least for me). While it is possible to go 1×10 with a standard Shimano or SRAM 11×36 cassette, there are definitely times that a wider range would be welcomed – which is why the XX1 cassette offers 10-42t. The OneUp components sprocket won’t get you that 10t, but it will bump up the low range to a tractor pulling 42t. Built to use a standard 9/10 freehub body, the 7075-T6 sprocket includes 12 shift ramps CNC machined into the surface that are optimized for an 11-36 cassette. Once adapted, the net weight increase for the cassette is 51g and offers a 17% range improvement in the gearing. Just how do you go about adding a 42t sprocket to your cassette? Well, essentially you are removing the 17t cog and replacing it with the 42t. There is an included spacer that must be positioned differently if you’re running SRAM or Shimano, but the directions make it plenty clear. In the case of a Shimano M771 11-36 cassette, this takes the gearing from 11-13-15-17-19-21-24-28-32-36 to 11-13-15-19-21-24-28-32-36-42. Will you miss that 17t? It depends on the bike, your gearing, cadence, etc. – but we hope to find out soon. OneUp’s 42t is compatible with most 10 speed medium or long cage derailleurs, as long as they offer enough chainwrap capacity for your selected gearing (largest rear sprocket – smallest rear sprocket) + (largest front chainring – smallest front chain ring). It should go without saying, but depending on your chain length you may need to add a link due to the bigger gear. As for the cassette, OneUp is compatible with the folloing 10 speed models: Shimano
XT (CS-M771-10 11-36)
XTR (M980 11-36)
Sram
X5 (PG-1030 11-36)
X7 (PG-1050 11-36)
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OneUp points out that the Shimano Deore, SLX and SRAM 1080, 1090, and 1099 cassettes are currently not compatible with the 42t adapter sprocket. Compared to something like the General Lee 25-40T cassette adapter, the OneUp sprocket fits both SRAM and Shimano cassettes with the same part, and retains more of the original steel cassette gearing. Like the XX1 cassette, only the largest, 42t cog is aluminum which helps to maintain drivetrain durability. Also, due to the nature of the OneUp sprocket’s design since the lowest cogs rarely are worn out, you can replace the rest of the cassette while keeping the OneUp for future use.
The OneUp 42t sprocket is available in black or green with the MSRP set at $100. The first sprockets are shipping out in January and will ship anywhere in the world for free. Check out OneUp on the web for additional product info and to place your order.Pundits and commentators on news shows have been honest recently in describing Hillary Clinton’s now-dead campaign as devoid of a big idea. There is no pitch to America. An even more honest pundit would freely admit that the voting coalition is ‘free stuff’ for each underclass and grievance group, as well as media-promoted higher social status for the well-to-do whites and Asians. In her own words, there is the drive for inclusion, more benefits, and being nice.
This is not much different from President Obama’s 2012 pitch, which was ‘stay the course.’ His convention speech practically moaned “Gimme more time.” These figureheads represent a system, which is the system we have been living under since the New Deal and cemented in the ’60s with the Great Society, CRA, and immigration. When spoken out of the mouths of everyday liberals, it sounds even more hollow, but they are right. They are good. They are the positive forces.
These are the true believers of their religion. Even if not true believers, they are fellow travelers going to the church of progressivism to look good, per the ruling priests. Approach them from a different angle. Go along with the quest for the utopia, and point out its end results.
Not Scandinavia. Baltimore.
Baltimore is the end result of Democrats ruling a city for decades. It is also the end result of Democrats needing to import black voters and using them as weapons to lock down the city electorally and to therefore lock down state-wide elections. In other words: insecure power. Maryland, since the dawn of the progressive era, has rarely had a non-Democrat running the state, with Baltimore often providing the cushion of any Democratic electoral victory.
It is also a place of misery and crime, fictionalized for progressives to weep over in the show The Wire. Like any good piece of progressive pop culture, the misery is shown, but no one digs into its genesis. Abstract boogeymen can be blamed, but decades of progressive policies and progressive needs set Baltimore in its place.
How bad is Baltimore? It is a city of very little industry that, like Detroit, has been cut nearly in half since the 1950s. Whites have fled, so despite all the hysteria in essays on racism in bygone decades in Baltimore, it was the white population that was ethnically cleansed or fled. A small central location for ambitious gentrification forces has popped up, but it is in the midst of a sea of misery. After the mayor and DA used Freddie Gray’s death as a means to push the nationalization of police forces, and their political futures, the murder rate skyrocketed to levels not seen in decades. Police officers have quit by the hundreds.
Baltimore needs shopkeepers, so they must import them. Baltimore has its fair share of immigrants. As Bill Clinton has mentioned with Syrians and Detroit, maybe they can fix Baltimore. Alas, it is not to be. Even the immigrants will run shops and do the crimes Americans just will not do. This is another consequence of letting the cities descend into chaos and lightly attended, feral chiefdoms. New arrivals can come in and run scams that the government dependents will not pay attention to, or even care to see prosecuted.
These devolving cities like Baltimore will still need some semblance of order. With or without police manpower, the eloi that play in the very narrow strips of safety will want security. There will be an app for that. Baltimore will use aerial surveillance to track crime and direct a limited police force to where it is urgently needed. Baltimore will not address root causes. It might be a free for all with rising murder rates down on the ground, but the eye in the sky can get the cops there after a reasonable wait. The progressives will not dare to tell their coalition partners to straighten up, or the city will implode.
Nothing will be done because the Left needs Baltimores across America for the votes. They need those ballots to legitimize their system. These Baltimores are dying cities, but also massive vote banks. With victories assured by their overwhelmingly loyal Democrat inhabitants, the progressive utopia the Democrats yearn for is already here for you to see.
Visit Baltimore.NOTES
Source: ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (IBA)
Release: ICE BofAML Indices
Units: Percent, Not Seasonally Adjusted
Frequency: Daily, Close
Notes:
This data represents the effective yield of the ICE BofAML US Corporate C Index, a subset of the ICE BofAML US High Yield Master II Index tracking the performance of US dollar denominated below investment grade rated corporate debt publically issued in the US domestic market. This subset includes all securities with a given investment grade rating CCC or below. When the last calendar day of the month takes place on the weekend, weekend observations will occur as a result of month ending accrued interest adjustments.
The index data referenced herein is the property of ICE Data Indices, LLC, its affiliates, ("ICE") and/or its Third Party Suppliers and has been licensed for use by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. ICE, its affiliates and Third Party Suppliers accept no liability in connection with its use.
Copyright, 2017, ICE Benchmark Administration. Reprinted with permission."There’s a tasty Paste Magazine article making the rounds today titled “Party Unity is Now Impossible: Democrats Need a Hostile Takeover,” written by the delightful Walker Bragman. As someone who supports a multi-pronged approach to the progressive revolution, I fully agree with the titular premise of the article. Provided that we are dead serious about the “hostile” part.
It is now abundantly clear that the ruling elites of the Democratic party have learned exactly zero lessons from their spectacular failures in 2016, to the point where even saying anything to them about those failures is met with a barrage of “Hillary won the popular vote” gibberish. They will not change. At all. We’re all clear on that, right? The DNC didn’t actively sabotage the only progressive in the primary race, refuse to accept a very generous offer of a compromise candidate in Keith Ellison for DNC Chair, and then vote down the reinstitution of a ban on corporate lobbying while throwing out a nonstop deluge of Trump and Putin red herrings only to turn around and start earnestly advancing a progressive agenda. This will not happen. The only way that party is changing is if we rip the career politicians who are currently in it off of the plutocratic teets upon which they are suckling, thrown them out the window, and replace them with real human beings.
There are currently far, far too many on the political left who are totally on board with the DemEnter approach to primarying out corporate Democrats, but who will espouse a “vote blue no matter who” mentality when their progressive candidate is internally sabotaged by their own party and overwhelmed by corporate funding, unfair voting procedures, and despicable smear jobs made possible by the corporate Dems’ connections with the corporate media. When they can’t get a real progressive elected, they settle for the corporate Democrat, which is a lot like leaving spoiled milk in the refrigerator because at least you'll still have milk. TYT’s Cenk Uyger lost a lot of respect on the left for doing exactly this, yet he’s the biggest voice behind the largest DemEnter platform, the Justice Democrats.
My fellow progressive rebels, this approach will most assuredly fail. If the Democratic establishment knows that all they have to do is force their candidate through the primaries in order to collect your votes in the generals, then this is exactly what they will do. You’re placing yourself in a perpetually weak position where the DNC acts like it’s doing progressives a favor by permitting them to have a primary at all, and when they abuse their power and sabotage the outsider candidate there are no real repercussions. The majority of Sanders voters ended up voting for Hillary Clinton in the generals and Jill Stein ended up getting a mere one percent of the vote because of the establishment’s relentless Trump fearmongering, and as a result the DNC felt perfectly comfortable spitting in the face of progressives yet again and installing an establishment corporate stooge to the Chair, even though they lost the presidential election. They’ve perfected the textbook abuser’s “there’s nowhere else for you to go” schtick, and as long as we keep playing along with that, it will be true.
We won’t get anywhere with a toothless revolution. If the clear-eyed rebels are going to win this thing, they’re going to have to be even more aggressive, entitled, uncompromising and demanding than the corporate Democrats are. We saw during the presidential election that the Democratic establishment would rather lose to a Republican than win with a progressive, and they will use that uncompromising posture to win every battle of wills unless we have it too. I hate to go back to the well with the abusive relationship analogy again, but it applies so perfectly to this situation: if you’ve ever observed or been in a relationship where one member cares a lot more about their partner than the other does, you know what a power imbalance that can be, how the less-invested partner can just do whatever they want and the invested partner will be forced to go along with it for fear of losing them. That is what this is. The DNC doesn’t love you, progressives.
So in order to quickly take over the US government, progressives need to be willing to let Republicans win when the Democratic establishment thwarts their attempt to elect a candidate who actually cares about them. They need to be willing to sacrifice a pawn to get the queen. The only way out of the extortion scheme the Democrats have progressives locked into is to make the establishment dead certain that if they resist the progressive takeover in any way, they will lose to a Republican. The progressive base will abandon them and support a third party candidate or their Republican opponent, and drive them out of office. We can use petitions, launch alternative and social media campaigns and get hashtags trending to let them know their corporate Democrat will not have our support, and if that doesn't work we teach them the hard way.
If there’s one advantage that progressives have going for them at this point, it’s having nothing left to lose. This is a serious advantage though, and one you shouldn’t underestimate or under-utilize. We know that corporate Democrats will do virtually nothing to protect the environment, we know that they are now even bigger warmongers than the Republicans are, we know that they are only interested in helping the oligarchy strangle America to death with the Walmart economy, we know that they don’t care about disadvantaged groups beyond the extent to which they can be exploited for votes and leverage, and we know that if we let them keep their tentacles on the steering wheel we’ll either die in the collapse of industrial agriculture due to climate chaos or we’ll get ourselves nuked in the war with Russia they’re all salivating over. They’ve given us absolutely no valid reason to fear Republican candidates more than we fear the consequences of letting corporate Democrats continue to dominate the political left. Our only shot at survival is to push them all out once and for all, so we might as well take it.
So we force them to either play along or get new jobs. People will call us bullies, call us “purists”, ridicule our my-way-or-the-highway approach, but they’ll be wrong. All we’re doing is fighting for our survival, as is the inherent right of every living organism. They are not entitled to your vote; they never have been and they never will be. It's yours.
You cannot win a fight if you’re scared of eating a few punches. If you’re not taking risks and going for broke, you’re not fighting, you’re just ass-grabbing. But the force we’re up against is fighting. The force we’re up against is willing to take a punch to dish out two. The force we’re up against is fighting for its life, and that’s what we need to do, too. If we can stop fooling around and become true warriors for truth, though, we can easily, easily win this thing. There are far too many of us, and we are far too determined and far too right to lose.
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Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following me on Twitter, or even tossing me some money on Patreon so I can keep this gig up.Summer is a time for relaxation, and nothing says “relax” like a good book—even a wonky one. Below we have listed the best summer reads from the Brookings Institution Press. Whether you’re looking for the perfect poolside read or airplane book, or even just a book to enjoy on your commute to work, we’ve got you covered.
Through Labor Day, you can receive 40% off when you use code HOTSUN at checkout. Offer is only valid at brookings.edu.
Happy reading!
Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It
by Richard V. Reeves
America is becoming a class-based society, and the upper middle class is leaving everyone else in the dust. In Dream Hoarders, Richard Reeves explores the proliferation of “opportunity hoarding” among the top 20 percent—the practice of those at the top of the income ladder passing their status onto their children through unfair means, and to the detriment of middle- and lower-class children looking for upward mobility.
Unwinding Madness: What Went Wrong in College Sports and How to Fix It
by Gerald Gurney, Donna Lopiano, and Andrew Zimbalist
Unwinding Madness is the most comprehensive examination to date of how the NCAA has lost its way in the governance of intercollegiate athletics—and why it is incapable of achieving reform and must be replaced. The authors argue that the NCAA has placed commercial success above its responsibilities to protect the academic primacy, health, and well-being of college athletes and has fallen into an educational, ethical, and economic crisis—and they propose solutions to fix the problems now facing college athletics.
Loan Sharks: The Birth of Predatory Lending
by Charles R. Geisst
Looking for an investment return that could exceed 500 percent annually—maybe even twice that much? Private, unregulated lending to high-risk borrowers is the answer, or at least it was in the United States during the time of the Civil War. Newspapers called the practice “loan sharking” because the lenders employed the same ruthlessness as the great predators in the ocean. Loan Sharks is the first history of predatory lending in the United States.
Foreign Service: Five Decades on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy
by James Dobbins
From Vietnam in the 1960s to the Afghanistan of this decade, James Dobbins was on the frontlines of American diplomacy and working to advance U.S. national interests in some of the world’s most difficult and troubled situations. In his memoir, Dobbins takes the reader behind the scenes at the Vietnam peace talks, the darkest dates of the Cold War, the reunification of Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the U.S. military interventions in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo, and Somalia. He provides a thoughtful insider’s account of all these ventures, analyzes the sources of both success and failure, and provides incisive portraits of many of the chief actors.
Why Presidents Fail and How They Can Succeed Again
by Elaine C. Kamarck
From the failed attempt to rescue the U.S. diplomats held hostage by Iran in 1980 under President Jimmy Carter and the missed intelligence on al-Qaida before 9/11 under George W. Bush to the computer meltdown that marred the arrival of health care reform under Barack Obama, the American presidency has been a profile in failure. In Why Presidents Fail and How They Can Succeed Again, Elaine Kamarck surveys these and other recent presidential failures to understand why Americans have lost faith in their leaders—and how they can get it back.
Generation Unbound: Drifting into Sex and Parenthood without Marriage
by Isabel V. Sawhill
Over half of all births to young adults in the United States now occur outside of marriage, and many are unplanned. The result is increased poverty and inequality for children. In Generation Unbound, Isabel Sawhill looks at the importance of birth control, especially long-acting reversible contraceptives, in helping women plan for parenthood and, in turn, helping their economic mobility.
Megachange: Economic Disruption, Political Upheaval, and Social Strife in the 21st Century
by Darrell M. West
Slow, incremental change has become a relic of the past. Today’s shifts come fast and big. They are what Darrell West calls megachanges, in which dramatic disruptions in trends and policies occur on a regular basis. What to do? We should alter our expectations about the speed and magnitude of political and social change, and recognize that we need to promote incremental change, not large-scale transformation. With megachange becoming the new normal, our domestic and global institutions must develop the ability to tackle the massive economic, political, and social shifts that we face.
Don’t want to spend your whole summer reading? Our Short Histories are pocket-sized explorations of the most important social, cultural, economic, and political concerns we face.
Corruption: A Short History, by Carlo Alberto Brioschi
Marijuana: A Short History, by John Hudak
Global Cities: A Short History, by Greg ClarkGA/EF/3263
Sixty-fourth General Assembly
Second Committee
29th & 30th Meetings (AM & PM)
One out of every three people residing in cities around the globe lived in a slum, and unless the problem was dealt with, another 400 million people would join their ranks by 2020, Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today, as it continued its consideration of sustainable development.
Despite those dispiriting statistics, she expressed optimism, quoting President Barack Obama of the United States, who said that World Habitat Day gave the world an opportunity to raise awareness and offer ideas on how to make the planet a better place "for ourselves and our children".
President Obama had also expressed commitment to work with the United Nations and international partners to help more families find safe and secure places in which to live, she said. It was encouraging that after many years in obscurity, the Habitat Agenda now received recognition from such high places, Ms. Tibaijuka said.
She made the remarks during an introductory statement on human settlement issues as she introduced a number of related reports for the Committee's consideration. She said that climate change, compounded by the global economic crisis, had accelerated the rate of urbanization and presented further challenges.
A representative of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) agreed that climate change might cause mass displacement of people and that, consequently, there was a need to create comprehensive policies in that area. Member States must figure out additional funding in terms of migration and climate change, and close legal and operational gaps.
In negotiating a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, she said, it was to be hoped that the negotiators would take into account the humanitarian consequences of climate change, including provisions for protecting and assisting those who may move as a result. Addressing the interwoven challenges of climate change, environment and migration required a holistic approach covering all types of environmentally induced population movements.
With respect to sustainable development in Africa, Ethiopia's representative said the continent had the world's most fragile ecosystems and was extremely vulnerable to catastrophic events brought about by small changes in global temperatures. " Africa will be hit first and will be hit the hardest," he said, noting that intense and frequent droughts and flooding already caused havoc on the continent, threatening to reverse development gains. Worsening hunger, water shortages, desertification and diminishing agricultural yields were likely, he said, conjuring up a future characterized by massive migration and conflict over scarce resources. To mitigate those problems, a meaningful outcome at the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Conference was crucial. "The fate of our planet is indeed in our hands," he said.
The representative of Côte d'Ivoire emphasized that "climate change is not a point of view -– it's a reality", adding that it was ironic that the developing world faced the gravest threat while it had contributed next to nothing in creating the problem. The impact of climate change would be felt most keenly in Africa, where it threatened to undermine attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. He said his country had begun several research projects to attenuate the effects of climate change, including investment in environmental research and a rigorous reforestation programme titled " Forest for Everyone".
Bolivia's delegate warned that global greenhouse gas emissions would increase by 45 per cent by the year 2030 compared with 1990 levels. Deserts already comprised 40 per cent of the Earth's surface and meteorological data showed that glaciers from Ecuador to Tierra del Fuego were shrinking rapidly. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) they would totally disappear in 20 to 30 years.
The representative of Barbados said that sustainable development was one of the most important priorities on the United Nations agenda. "The prospect of a world in which global temperatures rise by 2° Celsius is frightening," he said, pointing out that at current levels, his country was already experiencing intense hurricanes, rising sea levels, coastal erosion, water stress, coral bleaching and many other threats.
Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, said the current rate of extinction was estimated at 1,000 times higher than the natural rate. "We may be on the brink of the sixth mass global extinction of species in the history of the world, and the first to be generated by human beings alone," he warned. Citing estimates, he noted that if that rate of loss was unchecked, 1.3 billion hectares across the world -– about 1.5 times the size of the United States –- would completely lose its original biodiversity levels by 2050. To meet that challenge, countries must work together. He concluded by quoting an African proverb: "If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together."
Mr. Djoghlaf also introduced the Secretary-General's note on implementation of the environmental conventions, transmitting the reports of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
Also taking part in today's discussion were representatives of Switzerland, Congo, Cuba, Austria, Venezuela, Syria, Israel, Cameroon, Japan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Malawi, Niger, Costa Rica, Russian Federation, Republic of Korea, Pakistan, Norway, Monaco, Bahrain, Sudan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Myanmar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Zambia, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Australia and Malta.
A representative of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See also made a statement.
Representatives of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) also addressed delegates.
Introducing a number of draft resolutions for later action by the Committee were the representatives of Egypt, Azerbaijan, Sudan and the United States.
The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday 4 November, to conclude its debate on sustainable development.
Background
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met today to conclude its general discussion on sustainable development and take up its agenda item on implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and strengthening of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).
Before the Committee was the report of the United Nations Secretary-General on implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and strengthening of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), which describes the Programme's progress over the last year towards institutional strengthening and activities to implement the Habitat II outcome. It identifies achievements and challenges, charts the way towards achieving sustainable urban development in an increasingly urbanized world, and provides an overview of the outcome of the twenty-second session of UN-Habitat's Governing Council, including the recommendations emanating from its dialogue on affordable housing finance and the proposal that the General Assembly convene a third United Nations conference on housing and sustainable urban development in 2016.
The report (document A/64/260) discusses partnerships to attract investment in low-income housing; land and property rights of women as well as their access to finance; improving land and property administration; innovative housing finance mechanisms; and urban safety and the prevention of urban crime. In addition, it reviews progress on national, regional and global implementation of the Habitat Agenda and its 2008-2013 medium-term and strategic and institutional plan; the World Urban Forum; and the recently-created ministerial meetings on housing and urban development in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. It also presents observations on United Nations financial and budgetary matters.
Also before the Committee was the Report of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (document A/64/8) on the Council's twenty-second special session, held from 30 March to 3 April and a note by the United Nations Secretary-General (document A/64/317) transmitting his report on Coordinated implementation of the Habitat Agenda (document E/2009/80).
The latter report presents an overview of major developments in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda during 2008 and the first half of 2009, and notes that increasing awareness on the part of the international community has led to a growing responsiveness to the relevant issues. The report also reviews the contributions of the strategic and institutional plan to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda within the context of system-wide reform. It concludes that in order to effectively follow up on these advances, the Economic and Social Council should make a "robust" decision to adopt and promote sustainable urbanization. The report calls for a third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development in 2016.
Introduction of Reports
AHMED DJOGHLAF, Executive Secretary, United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, introduced the United Nations Secretary-General's note on implementation of the environmental conventions (document A/64/202), which transmits the reports of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (UNCCD), and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
Speaking about the upcoming International Year of Biodiversity, 2010, he said that if climate change was a problem, biodiversity formed part of the solution. Unprecedented biodiversity loss threatened the health of the planet with the current rate of extinction estimated at 1,000 times higher than the natural rate. "We may be on the brink of the sixth mass global extinction of species in the history of the world, and the first to be generated by human beings alone," he warned.
Citing estimates, he said that if that rate of loss continued unimpeded, 1.3 billion hectares across the world -– about 1.5 times the size of the United States –- would completely lose its original biodiversity levels by 2050. To meet the challenge of biodiversity loss, countries must work together. He concluded by quoting an African proverb: "If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together."
The Committee then continued its general discussion of sustainable development.
Statements
SÉGOLÈNE ADAM ( Switzerland) said a new high-level event on sustainable development could be an opportunity to give new impetus to common approaches and solutions for addressing pressing ecological, economic and social challenges. A clear, shared vision of the scope and expected outcome of the event were needed to ensure its success. A solid, constructive preparatory process must be put in place, she said.
The high-level event could assess implementation of the outcomes of previous major conferences on sustainable development, identify and address existing gaps in the international regime concerning environmental, economic and social challenges, critically assess the existing structures governing environment and sustainable development, and make proposals to improve efficiency in each of the three pillars of sustainable development. The preparatory process would be decisive for the potential success of a 2012 high-level event. It must be adequately fine-tuned to make the event transparent and inclusive.
The Commission on Sustainable Development was not the appropriate preparatory body for the high-level event, she said, noting that the Commission already had an established multi-year work programme. The importance of combating climate change and successfully concluding the ongoing negotiation |
: Sacred Choral Music of Benedict Sheehan. His first major anthology of music for use in services, called A Common Book of Church Hymns: Divine Liturgy was published by St. Tikhon’s in 2016. I have a copy, and I recommend it. It contains nearly all of the music necessary to sing the Liturgy on any given day, in a format designed for today’s smaller church choirs. Future volumes are in the works. He also has several of his compositions in print, with Musica Russica. If you’d like to read more about what he’s written, you can find more of his articles on Orthodox Arts Journal, the Orthodox Christian Network, and pravoslavie.ru.
So that’s enough about him. Let’s hear what he has to say. Just to let you know, in case you haven’t looked at your podcast feed: this interview does go a bit long, but I think that you will find the time invested in listening to it worthwhile. The reason it goes long is because both of us have accents that slow down our ability to get our points across sometime, but I think you will enjoy this. I know that I always enjoy my time with Benedict. Here’s the interview!
***
Fr. Anthony: Well, I’m here with Benedict, and this is Fr. Anthony Perkins. Y’all noticed, because you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, that I have an accent. For some of you, that’s a little bit off-putting. Well, Benedict has a little bit of an accent sometimes, too. Tell us about that.
Mr. Benedict Sheehan: I do. Well, since I could talk I’ve talked with a stutter. There’s a recording of me at age three, where I’m speaking to my mom, and sometimes I speak without a stutter, so there’s this little thing where I’m speaking to my mom and I’m speaking totally fluently, and then my dad and my brother come in, they start talking to my mom, and then I immediately try to kind of get attention again, to steer the conversation back at me, and I’m stuttering quite a lot.
Fr. Anthony: Wow. Three, man.
Mr. Sheehan: So it’s a very mysterious thing, about why I initially developed it, but it’s a thing that affects about one percent of the adult population. There’s a lot of people that stutter as children, but the vast majority outgrow it, but about one percent of adults continue to stutter as adults, so it’s a thing which, if you think about it, is quite a fair number of people.
Fr. Anthony: It is. That’s a fair number of people, yeah.
Mr. Sheehan: So as long as I could talk, I’ve had a stutter. I’ve had speech therapy a couple of times to deal with it, but by far the most effective speech therapy that I ever got was basically it taught me to be at ease and to be fine with it, to advertise it and to not let it bother me. My speech therapist, he said, “I could work with you to help you eliminate it,” but he said, “What I’d rather do is to help you stutter better, to stutter more effectively and to stutter more easily.” I’m like: I think that sounds like a good deal.
Fr. Anthony: Beautiful.
Mr. Sheehan: So that’s what was most helpful to me. One of the things, too, is that many stutterers don’t stutter at all, or they stutter much less when they sing, and that’s true for me. So I think in some way in order to find my voice and to be able to communicate the way that I wanted to and to say the things I wanted to say, it kind of helped to steer me into music in some ways.
Fr. Anthony: Yeah. And y’all don’t know Benedict, but he is a very peaceful man. If you start to feel stressed, you shouldn’t, because he’s not stressed out at all. This reminds me: one of my best friends in graduate school was from Tennessee, and he talked so slowly. He was brilliant. So he would be saying something, it would be so profound, but the less profound of us would try to finish his sentences. He’d be like: nope. And then he’d start over!
Mr. Sheehan: Start over from the beginning!?
Fr. Anthony: [Laughter] Oh, yeah!
Mr. Sheehan: That’s perfect.
Fr. Anthony: Oh, it was.
Mr. Sheehan: I should probably try that, because I do get people trying to complete my words or complete my sentences all the time. Sometimes maybe it can be helpful, but generally it’s just annoying, and then of course some of my best friends, just as a joke, they try to complete my words, but with a thing they’re sure that I’m not about to say.
Fr. Anthony: Oh, that’s awesome. [Laughter]
Mr. Sheehan: And that’s just mean.
Fr. Anthony: But it’s mean in that very special friend kind of way.
Mr. Sheehan: Of course. They’re just trying to throw me off, because ironically, this event, this thing that my parents recorded of me speaking at age three, trying to hold the floor—I’m still trying to hold the floor. I still have this problem, that I just talk, and I’m always trying to make sure that I’m the one who’s got the floor and I’m controlling the conversation. So I think it’s something that God has very mercifully given me to make sure I stay in my place—at least some of the time.
Fr. Anthony: Yeah. Well, there are a lot of temptations that come with what you do. I don’t remember where I read it, but it’s commonly quoted that the klēros is a magnet for demons.
Mr. Sheehan: Absolutely. The devil enters the Church through the klēros.
Fr. Anthony: Yeah, why is it such a portal to the nether dimensions?
Mr. Sheehan: I think in great part because a singer in church has such a capacity to introduce the people to God, to introduce the people to an experience of the divine. You have these vehicles, both in the sacred texts which are one of the primary vehicles for the teaching of the Church and for theology that we experience, but I think it’s also through just the sound of sacred singing that you can help people out of their psychological state. You can kind of have the capacity to bring people together and to inspire them to pray. I think because Church singers have this capacity and have this role, it’s prime territory for the devil to kind of redirect in order to interfere with it or to divert it to the ego or just to make it go badly, because if you can get to the singers, then you can get everybody else in church, too. So the devil tends to be economical, I think. Which is why the same reason at a seminar there’s lots of temptations, because you can get somebody who’s going to be a priest. If you can get grab somebody right as they’re starting out, you have a lot of control over them. I think there’s a similarity. Of course, as a Church singer and a teacher of Church singing, at a seminary, there’s that much more temptation.
Fr. Anthony: So you really do have to double down on your peacefulness, on your humility, on your asceticism…
Mr. Sheehan: Yeah, I guess… [Laughter]
Fr. Anthony: Theoretically.
Mr. Sheehan: I’m not sure that I do, but actually I’m sure that I don’t, at least not as much as I ought to.
Fr. Anthony: Well, one of the things you just mentioned is that it’s a magnet for doing things poorly, and that can really affect the people’s ability to connect with the divine, so it can be a stumbling-block to our music, and that’s really what we’re here today to talk about mainly. I want to start out… You’ve written a couple of wonderful articles for your new blog with Ancient Faith Radio—The Music Stand?
Mr. Sheehan: Yeah, The Music Stand.
Fr. Anthony: And the first one was kind of a diagnosis. So when you go and you travel—because you do travel quite a bit—what do you see?
Mr. Sheehan: Well, we in the Orthodox Church in North America, I think we’ve known some time that demographically we’re in decline. Certainly there’s been a wave of conversion; there’ve been a few waves of conversion in the ‘80s and then the ‘90s, and there’s still people coming in, but in terms of where we were in the ‘40s, the ‘50s, the waves of conversion are nowhere near enough to replace the kind of generational die-off and the fact that a lot of young people are leaving the Church, or they were born into the Church and they didn’t stay. So I think we’re dealing with a demographic decline, and that’s the kind of overarching thing that we can’t forget about.
Fr. Anthony: Right, and that’s the context for musical decline. How does that work?
Mr. Sheehan: So within that context, naturally we’re seeing a musical decline as well. I think that’s something that everybody who’s paying attention can see. It’s not to say that there aren’t bright spots. There are bright spots, but they’re much rarer than they were, and they’re in much starker contrast to the average than they used to be. What I would say is that what I’ve been seeing over the past decade or so—I’ve been actively involved in Church music for about 20 years, since I was in my teens—what we’re seeing now in Church music in the Orthodox Church is not just a decline, but I would argue is a collapse, or an impending collapse; that we don’t have a new generation that is prepared to take leadership of Church music, prepared to be the choir directors, to be the singers that are going to carry the day for the next 25-some years.
Fr. Anthony: What was it like before in terms of these choir directors and music leaders, because it wasn’t just that there were more people.
Mr. Sheehan: I think that’s a big part of it—there were more people—but as you say there wasn’t only that there were more people. I think there was a sense—maybe it’s part of the American middle-class set mentality from the middle of the 20th century, that it was just part of being middle-class, to know how to read music, to play an instrument, or to sing and to know a body of songs. Then I talked to people of my parents’ generation, and there was a sense that there were just songs that everybody knew how to sing, and you sang songs with your family, you sang songs at school, you sang songs at camp. There was a kind of sense that everybody still was musically literate to some extent. That’s largely disappeared from our culture, and there’s lots of people that have talked about this.
So in the Orthodox Church I think that we’re dealing with that, with that loss of musical culture generally, and the fact also that music in public schools has really declined over the last 25 years or so. A lot of programs have been defunded or underfunded. A lot of music departments in public schools are not really teaching music theory any more; it’s teaching people how to read music. And when there is music going on, they’re more interested in doing a Broadway-style musical than they are in actually singing real classical repertoire, which if you think about it… Last year I’m in a church where it’s primarily Byzantine music. The European classical repertoire is a lot of what we sing in church, at least in the Slavic traditions, to some extent. So the fact that that’s not being taught in schools, we’re now having to pay for that; we’re dealing with that problem.
There’s no hard data as far as I know—nobody’s really studied the historical track of Church music in American Orthodoxy across the 20th century. So the evidence that I’m working off of is partly from my own observations of what is being done right now, what I’ve seen over the past 20 years or so, and a lot of anecdotal evidence from people that I’ve met.
Fr. Anthony: What are some of the indicators, when you travel? It’s like the old myth of the frog, being warmed up, doesn’t notice. What are some indicators that we can look at to see how our music is in our own parishes? Because when I travel, the music is done in a way that would not have been acceptable probably 30 or 40 years ago.
Mr. Sheehan: Absolutely.
Fr. Anthony: And certainly would not be acceptable outside of Orthodoxy. One of the points you make in your article is that people have a tremendous capacity to put up with stuff. I tell this to people when I teach preaching, too. Just because someone’s willing to sit there for 15, 20 minutes doesn’t mean you’re doing it well. What is it that we look for? What are some indicators that our music program has either collapsed or it’s right on the verge?
Mr. Sheehan: That’s a good point. I think one major issue is: Does your church choir regularly prepare? Do they have choir rehearsals regularly? Are there criteria for participating in your church choir? Meaning, if they do regularly prepare, do you expect people to come in order to sing? So that’s kind of a basic problem of is there order? Is there some sense of artistic discipline in what you do? Because if you care about what you do, you will figure out an early way to do it so that it can be good every time you do it. That’s one of the major indicators that I see, and I hear stories from people all the time about how “yeah, we tried having choir rehearsals a few times, two or three people came, and it just didn’t get off the ground.” Or sometimes I’ll hear a story about “well, I wanted to have choir rehearsals, I told everybody they had to come, we did them, but then my priest said you can’t really require people to come to them, that you need to let them sing whether they come or not.” So you get this problem of the priest—of course, he’s dealing with the pastoral issues of “I don’t want to upset somebody, I don’t want to alienate them”—but the reality is that you’ve just undermined the choir director, and you’re not permitting this person to really do their job.
Fr. Anthony: Right, and this is one of the big things. I did a podcast on this: suggestions on how to work with a choir director. You are a worship team.
Mr. Sheehan: You are!
Fr. Anthony: And you have to agree on the front end and create an agreement: This is what we’re going to do, and the long-term goal is this. This is our vision, our shared vision, and these are the steps we’re going to take to get there. It is hard, once you inherit a culture that is used to not practicing, used to just getting by, it’s very hard. But, y’all, let’s be honest. Other churches did it. I came to Orthodoxy as a Methodist, and of course there were rehearsals. Of course you were expected to go to rehearsal.
Mr. Sheehan: You go anywhere else and you realize that what we treat as normal is kind of…
Fr. Anthony: We’ve settled.
Mr. Sheehan:...is kind of absurd.
Fr. Anthony: And our whole thing is sung, and we have the theology of beauty. This is one of our big draws is this idea: we embrace beauty, and we’re supposed to provide it. And here we are: we’re not having rehearsals.
Mr. Sheehan: Right. And we actually have to sing a lot more than anybody else. The Orthodox liturgy is, what, 75% sung by a singer or a choir or the congregation or whatever ensemble is supposed to sing at the time—but it’s sung. And the priest really has to sing what he does, too. And yet, we think we can just wing it every time.
Fr. Anthony: Because “it’s the same thing every week.”
Mr. Sheehan: Maybe, but it’s not. Of course, it’s not the same thing every week. The Church builds variety into the liturgy. It’s not made up on the spot, or it’s not entirely at the whim of the choir director or the chanter, but there’s variety built into it. We’re also free to pick different versions of things. We have this incredibly rich tradition of music, like we have an incredibly rich tradition of architecture and iconography and vestment-making and textiles. There’s the whole artistic life of the Church that has been built up over the past two millennia. I feel in many ways like we’re treating it like entitled children; we take it all for granted. We don’t really respect or understand the work that was required to produce this tradition and to maintain it and to build on it. The fact is that, unless we do our part, it will not only decline, it may, as far as we’re concerned, disappear.
Now, it’s not going to disappear from the world. I mean, Christ promised that he would maintain his Church.
Fr. Anthony: St. Luke’s may disappear, because the people who are willing to put up with bad music, because that’s where they’ve always gone, they’re eventually going to die off. When their kids—they know what good music sounds like, and they know it’s not being done. We’re kind of set up for failure. We’ve really got to be intentional about this, because what I hear you saying is that the supply of people who can read music is declining—
Mr. Sheehan: Absolutely.
Fr. Anthony: —and we’ve been resting on the laurels or maintaining the initiative or inertia of earlier generations, where you had professional choir directors who were maestros. They often composed their own music, they were trained in Europe, and then they would come here and establish these programs with these large choirs and stuff. But we’ve maintained that, but not really; we’ve just been coasting from there.
Mr. Sheehan: Yeah, and we’ve been coasting downwards, because really the only place you can coast is down. To go up or to even continue on the flat you need to maintain some energy.
Fr. Anthony: Right, and so the things that we do… We’re doing these initiatives where we do things like, well, your repertoire gets smaller. We know that we can reliably do… The OCA has some simple set things, so you’d end up doing just that simple thirds, and you can work that for a while, but another point you make is that if people aren’t trained musically and if they’re not rehearsing, simple music can sound just as much train-wreck.
Mr. Sheehan: We’re at the point now where in many churches we’re not even able to do simple music. Some people argue to me, “Well, what we need is simpler music.” Music can only be so simple until it’s not music any more. And we have the basic requirement, at least in the Slavic milieu, that we have to sing a cappella. If you have an organ, then that can cover a multitude of sins, and I would argue that in some ways there’s a real, practical argument for having an organ. I’m not saying I’m advocating that there be organs, and the reality is that a lot of times in the churches where you do have an organ, it’s not even a real one—it doesn’t sound that great—but what it does allow you to do is to kind of maintain the flow of the service without people that really know how to sing.
What I’m saying is that if we really want to dumb it down, then we should stop trying to sing a cappella, and we should stop trying to sing a cappella. If we want to sing a cappella, then we can only fall so far before we can’t manage it any more.
Fr. Anthony: Yes, or we go: “Organs: Is outrage.” Then you go to the “low Mass,” the spoken Mass.
Mr. Sheehan: Sure, [but] is that where we wanted to go?
Fr. Anthony: Exactly.
Mr. Sheehan: So that’s my fear, is that we haven’t really faced reality. And because of that, nobody’s really yet ready to do anything.
Now, when I say “ready to do anything,” what are the things that I think we need to do? Maybe I’m taking…
Fr. Anthony: No, this is great. Now we’re going to start talking solutions.
Mr. Sheehan: If you want music in the Church that’s worthy of the liturgy… because when you say “doing music badly,” I want people to think not about doing music badly—when you’re singing badly you’re doing the liturgy badly. It’s not music as something for snobs and aesthetes who have high-brow standards. We’re just saying “doing the liturgy.” St. Paul says to let everything be done decently and in order.
Fr. Anthony: Well, I’m going to push it a little bit further, because there is a structure to sound, so we are doing a theological disservice when we do not act in accordance [with] those laws. Just like there are laws of theology, I wouldn’t separate those. They’re all just part of creation, and we need to work in harmony with that, and it should become beautiful.
Mr. Sheehan: That’s true. The size of musical intervals are measured; they are prescribed. There are tuning systems, and historically that’s what musicians do.
Fr. Anthony: So you have an obligation, just as we have an obligation to do theology well, we have an obligation to do music well.
Mr. Sheehan: Yeah, or just to sing what’s on the page. I completely agree with you, and I would even say that doing music well is part of good order. Starting together, ending together, saying the words at the same time, singing in tune, singing where one person is not drowning somebody else out—this is all part of the order of the liturgy. So in the same way that we wouldn’t want in the altar for people to be dropping things all the time or to fall down and trip on the stairs…
Fr. Anthony: Or in conversations for people to be passive-aggressive or selfish or mean—all of this is part of good order.
Mr. Sheehan: Exactly. So singing well I see as part of the order of the liturgy, and it’s not a matter of snobbery, it’s not a matter of just some people have good tastes or high tastes and some people don’t, it’s not that; it’s just: can we do it decently and in order? I think the reason that so many of us just react instinctively to poor singing in the liturgy is because it’s not orderly. I’m not saying that every church choir needs to be the telescope of colors or the Glinka Choir of Leningrad or to be Angelopoulos, God rest his soul, one of the greatest Byzantine chanters of the last generation. It’s not that we all need to be that, but we all need to be orderly. We all need to present the liturgy or do the liturgy in a way that tells somebody that we believe in what we do, that we’re serious about it, and that we want other people to be involved in it. We’re not just singing for ourselves.
Fr. Anthony: The way I see it, you provide two major solutions, and they’re related. One of them focuses on the general level of music literacy in the parish, and then the other one looks at the leadership of music in the parish. One of the things you’ve already mentioned for the literacy was the need to have regular choir practice. That is tied in with the other one, because that needs to be led by someone who’s competent. But there’s one other thing that I want to stress on before we get to your main point, which is musical leadership: is training children to sing and to read music.
Mr. Sheehan: Totally. There’s no better time to teach somebody music than when they’re three or four or five years old. Learning music—there’s lots of music out there that’s been done on music pedagogy and just the neurological component of learning music. As far as I understand it, music in many ways is just like a language, so there’s a certain window of time when it’s really easy to make those neurological connections, to build skills, to build up musical aptitude. Really, it’s before age nine. So after age nine, while you can learn—just the same way an adult can learn a language—while you can learn, it’s a lot more difficult and won’t have that instinctive quality that it would have, had you started earlier. So obviously, if you want people—or a generation—to be musically skilled, you have to start them when they’re young.
Fr. Anthony: Right, and then this involves having classes dedicated to it and/or working music into the regular programming. Camps are good at this. Camps are great: everybody sings together. You and I both experienced this growing up. This was part of our musical training. We could step it up a level, because we use Western notation: teach, reinforce Western notation, because they’re not getting it in schools. Maybe singing together in the opening and closing of Sunday school, because here’s what’s going to happen. I know this as a pastor. If I say, “We’re going to have children’s music group meeting on Wednesday nights”—because this is what I did growing up: you’d have the children’s music group, and then after that you’d have the chancel choir practicing. And people would come. Not everybody would come; not everybody was regular, but you’d always have people there. Parents won’t buy in; they won’t buy into it.
Mr. Sheehan: That’s part of the problem. What my vision for teaching kids… it goes beyond just a Sunday morning or a Sunday school kind of thing, or even what you get at a church camp, which really is only a week or two, maybe three weeks in a year. Music is a motor skill, and what do we know about motor skills? How do we learn?
Fr. Anthony: Repetition!
Mr. Sheehan: Exactly. So the more you do it—correctly—
Fr. Anthony: Correctly. Yeah, it has to be correct!
Mr. Sheehan: —the more easily it comes. It’s like learning any other motor skill, like learning to ride a bike or drive a car. But music is on the upper end of the spectrum of cognitive complexity and the refinement of motor skills, but it’s still a motor skill. Your vocal apparatus—your lips, your tongue, your vocal chords, your abdominal muscles, your lungs—all the things that are involved in singing, to sing better they have to be coordinated. So it’s like learning to ski or learning to dance. You’re having to coordinate a variety of muscle groups as well as learning to think at the same time. That’s also why I say music is like a language, because there’s a cognitive element, and there’s a sheer kind of muscular element.
Kids are kind of wired to learn these things, especially when they’re young, because there’s just a basic biological imperative that you have to learn a lot of things very quickly to survive, so you learn to walk, you learn to communicate, and you learn all the skills that are involved in doing your job or feeding yourself, these kinds of things. Music is one of those things. While it can be taught to adults or it can be taught to older kids, the best time to do it is when they’re young. In order to do it effectively, it has to be done regularly. It has to be done not a few weeks a year, but it has to be done every week, and ideally every day, in small increments, because a small ten minutes a day is far better than one week a year.
Obviously, the best place for this to occur for kids is in the school, because that’s where they spend a lot of their day and most parents are not able to do it themselves. Most parents can’t teach their kids math, especially after they get past sixth grade—I know I can’t. So you need people to teach kids music. So my vision is that a church or a group of churches could start to become centers for musical learning outside of the school atmosphere. So a group of a few churches could get together and start a music school and to do it under the auspices of a church and you’re already a non-profit so the legal issues are not as complex. I’m sure there are legal issues involved in who’s allowed to work with kids, and I know that some of the jurisdictions have got their own protocols for background checks.
Fr. Anthony: Yeah, and Pennsylvania’s kind of strict on that.
Mr. Sheehan: All that kind of stuff. So I’m not saying… They start a music school and it not be only for kids in the church. There’s lots of kids out there. There’s lots of parents who want their kids to sing in a choir that’s actually serious.
Fr. Anthony: That’s the thing. It has to be serious. Parents will buy into something if it’s done well, because parents are trying to be efficient. This is one of the traps of being a parent. I want to make sure my kids… all their moments are put towards their future.
Mr. Sheehan: I do the same thing.
Fr. Anthony: And you can sell music for that. Music can be a part of that if you offer a quality program. We offer dancing at our parish, and there are about 20, 25 kids that show up every week for the dance group. There are four of them that are members of our parish. That’s fine! You create a music program, and you offer a quality program, and you open it up. And people will come.
Mr. Sheehan: And people will come. And it shouldn’t be only for Orthodox kids, exactly. It shouldn’t even be necessarily Orthodox music. There’s lots of great music out there, and in many ways music is music, so learning to sing, learning to read, just learning the cognitive, psychological skills of singing in an ensemble, performing. There’s a lot of benefits, and there’s lots of studies that show that kids that study music do better in other areas. I don’t think a church would have a hard time selling the idea—provided that they had somebody in charge of it that knew what they were doing. So what I would say, and maybe this is a good segue into the problem of musical leadership, is that you need to have somebody who’s trained, who knows what they’re doing, who knows the vocabulary, who knows music pedagogy. They’re out there. They’re going to music schools. Music schools still have students.
Fr. Anthony: And they’re underemployed.
Mr. Sheehan: And they’re underemployed. And even when they are employed—I can use my wife as an example of somebody [who] went to school for music ed and was really inspired, because she’s a gifted educator, she loves to work with kids, and she gets into a public school, she gets a job, and you find—and I think a lot of teachers will know what I mean—maybe ten minutes out of an hour are really spent training or imparting content and really working with them. The rest of the hour is just crowd management. I think a lot of teachers want an atmosphere where they can really teach and really work with kids and impart what they know, impart what they love. We should employ these people.
You get a school started at a church, a school for music or a children’s choir—and their job is not just to sing the communion hymn or something like that—maybe there are benefits there, but I worry that that kind of a model is just there for the adults to think that the kids are kind of adorable, but the kids don’t really get much musical training out of it. It seems more symbolic to me than really substantive. What you need is a thing that’s regular, that will deal with multiple ages in the way that those multiple ages are supposed to be dealt with, because there’s different types of pedagogy for different ages; there’s different repertoire—there’s a vast body of repertoire out there that’s designed for different ages. This is not even what I’m trained in, so I’m not qualified to speak a lot about this, but I know enough to know more or less what we could be doing, and I know it’s not being done.
Fr. Anthony: Okay, let’s use that as a segue because the main point that you made is that you are calling us to account as Orthodox in America for not supporting the profession of music leader. There was a time when we did, when the assumption was that you would have a well-educated person who would lead the music and that music would be done well, there would be rehearsals and so on. And now every church probably has a music director or a choir director or something…
Mr. Sheehan: Not every church.
Fr. Anthony: No? Okay.
Mr. Sheehan: I guess theoretically every church does or feels like they ought to, but sadly there’s too many out there that don’t have anyone at all. I know, because I get phone calls and I get emails. “Do you know anyone? We don’t have a choir director. We don’t have anybody to sing.” So, yes, normally, I would say they do have some kind of music director.
Fr. Anthony: We’ve got a crisis here.
Mr. Sheehan: We have a problem.
Fr. Anthony: We’re more familiar with the crisis in the priesthood, because you’re not having services if you don’t have a priest. But you know, that’s hard enough. Now you’ve got a profession which does require certain skills for it to be done well, and it pays much less than the priesthood—
Mr. Sheehan: If at all.
Fr. Anthony: —if at all. So how does the market respond? The market is made up of people. It’s very inefficient. We’re not getting choir directors where we need them. What do we do about this? Churches barely can pay their priests.
Mr. Sheehan: Of course, whenever I bring up the issue “you have to pay musical leaders if you want them,” the first thing that many people say is, “We can’t even pay our priest.” I guess what I would say is that most people recognize the fact that you can’t pay your priest is a problem, but we haven’t yet gotten to the point where we all agree that not paying a music director is also a fundamental problem.
Fr. Anthony: Let’s face it. Don’t settle. Let’s stop settling. What would a healthy parish look like? Well, it would have a full-time priest (at least one). It would have a full-time, paid music director. It would probably have a youth director, and it would have a staff person.
Mr. Sheehan: That’s exactly it.
Fr. Anthony: This should be normal, and we should recognize when we’re not doing that that we are not providing the services that a healthy church would.
Mr. Sheehan: Exactly, and what I would even say, and maybe this is a problematic point to bring up, but what I would say is that we would be better off if we started with an idea of “what is a viable church?” and then we built towards that rather than “how do we find everybody for all the churches that we’ve already got?” The reality is that the church is getting smaller. I’m not reading data; I know there’s data out there on the Orthodox Church in the United States.
Fr. Anthony: It’s collapsing.
Mr. Sheehan: It’s collapsing, yeah, but it doesn’t mean, though… The fact that we’re demographically declining doesn’t mean that we have to be weakening. What I would argue is that we can be smaller and stronger, but for the stronger to occur, we have to pool resources. Right now we’re too spread out. I would even argue there’s too many parishes for what a church needs to be.
Fr. Anthony: We have to be intentional about this.
Mr. Sheehan: This is something that I have no control over. I doubt if you have any control over this, but it’s a problem that we need to think about collectively. I would say it’s a problem for the bishops to solve, but if we’re not thinking about it collectively, if we’re not supportive of the idea of consolidating churches or maybe creating magnet churches or something like that, then the bishop are not going to feel free to do something like that.
Fr. Anthony: So some of the examples of pooling resources like you brought up, one is [that] you would have these—you use the word “magnet,” but the usual role of a cathedral was not just to provide beautiful services within that space, but also to provide services to the smaller parishes around, to be like a feeder system.
Mr. Sheehan: Absolutely! But they’re not. That doesn’t tend to be what they’re doing. We have a problem, too, that many of the cathedrals are linked to an urban center, and in many instances those are the ones that have suffered the most declines. We have suburban churches that are a lot stronger, a lot better populated, a lot better funded than the cathedrals. So they’re not able to be a model in anything. Again, this is something we have to think about.
Some of my concrete ideas are: a group of churches gets together—and I can’t take credit for this idea completely. My wife actually is the one that had the spark for this idea. So four churches in a relatively contiguous geographical area—I’d say a maximum of about two hours apart, maybe three, depending on logistics—they get together, and the four of them employ a full-time music director. So there would be one of them that would take the lead, maybe be the magnet church, so the music director would have some kind of a home base, but then the other three weeks of the month this music director would go from church to church. Part of this person’s job description would not only to be to sing for services and direct, but would be to help put a choir together, to train those |
would give police similar powers to those they have to seek and impose control orders on terrorism suspects – but they could be applied to all citizens in NSW who are alleged to have some proximity or involvement to a serious crime, without a person ever being found guilty of an offence.
They would allow orders to be made on any citizen restricting their movement, who they associate with, who they work for and whether they can access the internet.
Even when a person is acquitted of a criminal offence police could still seek such an order.
The penalty for breaching an order could be up to five years’ imprisonment or a $33,000 fine for an individual, or $165,000 for a corporation.
In a scathing submission the NSW Bar Association criticised the government’s limited consultation with legal groups and its attempt to rush the bill through NSW parliament.
“No evidence has been cited as to the ineffectiveness of the administration of criminal justice by a process of trial for ‘reducing serious and organised crime’ in New South Wales,” the submission said.
“The bill effectively sets up a rival to the criminal trial system and interferes unacceptably in the fundamental human rights and freedoms of citizens of NSW.”
It said the government had failed to explain why the powers should be expanded in a manner “so contradictory to long-settled principles concerning the adjudication of criminal guilt by a fair trial”.
The police minister, Troy Grant, has said that the measures would provide law enforcement agencies with a more effective means of reducing serious and organised crime by targeting business dealings and restricting suspects’ behaviour.
Under the new provisions, the NSW police, the NSW Crime Commission and the NSW director of public prosecutions could seek orders from a judge, who must be satisfied there are “reasonable grounds” it would protect the public by restricting or preventing serious crime-related activity.
Police officers troll Greens' anti-sniffer dog campaign on Facebook Read more
But the bar association said it was unclear why the laws were needed. While they could be applied to individuals who had been convicted of a serious criminal offence, they would also be applicable to behaviour that was considered “serious crime-related activity” without an offence needing to be proven.
The orders could also be sought on the basis of hearsay and other forms of tendency evidence that would normally be inadmissible in a normal criminal trial.
The bar association warned that the laws posed an unacceptable interference with citizens; right to freedom of expression, association and privacy. They also noted that the orders were of “doubtful constitutional validity”.
“Whatever be the fate of the legislation it can be said with confidence that very grave issues are raised by its prospect and that our high court will give them the attention they deserve,” the association said.WINNIPEG - Darvin Adams' teammates tried to give the Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver the game ball, but he instead gave it to quarterback Drew Willy.
Despite hauling in four catches for a career-high 127 yards and one touchdown in a 23-13 win over the B.C. Lions Thursday, Adams said his performance paled in comparison to Willy.
Willy passed for 269 yards and two touchdowns on an injured knee, which also held up during his five carries for a career-high 72 yards.
"He's coming off an injury and comes back and plays tough running ball," said Adams. "He's trying to run people over and everything so you've got to love that. I play hard for him."
The victory snapped a two-game losing skid for Winnipeg (3-3) while the Lions (2-3) lost their second straight.
Willy hurt his right knee in a loss to Edmonton last Saturday and hobbled off the field with what looked to be a serious injury.
He was jokingly asked by a reporter to explain how he got more mobile after an injury.
"I'm confident in my ability," said Willy, who completed 17 of 25 pass attempts with no interceptions. "I'm obviously a drop-back quarterback, but at the same I try to be athletic out there and get yards when I can."
Willy put up more rushing yards than Bombers running backs Cameron Marshall (50 yards) and Paris Cotton (11 yards).
The Lions defence knows Willy has the ability to run, although he might have caught them off guard a bit.
"Coming off a lower-leg injury, maybe we were kind of surprised that he did run," said B.C. linebacker Solomon Elimimian. "But there's many times (four) we got sacks on him. A lot of it is just gap integrity and assignment."
Willy said Adams giving him the game ball added to a special week, in which he had family in Winnipeg.
Lions quarterback Travis Lulay was 22-of-33 for 254 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions, while running back Andrew Harris finished with a career-high 24 carries for 117 yards.
"We came out with a really good start and then lost our rhythm once again. That's two weeks in a row," said Lulay, who threw a 17-yard pass to Courtney Taylor for B.C.'s lone touchdown.
B.C. rookie Richie Leone kicked field goals from 23 and 22 yards, keeping him perfect on all 12 field goals he's attempted this season. He was also good on his lone convert.
Bombers kicker Lirim Hajrullahu was good on field goals from 19, 20 and 26 yards and both his convert attempts. Winnipeg rookie receiver Justin Veltung, replacing injured Nick Moore, scored his first CFL touchdown with an eight-yard catch in the second quarter.
B.C. led 7-0 after the first quarter and 10-7 at halftime.
"It's like beating a dead horse," said Harris. "We're just making mistakes and penalties, just not being efficient enough. We have hot spurts and then we're flat."
Defensive back Demond Washington intercepted Lulay with 1:55 left — his first since 2013. He said watching Willy play through injury motivated his club.
"He got all the guys riled up and fired up," said Washington. "Knowing he's out there playing injured, he's putting his body on the line, it got all the guys riled up and wanting to get out there and play."Babe Ruth and other Red Sox Pitchers, 1915
Baseball season is here. This week’s Smithsonian Snapshot celebrates the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, with this 1915 photograph of Babe Ruth and other Red Sox pitchers: George “Rube” Foster, Carl Mays, Ernie Shore and Hubert “Dutch” Leonard.
On April 20, 1912, the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox opened to the public in Boston. The Red Sox beat the New York Highlanders, renamed the New York Yankees in 1913, 7-6 in 11 innings. Newspaper coverage of the opening was overshadowed by continuing coverage of the Titanic sinking days earlier April 14, 1912.
In 1914, the Red Sox acquired George Herman Ruth Jr., best known as “Babe” Ruth, as their all-star pitcher. This 1915 photo shows Ruth with the pitching staff that helped propel the Red Sox to a World Series Championship the same year. This photo marks Ruth’s second season in the major leagues.
In six seasons as a pitcher, the 24-year-old Ruth compiled an 89-46 won-lost record, with a 2.28 ERA and three World Series victories. Had he continued to pitch he would have ranked among baseball’s greatest pitchers.
This is a rare photograph of Ruth in the beginning of his career; it helps the Smithsonian fully describe the impact of this legendary baseball player.
To view more sports-related items at the Smithsonian, visit the National Museum of American History’s sports and leisure collection.
This item is one of 137 million artifacts, works of art and specimens in the Smithsonian’s collection. It is not on display. To learn more about this item, visit the National Portrait Gallery’s website.
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Jessica Sadeq
(202) 633-5192
More from the Smithsonian Snapshot series“The funny thing,” Othman mused, “is that Facebook used to be proud that it was part of the Arab Spring.”
In a letter to potential investors when Facebook filed its IPO last February, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg touted his social network’s role in undermining tyrannical governments like Syria’s: “By giving people the power to share, we are starting to see people make their voices heard on a different scale from what has historically been possible. These voices will increase in number and volume. They cannot be ignored.”
Unless, of course, they are deleted by Facebook itself. While Allan declined to comment on individual cases, the company said nothing has changed in its policy with regard to the Syrian conflict. Allan instead suggested that years of content breach may have finally caught up to pages that have been around since early 2011. In other words, it was only a matter of time.
“There comes a point at which a page has breached the rules so many times that the only choice we have left is to close it,” said Allan in a phone interview from London. “We don’t like to take that sanction, it’s not our first option … but if a page repeatedly breaches then it’s going to hit that threshold.” He added, however, that Facebook’s decisions are “based on the quality of the content, not the quantity of reporting. One report about bad content, it will come down. A thousand reports about good content, it won’t come down.”
This isn’t a satisfying answer for activists like Razan Zaitouneh, one of the founders of the LCC system as well as the Violations Documentation Center. In early December, according to SecDev, the famed human-rights lawyer drafted a letter to Facebook imploring policy officials to consider that human-rights groups like her own have nowhere else to go. An exception should be made for those merely seeking to document conflict, she said.
“Facebook pages are the only outlet that allows Syrians and media activists to convey the events and atrocities in Syria to the world,” she wrote in the letter, which was shared by SecDev. "We strongly appeal to you not to make it easier for the Syrian regime to terminate calls for freedom and dignity.”
Zaitouneh never got a response to her letter. On December 9, five men stormed her organization’s office in the Damascus suburb of Douma and kidnapped her, along with her husband and two colleagues, VDC spokesman al-Ahmad said. Their whereabouts and kidnappers are unknown, but the abduction is widely believed to be the work of an Islamist rebel group, the Army of Islam, which is active in an area that was “liberated” from Assad’s grips months ago. Al-Ahmad said Zaitouneh had received threatening letters from an Islamist group shortly before the kidnapping, but he refused to name the group without proper evidence.
Zaitouneh’s kidnapping—and specifically the fact that it appears to have been perpetrated by ‘anti-Assad’ rebel fighters, underlines the bleak reality facing Syria’s non-violent holdouts, who bravely took to the streets in protest three years and 130,000 lives ago. With Assad showing no signs of wavering and al-Qaeda-linked extremists streaming across Syria’s porous borders, the peaceful protesters say they no longer recognize the uprising they used to lead.Did you lose a bag of crystal meth somewhere in the parking lot of Ralph's? If so, you ought to try to be more mindful of that sort of thing.
A Craiglist posting listing a Silver Lake address went up last night from someone who might be an epic prankster, a Good Samaritan or a naive innocent:
This bag was dropped in the parking lot at Ralph's when I was coming out of CVS pharmacy. I don't want it around but am willing to return it to the person who lost it since it the probably represents lost rent, gas money or food. If you can describe basic contents I will return it free.
If this is legit, we have one question: why do people keep leaving their drugs lying around in Silver Lake? Just this weekend, we heard about a man who found an estimated $175K worth of weed in his backyard.
More lost and found:
Silver Laker Finds $175,000 Worth of Weed in His Back Yard
Did Someone Lose Their Marijuana on Redondo Boulevard?
Found in L.A.: Medical Marijuana Ditched in the Curb
Oopsies! Did You Lose Your Breast Implant Outside the Bushes of the Fashion Island Forever 21? Try Craigslist!I don't trust Wren. Not one bit. This Pretty Little Liars guy might not be around much, but every time he's made an appearance I've found myself wondering, "Oh my God, this guy has to be A, right?" After the Season 5 finale, I'm not so convinced that Wren is Charles, aka Big A. Charles was revealed as Big A in the Season 5 finale and from the look of Charles' home movies it appears that he's Jason DiLaurentis' twin as well. Of course, while we may know Charles' name and his potential connection to the DiLaurentis family, there was one major thing that the the show didn't give us, and that was a shot of Charles without his mask on. Technically any person on the show could still be A (and therefore Charles), but I'm pretty convinced that it isn't Wren under the mask — even though he's still an incredibly shady dude.
We don't know too much about Charles, but unless Pretty Little Liars is actively trying to fool us, it does appear that he's Jason's twin and not just another member of the DiLaurentis family. The home movie that was playing in Charles' lair made it seem that Charles and Jason were very close in age, and if Charles was some mysterious older or younger brother, I doubt the show would try so hard to make it seem like he was Jason's twin. Pretty Little Liars does try to throw us off course from time to time (umm... #RIPMona?!), but this reveal comes only episodes before the entire A storyline comes to a close. In my mind, that means that Charles just has to be Jason's twin — and Wren simply cannot be that person.
If we think that Wren is Charles, that means that Wren knowingly dated and sought relationships with not one but two of his siblings. (Don't forget that Jason is also the son of Mr. Hastings.) Well, it would be SUPER creepy for Wren to know that information and then date Melissa for years, while secretly macking on Spencer whenever he got the opportunity. In an interview with Time Travel Murder Mystery, writer Bryan Holdman hinted that there were some things that would be "too crazy" for Pretty Little Liars to explore, even mentioning a cross-dressing plotline that wouldn't make its way into the series because it was simply "too out there." If we're drawing the line at that, I think we can safely say that incest is off the table.
That's not to say that clears Wren of all A-related activities — Wren could certainly be involved in the A game without being Charles. We know that Wren has ties to Radley, and if Charles spent any time in there as long suspected then perhaps Wren and Charles have been in cahoots since the very beginning. We know that Wren drew a photo of a girl in a red coat on a farm (perhaps a reference to Ali's disguise of choice and the Campbell farm from the finale?) and that his painting matches one in Charles' lair, per Tumblr user ladyholidaay. As writer Maya Goldsmith hinted when I spoke to her last month, all these little clues are important, which might mean that Wren has been playing for the A team all along — even if he's not Charles.
Only time will tell if Wren really is involved with Charles, or if he somehow is Charles himself. But until then, I have my eye on this supposed "good doctor." Trust no one.
Images: ABC Family (screenshot); Giphy (2); wrenischarles/TumblrArsene Wenger had complained before this game about Premier League players taking a premature holiday but on Tuesday night, for what could just conceivably be his penultimate home fixture as Arsenal manager, it was many of the club’s own supporters who took a break.
Sunderland manager David Moyes promptly rejected Wenger’s claims about teams relaxing their focus as an “insult to footballers”, yet the more damning verdict was still delivered by those Arsenal fans who stayed away.
They could no doubt recall matches this season against West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace and Liverpool when Arsenal themselves looked absent.
The turnout also underlined how it is barely the actual managerial record of Wenger that matters any more. Even neutral fans are probably familiar with the statistics that are quoted endlessly back and forth.A new bill that would allow Kansans the right to deny same-sex couples a host of basic life needs– including goods, services, benefits or even employment–on the grounds of “sincerely held religious beliefs” just took one step closer to becoming law in the Sunflower State.
House Bill 2453 sailed through Kansas’ House Federal and State Affairs Committee on Thursday through a voice vote, and now heads to the Republican House leadership for a decision on whether to bring it up for debate in the full chamber. Seven lawmakers recorded their “no” votes, but none of bill’s supporters did the same.
If passed, the measure would allow a photographer, for example, whose religion condemns homosexuality, to refuse to take pictures at a same-sex couple’s wedding. Or it would similarly protect a car insurance salesman, who for religious reasons wouldn’t give a married gay person the same reduced premium offered to a married heterosexual person. In another scenario, it could allow a Catholic adoption agency employee to refuse to process the paperwork for a same-sex couple hoping to start a family.
And in each of these instances, the law would block lawsuits or government sanctions against those individuals or businesses who claim to have a strong religious objection to homosexuality.
“It’s not that we want to discriminate against someone because they’re gay,” said Republican state Rep. Travis Couture-Lovelady, who supported the measure Thursday, in an interview with msnbc. “We just don’t think you should be coerced if you have a private business into being part of the [wedding] ceremony if that’s something that’s against your sincerely held religious belief.”
Kansas’ bill is the latest in a series of efforts by conservative lawmakers to blunt historic gains for marriage equality across the country. Similar initiatives have surfaced in Arizona, Kentucky, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington state.
Now that federal courts have struck down same-sex marriage bans in Utah and Oklahoma, both part of the Tenth Circuit along with Kansas, supporters feel HB 2453 would provide a necessary safety net for religious Kansans in the increasingly likely event that a judge similarly overturns the state’s 2005 voter-approved barrier to same-sex nuptials.
Opponents, however, believe the bill’s language invites broad discrimination in virtually every aspect of a person’s life, and could allow government officials to ignore legally valid same-sex marriages.
“This bill on its face does absolutely nothing until and unless the Supreme Court strikes down same-sex marriage bans nationwide–then it’s triggered,” said Thomas Witt, executive director of the Kansas Equality Coalition, to msnbc. “Police responding to domestic violence disputes between same-sex couples, clerks refusing to give marriage licenses to gay people–basically anything you’d expect the government to do, an official who doesn’t want to accept the fact that we’re married can just not do their job and pretend we’re not married.”
Couture-Lovelady acknowledged that the bill leaves room for state officials to ignore same-sex unions on religious grounds, but insisted that “just because you have a government job doesn’t mean you lose your constitutional rights.”
“They would still have the ability to get their marriage license,” he said in response to the hypothetical situation where a religious clerk refuses to give a marriage license to a gay couple. “There’s just the possibility of having to drive a little farther to find someone else to do it.”
Kansas is one of 33 states that currently bans same-sex marriage, and one of 29 states that does not protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation. But given the momentum the gay rights movement has built since June, when the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and opened the floodgates for legal challenges to state bans on same-sex marriages, red states have begun to prepare for what they fear is inevitable: court-mandated changes to their laws governing sexual orientation and same-sex relationships.
“It’s just a matter of time as to when those states that have traditional marriage enshrined in their constitutions will be overturned,” said L. Martin Nussbaum, an attorney who specializes in religious liberty and who, if not for inclement weather, would have testified last week on behalf of HB 2453.
“In various states, there have been legislative or governmental efforts to closet organizations with traditional religious beliefs,” he continued. “The purpose of this bill is to guarantee religious freedom. It guarantees religious people or organizations would not suffer civil penalties or restrictions.”
Recent court cases in Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and New Mexico have resulted in fines for wedding service providers who have refused to work with same-sex couples because of their religious beliefs. Nussbaum said the Kansas legislation would protect small businesses in similar situations, but would also go much further, providing legal cover to people like Julea Ward, an Eastern Michigan University student who was expelled from her counseling program because she would not treat a gay person for religious reasons.
“She had done everything right, had three courses left to get her degree, and [EMU] expelled her from the program simply because she felt a conflict in her conscience from doing what her professional code of ethics required,” said Nussbaum to msnbc. “There are other circumstances in which I would hope the bill would give people the right to decline to provide services if that’s what their conscience instructs. That’s part of what a diverse America is about.”
That the bill goes beyond the wedding service industry is precisely what concerns its opponents.
“I don’t think you should be able to pinpoint who you want to serve and who you don’t want to serve,” said Democratic state Rep. Ponka-We Victors, the first Native American elected to the Kansas state House who has faced her own share of discrimination in her lifetime.
“I know what it’s like to be on the other side,” she said to msnbc. “Are we going to go back to signs on business doors that say ‘We don’t serve this group of citizens?’ It’s ridiculous.”
In heated committee hearings last week, Democratic state Rep. Emily Perry brought up the potential consequence of a police officer’s citing religious liberty to refuse intervening in a domestic violence dispute between a gay couple.
“Minutes and seconds make a difference between life and death in those situations,” she said to msnbc. “If somebody arrives on the scene and then calls for backup because they don’t want to handle the situation, that’s life or death. That really to me is offensive.”
Nussbaum vehemently rejected that scenario, calling it “extremely implausible.”
“It’s almost unimaginable that if gay couples were physically abusing each other that a police officer would say, I’m religiously opposed,” he said. “I don’t know any religion that would subscribe to that idea…[and] I don’t believe the bill would provide protection to the officer in that case.”
It’s not the first time religious liberty has come up in the national debate on social issues. People have cited religious beliefs as justification to treat people differently on the basis of race and gender, and most recently, as reason to deny contraceptive coverage in compliance with the Affordable Care Act.
In the case of the former, courts have generally sided with those who claimed discrimination. But in the contraceptive coverage movement, religious liberty has had a more successful run. As bills like HB 2453 become what looks to be the next front in the marriage equality debate, LGBT advocates are trying to predict which version is in store for them.
“The scary thing to look at is how religious exemption issues have played out in the contraceptive coverage movement, and how courts have expanded them more and more and more,” said James Esseks, director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project, to msnbc. “In the racial justice movement, it’s a much rosier version.”
“What we’re trying to figure out as this religious liberty argument gets bigger and pushed more strongly in the LGBT rights context” he continued: “Are we going to look like the reproductive freedom world, or like the race and sex discrimination world?”
It’s one of the many questions HB 2453 brings to the fore.DISCURSIVE BODIES: The Corpses of Georges Bataille's The Blue of Noon...[E]roticism which is a fusion, which shifts interest away from and beyond the person and his limits, is nevertheless expressed by an object. We are faced with the paradox of an object which implies the abolition of the limits of all objects, of an erotic object. Bataille, Eroticism, p. 130 PREFACE In the middle of the night, the narrator enters his mother's bedroom, removes his pajamas and masturbates in front of her corpse. Yet it was the author too, who was crying at the foot of his mother's deathbed, the bed where two years earlier he held an orgy on his thirty-first birthday. The life-giving lifeless body, or the bodies intertwined in lovemaking. Grieving alone in thick silence, the final incarnation of physical origin revolves from its intimate accumulation of memories into the fixed non-presence of death. Fixate on an object: the bed is exploding with memories. It becomes the tangible resonance between an erotic fever dream and the terrorizing distress of death's physical form; but more importantly, it remains steadily approachable, unlike the corpse its metaphor supplants. The bed becomes the means for a possible transgression of death. Arousal usurps grief and allows the narrator the stimulating force necessary to himself become corpse-like. INTRODUCTION Corpses are the things of nightmares, figures that vibrate perpetually with the deafening echo of the last breath of presence. Georges Bataille's 1935 novel The Blue of Noon is inundated with literal and metaphorical descriptions of corpses, which are used to convey the narrator's self-ravaging tides of fear and desire. Simultaneously, the novel is interjected with strangely removed (despite the narrator's physical proximity) observations of the political events leading up to World War II. When viewed in the context of its author's biography and the period in which it was written, the disjointed poetic narrative that it unfurls is both personal and prolific. Like all of Bataille's narrative works, The Blue of Noon is in part a self-mediated biography, told through the thinly veiled voice of his male narrator Henri Troppmann. Although the implications will not be thoroughly explored here, the question of what requisites lend momentum to societies transgressions looms darkly in the background. Death exposes a very particular, and perhaps a penultimate, chaos; to surpass tears with momentary satiation does not escape comprehension. I would like to use specific passages from The Blue of Noon to discuss Bataille's personal and authorial transgression of the Impossible, and more precisely to study his use of corpses as signifiers for this exploration of threshold and how to implement language in describing this struggle. From his notions on expenditure, to the death of philosophy, Bataille waged a war on limits. Before aging into the figure we study here, Bataille was a young adult on the path to becoming a monk. Between the years 1920-1924, Georges Bataille's belief system underwent a dramatic shift. A series of encounters during this period helped set into motion a dizzying struggle with paradox Bataille attempted to both define and destroy for the duration of his life. Small cracks had begun to destabilize the foundation of a devout Catholicism he had presumably taken up as a means of insulating himself from the madness of his childhood; but it wasn't until his initial readings of Nietzsche that he felt deeply confounded by an intellectual choice in obsessive pursuits. His reaction to Nietzsche was in fact so provocative, that his first response was to reject the material. Reflecting years later on this moment, Bataille stated, "It is natural for a man encountering the destiny which belongs to him to experience an initial moment of recoil." The terror of his adolescence crashed over him for a second (and certainly not the last) time, but unlike his self-enclosing escape into religion, he chose to pursue this new and unnerving opening before him. By yielding to the Death of God and the laughing whilst peering into the void, transgression became his anti-idealistic ideal for living, signifying the end of an upright value system, in which all subjects are interchangeable and every structure is offered up for transmutable inversion. In his personal life, this allowed for his most debased desires to be structured accordingly; the brothel would become his church, and every person, from himself, to his mother, to his lovers (prostitutes, wives, and mistresses alike) was ultimately, a corpse. Bataille's association of human flesh to an ever-present mortality may be a holdover from his years of monistic study, but it also stems from childhood memories of his blind, syphilitic father, who deteriorated progressively into madness until his death. Bataille claims to have been in love with his father until the age of fourteen. At the onset of the new self-consciousness of puberty this adoration shifted to a deep hate. By focusing on the movement of shifting, my investigation of The Blue of Noon begins: with love and hate, desire and repulsion, the nakedness of flesh and the nudity of death. PART ONE I know. I'm going to die in disgraceful circumstances. Today, I am overjoyed at being an object of horror and repugnance to the one being whom I am bound to. My desire? Whatever worst things can happen to a man who will scoff at them. The blank head in which "I" am has become so frightened and greedy that only my death could satisfy it. Bataille, BN, p. 23 Part One of The Blue of Noon is two pages in length, typeset (almost) entirely in italics, and it's opening sentences read as if it were penned by Bataille's interpretation of his father's hand. In some ways, Troppmann's voice is formed by the alienated anguish of an adolescent Bataille playing ventriloquist. Bataille as the still-scorned adult creates what he deems to have been his father's internal dialogue and injects it with his own resentments. Keep in mind that Bataille was fathered by a man already blind from syphilis. Bataille recalls (fictively?) readying his father's bedpan, watching "those huge eyes [that] went almost entirely blank when he pissed." Perhaps, as a young child, this specialized position of secondary caregiver allowed him to both love his father (with pity due to his total dependency, or without, simply because the strangeness was captivating) and abnormally recast his overwhelmed mother as his competitor. All of this apparently changed as Bataille became a teenager, when maybe for the first time social consciousness inflicted him with a nauseating realization that his family life was far from typical. Although there is no account of an explicit event that facilitated this change, his father would forever more be recalled as that "object of horror and repugnance" that Bataille's narrator Troppmann perpetually attempts to dominate in The Blue of Noon. A frightened, racing "I," waiting for death in the middle of this figurative night. One afternoon, while walking in a city "that looked like the setting for a tragedy," the narrator passes a gravesite, extending an "ironic invitation" to its owner. In the middle of the night Troppmann comes face to face with this dead man, the "Commendatore" (notably the only word in all of Part One not in italics). This figure of authority confronts Troppmann in the same manner in which Bataille is menaced by the dead eyes of his father. Facing him, I started to tremble. Facing him, I became derelict. Next to me lay the second victim. The utter repugnance on her lips made them resemble the lips of a certain dead woman. From them dribbled something more dreadful than blood. Since that day, I have been doomed to solitude that I reject and no longer have the heart to endure. However, to renew the invitation, one shout is all I need; and if I could trust my blind anger, this time it wouldn't be me who exited, but the old man's corpse. Bataille, BN, p. 24 His mother (or is it Dorthea?), the other victim of his father's illness (via Bataille's conferral of contempt), lays beside Bataille in this family grave; but sympathy for this dead woman (or is it just Dorthea with ejaculate on her lips) will be replaced with repulsion in "blind anger," when the narrator realizes that she has copulated with his father. A slightly altered excerpt of this novel's opening passage appears in Bataille's Inner Experience, published in 1943, but which he dates at its conclusion as August 1934. In this version the last phrase of the paragraph is replaced with: Yet I have only a cry to repeat the invitation and–if I believe my anger–it would no longer be me, it would be the shadow of the old man who would go away. Bataille, Inner Experience, p. 79 Consider the variations in these two versions in terms of différence: how does one read the slippage of meaning that is the space between rewording, word choice, and ordering? I trust, no I believe that this description calls for a specific type of anger, it is blind like Bataille's father, or rather the anger recalls with its modification the self-trauma induced by Bataille's recognition of all the tangents his father's blindness illuminated. The choice of words lays the foundation for a hyper-personalized value system, as their placement becomes potential inclusion or exclusion for any reader outside of their author. Despite this phrase's explicitness made intentionally (paradoxically) ambiguous, one can make out how even as a corpse the old man still casts a shadow of negatively charged influence over Bataille. The perpetually hovering, disfigured father figure Bataille is wishing would finally exit, would finally go away. Shadows and solid objects, corpses and living flesh. Bataille poignantly fumbles with dissonance between phrases, allowing this potential of signification to vibrate stiffly within certain fields of meaning while one may simultaneously ride out into infinity on their reverberations. "We do not have access to a thing or a state, but only to coming. We have access to an access." (Jean-Luc Nancy, Being Singular Plural, p. 15) This is the standstill of philosophical discourse that Bataille's narrative inhabits. One may begin a dialogue with a statement, but the choice of composition in the first utterance to the idea reworked to the nth degree, offer nothing more than an opening. These phrases will never allow a direct, experiential contact with that which is being described. If one is willing to take this (at the least) into a peripheral consideration, than one may begin to unravel the autobiographical elements ever present in Bataille's fictional narratives. Troppmann and his object of desire Dorthea are Bataille's literary attempt at personifying the abstract, disillusioned memory of his parents with the ironically heroic characteristics he gives to these main characters. The Blue of Noon is in part a subconscious homage, a sort of psychological evacuation of the remembrance of this estranged state of childhood. It is a reaffirmation of the glory of the initial realization of separateness purchased in time coming into adulthood. As an adult (Bataille was 38 when he wrote this novel), Bataille is free to remember his parents as he wishes (in 1935 his father had been dead twenty years, his mother for five), and so he creates characters that both incorporate and reject (but always with a disaffected violence) his memories of them and their continued influence on his life. The act of writing, the story of Genesis: a God dissatisfied by a world of vegetation and beasts, creates man in his image, in hopes of rectifying the inadequacy he perceives in his world? The author makes characters from his dissatisfactions; they are made in his image (by his interpreted memories for them) and must therefore also possess a self-conscious will that dooms them to the endless pursuit of this same unfulfilling coming into the world. Born of disreputable pain, the insolence that persists in spite of everything started growing again: slowly at first, then in a sudden burst that has blinded and transfigured me with a happiness that defies all reason. At this moment I am intoxicated with happiness. Drunk with it. I'll sing and shout it forth at the top of my lungs. In my idiotic heart, idiocy is singing its head off. I HAVE PREVAILED! Bataille, BN, p. 24 Credo quia absurdum. In this last passage from Part One, Bataille is speaking, all at once, in a sudden burst, as Bataille, maybe as Troppmann, through the interpreted voice of his father, as a continuation of the Father. Through this polymorphous voice, Bataille allows for an ecstatic accessing of the condition humaine. Man is blinded by his attempts (in project or science) to prevail against nature (death and sex). It is only through his blindness, his idiocy, that man can congratulate himself for adhering to the order of law. Resistance to this ordering is futile, as vain as the construction of order itself is. If one is not aware of this constructed illusion, if one does celebrate it "with a happiness that defies all reason," then one seals his conception of the world within the closed lines erected through the trial and error of those devoted to the project of preservation. In this passage, the blindness being described is two-fold; on the first order, it exists as a rejection of nature that privileges order and project; on the second, it is seeing the first order through the blurred focus of transgression. Through drunkenness, sexuality, and other expenditures of energy categorized as being consumptive and non-productive, the characters of Bataille's narrative seem to aspire to a constant state of transgression. From the beginning to the end of the novel their actions attest to this (in the Introduction of the novel Troppmann and Dirty retreat very drunkenly to a prestigious hotel, where Dirty proceeds to vomit and shit in the presence of an elevator attendant and a maid). More importantly, Bataille's use of language in The Blue of Noon is a |
players have found strategies that none has the incentive to change unilaterally. In this case, for instance, neither player can improve her outcome by going one direction more often than the other.
Of course, most games are more complicated than the penalty-kick game, and their Nash equilibria are more difficult to calculate. But the reason the Nash equilibrium is associated with Nash’s name — and not the names of other mathematicians who, over the preceding century, had described Nash equilibria for particular games — is that Nash was the first to prove that every game must have a Nash equilibrium. Many economists assume that, while the Nash equilibrium for a particular market may be hard to find, once found, it will accurately describe the market’s behavior.
Daskalakis’s doctoral thesis — which won the Association for Computing Machinery’s 2008 dissertation prize — casts doubts on that assumption. Daskalakis, working with Christos Papadimitriou of the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Liverpool’s Paul Goldberg, has shown that for some games, the Nash equilibrium is so hard to calculate that all the computers in the world couldn’t find it in the lifetime of the universe. And in those cases, Daskalakis believes, human beings playing the game probably haven’t found it either.
In the real world, competitors in a market or drivers on a highway don’t (usually) calculate the Nash equilibria for their particular games and then adopt the resulting strategies. Rather, they tend to calculate the strategies that will maximize their own outcomes given the current state of play. But if one player shifts strategies, the other players will shift strategies in response, which will drive the first player to shift strategies again, and so on. This kind of feedback will eventually converge toward equilibrium: in the penalty-kick game, for example, if the goalie tries going in one direction more than half the time, the kicker can punish her by always going the opposite direction. But, Daskalakis argues, feedback won’t find the equilibrium more rapidly than computers could calculate it.
The argument has some empirical support. Approximations of the Nash equilibrium for two-player poker have been calculated, and professional poker players tend to adhere to them — particularly if they’ve read any of the many books or articles on game theory’s implications for poker. The Nash equilibrium for three-player poker, however, is intractably hard to calculate, and professional poker players don’t seem to have found it.
How can we tell? Daskalakis’s thesis showed that the Nash equilibrium belongs to a set of problems that is well studied in computer science: those whose solutions may be hard to find but are always relatively easy to verify. The canonical example of such a problem is the factoring of a large number: The solution seems to require trying out lots of different possibilities, but verifying an answer just requires multiplying a few numbers together. In the case of Nash equilibria, however, the solutions are much more complicated than a list of prime numbers. The Nash equilibrium for three-person Texas hold ’em, for instance, would consist of a huge set of strategies for any possible combination of players’ cards, dealers’ cards, and players’ bets. Exhaustively characterizing a given player’s set of strategies is complicated enough in itself, but to the extent that professional poker players’ strategies in three-player games can be characterized, they don’t appear to be in equilibrium.
Anyone who’s into computer science — or who read “Explained: P vs. NP” on the MIT News web site last week — will recognize the set of problems whose solutions can be verified efficiently: It’s the set that computer scientists call NP. Daskalakis proved that the Nash equilibrium belongs to a subset of NP consisting of hard problems with the property that a solution to one can be adapted to solve all the others. (The cognoscenti will infer that it’s the set called NP-complete; but the fact that the Nash equilibrium always exists disqualifies it from NP-completeness. In fact, it belongs to a different set, called PPAD-complete.)
That result “is one of the biggest yet in the roughly 10-year-old field of algorithmic game theory,” says Tim Roughgarden, an assistant professor of computer science at Stanford University. It “formalizes the suspicion that the Nash equilibrium is not likely to be an accurate predictor of rational behavior in all strategic environments.”
Given the Nash equilibrium’s unreliability, says Daskalakis, “there are three routes that one can go. One is to say, We know that there exist games that are hard, but maybe most of them are not hard.” In that case, Daskalakis says, “you can seek to identify classes of games that are easy, that are tractable.”
The second route, Daskalakis says, is to find mathematical models other than Nash equilibria to characterize markets — models that describe transition states on the way to equilibrium, for example, or other types of equilibria that aren’t so hard to calculate. Finally, he says, it may be that where the Nash equilibrium is hard to calculate, some approximation of it — where the players’ strategies are almost the best responses to their opponents’ strategies — might not be. In those cases, the approximate equilibrium could turn out to describe the behavior of real-world systems.
As for which of these three routes Daskalakis has chosen, “I’m pursuing all three,” he says.Tesla Motors (TSLA) has reduced the price of its Model S electric car in Germany and throughout regions of Europe. The news comes from Inside EVs which reports that now buyers can get a Model S from 65,300 euros ($89,903) in Germany. That compares to 72,000 euros ($99,127) when the world’s first premium electric sedan first launched in Germany in late 2013, about a 7,000 euros ($9,637) cut.
In other locations the prices have been reduced as well, though by not quite as much. In the Netherlands for example, notes the IEVs report, the price for a Tesla Model S was dropped recently by 4,000 euros ($5,507), to 66,200 euros ($91,142).
Officially, the main reason given by the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company for the change is euros’ pace of appreciation against the greenback. While the explanation matches Tesla’s policy of “fairing pricing in all international markets,” Inside EVs notes that weak demand for the Model S in Germany and Europe is believed to be the main reason behind Tesla’s Model S price reduction.
TSLA is down $4.82, or 1.91%, at $248.09 in late trading Friday. The ticker has a 52wk range of $34.92 – $265.00. The company’s total market cap currently stands at $30.51 billion. It’s average 3 month trading volume is around 9.7 million.For years, activists have been pushing for a community-led police commission to keep tabs on the Oakland Police Department. The Department’s involvement in a recent sexual misconduct scandal has brought the need for increased oversight into sharp focus.
If voters approve Measure LL on Election Day, it would create a police commission led by Oakland residents with the power to impose officer discipline, recommend policy, and fire or hire the police chief. Some activists see it as groundbreaking, but others think it’s a watered down compromise that won’t reign in misconduct.
Oakland’s current police oversight
Activist Rashidah Grinage has been trying to bring more accountability to the Oakland Police Department for decades. For her, it’s personal. In 1993, her husband and son were killed by officers during a confrontation over a dog.
“So, that's what got me involved in understanding that police could essentially do anything, and walk, and not suffer consequences,” Grinage says.
She could have filed a complaint with the Citizen Police Review Board - or the CPRB. That’s OPD’s current oversight agency. But at the time, few people knew the CPRB even existed. And if officers didn’t want to show up for complaint hearings against them, they didn’t have to.
“So essentially, it was a useless creation, it was meant to appease anger and outrage, but it offered absolutely nothing in the way of substance,” Grinage explains.
Measure LL
Since then, the CPRB has been given more authority to investigate complaints. It now has civilian investigators, and the power to make officers attend hearings. But it’s still understaffed and underfunded. And the board can only recommend discipline of individual officers. If the chief disagrees, the city administrator calls the shots.
“What we're trying to do now is remedy one of the ongoing defects that can only be remedied through the ballot,” Gringe says.
Grinage’s activism helped inspire Measure LL, a ballot proposal that would create a police commission run by Oakland residents. If it passes, the commission would have the authority to impose discipline. The new police commission would also have the power to recommend policy, and hire or fire the police chief. Supporters say it would create one of the strongest police commissions in the country.
“We think passing Measure LL will be transformative, because it takes the power from a city official and gives it to a group of residents in Oakland -- that is big,” Grinage says.
Activists fight for a people’s police commission
A police commission run by community members with authority to punish officers sounds a lot like what anti-police brutality activists have been demanding across the country. But it’s still been controversial among police reform advocates. When the Oakland City Council voted to send Measure LL to the ballot this year, people jeered.
Community member Ann Janks was disappointed. People were just learning about the Oakland Police sexual misconduct scandal, and the general public seemed to have a rare appetite for a far-reaching police watchdog.
“Because of the scandal, there was a unique moment, and you are on the verge of throwing it away,” Janks said at the meeting.
One after another, for over two hours, people demanded a police commission where all members would be appointed by the people. Instead, Measure LL would let three out of seven commissioners be appointed by the mayor. Activist Vanessa Riles said she didn’t trust Mayor Libby Schaaf.
“When the sex scandal - let’s just call it rape - broke, the mayor said, ‘What am I doing, running a frat house?’ As if...that were how she’d run a frat house,” Riles said. “And that is not the person you want to appoint three members of the commission.”
Groundbreaking legislation mixed with compromise
Councilmember Dan Kalb co-wrote Measure LL, and said it is groundbreaking. The mayor gets her say, but more than half of the commission will be chosen by a panel of community members.
“This is and will be the only police commission in the country that has less of a majority coming from your chief elected office, that’s a big deal,” Kalb said. “I realize people are hissing because they want everything, and I get that, I understand that.”
In an earlier proposal, Kalb tried to get rid of the police union’s right to appeal officer discipline with an arbitrator.
But Oaklands’ biggest city employee unions joined the police union and opposed limiting the power of officers to appeal decisions about discipline.
“There was no acceptance by some people,” Kalb said. So, in order to get Measure LL passed, Kalb compromised.
“But the core stuff, the powers, the authority, is still there,” he says.
Some activists demand stronger oversight
The police union and other unions withdrew their opposition. Now the only opponents to Measure LL are skeptical activists, like Cat Brooks.
“Proponents say, ‘This is the most radical police commission in the country,’” Brooks says. “That might be true, but all the rest of them suck.”
Brooks doesn’t think San Francisco’s police commission has made an impact. In San Francisco, police commissioners can already hire and fire police chiefs.
“It’s buffoonery, and it’s modelled after that,” Brooks says. “The way they responded to the community demanding Greg Suhr be fired was just absolute non-responsiveness to community demands.”
A first step
Longtime activist Rashidah Grinage says Measure LL isn’t perfect. If it were up to her, all commissioners would be appointed by community members and the union wouldn’t be able to appeal discipline. But Grinage still says Measure LL is a big first step. More reforms can be made after it passes.
“It will require vigilance. It will require observing how they function, what's working, what isn't working, what needs to be changed,” Grinage says. “What can be changed through ordinance without going back to the voters, what might we need to go back to the voters to fix.”
Grinage says a police commission run by civilians is better than no commission at all.
“So what we're saying is, ‘Give it a chance to make a difference.’ We're not guaranteeing you that it's going to solve every problem that we have, and certainly not in the first year or two,” Grinage says. “But it's worth trying and one thing is for sure, it can’t get any worse.”
If Measure LL passes, the city will have a new police commission set up by the end of next year. If it doesn’t, the Citizen Police Review Board stays in place.Elsa/Getty Images
Patriots safety Devin McCourty was set to become a free agent, but the team will re-sign the cornerback.
Continue for updates.
McCourty to Re-sign With Patriots
Sunday, March 8
McCourty will return to the Patriots, per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. He also provided the contract details:
Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com provided a simple quote from McCourty: "I'm back."
Patriots Want McCourty to Return
Saturday, March 7
Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reported the Patriots "still want" McCourty back in New England.
On March 4, Bleacher Report's Chris Simms discussed the Patriots' top free-agent targets and noted McCourty should be at the top of the list:
On March 2, McCourty commented on the Patriots following the decision to use the franchise tag on kicker Stephen Gostkowski via ESPN's Josina Anderson:
No matter what they do with players somehow they always end up winning so. I really don’t know what their thought process is with me exactly, but I think both sides want to be back. So we will see how it works out. I want to play there, but I also understand it's a business. I don’t want to play there no matter what, but I want to be back. We'll have to see how it works out.
Anderson asked McCourty about where he would like to play if he didn't return to New England:
Not sure. I’m actually going to meet with my agent tomorrow to kind of start putting stuff together and try to get situated...We’ll have to see what teams are interested, and what the best situation is. But I know no matter where I go, it's probably going to be a little different from New England.
On Feb. 25, Phil Perry of CSNNE.com spoke to McCourty about the potential of playing somewhere other than New England next season:
McCourty went on to say the Patriots have "a huge advantage" in free agency, going on to say "If all things are equal, I’ll be back here," via Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal.
McCourty's Brother Plans to Recruit Him to Titans
Monday, Feb. 16
Devin McCourty's brother Jason, who plays cornerback for the Titans, plans to recruit him to Tennessee during free agency, according to Dan Duggan of NJ.com. Duggan provided Jason McCourty's comments:
I'll see what I can do. It's going to be hard to get him out of New England. You know how the business side of it goes. We'll see. If he becomes a free agent, I'll be doing everything in my power to try to get him to Tennessee.
Devin McCourty acknowledged his brother's pursuit, saying, "He's definitely trying to do his recruiting part if I get to the open market. I'll listen to his pitch."Many guitarists are of two minds about tribute models. In some cases, they seem like shameless cash grabs, particularly when the artist is no longer with us and can’t consent to the process. Fender’s “Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster” (registered trademark) is in no way, after all, Jimi Hendrix’s Stratocaster. His white Strat was a right-handed guitar he modified himself, turning it upside down to play as a lefty. Born of necessity, it was nonetheless a brilliant mechanical innovation that defined his sound. The mass-market version flips everything over on a left-handed guitar for the more numerous righty customers, undermining the purpose of the design, mass-producing Hendrix’s handmade alterations, and turning a one-of-a-kind historical artifact into a commodity.
Fellow lefty Kurt Cobain’s ingenious Jag-Stang—a mashup of Fender’s Mustang and Jaguar guitars—seems more legit, on the other hand, since Fender made prototypes for Cobain from a design he himself sent to the company (or rather from two Polaroids he taped together). There’s a proprietary relationship here between artist and guitar maker, a prior arrangement. We don’t see that relationship between another famous player and his guitar’s famous maker. Like Hendrix and Cobain and their Fenders, Willie Nelson has inspired generations of players to pick up Martin acoustics. But I very much doubt that Martin would ever produce a replica based on Trigger, Nelson’s stalwart classical ax, even if such a thing were possible.
That’s for the best. Trigger is and should remain an entirely unique object. It has an aura of its own, much of it emanating from a huge hole in the middle of the guitar. Like its owner, Trigger is weathered and worn, and instantly recognizable. It has been with Nelson since he restarted his career in Austin after his first bout of Nashville fame, and it represents Nelson’s transformation from traditional crooner into the outlaw troubadour who emerged in the early seventies to change the course of country music. (Read the story of the man and his guitar here.) To really appreciate Trigger's ragged mysteries, you don’t need to hear from Martin guitars, but from one of the instrument’s elite hostlers, so to speak. Respected luthier Mark Erlewine takes care of Trigger when it's at home in Austin and can explain, as he does in the video above, every one of the guitar’s peculiarities.
“There are a number of things wrong with it,” says Erlewine, “but they’re just minor repairs to keep it going.” As for that hole and the craters surrounding it, he seems unconcerned. Though it looks like it might cave in at any moment, Erlewine has kept it structurally sound. “Willie is not concerned about the looks of this guitar so much as the playability and functionality of it.” How did Trigger come to take on its distinctive wounds? Not in the way you might expect. Rather than a stage accident or tour mishap, the way these things can happen, Nelson’s guitar became damaged through the sheer passion of his fingerstyle playing. Over the years his fingernails would “often chip into the wood and pull out wood as he plays.”
In perfect condition when he bought it, Trigger has recorded in its beaten-up top the motor memories of “over 10,000 shows and recording sessions" in the deep impressions of only its owner's fingers and personality. There is no way to duplicate this phenomenon for mass consumption. Stick with the video, from guitar tool and parts giant Stewart-MacDonald, and see how Erlewine keeps Trigger healthy, "alive," and "shored up over the years."
via Uncrate
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Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagnessWelcome back to The Way of Kings reread on Tor.com. Last week we saw Kaladin bedridden after surviving his trial by highstorm. Though he’d come through the hurricane, his wounds and fever kept his men in suspense as to whether he would survive. This week, their fears are relieved as Kaladin emerges into the bright sunlight of the living world once more. But can he find a way to share their joy, or will the twin burdens of the hopeless present and the tragic past bring the wretch back?
In today’s reread I’ll cover chapters 40 and 41. Read on for more of Kaladin’s depression, Lirin’s medical know-how and attempted malpractice, and the beginning of Sigzil’s expositional career.
Chapter 40: Eyes of Red and Blue
Setting: The Shattered Plains, Sadeas’s warcamp
Point of View: Kaladin
What Happens: Kaladin emerges, blinded and blinking, into the daylight world outside Bridge Four’s barrack. After an unknown time spent tossing and turning in the throes of fever, he is weak and confused. Most bewildering of all, to his mind, is the basic fact of his survival. He goes looking for his men, and is surprised to find them carrying out the rigorous bridge practice regimen he’d set out, even in his absence. When Moash, running at the front of the bridge, notices Kaladin he stumbles to a stop, almost toppling the entire crew. Soon the bridgemen are all walking towards Kaladin, reverent expressions on their faces.
Kaladin breaks the tense mood by pointing out their sloppy response to Moash stopping. When he smiles, they’re on him, laughing and celebrating his return to health. Kaladin tries to join in, but soon loses himself in memories of the highstorm. He remembers Syl in her warrior form, the nearly deadly conditions, the huge, mysterious face, and the deathspren. He asks how long he’d been out, and can’t believe that it’s only been ten days. That’s not nearly enough time for his wounds to have healed.
The men fill him in on what’s happened while he was out, then go back to their celebrations. They now seem to regard Kaladin with something approaching worship. As he ponders what he’s gotten himself into now, knowing that his prediction that he would survive is dangerously like prophecy and that Sadeas would be furious to know he survived, a horn announces a bridge run, and Bridge Four is on duty.
Kaladin, too weak to carry the bridge, joins Lopen and Dabbid on water-carrying duty. When they reach the battle, he watches it instead of resting, trying to figure out Sadeas’s tactics. Now that he knows that “bridgemen aren’t supposed to survive,” things make more sense; there are too many bridges and the Parshendi are too disorganized and rough to realize that they’re being baited. Rock and Sigzil join him, and Kaladin asks why the Parshendi fight. Rock says it’s because they aren’t fond of the idea of being beheaded by vengeance-crazed Alethi, but Sigzil has a more sophisticated answer: They fight because they need the gemhearts, even though their numbers are dwindling from the skirmishes. Therefore, they must have Soulcasters, and must need gemhearts for food.
Kaladin then asks why the bridgemen can’t have shields, and explains that they’re left undefended to draw Parshendi attention. Sigzil calls this a foolish waste of troops, but Kaladin points out that protecting the time and money invested in trained soldiers makes it far from foolish.
Back at the camp that night, Kaladin watches as the men talk and laugh while waiting for Rock’s nightly stew. He can’t share their happiness. He knows that all his previous struggles have been misguided. He could never have convinced Sadeas to value bridgemen as soldiers. It’s insane to try to save bridgemen by carrying bridges well, because carrying a bridge means being marked for death intentionally. His men trust him now, but that only sickens him. He doesn’t want to be their false hope, and doesn’t know how to perform another miracle for them. Kaladin can feel the wretch he left behind rising inside him, fed by the knowledge that he is going to fail his men.
Maps, one of the bridgemen, rises and makes an impromptu speech. He tells the men that it’s a special night, since Kaladin is back, and there’s good food coming, if Rock ever finishes fussing over the meal. Then he surprises the Horneater by tossing him a present: a razor and shaving kit. Rock tears up and flees the campfire, letting the hungry bridgemen descend upon his unguarded stew.
After a moment of consideration, the men crowd the stew pot. Instead of joining the press, Kaladin goes over to Sigzil, the only other man hanging back. Sigzil reveals himself to be an educated man, then tells Kaladin that the men suspect him to secretly be noble-born. After some confusion over terminology (their shared language has no word for “noble” that doesn’t imply “light of eye”) and insistence on Kaladin’s part that he’s just a common man, he presses for Sigzil’s story. Sigzil speaks cryptically, saying that he tried and failed to kill someone, and that he had a master once.
Sigzil says that Kaladin is right about the bridgemen being doomed, and tells him a story of Marabethia. He says that condemned criminals there can choose to be hung over the bay with cut cheeks as bait for greatshells. If they survive for a week they can go free, but none ever do. This has led to an expression, “eyes of red and blue,” which describes men who prefer false hope to reality.
Sigzil praises Kaladin’s work, comparing it to giving medicine to a sick man to ease his death. It’s small comfort for Kaladin. Before he can think more about it, though, Rock bursts out, having shaved his beard into a strange sideburn arrangement. He offers the razor to everyone, and some take him up on his offer, but Kaladin can’t see the point. He sees the world pressing down on him, and knows he’s falling into depression.
Quote of the Chapter:
Sigzil hesitated. “Yes,” he finally said. “Among my people, it is not a sin for a male to be keen of mind.” “It isn’t a sin for Alethi either.” “My experience is that you care only about wars and the art of killing.” “And what have you seen of us besides our army?” “Not much,” Sigzil admitted.
Is Sigzil wrong? Not entirely. Pursuing fulfillment through the life of the mind is stigmatized for Alethi men, and all stigmas in Alethi society have their roots in religious tradition. However, I read this exchange as a gentle reminder from Sanderson. We are being offered a biased cross-section of Alethi culture. It’s easy enough to forget, when surrounded by violent and ignorant soldiers, that there is more to the Alethi than this. Dalinar manages occasional wisdom and frequent nobility, for example. Kaladin and Lirin both attempt to practice learned arts. The Azish man still isn’t wrong.
Commentary:
Oh hi, depression. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable? We’ve got some big Kaladin-shaped bean bags for you to sink right into.
Kaladin is beset by a lot of strange circumstances in this chapter. First, there’s the fact that he’s not dead, like he should be, but instead has healed his broken ribs in just ten days. Not only did his men keep up their training in his absence, showing that his lessons sunk in, but now they all seem to worship him as a magical miracle man. His men are actually happy, and see hope for the future. But, simultaneously, the scales have fallen away from his eyes and he’s beginning to understand Sadeas’s evil tactics. He knows his plan was doomed from the start.
So, in a way, Kaladin has it worse than ever. He’s earned the respect of his men in circumstances that were totally beyond his control and which he doesn’t know how to replicate. He’s earned the attention of Sadeas. He has no plan. How much more terrible is it for him to be sinking into depression while surrounded by people who have learned how to be happy again from him?
All of this would be bad enough without all Kaladin’s stormlight-related changes. He just can’t deal with the things that are happening to his body!
I like when characters are competent, and this is a chapter of competence. Kaladin displays his ability to analyze the battlefield. Sigzil shows off his ability to tell stories as well as the related talent of analyzing foreign cultures. Seriously, it’s really great to see him examine the Parshendi and come to conclusions based on the premise that they’re rational beings. Rock cooks up a storm, Maps practices speechifying, and the crew in general shows how well it’s doing at forming a coherent unit. I love that they promoted Kaladin to captain when the higher-ups made Rock squadleader.
How great is it to watch Sigzil try to explain the concept of non-lighteyed nobility to Kaladin? You know a culture is committed to an idea when it shapes their very language. The idea that people with dark eyes could be the equals of people with light eyes is practically untranslatable.
In this chapter, Kaladin is willing to assign a huge amount of moral weight to his potential failure to save lives. The next chapter is all about that question.
Chapter 41: Of Alds and Milp
Location: Hearthstone, Five and a Half Years Ago
Point of View: Kaladin
What Happens: Kaladin pushes past a hysterical Laral to join Lirin in the surgery room. Kaladin leaps to assist his father, Hesina and Tien taking auxiliary roles or fleeing, respectively. Roshone and his son Rillir have gotten themselves terribly wounded while hunting whitespines. Rillir has been pierced through the torso, his leg hanging by a few tendons.
Kaladin washes out Rillir’s stomach wound so his father can examine it. Lirin probes the wound, grows even sterner, then turns away to tend to Roshone instead. The citylord protests, but Lirin coldly explains that his son is dead. There is nothing he can do to help him except ease his pain. He has Kaladin doze the furious lighteyes with dazewater, then apply it to Rillir to ease his passing.
The two extract the shards of whitespine tusk from Roshone efficiently, while Lirin complains about the folly of going hunting for such dangerous creatures. As if it weren’t enough to send half the town to the war. Before removing the last shard, Lirin’s scalpel hovers over Roshone’s femoral artery. If he cut it, Roshone would be dead in minutes. He looked up at his son, then pulled back his scalpel, removed the last shard, and began to close the wound. “Behind them, Rillir had stopped breathing.”
Later that day, Kaladin watches the blood-red sunset, thinking about blood, eyes, and nobility. When his father joins him, he tells Lirin that he saw inside a man. Specifically, he saw inside his father, saw a man who would have let Roshone die if Kaladin hadn’t been there. He demands to know why he didn’t let him die, or even kill him.
Lirin says he couldn’t, because he’s not a killer. “Somebody has to start. Somebody has to step forward and do what is right, because it is right.” He wants to be better than the lighteyes, to reawaken human decency, and for his son to do the same. Kaladin, on the other hand, thinks he should have let Roshone die.
Lirin tells him to go inside and get some rest so he could be ready when Alds and Milp, the darkeyed men who accompanied Roshone’s hunting party, are brought back. Kaladin doubts this will happen; the men are surely dead by now. He thinks about whether he would have killed Roshone, and thinks he wouldn’t. But he doesn’t feel like he had any obligation to help, either. He realizes that his father is wrong about him. He’s nowhere near as gentle or averse to death as his father suspects. He discovers that he could kill, when necessary. “Some people—like a festering finger or a leg shattered beyond repair—just needed to be removed.”
Quote of the Chapter:
“I work under three guidelines, Roshone,” Lirin said, forcibly pressing the lighteyes down against his table. “The guidelines every surgeon uses when choosing between two patients. If the wounds are equal, treat the youngest first.” “Then see to my son!” “If the wounds are not equally threatening,” Lirin continued, “Treat the worst wound first.” “As I’ve been telling you!” “The third guideline supersedes them both, Roshone,” Lirin said, leaning down. “A surgeon must know when someone is beyond their ability to help. I’m sorry, Roshone. I would save him if I could, I promise you. But I cannot.”
They have formalized rules of triage! I’m going to be over here, swooning. You’ll have to excuse me.
Commentary:
Let me pull out the parallels between these two chapters. First, the dazewater, which seems to be some kind of ether or chloroform. Kaladin gives Rillir what Sigzil said he was giving the bridgemen: a medicine to ease the pain of the dying. I find that linking detail subtle but powerful. Chapter 41 also continues the investigation of lack of action. In the present, when it comes to his men, Kaladin would feel as culpable letting them die as if he were actually killing them himself. But in the past he saw a moral distinction between killing Roshone and letting him bleed out. This might be a contradiction, but I think it’s more likely that Kaladin sees his men as a voluntary obligation he took on. He has the ability to preserve life, and is obligated to preserve the lives of those who he chooses to take care of, but he doesn’t feel an obligation to help those who he morally disapproves of. I’m not totally sure this position is morally tenable.
It’s fascinating that Kaladin discovers his capacity to kill in the context of surgery. More evidence, I believe, for Kaladin’s healing/killing duality.
Finally, let me just say that I love the way this chapter’s name works. It’s named after Alds and Milp, two men who lost their lives because of Roshone’s capriciousness, and the two characters don’t even make it to the surgery. They’re never seen in the text, except as names attached to people who are never coming home.
Carl Engle-Laird is the editorial assistant and resident Stormlight correspondent for Tor.com. You can follow him on Twitter here.Microsoft
Windows 8.1 users will eventually start seeing ads along with their usual search results.
Microsoft will begin to incorporate thumbnail images of the Web pages of Bing advertisers as part of the Windows 8.1 Smart Search, David Pann, general manager of Microsoft's Advertising Search Group, revealed in a blog post Tuesday.
The Windows 8.1 Smart Search improves on the search feature found in Windows 8. Smart Search can dig up results across a variety of sources, including your PC or tablet, your apps, your SkyDrive cloud storage, and the Web. Your results are also grouped together, making them more easily accessible than they are in Windows 8.
"Now, with a single campaign setup, advertisers can connect with consumers across Bing, Yahoo, and the new Windows Search with highly relevant ads for their search queries," Pann said. "In addition, Bing Ads will include Web previews of Web sites and the latest features like site links, location, and call extensions, making it easier for consumers to complete tasks and for advertisers to drive qualified leads."
Since Smart Search taps into so many different sources, it's only natural that Microsoft sees it as a ripe spot for advertisements. The search results from the Web are already "powered by Bing." So, for better or worse, ads are a logical next step for Microsoft and its advertisers.
Microsoft paints it all as a plus for Windows users.
"As we've said before, our goal is to make search advertising easier for our customers, while providing the best consumer experience with the most relevant results for the tasks they are looking to accomplish," Pann added.Since you’re reading this on the internet, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you’ve come across a fair amount of landing pages within the last hour or so.
You probably see them all the time, right?
But, out of the dozens (maybe hundreds) of landing pages you view week after week, how many are engaging enough to get you to sign up for whatever offer or product is being presented? How many are engaging enough to make you even think about doing so? Probably not that many.
But, every once in awhile, I become captivated by the message being presented on a landing page.
It only takes a few seconds for a landing page to grab my attention. But once I’m intrigued, I almost always sign up to receive additional information from the website in question.
Now, as I said, this doesn’t happen all that often. Most landing pages are somewhat generic and are written in an overly “sales focused” manner – which are huge red flags telling me to stay away from this company.
The landing pages that grab my attention and persuade me to sign up, on the other hand, are written in a way that truly speaks to me as an individual. In these cases, it almost feels like the creator of the landing page somehow knows everything about a personal struggle I’d been going through, and created the page – and their services – just for me.
And if a company can get me feeling that way from just their landing page, I’ll have every reason to believe I’ll get value out of everything else they have to offer, as well.
To put it more plainly: You need to speak your customer’s language when creating landing pages for your website. If not, the vast majority of your visitors are going to end up hitting the “back” button before they even take a second glance at the |
house I did not yet have. I bought starched white tablecloths, embroideries, hand-painted plates, ceramic urns, blue-rimmed goblets, a trunk made of inlaid wood, ink drawings on amate bark, and a chest of drawers with carvings of birds and flowers. Most of these things graced the borrowed rooms where we stayed. It gave me pleasure to be surrounded by the beauty created by the hands of others. But a few things felt too precious for my temporary life in Mexico. I saved them for the house of my dreams.
Eventually, I did get a job teaching anthropology, and the house materialised, a Victorian house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with many rooms, daisies in the garden, and all the quiet I could ever want. I filled the house with the things from Mexico. Only the chest of drawers was too large to carry across the border in our Volkswagen. It stayed with friends in the town, but I still entertain thoughts of getting it back. And I’ll admit that some of those precious things from Mexico remain wrapped in tissue paper even now, hidden away in my house.
In the past 30 years, I have acquired many more things in the course of many more travels. From Cuba, my native land, where I have returned incessantly since the 1990s, I’ve carried art, sculpture, maracas, batá drums, and even sand from Varadero Beach, where my parents honeymooned. To this, add my vast collection of books in English and Spanish. And add the numerous pairs of high heels required to stroke my vanity. This frivolity is in balance with a desire to be the keeper of my intimate historical past. I am the person in the family who keeps the old photographs and expired passports, the dress my grandmother wore to her 50th wedding anniversary, the nightgowns my mother wore on her honeymoon. At once warehouse and museum, my house is sinking, like a boat, from so much weight.
I have surprised myself by ending up becoming more of a rooted creature than I ever imagined I’d be. I have held on to the same job, the same house, the same address, the same husband (I, who never expected to marry). I gave my son, my only child, who is now the age I was when I thought I was never going to settle down, the gift of an immense stability – firm and steady ground on which to stand.
But when I travel and a stranger asks if I’m from Michigan, I immediately reply: ‘I live there, but I’m not from there.’ I feel compelled to tell everyone about my immigrant past: ‘I was born in Cuba, my ancestors were Jews who spoke Yiddish and Judeo-Espanyol, and I grew up in New York. I live in Michigan because it’s where I work.’
I suppose I fear that people might get a mistaken impression of me if they think I am from Michigan. It’s a desire to tell the truth of who I am, to assert I am a person of many diasporas, I come from somewhere else, I don’t have a firm allegiance to any single place. I am passing through, grateful for a place to rest my wings.
That I should feel adrift after living in Ann Arbor for so many years might seem absurd, but my sense of connection to place is fluid and complex. The meaning of home, I have come to realise, is full of contradictions, and impossible to encompass in a single definition.
Home is a concrete location on a map.
Home is a set of memories that can’t be confined to any map.
Home is the street where you took your first steps.
Home is genealogy, who begat whom, and how you came to be.
Home is the historical record of those who came before you.
Home is the land your ancestors fought for and lost.
Home is the land your ancestors conquered by force.
Home is your kin, those whom you hold dear.
Home is the nest you create with the stranger who becomes your life partner.
Home is the cornfield, the olive trees, the herd of sheep from which you were fed.
Home is the hearth, the home fire, the kitchen that gathers family and friends.
Home is a refrigerator stocked with your favourite flavour of ice cream.
Home is the way your grandmother said your name like a blessing.
And a home is where you put your grandmother when she is sick and useless.
Home is the lullaby your mother sang you to sleep.
Home is the lullaby you wish your mother had sung you to sleep.
Home is a shared language where even your slightest gestures are understood.
Home is where you can lounge in pyjamas all day if you feel like it.
Home is shelter: the house, the apartment, the flat, the shack, the tent, where you can find rest and refuge from the natural elements, from heat, rain, cold, snow, tempests.
Home is your beloved, to whom you bring flowers, gifts, and chocolates.
Home is where you were bored and dreamed of new horizons.
Home is your home page on your website, or your home screen on your cell phone.
Home is a filthy stove, an unmopped floor, dusty bookcases, cobwebs in the corners, accusing you of untidiness and laziness.
Home is that place you vacate in order to go on vacation and forget about your untidiness and laziness.
Home is that place where treasures are stored and thieves lie in wait to steal what they can.
Home is a piece of real estate, to buy and sell.
Home is a mortgage you spend your life working to pay off and resent like hell.
Home is that place between four walls where you were mistreated, abused, raped, hated for no reason, by those who were supposed to protect you and care for you.
Home is that doll’s house from which a wife wants to escape but lacks the means or courage to do so.
Home is that place where you can be a woman alone and no one feels sorry for you.
Home is that place where you were tortured by a government that fears its citizens.
Home is that place where you went to bed hungry.
Home is that place where you weren’t allowed to pray to your gods openly.
Home is that place where you aren’t afraid to wear a hijab or a kippah in the street.
Home is that place of endless war and strife where you never felt safe.
Home is that place from which you were expelled, told to leave or lose your life.
Home is that place where your ancestors found their final resting place.
Home is that place where your ancestors were brutally dehumanised and left to die without a grave.
Home is that place which took you in like an orphan when you had no place to go.
Home is that place to which you want to keep returning.
Home is that place to which you never again want to return.
Home is that place which is unspeakable in the way that Isadora Duncan once remarked that if she could say what it means she wouldn’t have to dance it.
In an age of massive displacement and global travel, does the concept of home even make sense anymore? At the present time, there might be as many as 200 million people living outside the country of their birth. No one is more disruptive and destructive of the concept of home than the immigrant. But the immigrant also demonstrates an uncanny ability to recreate, nostalgically and therefore imperfectly, the vestiges of an abandoned culture in a different place, while adapting to, even mastering, a new language and society.
Ruth Behar arriving with her family in the USA in 1962.
Still, no matter how settled, a queasy unsettledness, an existential ambivalence, haunts the immigrant. Let me use my father as an example. On July 4th each year, he proudly displays his American flag on the front porch of the house he and my mother bought long after my brother and I had moved away. But after 50 years in the US, he can’t be sure it’s his final destination. My father keeps 500 $1 bills stashed away in case he and my mother ever have to leave the US in a hurry, just as they had to leave Cuba. ‘Why all $1 bills?’ I ask. He replies, half-joking but also half-serious: ‘Don’t you know? To bribe the guards at the border, so we can get across.’
Ours is a crazily criss-crossing world and there is great irony in the fact that the modern-day traveller typically seeks out exactly those locations that many immigrants desperately sought to leave. I saw this collision of forces at work 20 years ago in Cuba at a time of economic and moral collapse. The ports were thrown open by the government and all who wished could leave by sea. Disaffected rafters risked the journey on any vessel that could float. Meanwhile, 1994 was the year of the first art biennial in Havana to be open to the capitalist world since the Cuban Revolution of 1959. American curators and dealers rushed between exhibits, marvelling at the art they’d missed for decades, then relaxed after the hubbub, drinking mojitos on the veranda of the Hotel Nacional. As they swooned, rafters died in the depths of the ocean, more than we will ever know.
I knew people who worked the land and tended cows and sheep, and never found the time to travel just a couple of hours for a glimpse of the ocean
To be able to travel, especially with ‘the comforts of home’, is a privilege. Those who move about the world without being uprooted from their homes too easily forget this basic fact. Anthropologists are strange travellers in that we go to the same places over and over, unlike tourists who have a checklist and are always going someplace new. I have spent long periods of time with people who haven’t ever travelled, people who have not ventured beyond the towns and cities where they were born and raised. In Santa María del Monte, a village at the foot of the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain, I knew people in the late 1970s and early ’80s who worked the land and tended cows and sheep, and never found the time or had the inclination to travel just a couple of hours to get a glimpse of the ocean.
Later, in Mexico in the mid-1980s, I met men who crossed el charco, ‘the puddle’ of the Rio Grande, as a rite of passage, without documents, and worked in agriculture or in restaurant kitchens in the US, but didn’t dare look around too much or go too far, for fear of being caught and deported. Eventually, missing their families, feeling a loneliness that no one should feel, they went back home on their own.
Most recently, in Cuba, I have become close to the woman who was my nanny when I was a child. Now in her late 80s, she has been only to Melena del Sur, her hometown in the countryside, and Havana, the city that embraced her when she went there to accept the only job available to her in the 1950s as a poor black woman – domestic work. She has never flown in an airplane. She has never had to explain her identity to anyone. But any news she receives from her son in Miami, who hasn’t returned in 10 years – whether directly via a phone call or indirectly via an email message sent to a neighbour and relayed to her – she will report in the most vivid detail, as if she had experienced it herself. What she doesn’t know for sure, she will imagine and embellish, for that is the gift of those who don’t leave home – they can weave remarkable stories from the barest of threads.
Pondering the relationship between feeling at home and being homesick has long been an anthropological obsession. The discipline took off from the idea that an anthropologist had to leave home in order to study otherness in a distant place. Knowledge was built through reflecting on the meaning of insider and outsider, familiar and exotic, native and stranger. But in the quest to get from place to place, everything in between, the vast infrastructure of modern life, escaped our notice. We missed the transient places that the French anthropologist Marc Augé has called ‘non-places’ – airports, shopping malls, hotels, highways, bus terminals, and subways.
These ‘non-places’ have radically changed the concept of home, not only for most of us in the first world but for a growing number of those in the developing world. Perhaps nothing has left so strong a mark on our identities as the periods spent in the sky and in the airports that gather together assorted strangers before sorting them on to different planes. An airport ‘hub’ is a stopping point between places. The ‘hub’ is an apt metaphor for how many of us among the privileged are living out the meaning of home in everyday practice. Those who are frequent flyers and spend much of the year moving between places might find that the place we call home has come to seem like the route to elsewhere. Home is where you do your laundry, run to the dentist to get your teeth cleaned, and frantically rest your weary bones before embarking on the next odyssey. In turn, airport hubs are trying to become our homes, offering outlets to recharge our numerous devices so we can continue to communicate from afar, as well as shopping, restaurants, prayer rooms, and massage.
As ‘non-places’ expand from centres to peripheries all around the world, there is renewed pressure to work hard to prevent the home from becoming a long-term hotel room. Sentimental notions of the sanctity of the home are enlisted as a means of challenging the threat of ‘non-places.’ A preponderance of guides, including websites such as Apartment Therapy and Houzz, exist for the sole purpose of assisting us in making our homes uniquely charming and irreplaceable. Home Depot and Pier One have become the iconic commercial outlets offering practical supplies and decorative touches for these homemaking projects that alternately encourage us to be richly rococo or humbly Zen.
We can give up home altogether and be homeless by choice – not as a result of poverty or broken family ties, but to let go of the weight of things
But there is another choice we can make, and that is to give up home altogether and be homeless by choice – not as a result of poverty or broken family ties, but to let go of the weight of the things that prevent us from fully engaging with the world and becoming true cosmopolitans, people at home everywhere.
I had the pleasure of meeting such a cosmopolitan recently in Lafayette, Louisiana, where I’d gone to speak about the theme of travelling heavy. She politely came to talk to me after my first presentation and told me she was a modern nomad. She had given up nearly all her possessions and moved around in a car that doubled as her bedroom and living room. I must have looked at her quizzically, because she recommended a book on the subject that she said would make it all clear. I didn’t get to jot down the title and regretted forgetting it.
Fortunately, the next day, I gave a second talk, and this woman kindly came to hear me again. She brought along the book. It was Tales of a Female Nomad (2001) by Rita Golden Gelman, a writer of children’s books who studied anthropology as her marriage was ending. After her divorce, she decided to live the anthropological dream of satisfying her wanderlust, ‘living at large in the world’. In order to be able to travel constantly, and for her money to stretch, she made a choice to spend much of her time in the developing world – in those places where ‘non-places’ haven’t made a big dent yet. Embracing the quintessential ‘non-place’ of the road, she made a home of it.
I was touched by the gift of this book and held on to it closely.
‘Pass it on when you’re done,’ the woman said. ‘Give it to someone else.’
I nodded in agreement, knowing how bad I am at letting things go. I descend from nomads, people who suffered from expulsions and uprootings, people who could pack at a moment’s notice and start their lives again from scratch. But I am a keeper of things.
I’ll try to give the book away, I promise. Anybody want my copy? You’ll have to come to my sinking house in Michigan to get it.Elite Dangerous to Add a Carrie Fisher Memorial in Next Update
Kenneth Richardson December 29, 2016 5:23:10 PM EST
Players and developers alike are mourning the death of actress, writer, and activist Carrie Fisher, known best for her work on the Star Wars series.
After being devastated by Fisher’s death earlier this week, players of FPS Elite Dangerous took to the game’s forums to request some sort of tribute or memorial to the actress be added to the game. The request was heard, as Executive Producer Michael Brookes quickly confirmed the addition on the forums:
Sad news indeed – a ‘Fisher’s Rest’ outpost will be added to the game in the 2.3 release.
The 2.3 update to Elite Dangerous is due out sometime next year.
Elite Dangerous isn’t the only game to which fans have requested some sort of memorial for Fisher be added; many are asking on the forums for Star Wars: The Old Republic.Charles Leerhsen
Author, Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty Charles Leerhsen is a journalist, author, and adjunct professor at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism. He has been an editor for Sports Illustrated, People, and Us Weekly, and spent eleven years as a senior writer at Newsweek. He has also written for Esquire, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, and Money. He is the author of several books, including Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America and, most recently, Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, which won the 2015 Casey Award for best baseball book of the year.
The following is adapted from a speech delivered at Hillsdale College on March 7, 2016, during a program on “Sports and Character” sponsored by the College’s Center for Constructive Alternatives.
Ty Cobb was one of the greatest baseball players of all time and king of the so-called Deadball Era. He played in the major leagues—mostly for the Detroit Tigers but a bit for the Philadelphia Athletics—from 1905 to 1928, and was the first player ever voted into the Hall of Fame. His lifetime batting average of.366 is amazing, and has never been equaled. But for all that, most Americans think of him first as an awful person—a racist and a low-down cheat who thought nothing of injuring his fellow players just to gain another base or score a run. Indeed, many think of him as a murderer. Ron Shelton, the director of the 1995 movie Cobb, starring Tommy Lee Jones in the title role, told me it was “well known” that Cobb had killed “as many as” three people.
It is easy to understand why this is the prevailing view. People have been told that Cobb was a bad man over and over, all of their lives. The repetition felt like evidence. It started soon after Cobb’s death in 1961, with the publication of an article by a man named Al Stump, one of several articles and books he would write about Cobb. Among other things, Stump claimed that when children wrote to Cobb asking for an autographed picture, he steamed the stamps off the return envelopes and never wrote back. In another book—this one about Cobb’s contemporary Tris Speaker—baseball historian Timothy Gay wrote (implausibly, if you think about it) that Cobb would pistol-whip any black person he saw on the sidewalk. And then there were the stories about how Cobb sharpened his spikes: before every game, numerous sources claim, he would hone his cleats with a file. In the 1989 film Field of Dreams, Shoeless Joe Jackson says that Cobb wasn’t invited to the ghostly cornfield reunion of old-time ballplayers because “No one liked that son of a bitch.” The line always gets a knowing laugh.
When I pitched my idea for a book on Cobb to Simon and Schuster, I was squarely in line with this way of thinking. I figured my task would be relatively easy. I would go back to the original source material—the newspaper accounts, documents, and letters that previous biographers had never really looked at. I would find fresh examples of Cobb being monstrous, blend them with the stories that Al Stump and others wrote, and come up with the first major Cobb book in more than 20 years. But when I started in on the nuts-and-bolts research with original sources—the kind of shoe-leather reporting I had learned working at Newsweek in its heyday—it didn’t even take me ten minutes to find something that brought me up short.
Cobb being from Georgia—he grew up and is buried in Royston, a town in Georgia’s northern hills—I had begun by searching old issues of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I quickly came across a curious article written in late 1911, after the baseball season had ended, when Cobb was touring in a three-act comedy called The College Widow. (In those days, ballplayers were tied to their teams by the reserve clause and couldn’t sell their services for their true market value; to make extra money, they often capitalized on their fame by appearing in plays or vaudeville.) The writer of the article was recounting a backstage visit with Cobb, and described him as a man who very much wanted to please the audience. Cobb was also going out of his way to accommodate the interviewer (who was asking tedious questions) while simultaneously being hospitable to a second guest—a catcher he had played with in the minor leagues—who showed up in the small dressing room smoking a cigar. It was like the crowded stateroom scene in the Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera, and meanwhile the play was in progress, Cobb was trying to make costume changes, and the stage manager was barking at Cobb to be on his mark in 30 seconds.Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, walks through tall grass during a pheasant hunt hosted by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013, in Akron, Iowa. Cruz attended the Iowa GOP's annual fundraising dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Thursday strongly defended the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, telling attendees of the group's policy summit that they can't let criticism get them down.
"I first came to ALEC over a decade ago. When I was serving in the Bush administration, I'd been privileged to work with ALEC in the federal government," Cruz said. "I've been privileged to work with ALEC when I was back in Texas with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, leading the 10th Amendment Center, and I'm proud to stand with ALEC today."
The group has faced extra scrutiny since the February 2012 shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida. Authorities initially refused to arrest neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman -- Martin's admitted killer -- citing Florida's Stand Your Ground law. Zimmerman was eventually found not guilty in the murder.
In October, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) convened a hearing on ALEC's role in pushing Stand Your Ground laws across the country.
"I was just at the Capitol and I was asked to pass along an inquiry from Sen. Durbin: 'Are you now or have you ever been a member of ALEC?'" Cruz joked at the event.
"I'll tell you this," he said. "My advice to ALEC is very, very simple: Stand your ground."
Cruz also bristled at Durbin's ALEC inquiries at the time, saying they amounted to an "inappropriate government intrusion."
Still, all the controversy has taken a toll on ALEC. On Tuesday, the Guardian published internal group documents that showed "the network has lost almost 400 state legislators from its membership over the past two years, as well as more than 60 corporations that form the core of its funding. In the first six months of this year it suffered a hole in its budget of more than a third of its projected income."
There was a significant corporate presence at the policy summit this week, despite the defections. AT&T, Chevron, PhRMA and Time Warner Cable were all sponsors of the event and took part in meetings to shape model legislation that were blocked to the press.
One piece of legislation being considered is what ALEC is calling a "soft repeal" of the 17th Amendment, which established the direct election of U.S. senators. Before the amendment was adopted in 1913, state legislatures chose senators.
Although he didn't comment specifically on the ALEC proposal, Cruz had unkind words for the 17th Amendment in his speech on Thursday.
"Prior to the 17th Amendment, the state legislatures' ability and authority to select senators was a powerful check on the federal government coming and intruding on the prerogatives of the state," he said. "Because if you have the ability to hire and fire me, I'm a lot less likely to break into your house and steal your television. So there's no doubt that was a major step toward the explosion of federal power and the undermining of the authority of the states at the local level."
He also said he would back a balanced budget amendment and an amendment that would give state legislatures more power in changing the U.S. Constitution.
Cruz basked in the criticism the Affordable Care Act has received in recent weeks, saying he felt vindicated for pushing for the law's full repeal. That push led to a 16-day shutdown of the federal government in October, which was widely acknowledged by members of both parties to have been a bad idea. Cruz, however, seems to feel just fine about it.
"Boy, it's amazing how things can change in a few weeks in politics," he said. "Just a few weeks ago, people in Washington were saying, why on earth are you guys fighting so hard against Obamacare? Now, nobody's saying that. Over and over again, you run into people who say, now I understand what this was all about."
Corporate Sponsors of the ALEC summit, as listed in the program:
CHAIR LEVEL
Citizens for Self-Governance
Reynolds American
PhRMA
State Policy Network
VICE CHAIR LEVEL
Peabody Energy
Altria
Edison Electric Institute
DIRECTOR LEVEL
AT&T
Chevron
Canadian National Railway CompanyWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday granted a Trump administration request to put on hold a legal challenge by industry and a group of states to former President Barack Obama’s regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants, rules that the Republican president is moving to undo.
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as he departs the White House in Washington, U.S. April 28, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
A 10-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted the request to put the litigation involving the regulations, known as the Clean Power Plan, in abeyance for at least 60 days while the administration plans its next steps.
The court also asked the administration and other parties to file briefs on whether the case should be sent back to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Supreme Court last year put the regulations on hold pending the outcome of the case.
In a separate order issued on Friday, the same court put on hold a case challenging another set of Obama climate regulations aimed at new power plants.
Twenty-seven states, led by coal-producer West Virginia and industry groups, challenged the Obama regulation. Other states and environmental groups backed the former administration.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who sided with the previous administration’s EPA to defend the Clean Power Plan, brushed off the court’s move, saying it simply puts the litigation on hold for 60 days.
“Today’s temporary pause in the litigation does not relieve EPA of its legal obligation to limit carbon pollution from its largest source: fossil-fueled power plants,” Schneiderman said. “I will continue to fight in court to ensure EPA fulfills its legal responsibility.”
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who led the challenge against the rule, said Friday’s decision signaled that the court has acknowledged the change in the political landscape “and that a decision on the merits is not appropriate at this time.”
An executive order by Trump was part of his effort to cut federal environmental regulations to revive the energy drilling and coal mining industries, a promise he made during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Energy analysts and executives have questioned whether Trump’s broad moves against environmental regulations will provide a big benefit for their industries, and environmentalists have called his actions reckless.
The Clean Power Plan was designed to lower carbon emissions from existing U.S. power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 levels. It was seen as the main tool for the United States to meet the emissions-reduction target it promised to reach at U.N. climate talks in Paris in December 2015. Power plants are the largest source of U.S. carbon emissions.
David Cherney, an energy analyst for PA Consulting, said the D.C. Circuit ruling gives the Trump administration more time to come up with a replacement to the Clean Power Plan, which will inevitably be followed by more legal challenges.
“Any change to the Clean Power Plan by the Trump administration will be challenged in courts and would need to be sufficiently justified to survive legal challenge from the environmental lobby,” Cherney said.XARELTO® may cause serious side effects, including:
Increased risk of blood clots if you stop taking XARELTO ®. People with atrial fibrillation (an irregular heart beat) that is not caused by a heart valve problem (nonvalvular) are at an increased risk of forming a blood clot in the heart, which can travel to the brain, causing a stroke, or to other parts of the body. XARELTO ® lowers your chance of having a stroke by helping to prevent clots from forming. If you stop taking XARELTO ®, you may have increased risk of forming a clot in your blood. Do not stop taking XARELTO ® without talking to the doctor who prescribes it for you. Stopping XARELTO ® increases your risk of having a stroke. If you have to stop taking XARELTO ®, your doctor may prescribe another blood thinner medicine to prevent a blood clot from forming.
Increased risk of bleeding. XARELTO ® can cause bleeding which can be serious, and may lead to death. This is because XARELTO ® is a blood thinner medicine (anticoagulant) that lowers blood clotting. During treatment with XARELTO ® you are likely to bruise more easily, and it may take longer for bleeding to stop.
You may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take XARELTO ® and take other medicines that increase your risk of bleeding, including: Aspirin or aspirin-containing products Long-term (chronic) use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) Warfarin sodium (Coumadin ®, Jantoven ® ) Any medicine that contains heparin Clopidogrel (Plavix ® ) Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) Other medicines to prevent or treat blood clots
XARELTO can cause bleeding which can be serious, and may lead to death. This is because XARELTO is a blood thinner medicine (anticoagulant) that lowers blood clotting. During treatment with XARELTO you are likely to bruise more easily, and it may take longer for bleeding to stop.
Tell your doctor if you take any of these medicines. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure if your medicine is one listed above.
Call your doctor or get medical help right away if you develop any of these signs or symptoms of bleeding:
Unexpected bleeding or bleeding that lasts a long time, such as: Nosebleeds that happen often Unusual bleeding from gums Menstrual bleeding that is heavier than normal, or vaginal bleeding
Bleeding that is severe or you cannot control
Red, pink, or brown urine
Bright red or black stools (looks like tar)
Cough up blood or blood clots
Vomit blood or your vomit looks like “coffee grounds”
Headaches, feeling dizzy or weak
Pain, swelling, or new drainage at wound sites
Spinal or epidural blood clots (hematoma). People who take a blood thinner medicine (anticoagulant) like XARELTO ®, and have medicine injected into their spinal and epidural area, or have a spinal puncture, have a risk of forming a blood clot that can cause long-term or permanent loss of the ability to move (paralysis). Your risk of developing a spinal or epidural blood clot is higher if: A thin tube called an epidural catheter is placed in your back to give you certain medicine You take NSAIDs or a medicine to prevent blood from clotting You have a history of difficult or repeated epidural or spinal punctures You have a history of problems with your spine or have had surgery on your spine
People who take a blood thinner medicine (anticoagulant) like XARELTO, and have medicine injected into their spinal and epidural area, or have a spinal puncture, have a risk of forming a blood clot that can cause long-term or permanent loss of the ability to move (paralysis). Your risk of developing a spinal or epidural blood clot is higher if:
If you take XARELTO® and receive spinal anesthesia or have a spinal puncture, your doctor should watch you closely for symptoms of spinal or epidural blood clots. Tell your doctor right away if you have back pain, tingling, numbness, muscle weakness (especially in your legs and feet), or loss of control of the bowels or bladder (incontinence).
XARELTO® is not for people with artificial heart valves.
Do not take XARELTO® if you:
Currently have certain types of abnormal bleeding. Talk to your doctor before taking XARELTO ® if you currently have unusual bleeding.
if you currently have unusual bleeding. Are allergic to rivaroxaban or any of the ingredients of XARELTO®.
Before taking XARELTO®, tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including if you:
Have ever had bleeding problems
Have liver or kidney problems
Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if XARELTO ® will harm your unborn baby. Tell your doctor right away if you become pregnant during treatment with XARELTO ®. Taking XARELTO ® while you are pregnant may increase the risk of bleeding in you or in your unborn baby. If you take XARELTO ® during pregnancy, tell your doctor right away if you have any signs or symptoms of bleeding or blood loss. See “What is the most important information I should know about XARELTO ®?” for signs and symptoms of bleeding.
will harm your unborn baby. Are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. XARELTO® may pass into your breast milk. You and your doctor should decide if you will take XARELTO® or breastfeed.
Tell all of your doctors and dentists that you are taking XARELTO®. They should talk to the doctor who prescribed XARELTO® for you before you have any surgery, medical or dental procedure.
Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Some of your other medicines may affect the way XARELTO® works, causing side effects. Certain medicines may increase your risk of bleeding. See “What is the most important information I should know about XARELTO®?”
HOW SHOULD I TAKE XARELTO®?
Take XARELTO ® exactly as prescribed by your doctor.
exactly as prescribed by your doctor. Do not change your dose or stop taking XARELTO ® unless your doctor tells you to.
unless your doctor tells you to. Your doctor may change your dose if needed.
If you take XARELTO ® for: Atrial Fibrillation that is not caused by a heart valve problem: Take XARELTO ® 1 time a day with your evening meal. If you miss a dose of XARELTO ®, take it as soon as you remember on the same day. Take your next dose at your regularly scheduled time. Blood clots in the veins of your legs or lungs: Take XARELTO ® 1 or 2 times a day as prescribed by your doctor. For the 15-mg and 20-mg doses, XARELTO ® should be taken with food. For the 10-mg dose, XARELTO ® may be taken with or without food. Take your XARELTO ® doses at the same time each day. If you miss a dose: If you take the 15-mg dose of XARELTO ® 2 times a day (a total of 30 mg of XARELTO ® in 1 day) : Take XARELTO ® as soon as you remember on the same day. You may take 2 doses at the same time to make up for the missed dose. Take your next dose at your regularly scheduled time. If you take XARELTO ® 1 time a day: Take XARELTO ® as soon as you remember on the same day. Take your next dose at your regularly scheduled time. Hip or knee replacement surgery: Take XARELTO ® 1 time a day with or without food. If you miss a dose of XARELTO ®, take it as soon as you remember on the same day. Take your next dose at your regularly scheduled time. Reducing the risk of serious heart problems, heart attack and stroke in coronary artery disease or peripheral arterial disease: Take XARELTO ® 2 times a day with or without food. If you miss a dose of XARELTO ®, take your next dose at your regularly scheduled time.
for: If you have difficulty swallowing the XARELTO ® tablet whole, talk to your doctor about other ways to take XARELTO ®.
tablet whole, talk to your doctor about other ways to take XARELTO. Your doctor will decide how long you should take XARELTO ®.
XARELTO ® may need to be stopped, if possible for one or more days before any surgery or medical/dental procedure. If you need to stop taking XARELTO ® for any reason, talk to your doctor to find out when you should stop taking it. Do not stop taking XARELTO ® without first talking to the doctor who prescribed it to you. Your doctor will tell you when to start taking XARELTO ® again after your surgery or procedure.
may need to be stopped, if possible for one or more days |
.
He has started 75 of a possible 80 games since 2006, when he had his breakout season, and the Raiders have had one of the league’s best pass defenses in that span.
Last season, the Raiders were the best defense in the league against three-WR sets, ranking first in completions, completion percentage, yards per pass attempt and passing first downs.Everyone’s got an opinion on ride-hailing in Miami-Dade.
And at yesterday’s packed, nine-hour county commissioners meeting, we heard them all, on everything from ensuring public safety to car insurance.
Taxi, Lyft, and Uber drivers filled the chambers to speak. The discussion went on so long it began to seem like they might kick the decision down the road yet again.
But at the end of hours of explanations, outbursts, and even commercial breaks, Lyft and Uber were officially legal in Miami-Dade County.
In a 9 to 2 vote, county commissioners passed a bill sponsored by Commissioner Esteban “Steven” Bovo, with Commissioners Bruno A. Barreiro and Daniella Levine Cava voting against it. (Missing at the meeting were commissioners Jose “Pepe” Diaz and Javier D. Souto.)
“We must integrate new technology and and keep looking toward the future,” urged Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
“At some point taxi drivers have to make a living,” countered Commissioner Barbara J. Jordan, who stressed that if ride-hailing is regulated by the county, it must promote parity and a level playing field, a sentiment echoed by several other commissioners on the board.
The ordinance, supported by Lyft, Uber, and Mayor Carlos Gimenez, allows ride-hailing companies to conduct their own background checks on drivers and submit them to the county on request. It also allows ride-hailing companies to continue offering insurance coverage only when drivers are logged in the respective app, and it does not require a chauffeur’s license to continue operations.
The decision brings to an end a debate that caught a huge amount of public attention. In the weeks leading up to the meeting, hundreds of written comments poured into the offices of the 13 county commissioners.
It’s been a long convoluted road for the companies, who both launched in Miami in the summer of 2014. Since then, the ride-hailing companies have been technically operating illegally. Because of that Lyft and Uber drivers have been charged almost $3 million in fines, which during yesterday’s meeting Mayor Gimenez also hinted could be negotiated down.
The proposal will go into effect in 10 days — which means Lyft and Uber, can continue operating as they have been, this time sanctioned by the law of Miami-Dade. It also means they won’t be racking up any more fines in citations so long as they continue issuing background checks and offering insurance when the app is active.
“Through the reasonable regulations adopted today, Commissioners have struck an appropriate balance that prioritizes both public safety and consumer choice,” wrote Lyft’s Public Policy Communications Manager Chelsea Wilson in an e-mailed statement.
“We applaud the Miami-Dade County Commission for voting to create a permanent home for Uber and ridesharing in Miami-Dade. Thanks to the leadership of Mayor Gimenez and Commissioner Bovo, Uber will continue operating across South Florida, creating opportunities for flexible work and greater access to safe, reliable, and affordable transportation options,” wrote Javi Correoso Uber’s public relations manager for Florida in an e-mail.
As for taxi companies — well, they’ve got some stiff competition.
Lyft is a sponsor of The New Tropic but was not involved with the planning or production of this story.Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Oregon State football fans are now Stanford fans.
Thanks to the Cardinal, the Beavers boast significantly better odds of shocking Oregon. In the Ducks’ roast on Saturday, Stanford exposed weaknesses that Oregon State will have the opportunity to take advantage of. It must do exactly that if it wants to come out on top in the 2012 Civil War.
Here are those weaknesses.
3. Poor Run Defense
Stepfan Taylor of the Cardinal rushed for 161 yards on 4.9 yards a pop against Oregon. It was his second-highest rushing total of the season. The Beavers must establish the run with Storm Woods to control the clock and keep the ball out of Kenjon Barner’s hands.
Woods has rushed for 689 yards and seven touchdowns on 5.8 yards per carry this year, so he’s more than capable of wearing down the Ducks defense.
2. Susceptible Passing Game
Perhaps the primary reason that Stanford was able to upset Oregon was because the Cardinal shut down Barner. Its stop unit keyed on the Heisman Trophy candidate and forced freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota to beat it, and he couldn’t.
Mariota finished the game with his lowest completion percentage and passer rating of the season. It was also only the second time he failed to throw more touchdowns than interceptions.
If Oregon State makes Mariota win with his arm, it’ll be in position to pull off another upset.
1. Abysmal Field-Goal Kicking
If the Beavers defense manages to bend but don’t break, they’ll keep the game close. And if they keep the game close, they’ll have a great shot to sink the Ducks. Why?
Because Oregon’s kickers are laughable.
Rob Beard has converted just four of eight field-goal attempts this year, while Alejandro Maldonado is 1-of-3. Maldonado missed each of his two attempts against Stanford, including one in overtime. The kicking game was its Achilles’ heel the other night, and it’ll continue to be its most glaring weakness.
David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.
Follow @TheRealDDanielsHere’s a delicious slice of life from the 1950s for your viewing pleasure. More specifically, a day in the life of Chicago in 1953. I found this set of vintage Kodachrome slides on eBay, and they’re a beaut. It appears to me that the photographer took in a Chicago Cubs game at venerable Wrigley Field and also spent some time hoofing around the Friendly Confines as well. The auction puts the location of the street scenes as Maxwell Street, for what it’s worth.
First up is the baseball game. I can’t tell for certain who the Cubs are playing, but only one National League team in 1953 wore red caps at all — the Philadelphia Phillies. The sign in front of Wrigley is advertising tickets for the three-game series from June 23-25, so I think it’s reasonable to guess these photos were shot during that period.
Hmmm, not exactly a capacity crowd that day was it? The Cubbies, by the way, finished the ’53 campaign with a 65-89 record, good for seventh place in the National League.
Now onto the street scenes. Vintage cars and signage abound!
For more Vintage Photo Wednesday goodness, travel here.
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"west division st chicago 1950s"Donald Trump’s plans for the North American Free Trade Agreement have cycled through a dizzying number of revisions. When Trump ran for president, he regularly railed against NAFTA, calling it the “worst deal” ever and vowing to scrap it immediately—a sentiment he carried into his first couple months in office. Then, in early April, as the “globalist” faction in the White House gained power, reports circulated that the president would just renegotiate the deal with Mexico and Canada instead. Then, suddenly, the populists appeared to gain ground, with numerous news outlets reporting that the White House was prepping an executive order to pull out of the deal. Then, a mere 12 hours later, Trump announced that Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto had called and politely asked him to renegotiate... and he agreed.
The turning point seemed to be when Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue brought a map into the Oval Office and pointed out the “Trump country” communities that would be hurt by a withdrawal from the trade deal. “They like Trump, but I like them, and I’m going to help them,” Trump told The Washington Post at the time.
Of course, those talks are still underway. And because the president seems to change his mind every hour, it is plausible, once again, that Trump may yet blow up the trade agreement. Over the past week, several reports have suggested that Trump has been pushing demands that are complete non-starters for Mexico and Canada, potentially jeopardizing the deal. In fact, the president’s wish-list is so extreme that even his representatives are reluctant to present it in negotiations.
According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, certain members of the U.S. delegation “are uncomfortable with the demands they are presenting, which appear to have been dictated to them by the Trump administration.” The demands include a problematic five-year “sunset clause,” which would automatically end the agreement unless all parties decide to keep renewing it, as well as a proposal to increase the percentage of U.S.-made parts that cars imported from Mexico and Canada must consist of. ”They don't like what they are doing,” one source said.
The result could be a world in which NAFTA falls apart. As New York’s Eric Levitz notes, even if Canada and Mexico would rather bow to Trump's bullying than scrap the agreement altogether, they probably won't. ”It would likely be politically untenable for them to do so,” Levitz writes, given that Trump “has repeatedly, publicly, framed his vision for trade in zero sum terms—which is to say, he has suggested that America’s gain in NAFTA negotiations will be Mexico and Canada’s loss.” Both countries have their own nationalist politics, which Trump’s attacks have been fueling. While Mexico’s presidential election is still 8 months away, the latest polls show leftist leader Lopez Obrador on track to replace Peña Nieto’s centrist administration. Reneging on NAFTA, or building a border wall, will almost certainly usher in the most antagonistic U.S.-Mexico relationship in a generation.
This article has been updated.People who own $10 million-dollar homes shouldn't be able to get the age pension, and the money saved by cutting their access should go to lower-income people, says a former adviser to the Henry tax review.
Melbourne University economics professor John Freebairn, who was an influential adviser to former treasury secretary Ken Henry's tax review when Labor was in government, also hit back at Treasurer Joe Hockey's comments that people should be able to tap into their super to buy housing.
Melbourne University economics professor John Freebairn was an influential adviser to former Treasury secretary Ken Henry's tax review when Labor was in government. Credit:Wayne Taylor
The idea has already been slammed by the architect of Australia's superannuation system, former prime minister Paul Keating, the head of the Coalition's financial system inquiry David Murray, and former Howard government treasurer Peter Costello.It's been so fun to watch the Swift developer community experiment with Swift and to experiment with what idiomatic Swift will look like. No one really knows the answer yet, but we're starting to see some design patterns used more than others. We're seeing some language features used in key ways that define idiomatic Swift, and other language features that are being mostly ignored.
Regrettably, one of my favourite features of Swift has not enjoyed the meteoric rise in popularity I believe it deserves: typealias.
Type aliases allow developers to define synonyms for pre-existing types. It might sound dull because it is dull. In fact, its usefulness isn't even apparent when writing code, mostly when maintaining it.
But before I dig into how typealias is useful, let's review what it is to make sure we're all on the same page. Developers use typealias to create a new type identifier that's a synonym for another type. For example, we can declare typealias BigNumber = Int64 and use "BigNumber" any place we could have used "Int64".
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 func multiply ( lhs : BigNumber, rhs : BigNumber ) -> BigNumber... let number : BigNumber = 5... let number = BigNumber ( 5 )
You can use typealias for most any type: classes, enums, structs, tuples, closures, etc. Here are a few examples.
1 2 3 4 typealias Name = String typealias Employees = Array < Employee > typealias GridPoint = ( Int, Int ) typealias CompletionHandler = ( ErrorType? ) -> Void
Now that we're familiar with typealias, I want to discuss four examples that show how typealias has helped us maintain code.
Promoting Existing Types Semantics
When writing web socket communication for eigen, Orta and I were using JSON Web Tokens to authenticate the user. If you've never used JWTs before, don't worry, here's the tl;dr JWTs are a way to authenticate users in a way that clients can cryptographically verify. It's basically a base64 encoded string of JSON.
Clients don't need to verify the JWT in order to use them, and in fact when Orta and I began using them, we treated them only as strings retrieved from one API and sent to another (like an access token). However, instead of using the String type, I decided to define a JWT type alias.
1 typealias JWT = String
I used the new JWT type throughout the code as a hint to other developers about what kind of string it is. This gave it some semantic meaning on top of being a string. Neat. Only later, when we needed to start decoding the JWT itself did this really come in handy.
After deleting the typealias and replacing it with a class of the same name, we didn't have to worry about changing function definitions and property types all throughout our codebase. We made the changes locally, in one file, and most all the rest of our code still compiled. Pretty cool! Here's the relevant portion of the pull request that made that change.
Consolidating Tuple Types
I recently wrote about UICollectionView and how I used them to solve a difficult layout problem. I detailed how I created a pipeline of simple math functions that used previous results to calculate the next step of the layout. What I didn't mention was that I used tuples to help, specifically tuples with typealias.
Tuples are useful for composing several different values into a lightweight type. Think of tuples as junior structs. I was writing functions to do some calculations and return their result as a tuple. Something like this:
1 func layoutMetricsForPosition ( position : CellPosition, aspectRatio : CGFloat ) -> ( restingWidth : CGFloat, restingHeight : CGFloat, targetWidth : CGFloat, targetHeight : CGFloat )
And because of how the layout pipeline worked, I then needed to use the same tuple as a parameter for the next function.
1 func centersForPosition ( position : CellPosition, metrics : ( restingWidth : CGFloat, restingHeight : CGFloat, targetWidth : CGFloat, targetHeight : CGFloat )) ->...
Any time you use the same tuple type more than once, consider making a typealias. In this case, the code became a lot shorter and easier to skim and understand.
1 2 3 4 5 6 typealias LayoutMetrics = ( restingWidth : CGFloat, restingHeight : CGFloat, targetWidth : CGFloat, targetHeight : CGFloat ) typealias CenterXPositions = ( restingCenterX : CGFloat, targetCenterX : CGFloat ) func layoutMetricsForPosition ( position : CellPosition, aspectRatio : CGFloat ) -> LayoutMetrics func centersForPosition ( position : CellPosition, metrics : LayoutMetrics ) -> CenterXPositions
If we need to change something about the tuple later on, we only need to change it in one place. We've also made it easier to promote this tuple to a struct or class later on, just like in the JWT example, because all the functions are already referring to it as its own type. You can check out how we used type alias'd tuples in the code.
Defining Closures Signatures
Objective-C developers, burdened with arcane syntax for blocks, use C's typedef to isolate that syntax strangeness in one place. And even though Swift's closure syntax is awesome, we can still benefit from Objective-C's example – we can use type aliases for closure signatures.
Moya uses this technique quite a bit, because it has so many closures. Let's take a look at the StubClosure, which defines if (and how) a network request should be stubbed.
1 typealias StubClosure = Target -> StubBehavior
We use this type as an initializer parameter instead of the full closure syntax, making our code a lot shorter and more legible. Nice! Since the user usually doesn't want to customize this parameter, so we've defined a default value.
1 2 3 init (... stubClosure : StubClosure = MoyaProvider. NeverStub,...)
MoyaProvider has a class function on it called NeverStub whose type matches our closure.
1 2 3 class func NeverStub ( _ : Target ) -> Moya. StubBehavior { return. Never }
This particular function doesn't use the typealias, but another one does. We have a function named DelayedStub that returns the typealias instead of the raw closure. Take a look!
1 2 3 class func DelayedStub ( seconds : NSTimeInterval ) -> Moya. StubClosure { return { _ in return. Delayed ( seconds : seconds ) } }
Super cool! Closures are a powerful tool in Swift already, but by using a typealias, we refer to it as StubClosure throughout our code.
In isolation, this gain may not seem significant, but the dividends have accrued dramatically for the project. typealias has made it easy to maintain Moya as it has evolved alongside Swift. Check out more examples of type aliasing closures in this eigen class, which uses them for dependency injection.
Extending Typealiases
The last example I want to discuss is extensions, specifically extensions to your own types.
When writing classes, especially view controllers, developers have a habit of writing long, unwieldy files that are difficult to navigate and maintain. Preventing such files is far easier than fixing them, which is why I use typealias early, and I use it often.
I recommend using a descriptive typealias that is private to your file, and then extending that typealias so you can keep things neat and tidy. It's a bit confusing, so let's take a look at an example.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 private typealias PrivateHelperFunctions = MyViewController extension PrivateHelperFunctions {... } private typealias TableViewMethods = MyViewController extension TableViewMethods : UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource {... }
We're still extending the view controller, but specifically we're extending the typealias so that the extension has a helpful name. This is another way that typealias can help add semantic meaning to your code.
Beyond helping you find code quickly, having code in extensions also makes it way easier to move that extension to another file or create a new helper class altogether. So not only does it keep classes tidy, but it also helps you keep classes small.
This technique can also serve as a workaround for Swift's awful Xcode sectioning syntax.
You can search through eigen for more examples of using a private typealias to divide your code into manageable pieces.
Look, I'm not saying that using typealias more is universally a good idea. You might disagree with some of the use cases in this post, which is fine! And this isn't meant to be an exhaustive list of examples, either.Hillary Clinton will return to the campaign trail on behalf of Alison Lundergan Grimes this weekend, and this time the former US Secretary of State, US Senator, and First Lady will be in Northern Kentucky.
Hillary and President Bill Clinton have both made appearances on behalf Grimes, the Democratic Secretary of State challenging Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in next Tuesday's election.
Grimes has made a push for votes in Northern Kentucky, making the issue of the estimated $2.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge project a central part of her strategy. She promises to find funding for it without resorting to using tolls.
Grimes told The River City News on Sunday that she expects to surprise people with the results out of this region, a traditionally Republican-friendly area.
Clinton will join Grimes in Lexington and Northern Kentucky but exactly where is not yet known.
“Just days before the election, Alison is honored to have Hillary Rodham Clinton join her for campaign stops in Northern Kentucky and Lexington,” said Grimes campaign manager Jonathan Hurst today in a statement. “Her recent visit to Kentucky drew thousands of grassroots supporters to hear her endorse Alison’s plan to get Washington working for Kentucky. As she said in that speech, ‘more than any other race in the country, this election in Kentucky is a referendum on the future.’ It’s a privilege that she will be making the case for Alison on the final weekend of this campaign.”
The events will be open to the public. Venue, scheduling and press-credentialing information will be made available in the coming days.
Follow The River City News on Facebook, Twitter, or email us!
-Staff reportHomeschool students in Florida’s Jackson County are being hunted down in a countywide initiative called “Operation Round Up,” which was launched by local school board officials to enroll more children in pubic schools.
After watching a television interview featuring the Jackson County School Board’s director of student services – who called on the community to report any suspected truant students to her – one homeschool family sought legal advice out of fear that the public school was aggressively and specifically targeting homeschool students.
Crackdown on homeschoolers
Anxiety over the matter was validated by the director when she implied that many homeschoolers are really not being educated by their parents.
“[Homeschooling families are] not set on a particular schedule, so sometimes the community will see them around town, and they think, ‘Hey, they aren’t being educated?’” the leader of the Jackson County School Board asserted during a televised news interview on the local WHJG station. “Sometimes the community is right.”
Not stopping there, the local television station went on to insinuate that homeschooling is a disservice to children, urging members of the community to support the local schools by launching their own crackdown on homeschoolers.
“[The] school board still encourages people to speak up with their suspicions [about homeschoolers],” the WHJG report announced across Jackson County.
Inciting suspicion
When apprised of the warning and incited crackdown, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) stepped into the matter.
HSLDA Staff Attorney Tj Schmidt promptly informed the director of the Jackson County School Board, as well as the superintendent of Jackson County schools, that their approach through the problematic Operation Round Up was troubling and needed to be addressed immediately to alleviate local homeschoolers’ concerns.
“Your statements suggest that everyone should report children they think aren’t being educated,” Schmidt wrote in his letter to the school officials, according to HSLDA. “In our opinion, this is a threatening practice, and will instill a spirit of suspicion and hostility against homeschoolers in the community.”
In order to put an end to the misinformation and ill-advised crackdown on homeschoolers, Schmidt proceeded to offer information to Jackson County officials and residents – and anyone participating in Operation Round Up – so that they would be able to properly interact with local homeschooling families and maintain respect for their parental rights to educate their own without undue interference.
Don’t let them get away with it …
Attorneys with the nonprofit Christian legal organization are confident that the letter submitted by Schmidt will work to educate the community and improve the relationship between local public school officials, residents and homeschooling families countywide.
According to HSLDA, Operation Round Up and other ill-intended and misguided attempts to boost public school revenues – orchestrated to bring in more homeschoolers and increasing attendance – must be reported to legal experts. It maintains that such vigilance must be exercised in order stop the government’s monopoly on education from winning its war against homeschooling … and anything else that falls outside of its over-regulated system.(CNN) -- A study published Monday in a Canadian journal concluded that smokers who take Chantix, one of the most popular smoking cessation drugs, could increase their risk of heart problems.
Chantix (varenicline) could raise the risk of heart attacks and irregular heartbeats, said one of the study authors, Dr. Sonal Singh, an assistant professor of general internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The heart problems are the latest in a growing list of concerns raised by patient reports, lawsuits and studies since the drug's approval in 2006.
The drug could cause changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, according to its warning label. Chantix carries a boxed warning -- the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's most restrictive safety labeling -- because of the risk of psychological events.
Chantix has been banned by the Federal Aviation Administration for pilots and air-traffic controllers because it may cause loss of consciousness and blackouts. Truck and bus drivers are also not allowed to take the drug.
In the study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers examined data from clinical trials involving 8,216 healthy people who received either Chantix or a placebo.
Taking Chantix was associated with an increased risk of serious heart problems. These events were reported in 52 people out of 4,908 (1.06%) who took Chantix, compared with 27 of the 3,308 participants (0.82%) who took the placebo.
While the difference on its face appears to be 0.24%, the researchers calculated the actual risk to be 72% using a statistical method that's applied when evaluating multiple studies. Singh and the authors analyzed data from 14 previous studies. They calculated the risk for each study to arrive at 72% as the overall weighted risk.
To see in detail how the authors calculated the statistic, see Figure 2 on page 6 of the study
Chantix raised a smoker's baseline risk of having heart attacks, congestive heart failure or other problems such as irregular heart beat, Singh said.
"The use of varenicline among tobacco users was associated with a 72% increased risk of serious adverse cardiovascular events," the authors wrote.
When quitting smoking, "you want to decrease your risk of a heart attack, instead of increasing a heart attack by 72%," Singh said. Their study was funded by the National Center for Research Resources, a component of the National Institutes of Health.
"If you talk about 3 million users in the U.S., it's a large risk," he said.
Dr. J. Taylor Hays from the Mayo Clinic in an accompanying editorial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, wrote that the risk of "cardiovascular events is low" from taking Chantix.
"First, the main result of the meta-analysis, a 72% increased risk of serious cardiovascular adverse events, must be tempered by the rarity of these events among participants in both treatment groups," wrote Hays who has previously received Pfizer grant funding to conduct a trial on the drug.
Pfizer stands by its smoking cessation drug, which has been prescribed to more than 7 million people in the United States.
The drugmaker disagreed with researchers' conclusions, saying the study contained several limitations -- mainly that the number of heart problems was so small that it "raises concerns about the reliability of the authors' conclusions."
"The actual difference in cardiovascular event rates seen in the Singh analysis was less than one quarter of one percent," the company wrote in a statement.
Pfizer is working with the FDA to design a comprehensive look at existing research to evaluate the safety of Chantix.
FDA reveals bigger, graphic warning labels for cigarette packages
Weeks ago, Singh and the study authors notified the FDA about their findings on heart risks. Their findings are similar to the FDA's review of a randomized clinical trial of 700 smokers that found slightly more heart problems in the Chantix group than those taking the placebo.
In June, the FDA added a warning that Chantix "may be associated with a small, increased risk of certain cardiovascular adverse events in patients who have cardiovascular disease."
Singh said he hesitates to prescribe Chantix to his patients. Smokers already have cardiovascular risk, and he said the drug appears to amplify that danger.
"Unfortunately, this is not the magic pill," said Singh, adding that other options such as counseling, nicotine replacement or the drug bupropion exist for smoking cessation.
Smoking cessation: Creating a quit-smoking plan
Chantix works by blocking nicotine receptors in the brain, so cigarettes become less enjoyable and the desire to keep smoking is reduced.
Today, almost 2,000 cases are pending in the federal court system that blame the drug for neuropsychiatric effects.
About a third of the cases were suicides or attempted suicides, said Ernest Cory, lead counsel for the plaintiffs. More than half of the cases involve conditions such as depression, chemical imbalance and neuropsychiatric injury. About 10% involve seizures or blackouts, he added.
A lawsuit filed in May blames Chantix for a murder-suicide of a Beaver County, Pennsylvania, man who shot his wife, then later killed himself, according to local media reports. In another case, a woman four days into taking Chantix killed herself in front of her two kids after getting into an argument over a peanut butter sandwich, Cory said.
The question remains how plaintiffs and families can pinpoint Chantix as the cause instead of other factors in a person's life. Studies show that depression is higher among smokers and nicotine withdrawal could affect mental health.
"Does it happen to everybody?" Cory said about psychiatric problems from Chantix. "No, but to a subset of people, this is a real serious risk related to the use of the drug."
There's a theory of challenge and rechallenge, he said. Patients are given the medication, and if they behave one way, they are taken off the drug to see if the behavior continues or stop.
Pfizer said in a statement: "There is no reliable scientific evidence establishing that Chantix caused the behavior or conditions alleged in these cases."
"All medicines have benefits and risks, and patients who wish to use Chantix to stop smoking should discuss with their physicians whether the medicine is appropriate for them," the company stated.
Chantix helped Laura Lawrence break a 25-year addiction to smoking.
According to Pfizer, 44% of Chantix users quit smoking three months of treatment compared to 18% on the placebo. In the Canadian journal, the authors cite a statistic that only one person out of 10 will have successfully quit smoking a year after beginning to take Chantix.
After smoking a pack a day and going through various self-help books and nicotine patches, Lawrence turned to Chantix last summer.
Within a week, the thought of smoking -- a habit she had since she was 16 -- repulsed her.
"It just tasted nasty," she said. "It was like smoking a burning rope."
The drug took away the joy of smoking, which is exactly what the Portland, Oregon, resident wanted. But it also took away enjoyment in other aspects of her life.
Lawrence woke up crying in the morning for reasons she couldn't explain. She felt depressed, anxious and snapped at people.
She stopped taking the drug and retried the regimen on a lower dosage. But the depression returned.
When asked if she would recommend it to friends who are trying to quit smoking, Lawrence said, "I would tell them to go for it because it works. I would tell them about my experience. I never felt suicidal, but I was definitely not right in my head somehow."
"Parts of it worked so well," she said about the drug. "They got a part of it right. I wish there was something to counteract the side effects, because it was severe."
Lawrence resumed smoking.For general information on this series: Spice and Wolf entry
~A guest review by Gee~
This is a review for Spice and Wolf 16, Isuna Hasekura’s penultimate book in the series, with illustrations by Juu Ayakura. As a direct follow-up to the 15th volume, this newest volume of Spice and Wolf–The Coin of the Sun II–ends the main story of this classic series in the best way. Originally published in Japan in February of 2011, Yen Press’s English edition was released in December of 2015.
Continuing from the cliffhanger of the previous novel, our main characters Lawrence and Holo once again find themselves getting involved in trouble. With the developments of the last volume, things had seemingly all fallen into place up until the last page–and the follow-up from that mood-changer certainly fuels the actions and developments of this book, with tension high for characters and readers both.
But even more so, the focus on Holo and Lawrence’s relationship is the highlight of this volume. There’s a quote early on in the book that goes “If you are afraid of losing something, why not find someone to fall in love with?” and I feel this really sums up the series as a whole. Holo’s longing to return to her homeland, and to return to the friends she hadn’t seen for centuries had always been the thing that started this 17-volume journey on its path. And following the travels of the merchant and wisewolf up until now, you can really see how each discovery and tribulation has affected our mains. Even though this volume is about the politics of currency and the power of business, both take a back seat to the smaller and quieter scenes of affection between our leads: pay-off for the culmination of emotions up until this point in the series.
That’s not to say that the main plot is lacking though–in fact it’s quite the opposite. The fantasy-infused setting of fifteenth-century Europe has always shown that the society in which they live is changing. No longer is it a land where monarchs or god-like beasts rule paramount–now clever business deals can achieve much more than sword-swinging battles ever could. The politics of how currency can control areas is the focus of the main story, and how greed corrupts people. It’s a timeless tale of the human condition, and even if you’re not the most financially and politically-aware person, you can still understand the motivations of characters new and old.
As usual, the translation quality that Yen’s team has done is wonderful here, explaining in-depth economics and politics in easy-to-understand ways without making you feel like you’re being patronized as a reader. Ayakura’s artwork is gorgeous too, illustrating important moments perfectly. If you’re a fan of light novels and looking for a more mature entry in a medium full of teen wish-fulfillment, Spice and Wolf is definitely recommended–and for existing fans, this novel is a crucial finale that does everything right.
Gee’s Rating: Highly RecommendedA care home that unlawfully restrained a patient and fed meat to vegetarians has been placed in special measures.
Inspectors deemed Northwood Nursing Home, in Eastbury Avenue, inadequate and unsafe, after noting that residents appeared unkempt and unclean.
The home can care for up to 35 people – 19 of those are people with physical and mental health issues and the remaining 16 are people over the age of 65. Inspectors turned up unannounced on September 23 and 30.
The report, published on December 22, said the administration of medicine was not always safe and there were several instances where members of staff failed to respect people’s privacy or human rights. Patients' liberties were also were also restricted as they were denied access to their cigarettes.
Residents' consents were often not obtained before care was delivered and not all staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act.
Inspectors also said some staff, whose first language was not English, did not always understand the questions they were asked and had not completed numeracy or literacy tests before starting work there.
Training for staff involves E-learning, which can be completed in workers' spare time, and face-to-face training; these were criticised for not providing the necessary skills.
The quality of food was poor and vegetarians were often given meals containing meat.
There was little engagement between staff and service users and one person was restrained and restricted from moving around the home. Activities were also limited and the carers would often play loud music at the same time as the television, and residents seemed to lack interest in either option.
Care plans lacked detail and accurate information and records were not completed in a timely way.
The care home did however, have an effective system in place for recording, investigating and responding to complaints and there were sufficient staff members to meet people's needs.
Northwood Nursing Home was contacted for a comment but has not responded.The 'Searaser' uses the power of the ocean to pump water inland for electricity generation. Mark Anslow reports on the simple invention that could soon be making waves in renewables. From the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment Network
Alvin Smith had his eureka moment not in the bath, but in the swimming pool. 'I was swimming round the pool, making little waves, and it struck me how much power there was in the displacement of the water,' he remembers. 'You think of a 500-tonne boat: a wave comes along, lifts that whole boat, and then drops it down again. You must be able to harness some of that, I thought.'
His subsequent invention would have made Archimedes proud, and should be making the renewables industry very excited.
Dubbed 'Searaser', it consists of what looks like a navigation buoy, but is in fact a simple arrangement of ballast and floats connected by a piston. As a wave passes the device, the float is lifted, raising the piston and compressing water. The float sinks back down on the tail of the wave on to a second float, compressing water again on the downstroke.
What is particularly clever about Searaser, however, is its simplicity. Where most marine energy devices have sealed, lubricated innards and complex electronics, Searaser is lubricated entirely by seawater, has no electronic components and is even self-cleaning. Smith describes it as 'Third-World mechanics', but this belies the sophistication of the concept.
'The beauty of it is that we're only making a pump, and bringing water ashore,' he explains. 'All the other technology needed to generate the electricity already exists.'
Searaser is designed to pump water either straight through a sea-level turbine to generate electricity, or up to a clifftop reservoir, where the water could be stored until needed, then allowed to flow back down to the sea through turbines, generating electricity on demand.
The second option is the one about which Smith is most passionate. By effectively storing the energy generated by Searaser to be used on demand, his system would solve a problem that dogs almost all renewable technologies – their variability. Energy that can be summoned at will is not only more valuable, but also allows the grid to compensate for other, less easily controlled renewables such as wind and solar.
Early trials of the prototype Searaser, one of which was completed in April, have proved encouraging. Despite being less than a tenth of the size of the version he hopes will eventually be supplying power to our homes, Smith's homemade machine managed to pump some 112,000 litres of water a day during the trial, at times operating from waves a mere 6in high.
The eventual machine will be capable of generating 1 megawatt of electricity – enough to supply some 1,700 |
ol (6-BNAL), nalbuphine (NALB), butorphanol (BTF), THCA, phencyclidine (PCP), butalbital (BUT), amobarbital (AMO), pentobarbital (PEN), secobarbital (SEC), phenobarbital (PHB), midazolam (MDZ), oxazepam (OX), alprazolam (ALP), temazepam (TEM), diazepam (DIAZ), nordiazepam (NDIAZ), propofol glucuronide (PPFG), ketamine (KET), norketamine (NKET), ZOL and EtG.
Sample preparation
Nail samples were washed with acetone once for the ELISA initial testing and the majority of the confirmatory methods. Some exceptions included THCA, BUP and NBUP, where methylene chloride wash was employed. If EtG or PPFG analysis was requested, the specimens were washed with hexane followed by 10-min sonication in methylene chloride, and finally washed with methanol. All initial washes were discarded.
Immediately after the wash, nail samples were dried at room temperature and pulverized using mini ball beater with 3 mm diameter stainless-steel balls. Calibrations were performed by fortifying pulverized drug-free nail aliquots with standard working solutions of all analytes of interest. In addition, three levels of controls were prepared in naïve pulverized nails fortified with corresponding working control solutions of all analytes. Depending on the analyte, various nail digestion or incubation methods optimized for each drug class were employed. Acid digestion (0.1 N hydrochloric acid at 53°C overnight) was used for amphetamines, COC and metabolites, selected opioids also including NALT, NAL, 6-BNAL, NALB, BTF, and PCP, MTD, EDDP, PPX, NPPX, TRAM, NMEP, NFE, NSUF, KET and NKET. The two-step process was used for 6-MAM to be co-analyzed with the opioids including COD, MOR, HYM, HCOD, OXC and OXM. First, the powdered nail sample was sonicated with methanol for 3 h. After centrifugation, the methanol supernatant was decanted to a separate tube and the remaining nail powder was digested in 0.1 N hydrochloric acid at 53°C overnight. Basic digestion with 1 N sodium hydroxide at 80°C for 1 h was applied for THCA. Sonication for 2 h in deionized water without heat with subsequent overnight incubation at room temperature was utilized for EtG and PPFG analysis. After digestion or incubation, the nail extracts were subjected to the corresponding solid-phase extraction (SPE) methods. The methanol incubation was used for the rest of the drugs: barbiturates (53°C overnight), benzodiazepines (2-h sonication with heat followed by incubation at room temperature overnight) and ZOL (sonication for 4 h with heat). The methanol extracts were then evaporated and reconstituted with the corresponding LC mobile phases for analysis.
Preliminary testing and confirmation
After initial preparation, the samples underwent preliminary testing by ELISA, except for BUP, EtG, KET, NKET, NALT, NAL, 6-BNAL, NALB, BTF and PPFG for which the instrumental screening by LC–MS-MS was employed. LC–MS-MS was also used for confirmatory analysis for the majority of drug classes except for PCP, barbiturates, TRAM and NMEP. For the latter, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) was employed. The presence of THCA in nails was confirmed by GC–GC–MS-MS. The examples of the entire analytical approach to analysis of nail samples in our laboratory were discussed by Jones et al. (6, 7).
Results and discussion
In this study, we report the results of analysis of 10,349 nail samples acquired between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2014. All specimens were collected from elevated risk groups such as drug treatment programs, physicians/health professionals' programs, drug courts, and child advocacy centers with the expected high rate of positivity. The results are presented in Table I. The comparison of fingernail and toenail results is presented in Table II. The sample numbers as well as the concentration ranges in Table II may differ from what is presented in Table I. The reason is that our laboratory started systematically recording the type of nail (finger- vs. toenail) in May of 2014. Table II includes only results where the type of specimen was clearly indicated.
Table I. Analyte LOQ (pg/mg) Number of samples ≥LOQ/total samples tested % of samples ≥LOQ Minimum–maximum range (pg/mg) Median/mean (pg/mg) AMP 40 1,126/7,799 14.4 40–44,851 831/2,005 MET 40 1,071/7,799 13.7 42–572,865 3,687/13,197 MDMA 40 22/7,799 0.3 43–40,165 298/2,773 MDA 40 7/7,799 0.09 52–706 129/250 MDEA 40 4/7,799 0.05 50–422 100/168 COC 40 415/7,787 5.3 48–265,063 1,768/13,600 BE 20 406/7,787 5.2 23–141,239 971/4,520 NCOC 20 199/7,787 2.6 20–3,875 105/305 CE 20 93/7,787 1.2 20–934 84/145 6-MAM 40 115/7,779 1.5 45–118,229 830/8,774 COD 40 144/7,779 1.9 41–32,358 163/739 MOR 40 283/7,779 3.6 40–105,932 445/3,975 HYM 40 170/7,779 2.2 41–62,857 123/986 HCOD 40 885/7,779 11.4 40–116,341 633/1,351 OXC 40 485/3,202 15.1 41–36,987 614/2,082 OXM 40 83/3,202 2.6 42–47,724 155/1,469 MTD 40 44/3,567 1.2 94–17,859 2,237/3,245 EDDP 40 35/3,567 1.0 49–2,880 527/696 NPPX 40 1/3,567 0.03 45 na BUP 8 15/40 37.5 37–5,491 182/782 NBUP 8 12/40 30.0 9–216 43/65 NMEP 1,000 1/1,344 0.07 1,481 na TRAM 400 53/1,344 3.9 425–158,072 3,553/8,606 NALT 40 2/18 11.1 63–71 na 6-BNAL 40 9/18 50.0 115–2,261 484/749 THCA 0.02 1,412/7,797 18.1 0.04–262 6.41/13.73 PCP 40 3/7,774 0.04 72–13,488 630/4,730 BUT 200 22/4,079 0.5 486–19,101 1,811/3,214 PHB 200 2/4,079 0.05 3,659–4,653 na ALP 40 64/4,083 1.6 45–1,553 152/251 TEM 40 3/4,083 0.07 47–3,769 99/1,305 DIAZ 40 37/4,083 0.9 41–5,338 233/560 NDIAZ 40 35/4,083 0.9 46–1,604 139/260 KET 40 2/122 1.6 3,772–12,632 na NKET 40 1/122 0.8 201 na ZOL 4 1/4 25.0 344 na EtG 8 756/3,039 24.9 20–3,754 88/177 Analyte LOQ (pg/mg) Number of samples ≥LOQ/total samples tested % of samples ≥LOQ Minimum–maximum range (pg/mg) Median/mean (pg/mg) AMP 40 1,126/7,799 14.4 40–44,851 831/2,005 MET 40 1,071/7,799 13.7 42–572,865 3,687/13,197 MDMA 40 22/7,799 0.3 43–40,165 298/2,773 MDA 40 7/7,799 0.09 52–706 129/250 MDEA 40 4/7,799 0.05 50–422 100/168 COC 40 415/7,787 5.3 48–265,063 1,768/13,600 BE 20 406/7,787 5.2 23–141,239 971/4,520 NCOC 20 199/7,787 2.6 20–3,875 105/305 CE 20 93/7,787 1.2 20–934 84/145 6-MAM 40 115/7,779 1.5 45–118,229 830/8,774 COD 40 144/7,779 1.9 41–32,358 163/739 MOR 40 283/7,779 3.6 40–105,932 445/3,975 HYM 40 170/7,779 2.2 41–62,857 123/986 HCOD 40 885/7,779 11.4 40–116,341 633/1,351 OXC 40 485/3,202 15.1 41–36,987 614/2,082 OXM 40 83/3,202 2.6 42–47,724 155/1,469 MTD 40 44/3,567 1.2 94–17,859 2,237/3,245 EDDP 40 35/3,567 1.0 49–2,880 527/696 NPPX 40 1/3,567 0.03 45 na BUP 8 15/40 37.5 37–5,491 182/782 NBUP 8 12/40 30.0 9–216 43/65 NMEP 1,000 1/1,344 0.07 1,481 na TRAM 400 53/1,344 3.9 425–158,072 3,553/8,606 NALT 40 2/18 11.1 63–71 na 6-BNAL 40 9/18 50.0 115–2,261 484/749 THCA 0.02 1,412/7,797 18.1 0.04–262 6.41/13.73 PCP 40 3/7,774 0.04 72–13,488 630/4,730 BUT 200 22/4,079 0.5 486–19,101 1,811/3,214 PHB 200 2/4,079 0.05 3,659–4,653 na ALP 40 64/4,083 1.6 45–1,553 152/251 TEM 40 3/4,083 0.07 47–3,769 99/1,305 DIAZ 40 37/4,083 0.9 41–5,338 233/560 NDIAZ 40 35/4,083 0.9 46–1,604 139/260 KET 40 2/122 1.6 3,772–12,632 na NKET 40 1/122 0.8 201 na ZOL 4 1/4 25.0 344 na EtG 8 756/3,039 24.9 20–3,754 88/177 View Large
Table I. Analyte LOQ (pg/mg) Number of samples ≥LOQ/total samples tested % of samples ≥LOQ Minimum–maximum range (pg/mg) Median/mean (pg/mg) AMP 40 1,126/7,799 14.4 40–44,851 831/2,005 MET 40 1,071/7,799 13.7 42–572,865 3,687/13,197 MDMA 40 22/7,799 0.3 43–40,165 298/2,773 MDA 40 7/7,799 0.09 52–706 129/250 MDEA 40 4/7,799 0.05 50–422 100/168 COC 40 415/7,787 5.3 48–265,063 1,768/13,600 BE 20 406/7,787 5.2 23–141,239 971/4,520 NCOC 20 199/7,787 2.6 20–3,875 105/305 CE 20 93/7,787 1.2 20–934 84/145 6-MAM 40 115/7,779 1.5 45–118,229 830/8,774 COD 40 144/7,779 1.9 41–32,358 163/739 MOR 40 283/7,779 3.6 40–105,932 445/3,975 HYM 40 170/7,779 2.2 41–62,857 123/986 HCOD 40 885/7,779 11.4 40–116,341 633/1,351 OXC 40 485/3,202 15.1 41–36,987 614/2,082 OXM 40 83/3,202 2.6 42–47,724 155/1,469 MTD 40 44/3,567 1.2 94–17,859 2,237/3,245 EDDP 40 35/3,567 1.0 49–2,880 527/696 NPPX 40 1/3,567 0.03 45 na BUP 8 15/40 37.5 37–5,491 182/782 NBUP 8 12/40 30.0 9–216 43/65 NMEP 1,000 1/1,344 0.07 1,481 na TRAM 400 53/1,344 3.9 425–158,072 3,553/8,606 NALT 40 2/18 11.1 63–71 na 6-BNAL 40 9/18 50.0 115–2,261 484/749 THCA 0.02 1,412/7,797 18.1 0.04–262 6.41/13.73 PCP 40 3/7,774 0.04 72–13,488 630/4,730 BUT 200 22/4,079 0.5 486–19,101 1,811/3,214 PHB 200 2/4,079 0.05 3,659–4,653 na ALP 40 64/4,083 1.6 45–1,553 152/251 TEM 40 3/4,083 0.07 47–3,769 99/1,305 DIAZ 40 37/4,083 0.9 41–5,338 233/560 NDIAZ 40 35/4,083 0.9 46–1,604 139/260 KET 40 2/122 1.6 3,772–12,632 na NKET 40 1/122 0.8 201 na ZOL 4 1/4 25.0 344 na EtG 8 756/3,039 24.9 20–3,754 88/177 Analyte LOQ (pg/mg) Number of samples ≥LOQ/total samples tested % of samples ≥LOQ Minimum–maximum range (pg/mg) Median/mean (pg/mg) AMP 40 1,126/7,799 14.4 40–44,851 831/2,005 MET 40 1,071/7,799 13.7 42–572,865 3,687/13,197 MDMA 40 22/7,799 0.3 43–40,165 298/2,773 MDA 40 7/7,799 0.09 52–706 129/250 MDEA 40 4/7,799 0.05 50–422 100/168 COC 40 415/7,787 5.3 48–265,063 1,768/13,600 BE 20 406/7,787 5.2 23–141,239 971/4,520 NCOC 20 199/7,787 2.6 20–3,875 105/305 CE 20 93/7,787 1.2 20–934 84/145 6-MAM 40 115/7,779 1.5 45–118,229 830/8,774 COD 40 144/7,779 1.9 41–32,358 163/739 MOR 40 283/7,779 3.6 40–105,932 445/3,975 HYM 40 170/7,779 2.2 41–62,857 123/986 HCOD 40 885/7,779 11.4 40–116,341 633/1,351 OXC 40 485/3,202 15.1 41–36,987 614/2,082 OXM 40 83/3,202 2.6 42–47,724 155/1,469 MTD 40 44/3,567 1.2 94–17,859 2,237/3,245 EDDP 40 35/3,567 1.0 49–2,880 527/696 NPPX 40 1/3,567 0.03 45 na BUP 8 15/40 37.5 37–5,491 182/782 NBUP 8 12/40 30.0 9–216 43/65 NMEP 1,000 1/1,344 0.07 1,481 na TRAM 400 53/1,344 3.9 425–158,072 3,553/8,606 NALT 40 2/18 11.1 63–71 na 6-BNAL 40 9/18 50.0 115–2,261 484/749 THCA 0.02 1,412/7,797 18.1 0.04–262 6.41/13.73 PCP 40 3/7,774 0.04 72–13,488 630/4,730 BUT 200 22/4,079 0.5 486–19,101 1,811/3,214 PHB 200 2/4,079 0.05 3,659–4,653 na ALP 40 64/4,083 1.6 45–1,553 152/251 TEM 40 3/4,083 0.07 47–3,769 99/1,305 DIAZ 40 37/4,083 0.9 41–5,338 233/560 NDIAZ 40 35/4,083 0.9 46–1,604 139/260 KET 40 2/122 1.6 3,772–12,632 na NKET 40 1/122 0.8 201 na ZOL 4 1/4 25.0 344 na EtG 8 756/3,039 24.9 20–3,754 88/177 View Large
Table II. Analyte Number of samples ≥LOQ/total samples tested (% of samples ≥LOQ) Minimum–maximum range (pg/mg) Median/mean (pg/mg) Fingernails Toenails Fingernails Toenails Fingernails Toenails AMP 212/1,542 (13.7%) 99/550 (18.0%) 42–29,105 40–44,851 980/1,879 843/2,906 MET 190/1,542 (12.3%) 73/550 (13.3%) 80–249,706 47–344,619 3,784/16,148 3,021/15,717 MDMA 4/1,542 (0.3%) 1/550 (0.2%) 70–3,834 99 2,564/2,258 na/na COC 84/1,540 (5.5%) 16/550 (2.9%) 159–265,063 306–6,067 2,101/18,510 1,281/2,143 BE 82/1,540 (5.3%) 16/550 (2.9%) 41–45,939 166–6,887 1,285/4,803 594/1,293 NCOC 38/1,540 (2.5%) 3/550 (0.5%) 20–2,357 68–144 120/289 71/94 CE 21/1,540 (1.4%) 2/550 (0.4%) 22–463 221–252 61/90 na/na 6-MAM 30/1,540 (1.9%) 6/550 (1.1%) 51–118,229 122–22,935 2,959/18,645 1,051/4,681 COD 31/1,540 (2.0%) 11/550 (2.0%) 41–6,882 45–805 192/816 130/201 MOR 57/1,540 (3.7%) 15/550 (2.7%) 47–66,666 40–11,857 780/7,209 285/1,466 HYM 41/1,540 (2.7%) 12/550 (2.2%) 41–62,857 53–1,188 127/1,813 115/283 HCOD 134/1,540 (8.7%) 44/550 (8.0%) 59–13,473 113–8,611 913/1,663 753/1,363 OXC 107/606 (17.7%) 29/214 (13.6%) 43–18,482 50–3,827 737/2,148 385/879 OXM 25/606 (4.1%) 5/214 (2.3%) 42–24,902 42–280 124/1,278 108/119 MTD 7/703 (1.0%) 1/251 (0.4%) 1,534–4,640 11,896 3,401/3,141 na/na EDDP 7/703 (1.0%) 1/251 (0.4%) 139–1,277 1,721 370/582 na/na BUP 5/14 (35.7%) 2/6 (33.3%) 52–5,491 37–175 299/1,271 na/na NBUP 4/14 (28.6%) 2/6 (33.3%) 9–54 35–62 23/28 na/na THCA 255/1,539 (16.6%) 110/551 (20.0%) 0.12–146 0.15–106 6.4/13.2 8.4/15 ALP 22/835 (2.6%) 2/304 (0.7%) 57–1,117 61–148 207/315 na/na DIAZ 8/835 (1.0%) 2/304 (0.7%) 43–461 43–247 190/216 na/na NDIAZ 9/835 (1.1%) 2/304 (0.7%) 55–638 389–438 93/179 na/na EtG 157/650 (24.2%) 16/66 (24.2%) 20–3,121 23–254 82/186 59/75 Analyte Number of samples ≥LOQ/total samples tested (% of samples ≥LOQ) Minimum–maximum range (pg/mg) Median/mean (pg/mg) Fingernails Toenails Fingernails Toenails Fingernails Toenails AMP 212/1,542 (13.7%) 99/550 (18.0%) 42–29,105 40–44,851 980/1,879 843/2,906 MET 190/1,542 (12.3%) 73/550 (13.3%) 80–249,706 47–344,619 3,784/16,148 3,021/15,717 MDMA 4/1,542 (0.3%) 1/550 (0.2%) 70–3,834 99 2,564/2,258 na/na COC 84/1,540 (5.5%) 16/550 (2.9%) 159–265,063 306–6,067 2,101/18,510 1,281/2,143 BE 82/1,540 (5.3%) 16/550 (2.9%) 41–45,939 166–6,887 1,285/4,803 594/1,293 NCOC 38/1,540 (2.5%) 3/550 (0.5%) 20–2,357 68–144 120/289 71/94 CE 21/1,540 (1.4%) 2/550 (0.4%) 22–463 221–252 61/90 na/na 6-MAM 30/1,540 (1.9%) 6/550 (1.1%) 51–118,229 122–22,935 2,959/18,645 1,051/4,681 COD 31/1,540 (2.0%) 11/550 (2.0%) 41–6,882 45–805 192/816 130/201 MOR 57/1,540 (3.7%) 15/550 (2.7%) 47–66,666 40–11,857 780/7,209 285/1,466 HYM 41/1,540 (2.7%) 12/550 (2.2%) 41–62,857 53–1,188 127/1,813 115/283 HCOD 134/1,540 (8.7%) 44/550 (8.0%) 59–13,473 113–8,611 913/1,663 753/1,363 OXC 107/606 (17.7%) 29/214 (13.6%) 43–18,482 50–3,827 737/2,148 385/879 OXM 25/606 (4.1%) 5/214 (2.3%) 42–24,902 42–280 124/1,278 108/119 MTD 7/703 (1.0%) 1/251 (0.4%) 1,534–4,640 11,896 3,401/3,141 na/na EDDP 7/703 (1.0%) 1/251 (0.4%) 139–1,277 1,721 370/582 na/na BUP 5/14 (35.7%) 2/6 (33.3%) 52–5,491 37–175 299/1,271 na/na NBUP 4/14 (28.6%) 2/6 (33.3%) 9–54 35–62 23/28 na/na THCA 255/1,539 (16.6%) 110/551 (20.0%) 0.12–146 0.15–106 6.4/13.2 8.4/15 ALP 22/835 (2.6%) 2/304 (0.7%) 57–1,117 61–148 207/315 na/na DIAZ 8/835 (1.0%) 2/304 (0.7%) 43–461 43–247 190/216 na/na NDIAZ 9/835 (1.1%) 2/304 (0.7%) 55–638 389–438 93/179 na/na EtG 157/650 (24.2%) 16/66 (24.2%) 20–3,121 23–254 82/186 59/75 View Large
Table II. Analyte Number of samples ≥LOQ/total samples tested (% of samples ≥LOQ) Minimum–maximum range (pg/mg) Median/mean (pg/mg) Fingernails Toenails Fingernails Toenails Fingernails Toenails AMP 212/1,542 (13.7%) 99/550 (18.0%) 42–29,105 40–44,851 980/1,879 843/2,906 MET 190/1,542 (12.3%) 73/550 (13.3%) 80–249,706 47–344,619 3,784/16,148 3,021/15,717 MDMA 4/1,542 (0.3%) 1/550 (0.2%) 70–3,834 99 2,564/2,258 na/na COC 84/1,540 (5.5%) 16/550 (2.9%) 159–265,063 306–6,067 2,101/18,510 1,281/2,143 BE 82/1,540 (5.3%) 16/550 (2.9%) 41–45,939 166–6,887 1,285/4,803 594/1,293 NCOC 38/1,540 (2.5%) 3/550 (0.5%) 20–2,357 68–144 120/289 71/94 CE 21/1,540 (1.4%) 2/550 (0.4%) 22–463 221–252 61/90 na/na 6-MAM 30/1,540 (1.9%) 6/550 (1.1%) 51–118,229 122–22,935 2,959/18,645 1,051/4,681 COD 31/1,540 (2.0%) 11/550 (2.0%) 41–6,882 45–805 192/816 130/201 MOR 57/1,540 (3.7%) 15/550 (2.7%) 47–66,666 40–11,857 780/7,209 285/1,466 HYM 41/1,540 (2.7%) 12/550 (2.2%) 41–62,857 53–1,188 127/1,813 115/283 HCOD 134/1,540 (8.7%) 44/550 (8.0%) 59–13,473 113–8,611 913/1,663 753/1,363 OXC 107/606 (17.7%) 29/214 (13.6%) 43–18,482 50–3,827 737/2,148 385/879 OXM 25/606 (4.1%) 5/214 (2.3%) 42–24,902 42–280 124/1,278 108/119 MTD 7/703 (1.0%) 1/251 (0.4%) 1,534–4,640 11,896 3,401/3,141 na/na EDDP 7/703 (1.0%) 1/251 (0.4%) 139–1,277 1,721 370/582 na/na BUP 5/14 (35.7%) 2/6 (33.3%) 52–5,491 37–175 299/1,271 na/na NBUP 4/14 (28.6%) 2/6 (33.3%) 9–54 35–62 23/28 na/na THCA 255/1,539 (16.6%) 110/551 (20.0%) 0.12–146 0.15–106 6.4/13.2 8.4/15 ALP 22/835 (2.6%) 2/304 (0.7%) 57–1,117 61–148 207/315 na/na DIAZ 8/835 (1.0%) 2/304 (0.7%) 43–461 43–247 190/216 na/na NDIAZ 9/835 (1.1%) 2/304 (0.7%) 55–638 389–438 93/179 na/na EtG 157/650 (24.2%) 16/66 (24.2%) 20–3,121 23–254 82/186 59/75 Analyte Number of samples ≥LOQ/total samples tested (% of samples ≥LOQ) Minimum–maximum range (pg/mg) Median/mean (pg/mg) Fingernails Toenails Fingernails Toenails Fingernails Toenails AMP 212/1,542 (13.7%) 99/550 (18.0%) 42–29,105 40–44,851 980/1,879 843/2,906 MET 190/1,542 (12.3%) 73/550 (13.3%) 80–249,706 47–344,619 3,784/16,148 3,021/15,717 MDMA 4/1,542 (0.3%) 1/550 (0.2%) 70–3,834 99 2,564/2,258 na/na COC 84/1,540 (5.5%) 16/550 (2.9%) 159–265,063 306–6,067 2,101/18,510 1,281/2,143 BE 82/1,540 (5.3%) 16/550 (2.9%) 41–45,939 166–6,887 1,285/4,803 594/1,293 NCOC 38/1,540 (2.5%) 3/550 (0.5%) 20–2,357 68–144 120/289 71/94 CE 21/1,540 (1.4%) 2/550 (0.4%) 22–463 221–252 61/90 na/na 6-MAM 30/1, |
not have been possible for me to come out. Back then, people still had such narrow views, but today many of them are more liberal. Being gay is no longer a taboo in many parts of society. That has affected sports, even boxing.
SPIEGEL: Since your victory against Jorge Pazos you have been considered a candidate to fight for the World Boxing Organization title. You could become the world champion.
Cruz: Yes. But I don't want to be seen only as a boxer who is gay. I want to be a boxer who is professional, who pursues his goals and realizes his dreams. And my biggest dream is the world championship belt.
SPIEGEL: Did you have many female admirers before coming out?
Cruz: Oh yes, I got lots of offers. The girls would come around after my fights wanting to flirt. They'd say: "Hey, you're so cute, come on Orlando."
SPIEGEL: What did you answer?
Cruz: Well, what do you think? I said: "Sorry, not with me. That doesn't work on me." I think there are a few girls who will be sad after my coming out. I'm almost a bit sorry about that.
SPIEGEL: Your last opponent had no problem with your homosexuality. What will you do if your next adversary is less tolerant?
Cruz: Oh, you know, there will be people like that, I'm sure. Someone will come along who calls me a faggot or a fairy. I'll say: "What? You call me a faggot? Okay, if you like. But you'd better watch out, because I'm the faggot who's going to kick your ass."
SPIEGEL: Mr. Cruz, thank you for this interview.Athens (CNN) -- Wandering through central Athens' Syntagma Square, Maria Papanagiotaki and Aristotle Skalizos stop to perch on a sun-soaked bench as they consider their future.
The couple, who have been dating for two-and-a-half years, belong to Greece's post-junta generation, growing up as the country emerged into its modern democracy.
As Greece's turbulent history faded into its past, the country's political landscape remained fraught with nepotism and mismanagement.
Read more: Is Greek democracy regressing?
But the boom times had begun. Greece entered the euro in 2001, and ex-pat money flooded back into the country.
It hosted the Olympic Games in 2004, swelling the country with pride.
But by 2009 -- when the country admitted its deficit was out of control -- the financial mirage evaporated. Maria, 34, and 25-year old Aristotle's generation was caught in the fallout.
The couple belong to a young professional class that will help shape their country's future. Together, they must decide if they are willing to live through -- and help alleviate -- Greece's pain.
Their views differ dramatically, and it weighs on their relationship.
A few meters away from where Maria, an electronic mobile technician, and Aristotle, an electronics tester, chat, a man stumbles to his knees, dropping a begging cup. Grasping for it as it rolls away, he ends up splayed on the ground.
It's a disturbing sight, but one which has become increasingly common in Athens since austerity measures began to bite.
Greece's poverty, suicide and crime rates have increased alongside unemployment and emigration.
It is this environment Maria wants to leave. She dreams of life outside of Greece, in the UK or the U.S., where she has relatives. "I have to go," she says. "I have to leave from here."
Aristotle wants to remain. "I want to stay and fight," he says. "I don't want to abandon my country."
His reasoning is clear: "I love my country."
Maria and Aristotle
Maria and Aristotle began dating after meeting at their workplace, a Germany-based telecommunications company. The relationship blossomed after, in Maria's words, "he saw me there, we became friends, he was trying to approach me in any [way]... and finally after eight months we were together."
They moved in together, but say their financial situation has become increasingly difficult as the crisis has unfolded. Each has taken a significant cut in pay since April, in part because both have seen their work week reduced to four days a week.
They now earn €1,160 ($1,415) a month between them, down from €1,480 ($1,805) two years ago.
They pay €300 ($366) in rent and around €65 ($79) a week in groceries, but face extra costs because of the crisis. Since Aristotle's father's sculpture business went bankrupt in the recession, the young couple must also help his parents get by, he says.
Neither voted in the June 17 elections, because they could not spare the cash to return to their home villages -- €15 ($18) for Maria, and €40 ($48) for Aristotle -- to vote.
Pro-austerity package party New Democracy won the election, despite soaring support for the radical left Syriza party.
Alexis Tsipras, who heads Syriza, is, like Maria, is in his 30s. Tsipras's vociferous rejection of Europe's austerity-driven demands for Greece appealed to discontented youth, with the party capturing 33% of 18 to 34-year-olds, compared to 20% for New Democracy.
The surge is all the more dramatic given that Greeks, born in a country where family loyalty is embedded deep in the national psyche, usually vote the way of their forebears.
Maria, for one, would have fallen behind her parents and voted New Democracy. The party now leads a fragile coalition, but that provides no comfort for Maria.
A country fights for its future
Greece's new government is now renegotiating its bailout package, but there is no guarantee the country will emerge from years of recession. And the country could lose people like Maria and Aristotle overseas, while those with less hope could give in to despair.
More than 50% of working age Greeks under 26 are without a job. Those just entering the workforce are particularly hard-hit, with 2011 figures from Eurostat showing 56% unemployment among those aged 15 to 19. Around one in four workers under 39 years old are unemployed.
Eurostat figures show the extent of the exodus of young workers fleeing Greece's crisis. In 2010, almost 2.5% of those in their mid-to-late 20s left the country, while around 2% of those aged 30 to 34 emigrated.
Dreams of going abroad
Those choosing to leave must struggle against the desire to stay and help their family, and overcome a deep loyalty to a country which has suffered under civil war, dictatorship, and foreign rule under Germany, now its main paymaster.
Those entering the workforce carry a cultural weight of responsibility to family. Aristotle's 19-year-old brother, Nick, a student, wants to move to the Netherlands to study fine arts. Holland attracts him because of its place in art history, and the "country and the color of the sky are beautiful," he says. But any money he earns -- after he's made enough to get by -- will be sent back to Greece, to help his family.
Marios-Aristotle Koulouris, a 23-year-old soldier, also wants to go abroad, and study political science. But he wants to return, to break his generation's "consciousness of dependency."
Greece, he believes, needs to "rise up and develop its own power, to protect our people's benefits. Economically and politically, we need to rise up."
The country's next generation needs to be taught the value of productivity, he believes. The crisis represents a chance "to change people's minds.... to abolish the mentality of dependency."
Coming back home
Some of those who have left Greece have already returned in an effort to help the country they love.
Christina Psarra, a 27-year-old who works in policy at humanitarian organization Doctors of the World studied at the London School of Economics, while George Stathopoulos, a 33-year-old investment banker studied at Middlesex University.
Although their educations opened a world of possibility, both opted to forgo careers abroad to return to Athens.
Christina says when her studies in London were coming to an end last year, she knew it was time to "feed my heart not my mind."
Christina and George describe Greece as a country where one always cooks extra food in preparation for a guest, where a feisty debate over sport will end with friendly drink, and where parents maintain close contact with children after they leave home.
But this often idyllic country today finds itself immersed in anger and fear. And Christina, who is passionate about helping the vulnerable and now works with drug addicts, says she doesn't know which is more dangerous.
"I'm afraid for other people and myself," she says.
With the option to work overseas, she believes she may be forced to leave, due to Greece's lack of opportunities. "I have the chance, I have the choice to decide to live abroad. If I am forced to do it, I can do it," she says.
George believes the country can -- should it follow the example of others, such as Turkey -- restructure itself into a viable European economy. The revelations of its financial irresponsibility, which led the spiral into bailout, were akin to the country being caught "skinny-dipping" when the tide went out, he says.
George wants to see the country's red-tape unraveled to allow investment into its promising industries such as tourism and shipping. The problems for Greece are structural, he says, and that can be a "glass half full...you can see that as an opportunity. [If] you realize you have a problem, you can transform how you do business."
The way he sees it: "The game is not lost but we are two goals behind."
Marios-Aristotle also sees opportunity in Greece's future, and he is not afraid of the pain that may still come. "My country [during] its history has passed many greater disasters. So I am not afraid."
For Aristotle, there is one answer to a difficult question. It goes against his wishes but he will put his relationship with Maria ahead of his country. "I love [Maria], and I will follow her. I will sacrifice," he says.The National Football League, arguably the most successful sports business in the US, is getting a new challenger. The Pacific Pro Football League will kick off its inaugural season during the summer of 2018, with four teams based in Southern California.
In addition to being a proving ground for players, coaches, and executives, the league will act as a “football lab” for new technologies. More broadly, it will serve as a potential threat to the NFL’s current content distributors, according to a release by the new league.
While other rival football leagues have come and gone, the Pacific Pro Football League expects to land distribution deals that the likes of the USFL couldn’t get from the TV networks, says Don Yee, one of the Pac Pro League’s cofounders (better known as NFL quarterback Tom Brady’s agent).
“Here in 2017 we’re in a completely different content universe,” Yee told ESPN’s Bob Ley (around 2:50 into the video clip). “There are numerous content distributors out there that are looking for live sports inventory… We feel very confident that we’re going to be able to attract that kind of distribution.”
Yee told The Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Futterman: “The business model of American football hasn’t seen any innovation at its core in a long time. There is innovation in every other part of society. I think we could be a good supplement for what is out there.”
If that assertion sounds familiar, it’s because it describes what has happened to other companies across the media and entertainment industry, says Brian Campanotti, director of business development in Oracle’s digital media solutions group. People have gone from buying records and CDs at $20 a pop to buying individual songs for about a buck to simply asking their personal digital assistant to stream a song on demand from an almost infinite music catalog.
Increasingly, consumers are “cutting the cord” with conventional, linear, time-bound cable television and signing up with internet-based on-demand providers such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, which charge far less, albeit for a narrower slice of the cultural pie. The move to live sports on the likes of Sling TV is “100% analogous to everything that’s happening in the media industry,” Campanotti says.
Related: To find out how other business leaders are driving and adapting to change, see “New Ideas for Cloud-Driven Transformation” interviews and articles.
One impact of this shift is cultural. As cord cutting becomes more prevalent, and audiences for each segment of content start to fragment, our society will have fewer and fewer points of reference in common. As New York Times tech columnist Farhad Manjoo wrote recently—on the same day, coincidentally, as the Pac Pro League announced itself—“during much of the 1980s, a broadcast show that attracted 14 million to 16 million viewers would have been in danger of cancellation.” Yet those numbers are considered a success for the likes of Netflix’s reboot of the broadcast sitcom Full House, according to Manjoo.
The other impact is financial. Content creators tend to take in less revenue when their audiences are fragmented. It’s not that there’s less money, but more of the money ends up in the hands of the new service providers.
Writing for the New York Times, sportswriter Ken Belson noted that:
With television already cluttered with dozens of games each week, the chances of a new league finding space on a widely distributed cable network are remote. Yee said that internet giants like Amazon and Netflix were looking for sports content to distribute. It is far from clear, however, whether one of those companies will pay Yee’s league to show games.
Yet that is precisely what Campanotti thinks will happen, especially as live sports are the only kind of programming, other than slick shows with high production values, likely to generate many repeat viewers or much loyalty. “This is the future of content distribution,” he said.
If the Pac Pro League succeeds in breaking into this new internet-based distribution model, it’s only a matter of time before the established leagues will try to follow suit. Which is why one day we may be spending the first Sunday in February streaming the Super Bowl through a service other than network television.
Michael Hickins is director of strategic communications for Oracle.Sony hints at some very waterproof devices at IFA 2014
Sony’s latest IFA 2014 tease relates to the water resistance of its devices. Since the introduction of the Xperia Z, the water resistance of its flagship phones has been one if Sony’s key selling points. Well it looks with the new generation of phones, Sony will be taking their waterproof qualities to the next level.
Sony’s tweet says “We’ll be getting deep at #IFA2014. But how deep..?” There is a picture of an arrow pointing to 2 metres with a question mark, implying it could be even greater. On the face of it, this probably means an IP certification of IP 65/68 as seen in the recently announced Xperia M2 Aqua.
Sony said that the Xperia M2 Aqua offers the “world’s highest level of waterproofing available in a smartphone”, yet according to Sony the phone can only be immersed down to 1.5 metres in freshwater. Sony’s new devices appear to go beyond this, so it will be interested in how this is marketed.Add Drake to the long list of musicians, celebrities, and performers who don’t support President Trump.
While performing in London on Sunday night, the 30-year-old rapper took on the new commander-in-chief and his divisive policies.
"For some reason in my room they got the TVs set to CNN. Every day I wake up, I see all this bullsh** going on in the world. People trying to tear us apart, people trying to make us turn against each other."
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“So tonight, my proudest moment isn’t selling tickets or having people sing my songs," he continued, "my proudest moment — if you take a look around in this room, you’ll see people from all races and all places — and all we did tonight was come inside this building, show love, celebrate life, more life, and more music.”
"If you think one man can tear this world apart, you're out of your motherf***ing mind. It's on us to keep this sh** together. F*** that man."
On Monday, his friend and frequent collaborator Kanye West generated a few Trump-related headlines of his own with reports of the rapper deleting all of his tweets mentioning President Trump.
Shape Created with Sketch. Drake and Future's Summer Sixteen Tour in New York City Show all 6 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Drake and Future's Summer Sixteen Tour in New York City 1/6 Roy Woods performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo 2/6 Roy Woods performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo 3/6 dvsn performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo 4/6 dvsn performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo 5/6 Drake performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo 6/6 Drake performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo 1/6 Roy Woods performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo 2/6 Roy Woods performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo 3/6 dvsn performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo 4/6 dvsn performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo 5/6 Drake performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo 6/6 Drake performs at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2016. Justin Carissimo
Meanwhile, Drake teased his crowd about bringing back the original Young Money crew for a reunion show.
“I just got off the phone with Nicki and she told me to tell y’all, ‘Hello,'” he continued. “We might have to do something special. We might have to do some Young Money reunion sh-- out here this summer. I might have to bring all my friends from America, all my friends from Canada, the whole OVO.”
Watch Drake diss President Trump is the video above.Could a mobile spore sampler, strapped to the roof of a country school bus be the next wave of pest surveillance in Australian.
Mobile Jet Spore Samplers and Insect Suction Traps are a part of a growing number of smart pest trapping technologies being trialled in South Australia.
The SA Research and Development Institute (SARDI) has begun field testing the Mobile Jet Spore Sampler, the first device of its kind in the world to be fixed to a moving vehicle.
The smart technology that sets the Mobile Jet Spore Sampler apart is that samples can be collected at pre-determined GPS locations, time, temperature or humidity settings so the scientists have control over what and when they are collecting.
The technology can also detect rare influxes of pathogens such as exotic incursions that can be difficult to detect through traditional trapping systems.
Speeding samples to the lab
The sampler can be driven around sucking-up airborne fungal pathogens 45 times greater than the standard fixed trap technology.
SARDI senior research scientist Rohan Kimber says this technology could be a game-changer for the way airborne pests and diseases are monitored in this country.
"(Farmers) need to understand when pests and disease may occur, or have occurred, or are increasing in their numbers," Dr Kimber said.
Share Mobile jet spore sampler might eventually be attached to vehicles like school buses.
"So the faster we can get that information to them and an understanding of where there might be an increased presence of a disease that's occurring at a particular time, then the faster they're able to respond."
The researchers believe it might be possible for Mobile Jet Spore Samplers to be attached to school busses, courier vehicles or consultants' vehicles, with air samples speedily submitted to SARDI's molecular diagnostic centre for fast analysis.
"That can really start having an impact on how a grower may choose fungicide timings, not only when to apply and when not to apply. Sometimes a low level can be just as valuable as a high return," Dr Kimber said.
Share SARDI Senior Research Scientist Dr Rohan Kimber with the Insect Suction Trap
The team is also continuing its development of the Insect Suction Trap, used last year to monitor a Russian wheat aphid incursion.
In that instance though, the scientists applied similar smart technology to identify insects of interest from a large range of bugs in fixed traps.
"We could even identify specifically as a single aphid amongst a whole collection of a gunky goo of insects — anything from bees and moths to small aphids and midges," he said.
Dr Kimber said that while UK-based Rothamsted Research had the gold standard of insect samplers and identification, the identification was done visually under a microscope and a team of people to sort through the samples.
"We wanted to approach it from the point of view of using molecular assays as that's where our strengths are," he said.
The two types of pathogens that the technologies were developed to monitor were the endemic — the ones that growers already manage each year — and the exotic — the ones that Australia is free from but need to constantly be monitored for.
An example of endemic disease aiming to be monitored is the spot of net blotch, while an exotic disease example is barley stripe rust.Professors and students are demanding answers from the University of Calgary about the post-secondary institution's relationship with the pipeline company Enbridge.
The U of C held a public town hall Wednesday afternoon to discuss the institution's finances and upcoming budget. Students raised several concerns, including the Enbridge controversy.
One student called on Cannon to resign after saying her actions, including her involvement with Enbridge, have "embarrassed" him as a student.
"As a student, I believe that your actions have hurt the standing of this institution," said first-year student Frank Finley.
Cannon responded by saying she will not resign.
"The answer is no," she told the gathered crowd, adding she has confidence in the university's independent review into the U of C's relationship with Enbridge.
Emails obtained from a freedom of information request suggest there was corporate influence during an attempt to establish a new research centre at Haskayne School of Business.
Enbridge pledged $2.25 million over 10 years to establish the Enbridge Centre for Corporate Sustainability. As U of C officials worked to create the centre, documents obtained by the CBC reveal the university accommodated the apparent public relations ambitions of the corporate patron.
Along the way, concerns about academic independence, the role of university research and the credibility of the researchers were dismissed.
Review launched
Elizabeth Cannon answers questions at a U of C town hall event. (CBC)
The university is bringing in Calgary lawyer and mediator Terrence McMahon to conduct a review. The investigation will specifically look at the creation and operation of the U of C's Enbridge Centre and determine whether there was any breach of university policies or procedures then in place. McMahon's report is expected to be completed by Dec. 14. The board of governors will review it and then release it to the public.
"What we've allowed Justice McMahon to do is be able to deal with anything that he finds necessary as part of his process," said Mark Starratt, a member of the university's board. "So once he has had the opportunity to review the documents that have been presented to him, he can choose what questions to ask and who he wants to ask those questions of."
Students and professors want a broad investigation that examines conflict of interest allegations against university president Elizabeth Cannon and board oversight of corporate gifts. They also want any findings from the investigation to be sent to the Office of the Ethics Commissioner for further review.
Following the CBC investigation, Cannon resigned as an independent director of the Enbridge Income Fund. The university president's compensation for that board position amounted to $130,500 in 2014. While Cannon faced criticism for having a potential conflict of interest, she had publicly disclosed the position and said she always speaks as a university president.
Bonnie DuPont, who was a member of the centre's board and currently chairs the U of C's board of governors, is a former Enbridge vice president.
CAUT investigation
Corporate and Individual donations are on the rise at the U of C as the university establishes aggressive targets for fundraising. (U of C 2015 Comprehensive Institutional Plan)
The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) is launching its own investigation to examine alleged violations of academic freedom and conflict of interest at the university. CAUT decided to conduct its own examination in response to the CBC investigation into the relationship between the U of C and Enbridge.
"This case brings together a number of things. One is the allegation that the donor, in this case Enbridge, had inappropriate or undue influence over the centre," said David Robinson, CAUT's executive director, in an interview.
"Another issue is the potential conflict of interest when you have the university president and chair of the board that have financial ties to the donor, and then there is the allegations that faculty complaints about the direction of the centre and concerns about academic freedom were never followed up."
CAUT said it has received complaints from other professors at the U of C about academic freedom. CAUT said it will investigate to see if there is substance to those allegations.
Enbridge said it values academic independence and didn't attempt to influence the centre's operations or staffing choices.
According to the U of C, no academics ever made formal complaints about their academic freedom being infringed upon. The university's president said the institution's credibility and reputation are not at risk.
Last fall, Enbridge's name was taken off the centre. It is now just the Centre for Corporate Sustainability. The company dropped its funding to the school by $1 million and moved the money to a different university department.
Read the CAUT's letter to Elizabeth Cannon hereDeath by asexuality: IU biologists uncover new path for mutations to arise
'Contagious asexuality' is dominant in sexual genotypes
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 3, 2013
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Ground-breaking new research from a team of evolutionary biologists at Indiana University shows for the first time how asexual lineages of a species are doomed not necessarily from a long, slow accumulation of new mutations, but rather from fast-paced gene conversion processes that simply unmask pre-existing deleterious recessive mutations.
Photo by: Indiana University Distinguished Professor of Biology Michael Lynch Print-Quality Photo
Geneticists have long bet on the success of sexual reproduction over asexual reproduction based in a large part on the process known as Muller's ratchet, the mechanism by which a genome accrues deleterious and irreversible mutations after the host organism has lost its ability to carry out the important gene-shuffling job of recombination.
The new work from the laboratory of IU Distinguished Professor of Biology Michael Lynch instead indicates that most deleterious DNA sequences contributing to the extinction process are actually present in the sexual ancestors, albeit in recessive form, and simply become exposed via fast-paced gene conversion and deletion processes that eliminate the fit genes from one of the parental chromosomes.
After sequencing the entire genomes of 11 sexual and 11 asexual genotypes of Daphnia pulex, a model organism for the study of reproduction that is more commonly known as the water flea, the team discovered that every asexual genotype shared common combinations of alleles for two different chromosomes transmitted by asexual males without recombination.
Asexual males then spread the genetic elements for suppressing meiosis, the type of cell division necessary for sexual reproduction, into sexual populations. The unique feature of this system is that although females become asexual, their sons need not be, and instead have the ability to spread the asexuality gene to sexual populations -- in effect, by a process of contagious asexuality.
"One might think of this process as a transmissible asexual disease," Lynch said.
Exposure of pre-existing, deleterious alleles is, incidentally, a major cause of cancer, he added.
In another remarkable finding from the genome-wide survey for asexual markers, the team was also able to determine the age of the entire asexual radiation for D. pulex. Just a few years ago biologists were guessing that asexual daphnia lineages could be millions of years old, and most recent estimates put it between 1,000 years and 172,000 years. But new calculations for the molecular evolutionary rates of the two chromosomes implicated in asexuality date the establishment and spread of the asexual lineage to just 1,250 years ago. Some current asexual lineages, in fact, were only decades old, younger than Lynch himself.
"A pond of asexual daphnia may go extinct quite rapidly owing to these deleterious-gene-exposing processes, but the small chromosomal regions responsible for asexuality survive by jumping to new sexual populations where they again transform the local individuals to asexuality by repeated backcrossing," Lynch said. "Soon after such a transformation, the processes of gene conversion and deletion restarts, thereby again exposing resident pre-existing mutations leading to another local extinction event. As far as the sexual populations are concerned, asexuality is infectious, spreading across vast geographic distances while undergoing no recombination."
Lynch said it remains unclear what the ultimate fate of the entire sexual species will be and whether all sexual populations will be eventually displaced by the westward march of asexual lineages.
The team from the IU College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology used sexual and asexual daphnia sourced from ponds and lakes in six states and two Canadian provinces. The new work supported past research showing that a westward expansion of asexual lineages began in northeastern North America.
The team was even able to determine that the genetic cause of asexuality in D. pulex -- those meiosis-suppressing genetic elements -- originated from a sister species, Daphnia pulicaria, either through introduction of those elements previously segregated in D. pulicaria or through a unique hybridization event that brought on the change.
"It is the contents of two non-recombining chromosomes derived from D. pulicaria that induce asexuality after male transmission of the otherwise asexual lineages," Lynch said.
Given that the gradual accumulation of new mutations -- Muller's ratchet -- is less of a contributor for asexual decline than the Lynch team's findings on simple loss of heterozygosity and exposure of pre-existing, deleterious alleles, evolutionary biologists will now need to look at the persistence of other asexual genomes in a new way, Lynch believes. (If an individual has two different forms of a gene on a chromosome, that individual is heterozygous; two of the same gene forms, or alleles, at a specific location makes the individual homozygous.)
"Population-genomic insights into the evolutionary origin and fate of obligately asexual Daphnia pulex," is available in early online editions of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-authors with Lynch were postdoctoral research associates Brian D. Eads, Abraham E. Tucker and Sen Xu and Ph.D. student Matthew S. Ackerman. Funding for the work was provided by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
For more information or to speak with Lynch, please contact Steve Chaplin, IU Communications, at 812-856-1896 or stjchap@iu.edu.Lindsay is fiercely proud of every line that has been richly -- sometimes violently -- earned, each one a souvenir of his take-no-prisoners, 17-season NHL career.
There is a magnificent, lived-in quality to this 90-year-old legend's mug. His face is one of craters and deep valleys and meandering scars: imagine the lunar surface painted as a man's face.
DETROIT -- Ted Lindsay has traveled untold miles through the game of hockey, and every rugged inch of the journey can be found in the relief map that is his face.
Read: Lindsay: Everybody was the enemy when I played >>
And yet, softening his facial minefield, one stitched together by an estimated 700 sutures, is a bright, mischievous smile that punctuates a happiness, a sense of "If I had to do it all over again, I'd not change a thing - unless I could be a little meaner still."
We met at Joe Louis Arena Monday afternoon, Lindsay nattily dressed in jacket and tie, carrying three hockey sticks from the Detroit Red Wings dressing room and a red home jersey toted in a colorful "Happy Birthday" bag.
Lindsay had been down the hall harvesting autographed items for a summer golf tournament to benefit his foundation that, since its creation in 2001, has generously supported autism awareness and research. On his left lapel he wore a diamond-encrusted pin that featured the winged-wheel logo of the Red Wings and his No. 7, which since 1991 has hung in the rafters of the Joe.
Over the next hour, Lindsay would talk about his remarkable life, one you couldn't invent today. He spoke of his boyhood as the youngest of Bert and Maud Lindsay's nine Depression-era children in Kirkland Lake, Ontario; the replacement in 2014 of an aortic valve and the insertion six weeks ago of an artery-opening stent near his heart; and the decades of his history in between.
"I loved the game of hockey but I never looked at myself as a great hockey player," he said, the latter claim one that would be laughed at by anyone who saw him play or weathered his fury. "Owners never paid my salary. I always recognized that it was the people in the seats who did. I always wanted to give my best. Some nights, it was great.
"But there were other nights," he added with a laugh, "that I was not too pleased with my performance."
There would be precious few of those during 13 seasons with the Red Wings from 1944-57, three more with the Chicago Black Hawks (as they were then known) after a bizarre trade made by Detroit general manager Jack Adams, to one final season in the sun with the Red Wings in 1964-65, at age 39 following a four-year retirement.
When he finally hung up his skates as one of the most ferocious, feared men in his or any hockey era, Lindsay had won the Stanley Cup four times with Detroit, played 1,068 regular-season NHL games and another 133 in the playoffs, scored 379 goals with 472 assists, won the 1949-50 Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's points leader and racked up a staggering 1,808 penalty minutes - a then-record, and the equivalent of 30 full games.
More than 50 years after playing his last game, he is No. 70 on the all-time penalty-minutes list.
Lindsay listened as these numbers were rattled off, then smiled when I wondered aloud how he'd managed to be that productive offensively given his permanent-resident status in NHL penalty boxes.
"There was no balance because my mind didn't work that way," he said. "Some of the older players on the Red Wings, the defensemen, the veterans, Jack Stewart and Bill Quackenbush, guys like that, they'd say, 'Leave the kid alone, that's his nature, let him unwind when he wants to unwind.' "
An interesting way of describing a one-man wrecking crew.
"That was perfect for me because I hated everybody. I had no friends. I wasn't there to make friends. I was there to win. It wasn't necessary that I score, but I figured I could be an integral part without scoring. I had ability, I had talent and I didn't have an ego that I thought I was great. I realized I had to earn it. That was my purpose - to be the best that there was at the left-wing position. …
"I never looked at stats. I was part of a team. I couldn't do it by myself and nobody else on the team could do it themselves. We were part of a team. I had to help my teammates as much as they helped me. That was my philosophy."
And Lindsay was the quintessential teammate, a player who would roar to the defense of his fellow Red Wings or Black Hawks, whether they needed his help or not.
His battles were legendary. Lindsay didn't merely dislike his opponents, he detested them with every breath in his 5-foot-8, 165-pound body.
"My hatred was sincere," he said of his foes. "I liked to see them dead. That was my problem, I guess. I understood people, understood human nature. I wasn't a psychologist or anything, but I knew people. You'd figure out who the chickens were on the other side, who the bulls were on the other side, [then] spend your time with the chickens and stay away from the bulls."
Which wasn't true, of course. Lindsay was just as willing to mix it up with a bovine as he was with a rooster.
There was no thought, he said, of following in his father's skates. Bert Lindsay was a goaltender in the pre-NHL National Hockey Association and in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association before playing two NHL seasons with the Montreal Wanderers and Toronto Arenas.
One of five boys in the family, Ted Lindsay began skating at age 9 in too-large blades given to him by a Kirkland Lake neighbor. But he'd never be a goaltender.
"No, no," he said with a laugh. "I loved handling the puck, I loved handling that little black thing. I loved hitting people. And I love intimidating people, also."
Lindsay played scholastic junior hockey at St. Mike's in Toronto, and won a Memorial Cup championship in 1944 with the Oshawa Generals. The Toronto Maple Leafs heard of this promising young forward, but Lindsay was hospitalized, nursing a calf that had been punctured in a game, when team brass went to a game, not knowing his name, and scouted the wrong player.
It would be Red Wings chief scout Carson Cooper who later dangled the NHL bait, not even certain whether Lindsay was on Toronto's negotiation list. He wasn't, and fate brought him to the Red Wings, a team he had |
25-54 vs. last year.
Saturdays
New Day Saturday (6-9a) ranked #2 in cable news each hour in total viewers and in the demo and grew each hour compared to last year. MSNBC was either 3 rd or 4 th.
(6-9a) ranked #2 in cable news each hour in total viewers and in the demo and grew each hour compared to last year. MSNBC was either 3 or 4. Smerconish (9am) ranked #2 in total viewers (964k vs. MSNBC’s 694k) and among 25-54 (293k vs. MSNBC’s 161k). The program was up +39% in total viewers and +74% in 25-54 vs. last year. At 6pm, Smerconish also ranked #2 and was up from a year ago.
(9am) ranked #2 in total viewers (964k vs. MSNBC’s 694k) and among 25-54 (293k vs. MSNBC’s 161k). The program was up +39% in total viewers and +74% in 25-54 vs. last year. At 6pm, Smerconish also ranked #2 and was up from a year ago. CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield ( 11am-3:00pm) ranked #2 each hour, growing double digits vs. a year ago. MSNBC was 3rd.
11am-3:00pm) ranked #2 each hour, growing double digits vs. a year ago. MSNBC was 3rd. CNN Newsroom (3-6pm) either ranked #1 or #2, increasing double digits in both total viewers and the demo 25-54 vs. last year.
Sundays
Inside Politics with John King (8am) ranked #2 in both total viewers (864k) and the demo (276k). MSNBC ranked 3 rd /4 th The King-led program grew +25% in total viewers and +39% in the demo from last year.
(8am) ranked #2 in both total viewers (864k) and the demo (276k). MSNBC ranked 3 /4 The King-led program grew +25% in total viewers and +39% in the demo from last year. State of the Union with Jake Tapper at noon ranked #1 in cable news in the key demo with 373k, Fox News followed with 311k and MSNBC trailed with 193k. SOTU was up +26% in total viewers and +71% in the demo vs. last year’s busy political season. At 9am, the Tapper-led program was #2 in cable news in both demos and was up 26%/50% respectively.
at noon ranked #1 in cable news in the key demo with 373k, Fox News followed with 311k and MSNBC trailed with 193k. SOTU was up +26% in total viewers and +71% in the demo vs. last year’s busy political season. At 9am, the Tapper-led program was #2 in cable news in both demos and was up 26%/50% respectively. Fareed Zakaria GPS at 1pm was #1 in the demo 25-54 with 333k, Fox News had 277k and MSNBC delivered 194k. The program was up +44% in total viewers and +92% in the demo vs. last year. At 10am, GPS ranked #2 in both demos, increasing +43% in total viewers and +58% among adults compared to last year.
at 1pm was #1 in the demo 25-54 with 333k, Fox News had 277k and MSNBC delivered 194k. The program was up +44% in total viewers and +92% in the demo vs. last year. At 10am, GPS ranked #2 in both demos, increasing +43% in total viewers and +58% among adults compared to last year. Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter (11am) was #1 in cable news in the demo 25-54 this month with 366k, Fox News’ Media Buzz was behind with 336k and MSNBC had 219k. The Stelter-led media program was up +50% in total viewers and +79% among 25-54 vs. last year.
(11am) was #1 in cable news in the demo 25-54 this month with 366k, Fox News’ Media Buzz was behind with 336k and MSNBC had 219k. The Stelter-led media program was up +50% in total viewers and +79% among 25-54 vs. last year. CNN Newsroom on Sunday afternoons ranked either #1 or #2 in the demo, growing double digits vs. last year.
CNN Original Series Highlights:
CNN’s The History of Comedy Season 1 to date (Thursday nights 2/9-2/23/17) averaged 637k among adults 25-54 and 1.691mm in total viewers. The Original Series ranks #2 in cable news in its time period among adults 25-54, topping MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell by +34% (477k). Among ALL of CNN’s Original Series telecasts ever (Live+SD), the HOC series premiere (F***ing Funny) ranks #4 among adults 25-54 and #3 in total viewers.
###This is the full statement published by shadow chancellor John McDonnell after Philip Hammond scrapped the £2bn rise in national insurance contributions just a week after it was announced in the Budget.
This is a humiliating reversal for the chancellor forced upon him by Labour’s opposition. His authority is now shredded after just one Budget, and he tore up a manifesto commitment to do it.
We welcome the government’s decision to finally listen to Labour’s calls made in Jeremy Corbyn’s Budget response along with those of business groups like the Federation of Small Businesses to not go ahead with an unfair £2bn tax rise on low and middle earners. But they should never have been placed in this position to start with, and now we face yet another Tory Budget only a year on with a blackhole in the billions. In 2015, we had the tax credit shambles. In 2016, we had personal independence payments reversal. Now in 2017 we have the u-turn on national insurance contributions.
There will be millions of working people who are now breathing a sigh of relief, but it is the chancellor who should be holding his breath as this episode throws up urgent questions that he and the cabinet must now answer.
Did the prime minister or the rest of the cabinet, who must have seen the Budget in advance and known this measure was to be implemented, raise their concerns with the chancellor before he announced it, worrying millions of families? It was in the weekend papers before the Budget so they can’t say they were unaware it was to happen.
This is also the second year we have had a Tory Budget with a black hole in it worth billions. This is not acceptable. What will he do to fill the shortfall in a Budget he delivered less than a week ago without pursuing unfair tax increases or further cuts to public services? As the Budget will still see working people £1,400 worse off under the government.
On the day the Brexit secretary has admitted that he hasn’t looked into the costs of the prime minister’s negotiating strategy, this is yet more proof that there is disarray at the top of a government clearly making things up as they go along.
We need answers from the chancellor and accountability at the top of government. In no workplace would such practices be allowed to continue, and it should not be allowed from those responsible for the public finances. Labour’s new roundtable on self-employment will bring together business organisations, trade unions and self-employed groups to lay out a serious and realistic strategy to provide a fair deal for the self-employed at a time of major labour market changes. We are proud to be the party of working people, small businesses, and the self-employed.The Indians acquired first baseman/left fielder Lars Anderson from the Red Sox for Double-A starter Steven Wright, the teams announced. WEEI's Alex Speier first reported the trade (on Twitter).
The Red Sox have promoted Anderson in each of the last three seasons, but he has never played more than 18 games or collected more than 43 plate appearances in any one season with Boston. He has spent most of this year at Triple-A, where he has a.259/.359/.415 and nine home runs in 401 plate appearances. The 24-year-old bats left-handed and was considered one of the top prospects in baseball as recently as 2009.
Wright, a 27-year-old knuckleballer, posted a 2.49 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 4.8 BB/9 in 115 2/3 innings at Double-A this year. He started 20 games this year and has started for most of his six-year minor league career.China wants to arrange a joint Arctic expedition with Russia, while deep-sea mining and a deep-sea space station in Antarctica are also on the Beijing agenda, according to the Chinese State Oceanic Administration.
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The State Oceanic Administration (SOA) wants to establish an air service team, which will allow for greater exploration of Antarctica, according to Xinhua. Given the harsh environment they will be working in, the Chinese scientists understand they will need to adapt their technology and equipment to be compatible with their surroundings.
China also has economic interests in the region. Despite a treaty banning mining in Antarctica, which comes up for review in 2048, but does not expire, the SOA wants to carry out pilot deep-sea mining projects. Antarctica is believed to have large deposits of oil and gas, as well as minerals, such as iron ore and coal.
To get a better picture of what is beneath the giant ice sheets of Antarctica; researchers also plan to build a deep-sea space station.
“[The] administration will advance innovative development patterns for the ocean economy involving internet and big data, and a number of state oceanic laboratories will be built,” said Zhang Zhanhai, the SOA’s head of strategic planning.
Meanwhile, the SOA also announced they are interested in arranging a joint Arctic Ocean expedition with Russia for the first time.
In June, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order for the development of the Northern Sea Route, a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the shortest route along Russia's Arctic coastline.
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Below the ice and cold waters of the Arctic Ocean are hidden vast natural reserves: approximately 20 percent of oil reserves worldwide, about 30 percent of the planet’s natural gas, there are also believed to be deposits of platinum, gold and tin.
Russia is leading the race in claiming the region and has taken active steps to secure its interests. Moscow always stressed the priority of the Arctic in its latest economic and defense programs. US Secretary of State John Kerry says that Washington is closely watching Moscow’s activity in the region.
“Economic riches tend to attract military interest as nations seek to ensure their own rights are protected. And we know, because we track it, that these countries – like Russia, China, and others – are active in the Arctic,” he said.
To help develop infrastructure in the region, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin invited China to take part in developing railways to transport cargo to ports on the Arctic or Northern Sea Route in December.
“Integrated development of the Northern Sea Route guarantees the security of year-round cargo shipments both foreign and domestic,” Rogozin said on Monday at the Arctic Forum.
"In fact, we can say now that this is not just the economic Silk Road but the cool [Arctic –Ed.] Silk Road," he added.Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
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The first ever Gary Speed Memorial 10km race took place yesterday, attracting more than 300 entrants.
The runners set off from Colwyn Bay Football Club’s stadium in Llanelian Road at 11am before heading to the Promenade and through the town.
The 42-year-old star’s parents, Roger and Carol, posed with a banner bearing the dates of their hugely popular son’s life and, poignantly, many entrants swapped running vests for the football shirts of Wales, Everton, Newcastle and other clubs where Gary played.
Gary’s father Roger told the Daily Post how grateful he was to Colwyn Bay FC for organising the event.
He also spoke about his family are bearing up in the aftermath of the Wales and ex-Everton star’s death in 2011.
Mr Speed said the event was “fantastic”.
“John Martin (the comedian) had the microphone at the start, and we also had a minute’s applause in memory of Gary,” he said.
Many of the runners were raising funds for the Gary Speed Trust Fund as well as other charities. They included groups helped by staff and customers at Dukes Bar and Grill in Queensferry.
The male winner of the inaugural event was Darren Blazier from Abergele while 67-year-old Chris Birch from Conwy took the ladies' honour.
On dealing with their son’s death, Mr Speed said: “My wife still struggles a bit.
“I’m OK. We’ve got Gary’s two boys and they keep me busy.”
Mr Speed said that last week he and Carol went to Swansea to receive a £5,200 cheque for the Trust Fund from Matty Jones, the former Wales and Leeds Utd star.
He had been joined in a sponsored run by ex-Wales striker John Hartson.
Today, charity golfers will also boost the Trust Fund in a Gary Speed golf day at Padeswood & Buckley Golf Club.
Gary, from Mancot, died at his Cheshire home on November 27, 2011. The coroner concluded the inquest with a narrative verdict.
The Colwyn Bay memorial run is due to take place every year.Derbyshire lad Chris Sorrell has come a long way since pounding the streets of Matlock in the 80s. He's worked with the likes of Millennium Interactive, SCE Cambridge and Radical Entertainment, and has had a hand in creating world-famous video game franchises such as MediEvil and James Pond.
But there's one title which Sorrell remains almost inexorably linked with, more than 20 years after its release: James Pond's second outing, Codename Robocod. Originally released in 1991, this cute, colourful and incredibly playable 2D platformer is one of those unique breed of games which continues to be released in some shape and form right up the present day; the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS both received ports, and last year UK publisher System 3 announced its intention to remaster the game for home consoles and handhelds.
Sorrell is a disarmingly humble and modest individual, and one who doesn't take effusive praise easily. He entered the industry at the tender age of 16, teaming up with programmer Steve Bak after running into him in Alfreton's Gordon Harwood Computers, where he was then gainfully employed. "Steve was looking for a bitmap artist to help on a new game, and I was super keen to get my first break into the industry," Sorrell recalls. "I spent a week putting together a set of example images and was lucky enough to get the contract for the 16-bit editions of Spitting Image, which was based on the popular satirical puppet show of the period. Afterwards, Steve decided to set up Vectordean and in the space of a year, we had worked together on Dogs of War, Fire & Brimstone and Bad Company - for all of which I just provided the visuals."
Yolanda for the Amiga and ST was Sorrell's first big break as a programmer
Not content to work solely on the graphical side of things, Sorrell dearly wanted to be more intimately involved in the process of designing and creating a video game. "My first break was to do an ST and Amiga conversion of an old game that Steve had written on the C64 called Hercules, which was slightly re-themed to become Yolanda. It all went well - or more precisely, I did everything that was asked of me - and I guess I earned the freedom to come up with my next project, which was codenamed Guppy."
By this point, Vectordean was working with publisher Millennium Interactive, and the two became almost inseparable. "All business dealings were completely between Steve and Millennium," say Sorrell. "However, since Millennium was originally just three or four people and initially had no in-house development, I got to know everyone very well and we had a few fun meet-ups where we would take stock of progress and talk about new ideas." It would be during one of these meetings that Sorrell's project would receive its iconic title. "Millennium's managing director Michael Hayward had the'so bad it's good' idea to re-name the fishy star of my in-progress game as 'James Pond' - which of course we latched right on to and ran with." Released in 1990, reviews for James Pond: Underwater Agent were positive if not ecstatic and it performed well enough for a sequel to be mooted - a game which would comfortably eclipse its predecessor in terms of critical and commercial success.
"There was very little external direction or expectation as to what form it would take," Sorrell says of the development process. "I think everyone was pretty pleased with how James Pond had come together and I was given complete freedom to build the game I wanted to build. For James Pond 2, it seemed to me that we should try to continue the spoof theme whilst also moving in a direction that could genuinely offer new gameplay potential. This principle went into the design'mixing pot' along with a desire to make a more pure platformer, and to be more ambitious technically now that I was starting to know the Amiga pretty well." Never one to let a good pun slip through his fingers, Sorrell came up with the game's famous moniker himself. "The name 'Robocod' just popped into my head one day, probably because I had recently watched the Paul Verhoeven classic. It seemed perfect, not least because it gave us the opportunity 'to rebuild him', and was just a ludicrous and ridiculously appropriate premise to build the game around."
The original James Pond focused more on swimming and item collection than platforming
Despite the success of the first James Pond escapade, Vectordean was still very much a grassroots studio, and Sorrell found himself labouring away in a less-than-desirable working environment. "In the earliest days, Vectordean was based out of Steve's spare bedroom, but when we moved 'up' it was into an equally inauspicious location - a dingy upstairs room that was part of a dodgy-looking used car lot. We had to squeeze past second-hand BMWs and touched up old Rovers just to get into work each morning. It was one of those semi-permanent wooden-panel kind of buildings with no heating or hot water - definitely not the most fun place to be on a winter's day."
Unlike James Pond: Underwater Agent, Robocod would be a traditional platformer. A keen gamer for some time prior to entering the industry, Sorrell was able to call upon a vast amount of experience when crafting the mechanics behind the game. "I had always been a big fan of platformers, right from my very first computer - an 8-bit Atari, playing Miner 2049er obsessively - and through my time on the C64, which was spent on the likes of Trollie Wallie, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Monty on the Run and especially Thing on a Spring. There was also Rainbow Islands and Great Giana Sisters on the Amiga. All of these games - along with brief but memorable childhood visits to arcades playing Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Ghouls 'n Ghosts - certainly had a big influence on me."
Pick up a Penguin Robocod is also notable for being one of the first video games to feature product placement; McVitie's Penguin chocolate bars were incorporated into the game, despite Sorrell's initial reservations. "That started as a purely business thing," he explains. "I don't recall if it was a done deal that we had to implement, or a'strong suggestion' for something that we should include, but either way it was something we weren't exactly thrilled about, not least because it represented extra work to be done within our very finite development period. Fortunately at this point Simeon was comfortably on top of the Mega Drive version and had enough free time to work on the new intro. I was still working on some of the graphic sets anyway, so incorporating a Penguin wrapper into the candy set wasn't a big deal, nor was getting a little Penguin guy drawn up by Leavon Archer, who worked with me on some of the visuals." Sorrell soon found himself warming to this new element. "It was obvious that it only added to the general kookiness of the game. I'm glad they let us have a little fun with it, like the way on the Game Over screen the penguins drag off Pond and it says 'Smoked Kipper for tea!' - credit to Simeon for that! It's funny what a memorable trait of the game it all became."
However, it was the emergence of powerful Japanese gaming hardware which would have an equally dramatic impact on the evolution of Robocod. "Around the time I was working on the original James Pond I bought an import Mega Drive and fell in love with Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusion; there are definitely hints of that in Robocod," Sorrell explains. "I also became aware of Mario for the first time; Nintendo wasn't really big in the UK, and certainly not part of my gaming experience until the SNES. Part way into Robocod I bought a Japanese Super Famicom and Super Mario World became my instant all-time favourite game. By this point I think we were fairly set on our path with Robocod so I don't recall borrowing anything too directly, but undoubtedly the sheer quality of Super Mario World became an attribute I very much aspired to achieve in our own game."
Despite his newfound fixation with console platformers, Sorrell's prime system was undoubtedly the Amiga. Having honed his coding skill during the preceding years, he felt supremely confident with Commodore's popular home computer, and Robocod was released during what was arguably the platform's golden era. "1991 was definitely an exciting time to be working on the Amiga," he says. "It debuted a few years earlier in its expensive initial form, but now the cheaper A500 was out and selling big, and people were starting to figure out how to get the best from its powerful but somewhat quirky hardware. Biggest of all for me was that the system's market share was becoming large enough that a game could 'lead' on the Amiga without having to be reined back in order to make a decent ST version."
Sorrell's affection for Commodore's computer wasn't so ardent that it totally blinded his judgement, and he admits that by the dawn of the '90s the hardware was being outpaced by systems which had the advantage of being designed specifically for playing games. "A bitmapped screen was great for showing pretty title pictures, but sucked too much power when it came to scrolling and rendering lots of sprites, overhead that the tiled screens of the consoles didn't incur," he explains. To counter this, he decided to focus on the Amiga's strengths. "My approach to that was to make Robocod really play to the Amiga's ability to fill backgrounds with eye-popping colour gradations and unusual parallax effects. These fitted the cute levels perfectly in my opinion, and left the Mega Drive version of the game feeling somewhat flat by comparison."
At certain points, Pond could take to the skies in his plane
Although he was concerned with making the Amiga edition the definitive version of the game, Sorrell was well aware of just how important the Mega Drive port would be. As was the case with the original game, Electronic Arts had stepped forward to publish on the Sega Mega Drive, and this version was therefore developed in parallel with the Amiga offering. "Our relationship with EA was certainly a little strange," Sorrell recalls. "James Pond was the first Mega Drive game to be developed in Europe and was produced in a crazy rush on a one-of-a-kind Mac-based dev-kit that Steve had to personally fly back with from San Francisco. Robocod was more straightforward; still using that same dev-kit, we had a dedicated Mega Drive programmer called Simeon Pashley working on that version as well as assisting me with bosses and the game's intro. For this one we continued to deal directly with EA folk in California, sending them update builds each night very slowly via 28k modem."
Ironically, the slightly tighter development window for the Sega version actually resulted in Sorrell and his team being able to add even more polish to the Amiga iteration. "Our contract with EA actually gave us a month less development time, so even though it wasn't the 'lead' platform, we had to ensure that the Mega Drive had a very clear focus throughout development. The upside to this was that once the game was essentially complete, I had a month of time to do nothing more than add polish to the already complete and tested Amiga edition. That is a rare luxury in game development, and one that definitely allowed me to make the Amiga version a better and more personally significant version." Robocod would also find his way onto other formats of the period - including the SNES, Game Gear and the ill-fated Commodore CD32 - but Sorrell wasn't involved with any of these ports. "All other versions of the game were developed or commissioned directly by Millennium," he says. "I was always sorry to have not had the chance to work on the SNES version - it would have been great to throw in some Mode 7 gimmicks."
Sorrell considers himself extremely fortunate to have been able to work with the late Richard Joseph not only on the game's music - built around an infectiously catchy pastiche of Basil Poledouris' iconic Robocop theme - but also the soundtrack to the other Pond outings. "In each case he came to visit us and we'd spend a day going through the project, discussing ideas for musical cues, listing the dozens of sound effects we wanted to hear, and then we'd confess that we only had some paltry amount of memory spare for him to work with - just 28k in the case of Robocod," Sorrell remembers. "Somehow he'd go away, having taken it all on board, and working within those totally unreasonable limitations come back with something wonderful. As soon as those insanely catchy Robocod tunes showed up on a 3.5" floppy disk one day we knew that Richard had just given us something that would become a real hallmark of the game." Joseph - who also worked on the likes of Speedball 2, Gods and Chaos Engine with the Bitmap Brothers - sadly passed away in 2007 at the age of 53 after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Remarkably, James Pond's most famous outing was crafted in just nine months, but despite this short space of time Sorrell is adamant that there is little he would seek to change, given the chance. "For the time and scope we had, I think Robocod - especially that Amiga version - achieved as much as I could have hoped for. I would have loved to have made it a 'bigger' game - more abilities, more gameplay diversity, more genuine depth - the kind of stuff that was wowing me with Super Mario World. It still astonishes me how we managed to make a game as reasonably credible as Robocod in just nine months, with only rudimentary and often self-created tools, all in unforgiving assembly language on a platform with a tiny, tiny fraction of the power of a modern smartphone. These modern kids don't know how easy they've got it with their integrated development environments, Gigabytes of RAM and fancy shading languages!"
In Dr. Maybe's toy factory from hell, even the cutest teddy becomes a deadly foe
Upon release, Robocod received almost unanimous praise, not only from magazines like ACE which largely concentrated on computers, but also from console-focused publications like Mean Machines, which awarded the game a glowing 95 percent rating and stated emphatically that it was the best platformer on the Mega Drive. "I was only 19, so I definitely felt excited and exhilarated to see such a positive response," Sorrell admits. "I especially remember the ACE review making a flattering comparison to Mario and contrasting Nintendo's huge team with our own humble team-size; quite an ego boost. Having said that, I was certainly under no delusions that Robocod really was better or even remotely in the same league as Mario. But - quite dangerously - it did make me feel that maybe with the next one we really could hit that quality mark. Of course, this a recipe for the kind of overreach that can so easily blight game development, and lead to a far bumpier path for James Pond 3."
Robocod's success resulted in a Track & Field-themed spin-off by the name of Aquatic Games before Sorrell began work on final entry in the trilogy. 1993's James Pond 3: Operation Starfish clearly shows the influence Super Mario World had on Sorrell's creative outlook, and this time around lampooned Sci-Fi hero Flash Gordon. "Things changed significantly for James Pond 3 as we were now dealing with EA people based in the UK and I was working on the Mega Drive as the lead platform," Sorrell says. "We ultimately had our associate producer renting a local bedsit so he could work all-hours with us on-site to help build levels and test the game - a bizarre experience for us and him, no doubt." Despite favourable reviews and solid sales across both home computer and console formats, the third game isn't as well remembered as its illustrious forerunner.
Sorrell's next move was a geographical one, as he departed Vectordean and moved from Derbyshire to Cambridge to work directly for Millennium. "We worked for a while on James Pond 4: The Curse of Count Piracula, but eventually shelved it. I was lucky enough to get another of those 'creative freedom' opportunities and came up with MediEvil." One of the 32-bit PlayStation's most popular titles, this 3D action romp drew a healthy dose of inspiration from Capcom's Ghouls 'n Ghosts, a personal favourite of Sorrell. "There were quite a few trials and tribulations on that as we initially worked on a range of dubious platforms in a quest to find a publisher, eventually seeing fate smile on us as we landed a deal with Sony - and subsequently became a Sony studio. It's probably no coincidence that Robocod and MediEvil are easily the most memorable things I've worked on, and were also the most fun times of my career."
Finding love in the all the right plaices Amid the tension of getting Robocod finished in such a short space of time - nine months, all told - Sorrell thankfully found time for lighter moments. He inserted a dedication to his then girlfriend Katie - to whom he is now married and works with at Spoonsized Entertainment in Canada - into the final game. "Within a hidden bonus room there's a parallax background formed from hearts containing mine and my future wife's initials," he explains as a cheeky schoolboy grin covers his face. "Katie even stumbled across the room without any prompting, which was a nice bonus."
Sony purchased Millennium in 1997, renaming it SCE Cambridge Studio (last year it was rechristened Guerrilla Cambridge). Sorrell worked on Playstation 2 titles Primal and 24: The Game in 2003 and 2006 respectively, but by the time the latter hit store shelves, he was once again keen to stretch his legs and try something different.
Elements borrowed from Nintendo's Mario series included item boxes,
"Me and my wife ended up moving to Canada as I joined the team at Radical Entertainment working on Prototype," he recalls. "Of course by that time pretty much no-one was getting to make their 'own' games any more so I was content to focus on programming. By 2011, having witnessed Activision systematically dismantle a once awesome studio and feeling an itch to be more creative once more, I decided to go solo. I always aspire to make the best things I can, so I never wanted to make 'just another' forgettable iPhone game." Sorrell and his wife Katie now run Spoonsized Entertainment, although their current project - Ice Giant - has fallen foul of the harsh realities of independent development. "I'm currently caught in an awkward place of wanting to make something more than a two-person indie team can easily make whilst retaining the independence that only such a team can enjoy," laments Sorrell with a grim smile. "So our main project is currently on hold as we do smaller things and contract work to pay the bills. Like probably every other professional-developer-gone-indie I'm itching to play No Man's Sky whilst also wishing I'd had a hand in something that looks so insanely awesome."
While Pond's second outing has been re-released on various formats throughout the years, the only all-new adventure we've seen since 1993 is the 2011's largely awful iPhone title James Pond and the Deathly Shallows, produced by HPN Associates without any input from the original team. However, last year there came the exciting news that the secret agent would be getting a proper resurrection - and one which would involve Pond's creator himself.
A Kickstarter campaign was initiated by the current IP owner Gameware, and Sorrell was drafted in to lend some credibility to proceedings. The venture was cancelled before it got anywhere close to its £100,000 funding goal, and has clearly left a sour taste in Sorrell's mouth. "There's such a fine line between what makes for a valid Kickstarter project and what simply feels like First World begging. But I was contacted by PJ - the guy tasked to coordinate the campaign by Gameware - and he had some convincing arguments. Build a new game that rewards loyal Pond fans, make amends for the sorry state of the franchise in recent years, have the chance to get paid to work on a new Pond game. Those all sounded like good enough reasons to lend my support. Most of all I definitely had a feeling that if it's going to happen anyway, then I should probably be involved to try and make sure that the new game really does live up to the promises and doesn't end up short-changing fans, again."
Sorrell was apparently being prepped for a creative director role in the event of the funding target being met, but it soon became clear that his role was exaggerated in order to draw support from fans. "Gameware were all too happy to let this be seen as my campaign when it wasn't," he laments. "We weren't nearly well enough prepared with the kinds of materials necessary to sustain a successful campaign and I couldn't personally spare the time to do much about that. Also, it turned out that the ownership of the IP wasn't as clear-cut as I believed it to be - and was in fact a matter of some acrimony. As I now understand it, Gameware own the rights to the James Pond character and to any new James Pond games, but System 3 own some specific rights to Robocod. It's rather confusing and something I would liked to have known prior to the Kickstarter campaign. I was sorry to see the campaign fall flat, and certainly sorry to feel like we had let down the people that cared most about James Pond."
The failed 2013 Kickstarter campaign for a new Pond showed little more than early concept artwork
To make matters even more confusing, at precisely the same time Gameware's Kickstarter went live UK publishing veteran System 3 announced that it would be rebooting Robocod for modern consoles. "I've never had any interaction with people from System 3 regarding their reboot of Robocod," admits Sorrell. "I suspect they were just trying to spoil the potential success of Gameware's Kickstarter campaign whilst probably also using the whole thing as a litmus test of whether they should even consider such a product. There are clearly businessmen who see no shame in porting a 23 year old game to a modern platform and pretending it has some timeless magic making it worth a modern gamer's time and money, but it sure embarrasses the hell out of me even when I have no part in it."
We've since approached System 3 for clarification, and despite the silence surrounding the proposed reboot - which isn't even listed in the publisher's site - CEO Mark Cale is adamant that it remains in active development for PS4, 3DS, Vita, PC and Xbox One, with an iOS version still being considered. The previously-mooted PS3, Xbox 360, Android and Wii U versions have apparently fallen by the wayside.
A remake is one thing, but there will be those fans who crave a new adventure. 2013's abortive Kickstarter has done much to sully the name of Pond, and has cast some doubt over the feasibility of a totally fresh instalment. Do moments such as these make Sorrell ever wish that he had ownership of the franchise and thereby ultimate control over its future? "It would be nice, if only to have blocked some of the awful ports," he responds. "But no, it's not something that really makes me bitter or sad; I was very lucky to have had someone paying me to make games I wanted to make. Perhaps a juicy bonus cheque or two would have been nice - I got one £3000 bonus after Robocod's launch but that was the sum total of the riches I ever saw from Pond - but at least on the Vectordean and Millennium end of things, I knew all of the people involved very well and I don't believe anyone was personally getting rich at my expense, just investing money into more projects with often little to no payback - such is game development."
Given the unfortunate events of the past year, is there any chance for Pond to bounce back when so many other '90s icons have faded into obscurity? "I definitely think that with the right creative drive - and money - it would be possible to make an excellent new James Pond game," Sorrell asserts. "It would have to try and capture the quirky charm of the original or Robocod, and not overreach like we did with James Pond 3 and not wallow too deeply in nostalgia. It should be a game designed to win new fans and in doing so remind original fans why they might still remember it fondly. Ideally it would be like if Nintendo hadn't made a Mario game since Super Mario World and then came back with Super Mario 3D World!
"If someone wants to fund that then I'd love to be a part of it, but realistically, I don't see that happening. I might also grudgingly admit that a smaller scale, |
IDENTIFIED MALE: Hyperbole.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obama conflicting and Ryan was speaking just like every American I meet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopeful on Obama, but not compelling.
LUNTZ: I want to see a quick show of hands of everyone in this room, did he exceed or fall short of your expectations? Who would say he exceeded, raise your hands? Two people. Who would say he fell short? A lot of you.
Sean, I want to go to one clip we did, because Obama talked a lot about bipartisanship, and yet the Republicans didn't respond too favorably to that. The red line is Republicans, green line is Democrats. Watch how high the green declines and red falls when Barack Obama appeals directly to partisanship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: New laws will only pass with support from Democrats and Republicans. We will move forward together or not at all, for the challenges we face are bigger than party, bigger than politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUNTZ: So the question is, what is it about this appeal to bipartisanship that those of you on the Republican side don't like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe it.
LUNTZ: Explain it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said that before. When he first got into office he was going to be the president to change everything, come across the aisle. It never happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is phony.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is bipartisan? Is it if you agree with me? I mean, we've got two sides here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to use one of those curse words we can't use. The Republicans didn't. The first thing he said was I'm not going to work with him. I'm not going to work with you. That's like throwing down the gauntlet.
LUNTZ: Hold on one second. Sean, you've got a question?
HANNITY: Yes, I do. Somebody said it. He said all of these things before. He said it last year, during the campaign. And this whole campaign it was only a couple months ago when he was calling Republicans enemies. They can sit in the back. For two years Republicans weren't invited to the table.
So in that sense are we just reading words from a teleprompter or has he lost the ability because he has two years experience for people to belief him?
LUNTZ: So here's the question, is it politics or principle that you heard tonight? Who would say politics, raise your hand. Who would say principle? You said principle, tell me why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This president is doing the best he can at this point. He's trying to be in the center. He's not being -- it is not that he's trying to cause problems with the economy. He's doing the best job he can do. I think he's doing a great job. He's brought unemployment down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Experience, experience, and we are not making any progress whatsoever.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In 2000 he said Bush is not the real president. And then they are yelling at him for the same thing. Everyone is saying the same things again, it's 10 years later, the same thing, but we are worse off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two years of railroading legislation in Washington, rolling over Republicans, accusing them of being cynical. Now saying let's come to the table, have a drink and work together. It's nonsense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like getting romantic talk from Tiger Woods. Are you going to put your trust in him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They got a lot done this lame duck session. When they did come together and pass bipartisan support, things got an accomplished. You have people probably to the far right who don't want to see any time of compromise. When you have compromise, things get done, you get bills passed.
LUNTZ: Again, what is wrong with compromise? I want to understand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to have some compromise. Give a little on both sides.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's nothing wrong with compromise. People have to talk about what is good for each side and take the good together. Not everybody is going to be happy.
LUNTZ: Is Barack Obama sincere about bipartisanship?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't know.
(CROSSTALK)
LUNTZ: One at a time. Is Barack Obama sincere?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he is. And I think it should be the American people what they want. We are all-American, not Democrat, not Republican.
LUNTZ: I get it. Sean, the State of the Union is supposed to bring people together. It is supposed to appeal to all Americans, not just the Americans from your political party. I don't think that has happened tonight. They are just as divided now as they were an hour and a half ago. Back to you.
HANNITY: Well, Frank, you can't forget the two years. It's a big difference.
All right, we have a lot more with Frank Luntz coming up in just a minute and his focus group. Tomorrow night, by the way, we'll have Mitt Romney, his reaction. Also Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove. There's plenty more with Frank coming up right after this break.
HANNITY: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity." And we check in once again with Frank Luntz standing by in my old hometown in Atlanta with a focus group of voters. Frank, you have another dial I believe you are going to run?
LUNTZ: Yes. Once again, watch the lined as the Republicans, green Democrats the higher the more favorable reaction. Barack Obama said the worst of the recession is over. Let's see if your people agreed with him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Now the worst of the recession is over, we have to confront the fact that our government spends more than it takes in. That is not sustainable. Every day, families sacrifice to live within their means. They deserve a government that does the same.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUNTZ: So I got two questions now for you all. How many of you believe the recession is over, raise your hands? Three of you. So obviously that must have undercut credibility when he said it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think with inflation at risk still and unemployment the highest it has been it is worse for us still. With the debt, it is kind of everyone is still worried. There's too much uncertain ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. He's talking about cutting spending, are you kidding me? All this guy does is spend. He said we need to live within our means.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're a small business owner. Do you feel the economy is starting to turn around for people like you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm afraid of the economy for people like me. I don't feel like that at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's talking cutting spending, but he wants to freeze spending for five years and that's two different things.
LUNTZ: And then one other question for you all. He does say that he wants to cut spending. How many of you by a show of hands believe him? Now, 13 of you voted for him. Sean, all the questions I'm asking, only three, four, five of them feel comfortable with the things that he said or how he said them.
HANNITY: One thing, it is very interesting. I paid close attention to what the president was saying. And I find the word "investment" to be code for an increase in government spending. He gave two very specific examples about the one company and another example. And he's talking about investment in education, investment in green jobs.
It all means more spending from my point of view. As one of your guests pointed out, he's had two years, $3.4 trillion he accumulated in new debt. He wants to freeze spending but freeze at the inflated levels that he began. So it doesn't seem like any significant cut, in my point of view. Do they think so?
LUNTZ: OK, do you think Barack Obama is serious? Do you think the cuts he's talking about are significant?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No! Let's look at the facts.
LUNTZ: One at a time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were not told the truth from the time he game president. Why should we believe him now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's disguising what he spent using words like investment as opposed to saying he's spending. He's not reducing anything. He's just transferring how it is spent.
LUNTZ: Did you support him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I did.
LUNTZ: And yet you have problems with what he said about cutting spending?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because everything he has said thus far hasn't been true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If both sighs come together -- he was talking about both sighs coming together -- and then determine what they can cut. It both sides come together then it will be true. It can happen if both sighs work together like they did in the lame duck session.
LUNTZ: Sean, last question?
HANNITY: Frank, of the 13 you say in the room that voted for Barack Obama, would -- are they leaning towards reelecting him?
LUNTZ: How many of you are definitely or probably voting for Barack Obama in 2012?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without knowing the alternatives?
LUNTZ: Without knowing the alternatives, who is pretty well behind him? Seven of you. Why are only seven of you who voted for him still most likely to be voting for him now? What did he do that was wrong?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who is the other candidate, is it you Mr. Luntz?
LUNTZ: You might not vote for Obama?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you run I'll vote for you.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How can you ask a question like that. Is the gun green or blue when it goes off?
LUNTZ: Because what that teaches me is even in his base, there are people such as Lawrence who may not vote for him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, because the things that he had to do, he had an opportunity. He didn't do it right. So now he has -- someone else has to come in and clean it up.
LUNTZ: Sean, great group. If I were Barack Obama watching this tonight, I would be a little bit nervous. And if I were Paul Ryan, I would be pretty excited.
HANNITY: Great focus group. Thanks to everybody, and that's all the time with have left. We have Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Karl Rove tomorrow.The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 has quickly become the subject of its own “gate”, pengate as some are calling it. If you haven’t already heard, inserting the S Pen backwards on the Note 5 will cause it to get stuck inside and removing it could break an important S Pen sensor. Thankfully, a new video demonstrates a way to get your pen out safely without damaging the sensor.
Basically, a piece of paper can be pushed into the hole and used to safely lift the sensor. Once this is done, you can pull out the S Pen without a problem. The video goes into a great length of detail about how the sensor gets stuck, how far you have to insert it, and more. You also get to see the inside of the Note 5, making it much easier to follow along.
Is Pengate a big deal?
Is this really S Pen drama really a big deal? Personally, I don’t think so. Sure, it is a design flaw, as making it impossible to fully insert the S Pen backwards would have been a good failsafe to prevent people (or, more likely, young kids) from doing stupid things with an $800 device. That said, the odds of this happening to your Note 5 are pretty slim and we have a feeling most of the reports of stuck pens came because people were curious if the “pengate” claims were legit.
For what it is worth, I currently have the Note 5 in my possession, and while I’m not foolish enough to fully insert the pen in backwards, I did test putting in just the “eraser tip” and can tell you that, even if you aren’t looking while inserting, you should be able to feel/hear the difference in my opinion.
It is true that there is no resistance or forcing needed to put it in backwards, but it still feels and sounds differently. The pen side slides in without fully touch the sides, while the Note 5 eraser goes in easily but you can slightly feel/hear it touching the sides thanks to the metallic plate with the “Samsung” logo on it. While it would be possible to ignore or miss this, those that are careful probably would detect the difference before fully inserting into the holder deeply enough for it to get stuck.
What do you think, is this S Pen drama being blown out of proportion or do you think that Samsung really messed up big here? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2014 > India’s Failed Development — Create a New Model Rooted in Cultural (...)
Sixtysix years after independence, India continues to be a country with widespread poverty and backwardness and finds a place only at the bottom of the development index in the international league of nations. The euphoria generated at the time of independence, when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru proclaimed that ‘India is waking up to life and freedom’ and ‘the soul of nation will find utterance’, has disappeared. The national mood today is of pessimism, frustration and anger. Corruption is eating into the vitals of the nation like cancer. The economy is tottering and the government is virtually bankrupt due to fiscal profligacy. There is wide-spread poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, and malnutrition causing huge suffering to the people. Much of our problems are due to the model of development we have adopted, blindly imitating the Western ideas and economic ideology without giving thought to their relevance to India’s economic and social reality. There is total disconnect of our development model with India’s civilisational and cultural ethos; as a result we are not able to inspire the people to build an economically strong and vibrant nation.
Part I
Economic Well-being
Our policy-makers consider the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth as a measure of success of their policies and constantly blare out figures and statistics to prove that the economy is growing and the country is making progress. This is a fallacious approach. The GDP is basically a measure a country’s overall economic output, the amount of goods and services produced and consumed in a country and has no relationship with the country’s economic well-being. In order to judge the country’s economic health we should take into account the socio-economic factors such as poverty and unemployment, level of literacy and health care, the state of agriculture, industry and infrastructure and similar other parameters.
Poverty
Poverty in India is estimated on the basis of the norms laid down by the Tendulkar Committee (2009). Taking 2004-05 as the base year, the Committee found that 37 per cent people were below the poverty line (26 per cent in urban and 42 per cent in rural areas). The Committee has taken the household consumption of goods and services, which include food, education and health, as the norm to determine the poverty line. By updating the Tendulkar Poverty Line, the Planning Commission has worked out that the poverty line in the rural areas is Rs 26 and for the urban areas Rs 32 per day for the year 2009-10, which implies a consumption level of Rs 3900 per month in the rural areas and Rs 4800 in the urban areas for a family of five. The Planning Commission lauds itself that poverty in the country is declining by 1.5 per cent per annum from 2004-05, as compared to 0.74 per cent in the previous decade. This is ludicrous. The fact that 35 crore people, 30 per cent of the entire population of the country (2010), live in abject poverty and destitution is a severe indictment of the Indian state, our governance and economic policies.
Unemployment
The unemployment scene in the country is very grim. The NSSO’s 66th round for 2009-10, estimates a total labour force of 46.88 crores (rural 34.19 crores, urban 12.69 crores), out of which 45.9 cr are working (33.64 crores rural and 12.26 crores urban), with 98 lakhs unemployed and an unemployment rate of two per cent. These employment figures present a misleading picture. Ninetythree per cent of the labour force is employed in the unorganised sector, mostly on non-skilled jobs at whatever wages they can get, instead of sitting idle at home, which is captured as ‘employment’ by the government statisticians. The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (2009), chaired by Arjun Sengupta, has found that 83.6 crore Indians are poor and vulnerable, living on less than Rs 20 per day and experienced hardly any improvement in living standards since the early 1990s. The Commission noted that 39.49 crore workers, who constitute 86 per cent of the working population, are in the unorganised sector from agriculture to micro-industries to self-employment. They work under utterly deplorable conditions, have few livelihood options with no job or social security.
The real employment growth should be measured in terms of the people employed in the organised sector, where employment is of high quality, employing skilled and educated force, giving them some kind of job security and social security benefits. As per the NSS Survey, only 3.07 crore persons are working in the organised formal sector (2009-10), and employment in this sector has declined by 27 lakhs in the last five years, as it was, to 3.34 crores in 2004-05.
The employment data presented by the government is completely flawed. The unemployment rate is determined on the basis of the NSO survey which is done once in five years and does not capture job creation in the organised sector and in the case of educated youth, in the absence of which it becomes meaningless. In the USA and Western countries the employment rate is tracked every month and high unemployment becomes a major issue of national concern. Our present economic policies have completely failed in creating jobs in the economy.
Agriculture and Rural Distress
The problem of poverty and unemployment in the country has its roots in agriculture becoming a totally unremunerative occupation causing huge rural distress. While more than half the work force in the country is engaged in agriculture, its contribution to the GDP is only 15 per cent, as compared to 50 per cent at the time of independence. This is largely due to the development strategy adopted by the country, whose impact is to ‘create an indentured agriculture to serve the interests of a powerful urban populace’. This is evident from the fact that the GDP from agriculture had increased four-fold between 1950-51 and 2006-07, but the increase per worker in real terms was only 75 per cent, while at the same time there is four-fold increase in the overall per capita GDP.
The farmer in India has shown great resilience and dynamism, given the right incentive. The Green Revolution, launched in the late 1970s, resulted in spectacular growth in foodgrains production, and the country attained self-sufficiency, from chronic shortage and imports, which characterised the economy for three decades from the 1940s to 1960s. The production of foodgrains increased from 108 million tones in 1970-71 to 176 mt in 1990-91, 197 mt in 2000-01 and 245 mt in 2010-11 and was 257 mt in 2011-12. A large number of factors contributed to the increase in agricultural production, such as land reforms, increase in the net sown area, irrigation facilities and, most important, techno-logical innovation due to introduction of high yielding variety of seeds and pragmatic price policy based on minimum support prices.
Unfortunately post-liberalisation, the agriculture sector has lost its dynamism. While during 1981-82 to 1990-91 the agricultural GDP grew at 3.5 per cent per year, from the Ninth Plan—1997-98 onwards—growth has decelerated to only around two per cent. However, the growth has somewhat picked up during the 11th Plan (2007-12) and was three per cent against a target of four per cent. There are a large number of structural and social factors due to which agriculture has become an unrewarding occupation: changed pattern of land-holdings; changed cropping patterns due to shift from light crops to cash crops; growing cost of cultivation due to heavy dependence on high-cost inputs; volatility of crop output and lack of remunerative prices. More than 80 per cent of the farm population operates on small holdings of less than two hectares, the average size of holdings being 1.23 ha and they are by and large economically unviable. The biggest problem is shortage of water and much of agriculture continues to be rain-dependent.
There is a huge agrarian distress due to declining productivity and higher costs of input. The government’s policy-intervention is limited to giving input subsidy on some products and minimum support price for some category of foodgrains and agricultural products. Over the years public investment in agriculture has come down—agriculture and irrigation’s share was only six per cent of the Plan Budget in the 10th Plan, seven per cent in the 11th Plan and has been allotted eight per cent in the 12th Plan. The liberalisation of the economy has compounded the problem and prematurely pushed Indian agriculture into global markets without a level playing field. The farmers are getting squeezed on both sides, due to the high cost of seeds and pesticides imported by foreign companies and heavily subsidised agricultural products dumped by the Western and other countries in the Indian market.
To ensure that the farmers get a fair price for their produce as also enable the government agencies to procure sufficient quantities to meet the food security concerns, the government announces a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for wheat, rice and certain other commodities, which serves as a ruling price for public sector agencies engaged in procurement. While this helps farmers in preventing them from distress sale, the price support mechanism hardly gives a decent income as the MSP is very conservatively fixed. When there is a bumper crop, prices slump, when there is fall in production due to the vagaries from which agriculture suffers, the farmer is not able to take advantage of the market forces as the government intervenes to check the prices and often resorts to imports, in the interest of the consumer and other interest groups. Indian agriculture is facing a serious crisis whose most visible symbol is the spate of suicides committed by farmers across the country during last ten years—a very tragic and disturbing phenomenon.
Nobel prize winning economist Theodore Schultz1 observes that there is discrimination against agriculture due to the political influence of the urban population which enables them to extract cheap food at the expense of the poor rural people. Analysing the causes of rural distress, agricultural economist K.C. Suri2 observes: “Businessmen, traders, industrialists, professionals etc. are all interested in extraction of ‘surplus’ from agriculture, as their profits and earnings are inversely related to net retainable incomes of those engaged in agriculture. Farmers do not have the wherewithal to lobby in the corridors of power.”
People have a wrong notion that agriculture cannot be a source of prosperity for the country. We have to learn from Israel, which increased agricultural production seventeen times in twentyfive years, despite it being a largely arid land.Shimon Peres, the President of Israel,3 observed: “Agriculture is more revolutionary than industry. People don’t realise this. Agriculture is ninetyfive per cent science, five per cent work.”
The low prices of agricultural products, due to a number of factors, is the biggest cause of rural distress.Farmers must be given remunerative prices to prevent rural distress. There is also the need for massive public investment in agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation, farm machinery and equipment, seeds, post-harvesting handling and processing, storage and R and D to make agriculture dynamic and the mainstay of the economy.
Industry
Throughout history, the manufacturing industry has provided the driving force for economic development. In India, the share of manufacturing is only around 14 per cent of the GDP, as compared to other newly emerging countries such as Malaysia—25 per cent, Thailand—30 per cent, South Korea—31 per cent, and China—32 per cent. (2011) Though manufacturing’s share in the GDP has declined in developed countries such as Britain and the USA, its share in the GDP in the major industrial powers such as Japan is close to 20 per cent and Germany is 23 per cent.
Manufacturing in India employs 50 million persons, which is around 10 per cent of total employment. This is very low as compared to 15 to 30 per cent in the newly emerging countries. A disturbing trend in recent years is the decline in employment in the manufacturing sector, with the sector shedding five million jobs between 2004-05 and 2009-10, and employment decreasing from 55 million to 50 million. While the organised manufacturing sector has come up and become competitive as a result of liberali-sation of the economy in several high technology sectors such as automobiles and automobile parts, drugs and pharmaceuticals, heavy machinery and equipment, steel and textiles and is not only exporting to developed countries but has acquired/set up industrial units, it has not created new jobs and workers as a class have lost both in terms of additional employment and real wages. Economist Amit Bahaduri4 says that the existing model of corporate growth and industrialisation has a depressing effect on employment generation and terms it as ‘a process of internal colonisation’.
Worldwide Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been recognised as engines of economic growth. In the USA half the jobs are in the Small and Medium-sized firms (SMEs). In the Euro area they play a bigger role. In France SMEs employ 60 per cent workers, in Spain 67 per cent and in Italy 80 per cent.5 In India Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) account for 45 per cent of the manufacturing sector’s output, 40 per cent of its exports and contribute eight per cent of the country’s GDP. The MSMEs are the largest employer after agriculture and provide employment with low investment. They manufacture over 6000 products ranging from handloom sarees, carpets to drugs and machine parts for large industrial products. The MSME sector in India is highly heterogeneous in terms of the size of the enterprises, variety of products and services produced and the levels of technology employed. While one end of the MSME spectrum contains highly innovative and high growth enterprises, more than 94 per cent of the MSMEs are unregistered, with a large number established in the informal or unorganised sector.
The SME sector has been neglected from the time planning began in India. Some of the basic problems of the sector are: non availability of easy credit, marketing of products, non-availability of raw material at competitive prices, low technology and lack of skilled manpower. Small firms do not issue bonds or sell equity in the market, they rely on banks for borrowing. In view of the very high cost of capital, they cannot become competitive. The biggest problem the manufacturing sector faces in India is dumping of goods by China; as a result even established industries are getting wiped out and a spectre of de-industrialisation is confronting the country. There is an urgent need for reorienting the government policies, and give massive support to the MSMEs, so that they become an economically viable and dynamic sector of the economy.
Electric Power
Electric power is one of the most important components of the rapid development strategy. Lenin had declared: ‘Soviet power is socialism plus electricity.’The country is woefully short of power. The present generating capacity is about 2,00,000 MW, with 70 per cent coming from thermal and 20 per cent from hydro sources. There is an immediate need of additional 1,00,000 MW, but there is no possibility of fulfilling this demand.
India’s energy problems cannot be solved through the conventional mode of production. Thermal plants suffer from major constraints due to coal supply problems and big hydro-projects face serious environmental issues. Nuclear power has also limited scope due to safety and environmental concerns. Renewable energy sources, such as wind power and solar energy, as well as bio-mass power plants based on agricultural residue, hold great potential for power generation as they are based on environ-ment-friendly technologies, but our policy-makers do not have the vision to harness them and make them the main source of future power generation. Sweden has invested heavily in search of alternative energy sources, and produces 45 per cent of its energy from renewable sources, with a target of 50 per cent by 2020. In Germany 25 per cent of electricity is generated from renewable resources—solar panels, wind turbines and bio-gas plants. It has taken a policy-decision to shut down nuclear power generation by 2022, and to get 80 per cent of its power from renewable energy by 2050.
Decentralised renewable energy projects can supply off-grid electricity and transform the face of rural India. An expert, Anil Rajvanshi,6 says that India produces 600-800 million tonnes/year of agricultural residue which, burnt in bio-mass based power plants, can produce 80,000 MW of electricity and meet a substantial portion of the country’s need. Solar power produces hardly 1200 MW of electricity. The domestic equipment manufacturers of nascent solar power industry receive lukewarm support from the government. There is no fundamental and applied research done in our universities and CSIR labs to harness cheap affordable power from solar, wind and bio-mass resources and we are content to borrow technology from the West, which does not come easily. Strategic rethinking to go in for renewable energy resources, heavy investment in R and D and massive government support is needed to meet the country’s pent-up demand for power.
Social Sector
Education and Literacy
Literacy is essential for survival and development in modern society but India’s educational development record since independence is deplorable. India’s literacy level is only 65 per cent and even among those who are classified as ‘literate’, a good number can hardly do basic reading and writing. The primary schooling is bedevilled with poor quality of teaching and learning, high drop-out rates, and low enrolment of girls. Coupled with this there are problems such as inadequate school infrastructure, high teacher absenteeism, large scale vacancies of teachers and inadequate teaching aids. A number of incentive schemes like provision of mid-day meals, free uniforms and textbooks, better school infrastructure, teachers training etc, have been introduced to increase enrolment, prevent dropouts and enhance learning ability, but they have not made any significant dent.
According to the 2012 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), conducted by Pratham, while school enrolment has increased—96 per cent of children in the age-group of 6-14 go to school, the overall ability of children to read and do simple mathematical exercises is not only poor, but has declined since the Right to Education Act came into effect. The RTE has compounded the problem, as all examinations and assessments have been scrapped and a child’s failure to grasp what is being taught does not sound any warning-bell, since students cannot be detained in the same class upto class VIII. Simply passing legislation as political gimmickry will not make the children of the vulnerable groups ‘truly literate’. Imparting quality education, so that every child attains the minimum literacy level, needs a great deal of commitment and dedication on the part of the political leadership, educational planners and teachers, but these are presently missing.
Secondary and higher education is bedevilled with numerous problems. There is very little emphasis on vocational education and skill development which can be job-oriented. There is a huge requirement of technical manpower for industry, agriculture and services. There is a mismatch between the manpower which our educational institutions produce and what the market needs. The privatisation of higher education has made education beyond the reach of common citizens as the promoters charge exorbitant fees. Hundreds of private engineering, management and medical institutions have mushroomed all over the country without proper infrastructure and qualified teachers. Their standard is abysmally low, run as they are by politicians and businessmen for minting money.
The trend towards commercialisation of education is unfortunate and defeats its purpose. Education is meant for character-building and developing the personality of a student and fostering in him values of a responsible member of society, a point repeatedly emphasised by our leaders such as Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, as well as Western educationists.
Medical and Health Services
Public health services in India are in a poor and pathetic state although a huge health infrastructure funded by the government, both in the rural and urban areas, has been built. Health centres in the rural areas are not able to attract qualified doctors and nurses, and lack equipment and medicines even to provide rudimentary medical services. In the urban centres government hospitals and dispensaries suffer from chronic mismanagement: they are overcrowded, filthy, lack basic medical equipment, perpetually remain short of medicine and the medical staff is indifferent to the patients’ needs. The result is that members of the public bypass the government’s medical services and go to private doctors and hospitals, even if they have to pay exorbitant charges for the service. Health spending in India is estimated to be 4.5 to six per cent of the GDP, out of which public health spending is only around one per cent of the GDP, woefully inadequate to meet the needs of the population. There is a need for public provisioning of health care which should be affordable as there is a strong link between poverty and ill-health.
One of the major programmes of health care in the rural areas is the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM), which concentrates on preventive health care, assisting people to reach the health care facilities at the primary health centres (PHCs) and community health centres (CHCs). As there exists hardly any curative services like hospitals and dispensaries at the primary level, it has failed to make any impact. Most rural centres suffer from absence of doctors and para-medical staff, with the result that the rural population does not get even the most basic medicare.
Health indicators, such as infant and maternal mortality rates, life expectancy, nutrition as well as incidence of communicable and non-communicable diseases, are extremely miserable and India is at the bottom of the international league, even lower than Bangladesh. The present public health system is complexly dysfunctional. It is highly centralised and its approach towards disease control is to have a vertical programme for every disease, and these all work in isolation from each other, and do not take a holistic approach to medical and health care.
Post-economic liberalisation, the government has abandoned its responsibility for medical and health care and depends almost entirely on private players for citizens’ needs. While sophisticated and state-of-the-art medicare centres and hospitals have come up in metropolitan towns, they charge exorbitant fees for treatment and are well beyond the reach of the common man. Government hospitals have neither the equipment nor qualified doctors and supporting para-medical staff, and the common man has nowhere to go in case of critical illness. The whole policy needs to be reoriented with the objective of providing high quality, affordable health care system to every citizen of India.
The Population Burden
India is facing a huge burden of a 1.21 crore population (2011) putting severe pressure on its overstretched resources. While there is a welcome trend of life-expectancy rising from 33 to 64 years and the infant mortality rate falling from 148 to 58 per thousand in the last sixty years, this adds to the population burden. The total fertility rate (TFR) has fallen from six in the early 1950s and to 2.6 in 2009, but it is nowhere reaching the replacement-level goal of 2.1, which was the target fixed a decade earlier. The population growth is uneven across the States. While there is visible decline in the population growth rates in the southern States, which have reached near replacement levels, five States, namely, Bihar, UP, MP, Rajasthan and Orissa, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the population of the country, continue to have high rates of population growth. Most poor families have four-five children, whom they cannot support. This leads to their increasing impoverishment and sub-standard condition of living. The government is not making any serious effort to promote family planning amongst these vast swathes of impoverished population. After the Indira Gandhi Government’s election debacle, post-Emergency in 1977, family planning has gone off the government’s radar.
People should be persuaded to voluntarily take to family planning and adopt small family norms, by launching massive educational programmes and provisioning of good medical services in the remotest parts of the country. The population explosion is the single biggest reason for holding back the country’s development.
Social Upheaval—Deprivation of Land and Natural Wealth
The policy of economic development adopted by the government is leading to violation of the fundamental rights of the people relating to land, water, forests, mineral and other natural wealth. Land is being forcibly acquired, rivers are being privatised, forests being sold to private companies and the tribal people are being displaced from their traditional habitat, with the result that the weaker and vulnerable sections of the population are being deprived of their only means of livelihood and survival. Nothing exemplifies this better than the story of SEZs7 (Special Economic Zones). In the name of industrialisation SEZs are being created for construction of commercial complexes, residential areas, hotels, shopping malls and entertainment centres. SEZs are responsible for displacement of people, loss of livelihood; these threaten food security due to diversion of fertile agricultural land and loss of revenue due to tax concessions. People affected by SEZs have launched agitations all over the country. The Nandigram agitation in West Bengal (2007) turned violent and many people were killed. People have expressed huge dissent and are agitating against the aggressive mining and industrialisation policy of the Orissa Government, wherein land and water sources of farmers and forest dwellers have been given to powerful corporates for setting up steel and aluminum plants.
The government very often acts in an illegal and arbitrary manner, as became evident from the judgement of the Allahabad High Court, |
Tsuda as Ossan
as Ossan Text: Tomokazu Sugita as Ōji (Prince)
as Ōji (Prince) Text: Yutaka Aoyama as Yamada-san
as Yamada-san Text: Look forward to the BD release with everyone's support!!
The anime will premiere on Tokyo MX on October 5 at 6:30 p.m. Emon is airing its Cheating Craft anime in the same time slot. Cheating Craft will air a 10-minute episodes in the time slot, after which To Be Hero will air nine-minute episodes.
Emon describes the story:
Handsome, divorced and with a teen daughter living with him, our hero is a “bad father” who works has a toilet seat designer. One day, as he was in the toilet, he founds himself sucked into the toilet seat and he is given the important task to save the planet. The price for being a super hero is quite huge: This Good-looking guy is transformed into an Ugly Dude…with Super Power! To protect the Earth and his daughter Min, his fight is about to begin…
The cast includes:
Kenjiro Tsuda as Ossan (pictured before and after transformation below)
Kamen Joshi's Moa Tsukino as Min, Ossan's daughter
Tomokazu Sugita as Ōji (Prince)
Yutaka Aoyama as Yamada-san
In addition Takeshi Maeda plays Uchūjin (Alien).
Shinichi Watanabe ( Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemy, Nerima Daikon Brothers ) is supervising the series, and is credited for writing the script, as well as "Hyper Afro Creator." LAN is credited for character design, color design, art design, and as chief animation director and line director. Aya Hida is credited for editing. Emon is credited for photography and production.
Emon was established in October 2015 as the Japanese branch of Haoliners, an animation brand based in Shanghai and a subsidiary of Shanghai Haoliners Cultures Media Co., Ltd. Gonzo co-founder Shouji Murahama works as an operating officer at the company. The company is collaborating on a new anime with Geno Studio, Twin Engine's newly established company that is finishing Manglobe's Genocidal Organ film.
Emon was involved in the production of last winter season's Reikenzan: Hoshikuzu-tachi no Utage anime. The company debuted the Hitori no Shita - the outcast anime on July 9, and Crunchyroll is streaming the series as it airs in Japan. The company is also planning to debut the Chinese webcomic-based Bloodivores anime on October 1, the Cheating Craft anime on October 5, and the The Silver Guardian ( Gin no Guardian ) anime, based on another Chinese web comic, in 2017.
Thanks to Dennis R for the embedded videoProposal calls for spending $216 million for projects
Buy Photo Marilyn Yazzie enters the San Juan Chapter house in Lower Fruitland on Tuesday to vote on a proposed $216 million transportation stimulus plan. (Photo: Jon Austria/The Daily Times)Buy Photo
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Voters on the Navajo Nation soundly rejected a referendum today that would have provided funding for a multimillion-dollar transportation stimulus plan.
The ballot question asked voters to support or oppose using $216 million from the principal of the Permanent Trust Fund over a six-year period to improve nonpaved roads, and for bridge and gravel development in chapters.
As of 8 p.m., 109 out of 110 chapter precincts had reported unofficial results to the Navajo Election Administration, which was set up at the Navajo Nation Museum.
The unofficial results showed that 4,237 ballots were cast in favor of the referendum, and 14,795 ballots were cast against the measure.
Coyote Canyon was the only chapter left to report results.
Edbert Little, executive director for the election administration, said ballots from Coyote Canyon are being delivered to Window Rock for a hand count.
The chapter had two questions on the ballot, one for the referendum and the second that addressed the chapter's quorum, and there were questions regarding the returns, Little said.
MORE: Tribal election to determine transportation stimulus plan
Buy Photo A group opposed to a proposed $216 million transportation stimulus plan sets up a booth to feed voters Tuesday at the Shiprock Chapter house. (Photo: Jon Austria/The Daily Times)
Earlier in the day, Upper Fruitland Chapter resident Albert Lee walked from the Upper Fruitland Chapter house, where he cast his ballot in opposition to the measure.
Lee said he did not support the initiative because the allocation could benefit other tribal departments, as well as provide stipends for individuals who serve on farm boards, grazing committees and land boards.
He added the proposal to address 20 miles of road improvements in the 24 regions is not enough to meet the needs of communities.
"I think it should be used equally," Lee said.
All 110 chapter precincts opened at 6 a.m.
Felencia Belin, the chief poll judge at the Upper Fruitland Chapter house, said voter turnout was slow, and 40 ballots had been cast as of 10 a.m.
"Usually by this time, which is 10 o'clock, we usually have over 100 votes by now," Belin said.
MORE: Navajo Nation Council approves $636 million budget for FY 2018
Buy Photo Election worker Chris Johnson, right, registers ballots Tuesday at the Upper Fruitland Chapter house. (Photo: Jon Austria/The Daily Times)
At the San Juan Chapter house, chapter resident George Arthur said he voted against the measure.
He decided not to support the transportation stimulus plan because each chapter would only receive up to 3 miles of road improvement.
"My thoughts are around one word,'stimulus.' What does stimulus mean? … For this endeavor, it's not going to make an impact. Going back to the word,'stimulus,' it's not going to stimulate anything," Arthur said.
The referendum must be approved by a two-thirds majority of voters who cast a ballot in today's election, according to the Navajo Nation Council resolution that referred the election to the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors.
Arthur, who served on the tribal council from 1999 to 2011, said to his knowledge, this is the first time an initiative tied to the Permanent Trust Fund has gone before voters.
"Maybe somebody is testing the waters," he said.
Along a section of U.S. Highway 64 near the Shiprock Chapter house, two large signs asked voters to oppose the referendum.
On Oct. 15, chapter members passed a resolution to oppose using the Permanent Trust Fund principal for the stimulus plan because the initiative goes against the intent of the Permanent Trust Fund.
Noel Lyn Smith covers the Navajo Nation for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4636.
Buy Photo Autumn Mike looks over a sample ballot Tuesday at the San Juan Chapter house in Lower Fruitland. (Photo: Jon Austria/The Daily Times)
Read or Share this story: https://www.daily-times.com/story/news/local/navajo-nation/2017/10/24/navajo-nation-voters-weigh-road-improvement-plan/796514001/NEW DELHI: In probably a first-of-its-kind initiative, over 15,000 people, including the country’s top industrialists have launched a signature campaign, urging lawmakers to allow Parliament to function, debate and legislate Since its launch on Saturday, the petition on change.org has been signed by leading industry captains such as Rahul Bajaj, Infosys founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, Pawan Munjal of Hero MotoCorp, Adi Godrej, Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, GVK’s GV Sanjaya Reddy, GE India head Banmali Agrawala, and “14,000 more”.Those such as Anu Aga of Thermax, a lawmaker herself and a known critic of Narendra Modi in the post-2002 riots, have also come on the platform urging Parliament to end the logjam. The list also includes several prominent citizens such as doctors (Naresh Trehan and Ashok Seth), academicians (IIT Madras’ Ashok Jhunjhunwala and IIM Ahmedabad’s Piyush Kumar Sinha) and diplomats.“Parliamentary protest are not unknown. Parliamentary stalemates can never be permanent. Parliamentary paralysis can lead to weakening of India’s democracy. There is a spread of political power between the opposition and the government in Indian Parliament. Both have an important role to play. Both have responsibility to discuss and resolve political issues. Political consensus represents the best practice in Indian democracy,” said the petition. India Inc has been restless for the past few years and was hoping that the election of the Modi government would help revive the faltering economy. But the series of disruptions since last year, and the latest stalemate in Parliament prompted the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to launch the campaign. “Industry feels that you must let Parliament do its business because the impact goes beyond business and affects the people,” said CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee.The lockdown of Parliament led by the Congress party has already raised doubts over the passage of the crucial Bill to amend the Constitution and enable the Centre and the states to roll out goods and services tax from April. The implementation has been in the pipeline for nearly a decade but political wrangling has prevented the unveiling of the most ambitious tax reform since independence. There are only two days to go for the three-week monsoon session to end and Parliament stares at the prospect of wasting crores of taxpayer money without transacting any business, other than clearing additional government spending.“Recent events have been disheartening. They have the potential of eroding popular faith in Parliament. Perpetual disruption can never be the rule. Street demonstrations against the Chair of the Lower House are of unprecedented scale. The Lower house is without some opposition members. The upper house is perpetually adjourned. The importance of uninterrupted legislative function of the Parliament can hardly be over emphasized,” the petition said.It then went on to underline the importance of GST and its link to the country’s growth. “GST has taken a long time in coming and has taken years of consensus building, and CII has time and again reiterated that this could significantly contribute to India’s and States’ growth. India has to grow in order to alleviate poverty and create jobs. Parliament did not get an opportunity to discuss important issues, like floods, security issues, other economic priorities, etc. It is only a debate which brings out the facts to enable people to form a fair and objective opinion on important matters.”"A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi to come back,
but they are gone. We are it."
— Marian Wright Edelman
Although men got most of the headlines in the early Greenpeace campaigns, many strong and visionary women helped bring Greenpeace to life. The family of Greenpeace co-founder Dorothy Stowe – who passed away in July - hosted a memorial for her on 7 August at the Unitarian Church in Vancouver, Canada. The programme included the quote above. Several of the other women who helped found Greenpeace – Dorothy Metcalfe, Zoe Hunter and others – attended the service.
Dorothy Stowe was the first president of her local civic employees union in Rhode Island, where she faced repressive McCarthy era attacks. She spent her wedding night at a civil rights dinner, campaigned against nuclear weapons, and immigrated to Canada with her husband Irving in protest against the US-Vietnam war. She helped launch the first Greenpeace campaign, and hosted early Greenpeace meetings in her home. Dorothy always served food at these meetings, sometimes tea and cookies, and infused the radical politics with a calming sense of family and community.
Marie Bohlen (Nonnast) was a nature illustrator, a Sierra Club member and a pacifist. Upon the birth of her son, Paul, she vowed that he would never go to war. She met Jim Bohlen at a Quaker peace march in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1958. They married and she introduced him to the Quaker Society of Friends and the Sierra Club. When Paul became eligible for the US military in 1967, they immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, where they met the Stowes and co-founded the Don’t Make A Wave Committee, which would later become Greenpeace.
In February 1970, while discussing how to stop US nuclear bomb tests in Alaska, Marie proposed the idea of sailing a boat up to the test site and confronting the bomb. This, of course, became the first Greenpeace campaign. Since the voyage had been her idea, Marie intended to represent the Quakers on the boat. In the end, she decided to remain in Vancouver and work with Dorothy Stowe and the others. Thus, the Phyllis Cormack - the first Greenpeace boat - carried only men. Bob Hunter later commented in a newspaper interview that this had been a mistake and that the half of the crew should have been women.
The BC Voice of Women, led by Deeno Birmingham, played a key role in that first campaign, raising funds and petitioning the Canadian government to support the protest. Deeno drafted her husband, Dave Birmingham, to serve as engineer on the Phyllis Cormack. Lille d’Easum, a director of the Voice of Women, wrote the first Greenpeace technical report, a study of radiation effects.
Dorothy Metcalfe (Harris) had been a reporter at the Winnipeg Tribune when she met journalist Ben Metcalfe. They married and travelled to Europe in the 1950s, filing stories for the North America Newspaper Alliance. During the first Greenpeace campaign she converted her home into a radio room, relaying radio reports from Ben - who was on the Phyllis Cormack - to the world’s media. When the US delayed the test, and the crew contemplated safe harbour in Kodiak, Alaska, Dorothy encouraged them to push on toward the Aleutian Islands. “The momentum is building,” she advised. Dorothy lobbied Canadian Members of Parliament, which resulted in three motions urging the US to cancel the test. She called Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s office, insisting he travel to Washington to confront the Americans. Through the media she sent a message “from the wives and families of the men on board the Greenpeace. Our men are risking their lives… for the benefit of all mankind.” When she accused Trudeau of being cowardly, some supporters thought she had gone too far. “This is a democracy,” Dorothy Metcalfe insisted. “People have a responsibility to speak their minds.”
During the French nuclear campaign, Dorothy Metcalfe once again provided the media centre. She also attended the first UN environmental meeting in Stockholm, and arranged an audience with the Pope at the Vatican to bless the Greenpeace flag.
Zoe Hunter (Rahim), a member of the UK Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, met Bob Hunter in London in 1962. She introduced him to the pacifist work of Bertrand Russell and took him on the 1963 peace march to the Aldermaston nuclear facility, Hunter’s first political protest. They married and had two children, Conan and Justine. Zoe worked with Dorothy Stowe and Dorothy Metcalfe to provision the first two Greenpeace ships. Today, she works with Amnesty International in Canada.
"One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being."
—- May Sarton
Dorothy Stowe, Rex Weyler and Dorothy Metcalfe Dorothy Stowe, Rex Weyler and Dorothy Metcalfe
The first two women to sail on a Greenpeace campaign were Ann-Marie Horne and Mary Lornie from New Zealand, on board the Vega, which sailed into the French nuclear test site at Moruroa Atoll in 1973. When French sailors boarded the Vega and assaulted David McTaggart and Nigel Ingram, Ann-Marie snapped photographs and Mary Lornie took video footage. The French confiscated the video camera, but Ann-Marie was able to successfully smuggle her film past French security. France claimed, “Our men boarded his vessel unarmed and without striking a single blow” and suggested that McTaggart suffered his wounds by falling on a cleat while “attempting to throw our sailors back into the sea.” Ann-Marie’s photographs, however – which showed the beatings of McTaggart and Ingram – appeared around the world and proved that the French government had lied about the attack.
Artist and musician Linda Spong helped launch the Greenpeace whale campaign with her husband Paul. In 1974, they travelled to Japan with their son Yasha, and interpreters Maya Koizumi and Michiko Sakata, to build a pro-whale movement among Japanese scientists and supporters. In 1977, she served on the Greenpeace boat, Meander, which blockaded a vessel carrying representatives from 15 oil companies promoting an oil tanker port in northern British Columbia. To this day, Linda is active in the campaign to ban oil tankers from the Canadian coast.
Taeko Miwa and Carlie Trueman sailed on the first Greenpeace whale campaign. Trueman, an avid diver, was the first Greenpeace Zodiac specialist, and trained the crews in the operation and maintenance of the inflatable boats that would become a Greenpeace icon. Miwa was a student and environmentalist from Japan who had witnessed the devastating mercury poisoning in Minamata Bay. She ran campaigns against air pollution in Japan and served as Greenpeace’s Japanese translator.
Bobbi Hunter (Innes) helped launch the first whale campaign, managed the first public Greenpeace office in Vancouver, and raised much of the money for the first whale and seal campaigns. As project manager for a cable company, she had tracked the workflow of hundreds of technicians, and she applied these skills to Greenpeace; Bobbi became a key figure in organising a disjointed Greenpeace group that was running three campaigns with modest income. In 1976, Bobbi and Marilyn Kaga were the first women to blockade a whaling ship, the Russian Vlasny harpoon boat.
By the time of the whale and seal campaigns in the 1970s, women were regularly serving on the front line of Greenpeace actions. Eileen Chivers, Henrietta Nielson, Bonnie MacLeod, Bree Drummond, Mary-Lee Brassard, Susi Leger and other women served on the whale and seal campaigns during that era.
“If I dreamed natural dreams of being a natural
woman doing what a woman does when she's natural,
I would have a revolution.”
— Nikki Giovanni
Meanwhile, in London, Susi Newborn and Denise Bell acquired and outfitted the first ship that Greenpeace ever owned, the Rainbow Warrior. Newborn and Bell, who wanted to confront Icelandic whalers in the North Pacific, found the 134-foot trawler Sir William Hardy, raised the money to purchase it, and drafted Newborn’s childhood friend Athel von Koettlitz to help them restore the ship to life. In the spring of 1978, the ship set sail with an international crew representing the Netherlands, France, the UK, South Africa, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, the US and Canada. They confronted Icelandic and Spanish whalers and exposed the UK ship Gem, illegally dumping nuclear waste into the ocean. Newborn wrote a personal account of the Rainbow Warrior story, A Bonfire in My Mouth.
The Rainbow Warrior name came from a small book, Warriors of the Rainbow, by Aleut elder William Willoya and Vinson Brown. In the story ‘Return of the Indian Spirit’ a 12-year-old boy asks his Great Grandmother, Eyes of the Fire, “Why have such bad things happened to our people?” The Grandmother tells the boy of a prophecy that someday people from all the races of the world will join together to save the Earth from destruction and that these people will be known as Warriors of the Rainbow. This story inspired the Rainbow Warrior tradition in Greenpeace and to this day, the Grandmother - Eyes of the Fire – continues to shed her powerful light and vision over Greenpeace.
Deep Green is Rex Weyler's monthly column, reflecting on the roots of activism, environmentalism, and Greenpeace's past, present, and future. The opinions here are his own.Looking for news you can trust?
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Update (12/12/2014): On Thursday, the Ohio Senate approved HB663 with a 20-10 vote. Next week, the bill will return to the Ohio House for consideration of the Senate’s changes, and will then go to Gov. John Kasich, who is expected to sign it into law.
The execution of Dennis McGuire on January 16 of this year did not go as planned. Injected with an untested cocktail of drugs, the Ohio death row inmate gasped, choked, and writhed in his restraints. McGuire was declared dead after 26 minutes, having endured the longest execution in the state’s history.
“To a degree of medical certainty, this was not a humane execution,” an anesthesiologist testified in a subsequent federal lawsuit against the state’s execution team. The lawsuit, filed by McGuire’s children, declares the execution method used on McGuire cruel and unusual and seeks to block its further use in Ohio.
Yet state lawmakers are now rushing to pass a “secret executions” bill that would make it harder to know what really happens in the death chamber. If passed, HB663 will drop a veil of secrecy over the death penalty by exempting anyone participating in a lethal injection from public records requests that might reveal their identities or duties. It would apply to medical and nonmedical staff, companies transporting or preparing supplies or equipment used in executions, and the providers of the drugs used in the lethal injection.
Introduced just two weeks ago in a lame-duck session, the bill sailed through committee and was passed by the state House last Thursday, 62 to 27. The bill now moves to the Senate, which could vote on it as early as the first week of December. Most of the measure’s support comes from Republicans, who control both chambers of the legislature. It is not clear whether Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who supports the death penalty but has been generous in granting clemency, will sign the bill if it comes to him. The Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports that the bill’s sponsors have claimed that they have Kasich’s support.
“This is the most extreme lethal injection secrecy bill that we’ve seen nationwide.”
After McGuire’s botched execution, a federal judge issued a moratorium on capital punishment in Ohio until January 2015. The state’s next execution is scheduled for February. This imminent deadline is part of what’s driving the legislature’s urgency to pass the execution secrecy bill. The European suppliers of the state’s preferred execution drug, pentobarbital, now refuse to sell it for use in executions. Lawmakers hope that the promise of anonymity will goad local compounding pharmacies into providing the drug.
If it goes into law, the bill would make it exceedingly difficult for the public or the press to investigate executions. Under the law, participants in executions may be sued if they reveal any confidential information or identities. The law also would undermine prisoners’ due process rights, according to the ACLU: By exempting the participants in lethal injections from subpoenas and discovery proceedings, the law would make it virtually impossible for inmates’ lawyers or courts to depose or question anyone with knowledge of a particular execution or death-penalty protocol. A late amendment to the bill does make limited room for disclosure through private judicial hearings.
Thirteen other states have passed or tried to pass these sorts of gag rules. The bills are also growing more broad. “The trend we see in the more recent confidentiality statutes is an enhancement of both the breadth and depth of secrecy surrounding execution procedures,” notes Megan McCracken, an attorney at the death penalty clinic at the University of California-Berkeley law school.
But Ohio’s bill goes even further. First, it would void any contract, domestic or international, that would hinder the state’s ability to obtain execution drugs. It also extends professional immunity for participants in executions, stating that licensing organizations can not “take any disciplinary action against” physicians, pharmacists, or other staff. Many professional associations’ codes of conduct prohibit participation in capital punishment, and the Ohio State Medical Association has expressed concerns about the bill’s “intent to statutorily void” parts of the medical ethics code. “I think this is the most extreme lethal injection secrecy bill that we’ve seen nationwide,” says Brickner.
The original version of the bill, sponsored by state Rep. Jim Buchy (R-Greenville), sought to ensure permanent blanket secrecy. An amended version requires individuals and companies involved in executions to opt-in for anonymity, and would make their identities public 20 years after they finish their business with the state. “20 years later is a rather pointless exercise,” says Mike Brickner, senior policy director at the ACLU of Ohio. “If the company has a 10-year contract, you wouldn’t see that information in your lifetime.”
With four botched executions in the last eight years, Ohio’s use of the death penalty has come under increasing scrutiny. Beyond practical considerations regarding lethal injection, the legislature’s rush may also be an attempt to quiet the debate on capital punishment, notes Brickner. Yet it may have the opposite effect. “This bill is fundamentally broken,” says Brickner. “There will be no shortage of lawsuits challenging it.”Bushmeat hunting is extensive in west and central Africa as both a means for subsistence and for commercial gain. Commercial hunting represents one of the primary threats to wildlife in the region, and confounding factors have made it challenging to examine how external factors influence the commercial bushmeat trade. Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea is a small island with large tracts of intact forest that support sizeable populations of commercially valuable vertebrates, especially endemic primates. The island also has a low human population and has experienced dramatic economic growth and rapid development since the mid-1990’s. From October 1997 – September 2010, we monitored the largest bushmeat market on Bioko in Malabo, recording over 197,000 carcasses for sale. We used these data to analyze the dynamics of the market in relation to political events, environmental legislation, and rapid economic growth. Our findings suggest that bushmeat hunting and availability increased in parallel with the growth of Equatorial Guinea’s GDP and disposable income of its citizens. During this 13-year study, the predominant mode of capture shifted from trapping to shotguns. Consequently, carcass volume and rates of taxa typically captured with shotguns increased significantly, most notably including intensified hunting of Bioko's unique and endangered monkey fauna. Attempts to limit bushmeat sales, including a 2007 ban on primate hunting and trade, were only transiently effective. The hunting ban was not enforced, and was quickly followed by a marked increase in bushmeat hunting compared to hunting rates prior to the ban. Our results emphasize the negative impact that rapid development and unenforced legislation have had on Bioko’s wildlife, and demonstrate the need for strong governmental support if conservation strategies are to be successful at preventing extinctions of tropical wildlife.
In this study, we used long-term data on animal carcass numbers for sale in the Malabo bushmeat market gathered by the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program (BBPP), in collaboration with the National University of Equatorial Guinea (UNGE). The unique nature of the Malabo market and the scope of the dataset allowed us to investigate how market dynamics (i.e., numbers and species composition of animals for sale in the market) have changed over time. We examine the relation between rapid economic development and carcass rates, specifically between income and overall carcass volume, as well as how carcass volume has responded to externalities, such as political events and environmental legislation, and the efficacy of a trade ban on primates enacted on the Malabo bushmeat market in late 2007 [ 50 ]. Our results highlight the immediate need for effective conservation measures on Bioko Island and the importance of government support and long-term planning for environmental and conservation legislation.
The bushmeat market in Malabo, the capital and commercial center of Equatorial Guinea, on Bioko Island, provides a unique opportunity for studying the bushmeat trade in central Africa. Bioko contains an insular subset of Gulf of Guinea fauna, including seven species of threatened monkeys [ 37, 38 ], bushmeat hunting is extensive [ 29, 38 – 40 ], and the market supply chain [producer (hunter)–intermediary (taxi-driver)–market vendor] is similar to that of other regional markets [ 39, 41 ]. However, the Malabo market differs from others in that it lacks many of the confounding factors that constrain inferences derived from market-based studies. The market operates in a small, contained system, supplied by limited and easily enumerated transit routes [ 41 ], with the majority of consumption restricted to Malabo [ 39 ]. Hunting is largely conducted by migrant commercial hunters from Rio Muni, the mainland sector of Equatorial Guinea, almost exclusively for profit [ 39, 42 – 44 ], and although there has been much recent urban development and sprawl surrounding Malabo, other anthropogenic factors (e.g., deforestation) have had limited impact on much of the island’s forests due to difficult terrain [ 45 ]. Furthermore, alternative protein sources are readily available throughout the towns and villages of Bioko, including fish, pork, chicken, and beef, and numerous studies have corroborated that bushmeat is neither a significant contributor of protein [ 29, 43, 44, 46 ], nor can it possibly fulfill more than a fraction of the dietary and economic needs of the general population [ 43, 46 ]. The population of Malabo is not dependent on bushmeat [ 46 ], and consumption may be associated with wealth and status [ 43 ], especially in the case of primates [ 46 ]. Reid et al. [ 43 ] reported that the median income for bushmeat consumers was 3–4 times the per capita GDP in 2001. Conversely, Albrechtsen et al. [ 46 ] found that income was negatively correlated with household bushmeat consumption in Malabo, and on the outskirts of Malabo, Grande Vega et al. [ 44 ] reported that consumption of bushmeat protein was not affected by income. Malabo consumers do exhibit a preference for fresh meat, with a slight bias towards bushmeat [ 43 ], but fish is also an important protein source [ 44 ]. The majority of bushmeat consumers are of the Fang ethnic group, originally from Rio Muni, but the indigenous Bubi group also make up a quarter of the market [ 43 ], and there is no difference between the amount of bushmeat protein consumed between the two ethnicities [ 44 ]. Government attempts to regulate the bushmeat trade in Equatorial Guinea have focused on regulating hunter behavior by banning hunting within protected areas [ 47 ] and prohibiting take of specific threatened taxa (e.g. monkeys) [ 48 ]. Still, illegal hunting occurs extensively throughout federally protected areas [ 44, 49 ], as Equatorial Guinea has yet to implement any management strategy or enforcement regime, resulting in effectively open access forests.
Despite the serious threats the bushmeat trade represents to wildlife and to humans, our understanding of the factors that govern the bushmeat trade remains incomplete and disjointed, and as a result, solutions to mitigate the crisis have been applied with very limited success. Poverty alleviation, for example, has been suggested as a solution to decrease the supply of and demand for bushmeat, with rising incomes leading to a decline in reliance upon environmental resources for survival; however, development objectives focused on poverty alleviation alone have not reduced consumption [ 25 – 27 ], and many studies have indicated a consistent link between increased wealth and greater consumption of wildlife [ 28 – 30 ]. The results are not uniformly negative though; for example, national economic development has led to a decrease in the intensity and extent of hunting in a rural area in mainland Equatorial Guinea [ 31 ]. Another common approach has been blanket criminalization, but this too has often been unsuccessful in reducing consumption [ 32 – 36 ]. A better understanding of the dynamic response of the bushmeat economy to economic development and government legislation efforts is critical for targeting more effective interventions.
The harvesting of bushmeat for human consumption is common throughout the developing world as a means for people to meet many of their dietary and livelihood needs [ 1 – 3 ], and subsistence bushmeat hunting is particularly prevalent in western and central Africa [ 4, 5 ]. In many parts of the African moist forest zone, however, bushmeat hunting has evolved from a subsistence practice to an unsustainable, commercialized business [ 6 – 8 ] driven by increasing access to firearms, a lack of alternative protein sources, widespread industrial logging leading to increased infrastructure development and greater access to remote forests, and ultimately, a quickly growing urban human population that fuels increased demand [ 9 – 11 ]. In the relatively densely populated Gulf of Guinea forests of central Africa, demand for bushmeat is particularly high and hunting is highly commercialized [ 1, 8, 12, 13 ]. As a result, bushmeat hunting is considered among the most significant threats to the conservation of biological diversity in the tropics [ 8 – 10, 14, 15 ], particularly in western and central Africa where increased hunting pressure resulting from commercialization has contributed to the local extirpation of many rainforest mammal species [ 10, 15 – 20 ]. Widespread bushmeat hunting also represents a serious threat to human populations. The transmission of zoonotic pathogens via human contact with infected bushmeat [ 21, 22 ], as well as the decline and/or loss of a cheap and readily available protein source [ 23, 24 ], both represent major public health concerns with long-term ramifications.
In markets where bushmeat is considered a luxury good, consumption has been positively correlated with income [ 30 ]. To test whether bushmeat is a luxury good on Bioko, we compared denoised monthly average carcass rates (T t + S t ) with income via linear regression. Due to a lack of reliable income data from Equatorial Guinea, we used the monthly European Brent Spot Price for crude petroleum in USD per barrel [ 71 ] as a proxy for income following Morra et al. [ 29 ], given that approximately 90% of Equatoguinean gross domestic product is derived from hydrocarbons [ 72 ]. Oil prices were then regressed against total, shotgunned, and trapped carcasses in each period to determine correlation.
Slopes [change in carcass rate per month (carcass market day −1 month −1 )] for different taxa were almost proportional to the fractional representation of the taxon in the total market carcass rate and were normalized for this effect to be directly compared. Normalization can be performed either by dividing each slope by the fraction of the total market carcass rate comprised by the focal taxon or by dividing the slope by the ratio of the standard deviations for the entire time series of the respective taxa and total carcasses [ 69 ]; both methods gave similar results. Here we present slopes normalized by the ratio of standard deviations because it is slightly more conservative when used on uncommon species.
We performed time trend analyses on deseasonalized monthly average carcass rates (T t + E t ) for each taxon and each period. Because seasonal variation in carcass rates could obscure long-term trends, and was the subject of a separate analysis [ 66 ], the seasonal component was removed for each taxon. Quadratic regression of carcass rates (carcass market day −1 ) on serially numbered months was used to permit curvature of trends within periods. For each taxon and period, we also fit a reduced linear regression, and quadratic terms were retained only when the linear model was significantly less predictive than the quadratic model [ 67 ]. Average change in carcass rate per month (“slope[s]”) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for each taxon and period. Regressions without significant quadratic terms were the slope of the line relating carcass rate to month. When the quadratic term was significant, the slope at the midpoint of the period and its confidence interval were calculated using linear model theory [ 68 ]. Note the distinction from hereafter between references to “rates”, which denote carcasses per market day averaged across each month, and “slopes”, which exclusively refer to the regression of carcass rates across periods, and hence are a measure of the rate of change of the aforementioned rates.
The data were first broken into periods reflecting the change in market behavior confirmed by the intervention analysis. The January 1998 coup attempt was excluded from consideration as a period breakpoint since its effect was short-lived. Although both the March 2002 bushmeat roundtable and the November 2003 environmental legislation significantly affected primate carcass rates, we selected a breakpoint of April 2003 for the Early/Pre-ban break point due to the behavior of the overall market. We believed this breakpoint to be more reflective of the overall market behavior, and not only that of the primate group. The resulting periods were: 1) October 1997 through March 2003 (“Early”), 2) April 2003 through October 2007 (“Pre-ban”), and 3) November 2007 through September 2010 (“Post-ban”).
Five interventions were analyzed as external influences with the same pre-intervention SARIMA model, but now fitted for the full series (through September 2010) using the function ‘arimax’ from the R package ‘TSA’ [ 60 ]. The five interventions were (1) a January 1998 failed coup attempt (manifested in February); (2) the passage of law number 4/2000 in May 2000, updating the designation of protected areas [ 61 ]; (3) the CI/BBPP/UNGE Bushmeat Roundtable in March 2002; (4) the passage of law number 7/2003, an environmental regulatory law, in November 2003 [ 62 ]; and (5) decree number 72/2007 in October 2007 (manifested in November) banning the hunting of primates [ 50 ] ( Table 1 ). Model fitting indicated the May 2000 protected areas law did not significantly affect the carcass rate; hence, it was removed. The intervention functions are listed in Table 1.
Because hunting had a large effect on primates, which as charismatic and threatened fauna were the major drivers of conservation efforts, the primate series was used in the intervention model. Before interventions could be evaluated, an unperturbed portion of the series was modeled (the Noise model) in order to infer changes caused by interventions. Square root transformed primate carcass rates prior to the primate hunting ban (before 11/2007) were fit with a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) model [ 59 ]. We hypothesized that the ban had the most significant effect on the behavior of the series, and hence, was chosen as the breakpoint for pre-intervention data, despite four additional interventions spanning the |
magnitude." said Erina, narrowing her eyes.
"Which means there's something more to this." finished Alice, looking down curiously as she resisted the urge to strike out at the boy behind her who seemed to have a particularly horse like bray of a laugh.
Hayama wasn't laughing along with the rest of the crowd, but he was certainly smirking as he looked at the bottle in Sōma's hand. How dare he think that some brand name hot sauce would compare…
Hayama blinked, looking closer at the bottle of hot sauce. While it was indeed labelled, there was nothing written on the label. No picture, no words. In fact, now that Hayama looked, the bottle looked familiar. Very familiar. But that didn't make sense. Why would he…?
Hayama's eyes widened as he felt his heart begin to race. He looked up at Sōma, who was ignoring the gales of laughter surrounding them and staring directly into his eyes. His flat, golden gaze had been replaced by one Hayama recognized, one of challenge and fiery passion that was all Yukihira. The barest quirk at the corner of Sōma's mouth was all the warning that Hayama got before Sōma reached over and snatched the lid off of his pan.
Almost instantly, every single chuckle was silenced as veritable torrents of flavour burst from the pan, screaming out and encompassing the air as if angry that they had been kept sealed for so long. Hayama's dragon had been a magnificent beast, noble and powerful, but this…this was practically a force of nature. Even a dragon couldn't fight nature, and Hayama's was crushed under the tsunami that was Sōma's beast, brought back to life stronger and angrier than ever before. But Sōma's beast had changed. It was a simple beast no longer.
Instead it was a dragon, one of such magnificence and strength that it made Hayama's look like a kitten in comparison. It roared, flavour spreading throughout the arena and striking fear into each and every spectator's heart as they witnessed its anger through their olfactory senses.
The dragons were…similar. Eerily similar. But Sōma's was larger, stronger, hotter. In every category through which one could gauge a dragon's strength, Sōma's won out.
"This flavour profile…" said Hayama, his nose twitching as it fed him information. But it must be a lie. There was no way what he was smelling was accurate, it couldn't be.
"Do you remember our classmate, Mimasaka Subaru?" asked Sōma nonchalantly, serving the fish cutlets onto the toasted rice, the nutty aroma only being brought forth even more as it accented the scent of the fish.
'Mimasaka…Subaru. He was a contestant in the Autumn Elections, the Perfect Tracer…'
Hayama felt a fear he'd thought he'd disposed of start to crop back up in his heart and Sōma glanced over, as if he could hear Hayama's accelerated heartbeat.
"It seems Mimasaka-san is just as skilled as always in ferreting information out about his targets. And it took little effort to procure some of Shiomi-san's magnificent work for myself." said Sōma, drizzling the sauce over the judges' plates with one hand while tossing the bottle to Hayama with his other one.
Hayama caught it instinctively, looking down at the glassware, turning it over in his hands as he stroked over the black label. He noted the three marks at its top and that prompted him to grip the bottle tightly, his hands straining the glass. He knew this bottle of hot sauce. He'd made it.
"You…you stole from us?" whispered Hayama, his rage practically a tangible thing as he thought about Sōma using her work…their work against him. It was sickening.
"I stole nothing." said Sōma, watching as the judges ate his dish, taking bites of it and finding themselves filled with a blameless rage that suffused them, causing them to grit their teeth and shove Sōma's dish away from them, almost sending the plates careening off of the edge of the table.
"Then how? How did you get this bottle?"
Sōma looked over at Hayama, before extending his arm and pointing to the side, at his work station.
"It wasn't just one bottle, Hayama-san."
Hayama looked over, at the many unlabelled containers at Sōma's station. With a start, he realized that he recognized each and every one of them as containers that he, Jun or both had worked on together, marked in their own special shorthand to differentiate them.
For each jar and bottle Hayama recognized, his rage only grew, threatening to break the persistent calm that he was known for. The self-control he'd painstakingly developed from a young age to hide his feelings from those who would use it against him on the rough streets of his hometown.
"The Shiomi seminar, for all its independence, is still an organization under Tōtsuki. I simply asked Mimasaka-san to put in a request on my behalf after he'd traced you and given me his best guesses on what flavour profile you would use."
Hayama thought back, struggling to keep himself calm and his thoughts clear. It wasn't rare for their seminar to take requests for spices from both students and alumni. It was no exaggeration to say that the Shiomi seminar's spice quality was the finest in the region, if not all of Japan. And, with dread, Hayama realized that he did remember seeing Mimasaka's name on the request sheet a few weeks back. He'd simply filed it as always and let the delivery crew handle the rest, thinking nothing of it.
A glaring mistake, clearly.
"I kept my seasoning very distinct, and only fused them together as you did near the very end, before I sealed my pan completely. That gave the salmon time to become thoroughly infused with the full flavours of the seasonings I'd used, with not a single drop of it escaping and being wasted until it was time to unveil it."
Sōma looked over at the judges appraisingly, glancing over their mostly filled plates. His dragon loomed over his shoulders, still holding the arena in its mighty grip, larger and fiercer than Hayama's had any hope of being.
"So, dear judges, what's the result?"
Moto looked up at Sōma angrily, struggling to restrain himself. He didn't even understand WHY he was so angry. He simply was, and there was nothing to take it out on. He hadn't understood it when his colleagues had warned him against judging one of the boy's shokugekis, but now he did. He understood it all too well. With trembling fingers, he pressed a button on his controller.
Sadao and Fushima followed suit, their expressions more controlled but no less angry than their compatriot.
Yukihira Sōma – 3
Hayama Akira – 0
Hayama looked at the scoreboard in disbelief before he looked around, searching for a particular face before finding it. Jun looked back at him, a smile on her face but tears in her eyes.
'It's okay.' she mouthed, even as she began to cry silently, tear tracks making their way down her face.
"Well, Hayama-kun. I believe that, as they say, is that." said Sōma, looking over at the boy who looked like he'd just lost it all without a single ounce of compassion.
"And there you have it folks! While it was a closely fought battle, Yukihira Sōma is once again victorious! The Shiomi seminar will be immediately disbanded, with its associated resources going to Sōma-kun! That is our final shokugeki for the day, and I hope you all have a good one!" shouted Urara cheerfully to scattered applause.
The majority of the crowd was just looking at Hayama as they watched him fall to his knees, still staring into the crowd at the face of the woman he loved. A face he'd hoped to never see besmirched with tears.
"It would appear Hayama-kun lost." noted Alice somewhat sadly, sighing. While she counted herself as one of Sōma's allies, she felt more than uncomfortable as she looked at Hayama's fallen form. She didn't know him all that well, but she knew it must be devastating to lose both his residence and life's work in one fell swoop.
"Yes, I'm rather surprised Yukihira-kun would resort to such a tactic. It's not exactly his style to go with such a blatantly cheap trick." said Erina as she looked down at the product of her father's machinations with a heavy heart. She would use this as a reminder; as motivation for her training with Sai-Yukihira-sama. If he wasn't going to rescue Sōma from whatever idiotic plan he had set up, then she would.
"Cheap or not, Sōma got the win. Knowing what you're up against can be half the battle, sometimes. Know thine enemy and all that." said Alice flippantly, standing up and straightening out her skirt.
Ryo said nothing, his bandanna tucked away as he stared down at Hayama. The stronger dish had won today, that was all. Nothing more and nothing less.
Hayama walked listlessly through the halls of the seminar, his mind going back over the duel again and again. He was so sure that he'd won, that his dish was superior. But Sōma had completely shattered his expectations, and now he'd lost everything.
No, he had lost nothing. It was SHE who had lost everything.
He looked around at the familiar walls, at the place that had been his home for years.
"Akira-kun! Akira-kun!"
Hayama didn't turn around, but he did stop walking as he heard the soft pitter-patter of Jun's footsteps behind him.
"You did great, Akira-kun! Even though we made so many of those stew dishes for practice, I think the one you cooked today was better than all of them!"
Hayama's shoulders started to shake, the movement catching her eye.
"How can you say that Jun? After…after I lost? How can you stand there and still say that my dish was amazing?"
"Because it was, Akira-kun." said Jun, smiling even though he couldn't see it. "I told you already, right? Even if you lost, we'd still be together, so you have nothing to worry about."
"I'm not worried about me, Jun. I'm not the one who just lost everything they've worked so hard to build over the years. You are."
"We are." corrected Jun gently, placing her hand on Hayama's shoulder, which must've looked rather ridiculous as the boy was several inches taller than she was.
"Don't exclude yourself from this, Akira-kun. We both worked to make the Shiomi seminar what it is today. We share in its loss, that's how being a team works."
"But I'm…I'm…" Hayama cut himself off, not wanting to say it out loud.
"I know, Akira. I know." said Jun, reaching out for his hand and squeezing it.
They both knew that, while Hayama had endless potential with his future, Jun's was…limited. It wasn't so much a matter of age as it was skillset and passion. Jun had found her calling working for Tōtsuki. It was one of the few institutions with the money and resources needed to fund her exhaustive spice research. Few other places would be so willing to invest what Tōtsuki had invested into her, it was one of the perks of being the top culinary institute in the entire world.
Jun was a Tōtsuki graduate, meaning she would be able to practically pick and choose her employment at a variety of restaurants worldwide if she didn't want to continue on as a professor under the Azami administration but that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to continue her work with spices, she'd already done so much and there was still so much left to do!
But with Sōma's victory, Tōtsuki now owned each and every last piece of her research. Without its explicit permission, she couldn't do anything.
Hayama turned to face Jun, his face stricken. It was a sight few ever saw, that of a distressed Hayama Akira.
"I'm sorry, Jun. I should've won against Yukihira. For you, for us." he said, holding her shoulders. His voice wavered and bobbed with restrained sobs and his breath was coming in pants. Jun smiled up at him and leaned towards him, embracing him around his waist.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Akira-kun. You never have anything to apologize to me for."
Hayama slowly returned her embrace, clutching the smaller woman to him as he struggled to regain control of his breathing. He hadn't cried since Jun had adopted him, all those years ago, and he refused to now. This wasn't about him, this was about Jun. He refused to burden her with his tears.
Lost in their own world as they were, the pair didn't realize they had a spectator. That they'd had a spectator for a while now, since Jun had first met up with Hayama in the hallway.
Sōma looked on, his form hidden behind a large bookcase. He hadn't originally intended to eavesdrop, but he'd found himself stuck in place, frozen by the raw outpouring of emotion he was witnessing. As he saw the tears in Hayama's eyes and the unshaking support of his guardian, Sōma had become unsure of himself.
He'd originally planned to come here to sway Hayama to his side forcefully, perhaps dangling Jun's ongoing tenure as a professor as a sort of carrot, with her termination being the stick. But he…something in him wouldn't let that plan commence. Why did he suddenly find that plan distasteful? Why did he…feel something warm, where his heart usually sat?
And why were things getting so blurry? Sōma blinked, his eyes clearing as he felt wetness on his cheeks. Tears. Sōma looked down at his chain in surprise, inspecting it for damage. It wasn't coming loose at all, it held firm, meaning that this emotion was all…him. This side of Sōma wasn't used to this. This vulnerability, this…positivity. He was strength, anger, willpower and cunning. There was no room for softheartedness in this half of him.
He flicked the clasps on the chain, pulling it free with a yank. He shuddered, retreating within himself as his other side came to bear. The side of Sōma meant for…whatever this was.
Sōma wiped the tears from his eyes, smiling to himself. He walked forward, rubbing at his eyes, ensuring they were free of any moisture before clearing his throat pointedly.
Hayama and Jun both jumped, clutching each other even tighter for a second before realizing just what they were doing and breaking apart. They looked at each other before looking away in embarrassment, Jun resembling a tomato more than anything else as Hayama coughed, trying to regain his composure.
Finally noticing who'd interrupted them, Hayama froze, his eyes lowering as he spoke.
"What the hell do you want, Yukihira? Have you come to serve us our eviction notice already?"
Sōma laughed softly, startling the both of them. Sōma didn't laugh. At least, not in recent memory. The expression took Hayama back briefly, to days he'd spent with both of his runner ups in this very building, trading jibes and dishes alike. It was familiar, which only served to make Hayama more wary.
"Relax, Hayama. I've just come to talk this time is all, I promise."
"Then say what you have to say. I'm not interested in wasting anymore of my time on you today."
Sōma pouted, his expression almost comical.
"So mean, Hayama. Well, I suppose I can't really blame you. So I'll just hop right into it."
Sōma looked around at the peeling wallpaper and vague sense of disrepair that evoked more than one fond memory of the Polar Star Dormitory.
"Hayama, do you know exactly what the terms for your loss to me today are?"
"I'm more than aware." bit out Hayama, narrowing his eyes further as he glared at Sōma. "Have you simply come here to gloat?"
"I assure you, I haven't. For me though, can you state them again?"
Hayama maintained his glare for a few seconds, before sighing as he beheld the expression on Sōma's face. It seemed he was serious. Hayama thought back to the terms of the shokugeki ruling he'd reviewed only just this morning.
"If I were to lose, then the Shiomi seminar is given over to Tōtsuki, along with its resources. Effective no less than one week after the official result of the match is declared. There, are we done now?"
Sōma shook his head, smiling in a cheeky manner that would've been funny if the situation wasn't so serious.
"That's not quite correct, Hayama. If you lost, then the Shiomi seminar is surrendered to, not Tōtsuki, but to one Yukihira Sōma."
"Yea, but you work for Central, it isn't like there's much of a difference." said Hayama before he thought about exactly what he'd just said and his eyes widened. Sōma grinned as he saw Hayama come to the right conclusion.
"Exactly. I have full authority over the seminar as a student of Tōtsuki and a member of the Elite Ten Council. Meaning its fate is in my hands. But, to be quite honest, I don't have much interest in spices and all that, at least not the finicky details that Shiomi-chan seems so adept with."
Sōma jerked his thumb at the aforementioned professor, who glowered at him for his affectionate address. Hayama looked at Sōma, his eyes locked on Yukihira's, which were filled with a warmth and playfulness that was all too lacking in them these days.
Hayama's expression was one of both desperation and distrust as his mind started to go, thoughts bouncing around in his head at a frantic rate. He bowed his head as he clenched his fists, feeling his hands tremble.
"So…if I serve you, then you'll let Jun continue doing what she loves?"
"Hayama-kun…" said Jun, shocked. Hayama's pride was one of the most valuable things he had. When he had nothing, it was the only thing he held onto. No matter the situation and no matter cost. But here he was, surrendering it for her.
"Nah, that won't work." said Sōma casually, causing Hayama to look up at him in surprise before Sōma laughed, inciting even more confusion in the white haired boy.
"That's not gonna work because I'm not looking for servants, Hayama. I'm looking for allies."
At such a vaguely worded statement, Hayama's expression became guarded once again.
"What would I have to do?" he asked carefully. Sōma looked at him thoughtfully, as if wondering whether he should answer, before shrugging to himself.
"For now? One thing. One simple thing."
"And what's this one simple thing?" asked Hayama, cautious of the mischievous smirk on Sōma's face.
"Refine your cooking."
Hayama looked at Sōma, who didn't say anything after that, instead just matching his blank stare with a grin.
"My apologies, Yukihira, but…this is a cooking school. Isn't that the whole point?"
Sōma looked at Hayama, his smile dropping as his expression grew serious.
"You're right. It is. But I'm not asking you to do well in classes, or invent one new dish. I'm asking you to take your cooking to new heights, to use whatever means necessary to take a step up. And another one. And another one. Until you're alone, separated from the rest of our generation by a gulf of skill that'll be matched by but a few others."
Some stepped forward, placing his hand on Hayama's shoulder and squeezing it with authority.
"I want you to be among the best. I need you to be one of the elites, Hayama. That is all I'm going to ask of you right now. I want today to be the last time I ever hear of Hayama Akira losing a shokugeki, even if he's facing the Demon King of Food himself."
Hayama's heart raced as Sōma's words stoked a burning passion that was always there. He'd already planned to take the top seat of Tōtsuki anyway, so Sōma wasn't saying anything new. But the meaning he was giving it allowed Hayama to feel as if his goal was tangible. His very real peril had made reality all too clear to him. It wasn't some abstract thing he'd find sometime down the road. It was something he could reach towards, right here and right now with his own two hands. He'd continue reaching until he'd passed everyone else by, including the man before him.
Sōma smiled, seeing the fire in his own eyes reflected in Hayama's.
"For what it's worth, I apologize for the scare, Hayama. Things aren't quite as black and white as they used to be, and that can tie my hands up quite a bit." said Sōma, jingling the chain he held in his hands.
The tongue-in-cheek reference flew completely over Hayama's head, absorbed as he was in pondering the first part of Sōma's statement.
"Are you going to explain just why they aren't that way anymore?" asked Hayama mildly, almost certain of the response he would get.
Sure enough, Sōma shook his head, releasing Hayama's shoulder as he began to walk off.
"Maybe sometime in the future, but not right now. Continue doing what you do Hayama, I expect great things. Later Shiomi-chan!"
"D-Don't call me chan!" shouted Jun angrily, waving her fist.
"Jun, that may have been more effective if you'd said it before the door shut behind him." pointed out Hayama drily. Jun turned to pout at him, running at him and beating her fists on Hayama's chest playfully.
"You're so mean, Hayama-kun." Jun said in mock anger, as her swings started to lose speed until, eventually, she was just embracing Hayama, her face buried in his chest. He couldn't see her face but he could feel her shake silently and the wetness seep through his shirt.
"Why are you crying, Jun?" Hayama asked gently, placing one hand on her head, stroking her hair.
"I…I was lying, Akira-kun." she admitted tearfully. "I was so scared…I didn't know what I was going to do. Half of my life was just gone, and you…I thought I'd lose you too."
Hayama looked down at her in surprise.
"Why would you ever think that?"
"Because…I mean, what use would you have for me if I was just some stuffy lecturer? You'd grow tired of me eventually, and move on to greater things without me too…"
"Jun. If there's one thing you ever know to be true in this world, it's that I will never leave you. Never."
"You're just saying that." she said self-deprecatingly, her words muffled by Hayama's chest.
Hayama pulled Jun away from his chest, holding her by her shoulders as he stared into her face. She tried to turn away from him, reaching up to remove her glasses as she wiped at her eyes. Crying had left her eyes bloodshot and her face blotchy. Hayama didn't say a word as he continued to stare down at her.
"Akira-kun, please. What are you looking at?" she asked, blinking up at him.
"You." he said, the one word saying more than a thousand ever could. Jun tried to wave him off, her cheeks now red for an entirely different reason. She laughed embarrassedly.
"Why? I must look hideous right now."
"No. You're beautiful."
Hayama leaned down, his forehead resting gently on Jun's. Her blush grew as she started to fidget.
"A-Akira-kun. Please…stop."
Despite her words, Jun made no move to escape his hold, instead closing her eyes as she breathed in, the heady scent of spice and cinnamon that was Hayama washing over her. She opened her eyes, and found Hayama's looking down at her, and their gazes locked like magnets. Jun raised one hand to his face hesitantly, before reaching up and brushing an errant bang out of his face.
"Jun."
"Akira."
Some miniscule part of Jun screamed at her, told her that this was inappropriate and she should walk away now, while she still had a chance to redeem herself. That part of her was summarily silenced by the rest of her that made the decision to lean in, her lips barely brushing over Hayama's as she closed her eyes.
The kiss wasn't long or deep. It was soft and tender, an expression of what they'd found in each other over years of a growing relationship that spanned guardian and ward, teacher and student and now man and woman. As the kiss broke, they rested their foreheads together, closing their eyes.
"Jun…I…"
"I know, Akira. Me too."
Sōma whistled as he walked down the path from the seminar, his heart light. It was a refreshing feeling, doing a good deed for someone. That went double for someone he called a friend. He understood the need for what he did, what he was still doing really, but that doesn't mean he enjoyed it.
Which made it even nicer when he could do something so unambiguously good. No shades of grey, or justification. Just simple kindness. This night was starting off well.
"Yukihira-kun?"
Sōma turned, smiling widely.
"Hey, Nakiri. What's up?"
Sōma continued walking a step or two, before convulsing, his stride broken as he looked into the face of Nakiri Erina. His heart started thumping wildly in his chest as he stared, his mouth moving with no sound as he stared into her purple eyes.
"Yukihira-kun. I…I didn't expect to see you here." she said, recovering from her surprise gracefully. She smiled softly at him, which only made Sōma step back, his eyes widening as his mouth continued moving, not a single word passing his lips.
She couldn't be here. She shouldn't be here. Why was she here? What were the odds?
Sōma stared at her face, seeing her features change, her cheeks softening as her hair shortened and her eyes became rounder, younger.
"Yukihira-kun, are you alright?"
Tou-san! Please, it's so dark!
Sōma stepped back, stumbling over as he fell onto his butt.
"Yukihira!"
Erina reached out, her hands small and childlike. Sōma's pupils shrank as his heart started to race, starting to hyperventilate.
"Yukihira…Sōma-kun, are you crying?"
Sōma felt like someone was sitting on his chest, like there was a vice around his abdomen as he tried to breathe. Tears dripped freely down his face, something that surprised Erina. She walked over to him, unsure of how to proceed.
She leaned down as if to touch his shoulder and Sōma twitched, scrabbling backwards.
"No. Please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." he said desperately, his eyes begging her for forgiveness. Erina was even more confused at Sōma's abrupt reaction, stepping back cautiously and holding up her hands.
"I couldn't do anything, you were so…and I just…I tried but it didn't work and…and…"
Sōma's broken sentence trailed off into incoherency as he stopped speaking, trying to catch his breath.
"Yukihira, you don't seem to be doing well. I'll call someone. Just give me a second."
Go ahead, Erina. Call someone, anyone. No one can help you, no one but me, your beloved father.
Erina pulled out her phone, eyeing Sōma carefully as she tapped out a number.
"Everything's going to be fine, Yukihira. Don't worry."
Everything's going to be fine, Erina. I love you.
"LIAR!" shouted Sōma, springing to his feet and dashing away, ignoring the rapidly fading calls behind him. He ran and ran, heart racing as he started to pant, his ability to breathe coming back with every step he took away from the Nakiri heiress.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry…" he said to himself, his legs working beneath him to get him anywhere. Anywhere that wasn't near that girl. It took several long minutes for Sōma to grow tired, slowing down as he panted for an entirely different reason. He put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a silver chain.
With shaky, trembling hands, Sōma wound the chain around his left wrist, securing the ends with a clink. He continued panting but the trembling ceased and it wasn't long before Sōma stood straight, wiping at the sweat on his forehead. He looked around, wondering just where one of his episodes had landed him this time before noticing that he'd ended up right outside the Nakiri mansion gate.
Sōma would've laughed to himself if he'd had the energy. He walked through the gate, hearing it creak behind him as he opened it. Heading towards the front door, he felt his phone vibrate and he pulled it out, seeing that it was a message from Rindō.
Evening, Sōma-kun. Just wanted to let you know things with Nikumi-chan are going great. She should be ready for evaluation after the break.
Sōma sent off an affirmative reply, walking through the front door to be greeted by a smiling Nakiri Alice.
"Good evening, Sōma-kun! I simply must…Sōma-kun!"
Alice noticed the state Sōma was in, the stained, sweaty clothing and the tear streaked face. She stepped forward, looking him over as she circled him worriedly.
"What happened to you Sōma-kun? Were you in an accident? Did you get in a fight, did Hayama do this?"
Sōma shook his head tiredly, trying to move past the girl towards his room, which only succeeded in having her follow behind him concernedly.
"Nakiri-ojou, please. I'm fine, I'm just a bit tired, that's all."
"Tired my foot! You look like you've been through the ringer, what happened?" she asked, following behind him as he entered his room. He sat tiredly on the bed, his straight laced posture melting away as he gave into his exhaustion, his shoulders slumping.
"So are you going to tell me?" she asked imperiously, tapping her foot as she stood over him. Sōma resisted the uncharacteristic urge to snap at her, his restraint all but gone from the stress of the evening.
"No." he said, hoping the simple, blunt reply would dissuade the white haired girl from inquiring further. He should've known better.
Alice continued to pester him, asking question after question, glibly proceeding as if unaware that she was being incessantly annoying. Finally, after a particular inane question about whether he'd gone for a late night swim, Sōma couldn't take it anymore.
"Stop." he said, his rage cresting as it broiled beneath his skin, eager to lash out.
Alice ignored him, continuing to prattle. Sōma grit his teeth, putting his head between his knees and holding his temples as he felt his anger growing, seemingly without end.
Sōma balled his fists, his emotions hitting a peak as he screamed a wordless shout of rage, seeing nothing as he screamed and screamed and screamed, each and every one of the dark emotions he usually kept under wraps blaring out in full force to wash over the room. He continued to scream, clutching at his hair as he felt his voice start to crack. For the first time in who knows how long, Soma lost control, completely and utterly. His hatred, his pain, all of it and more was contained in the scream that lacked any sort of language or coherency.
After several seconds, he felt the tide ebbing and his screaming faded, his breath coming in pants for the third time that night as he held his head in his hands, his chest feeling lighter than it had in months. He could tell Alice was still in the room but he refused to look up at her. He knew what he'd see if he did. Instead, he just waited for her to leave.
After about a minute, he heard her shoes shuffle across the floor and, without warning, he felt a hand on his head.
"There. Isn't that better, Sōma-kun?"
Sōma looked up at her, more than surprised to see Alice looking down at him with a smile. He didn't see an ounce of fear or disdain, instead only kindness with a side of frivolity. An expression distinctly Alice.
Sōma started to feel…something. Something that made him distinctly uncomfortable. But…but it was discomfort he found he didn't mind putting up with, for some reason. Sōma leaned forward, his exhaustion hitting him in a sudden wave of dizziness, and his head came to rest on Alice's sweater covered stomach. Despite the compromising position, Sōma found himself loathe to move as he felt the discomfort in his chest grow stronger but…better. A paradox.
This wasn't for him. This was for the other Sōma, the one he kept chained because he was too weak to do what they needed. He was the one with the weakness, the feelings, the empathy and kindness, while he was supposed to be cold and distant, clear headed but passionate and filled with anger and hatred. He wasn't supposed to feel…whatever this was. This was too nice, too soft, too…weak.
Alice looked down at the head of red hair leaning against her sweater, her cheeks blushing a bright red. The hand in Sōma's hair began to move, running through it as she marvelled at how deceptively soft the spikes were. It was soon joined by the other one as Alice's fingers ran through Sōma's unkempt mane.
Almost without thinking, Alice began to croon. A soft, wordless melody that her mother would sing for her as a child. She sang as she stroked her hands through Sōma's hair, feeling the boy's breath against her stomach. If he wasn't so vulnerable and tired, Alice would've balked at the impropriety of such a thing, but instead she just continued stroking. And singing.
Sōma's eyes closed languidly, his ears filled with the soft tones coming from above his head. In his mind, he saw a blurry image, a half forgotten memory of a woman's face, leaning over him, her hand in his hair as she sang. The song was completely different from the one Alice sang, but its effect was similar, filling him with a sense of calm and peace.
"Kaa-chan…" he murmured sleepily, his breathing evening out.
Alice blinked down at him. She pouted.
"I'm certainly NOT your mother, Sōma-kun." she admonished quietly, gently pushing his shoulders back as she guided his half-awake form to lie down.
"Sweet dreams, Sōma-chii." she said fondly and teasingly, giving his hair one last affectionate ruffle before beginning to exit the room quietly.
Sōma felt more than saw the lights turn off and he turned over, his thoughts fading as he slowly fell asleep, his chest both light and heavy with…whatever this was. It would be the best sleep he'd had in years.
Well, here we go, chapter 8! I believe this is the longest chapter of the story to date, and also one of the more important ones. I hope you all enjoyed it, and please feel free to leave some feedback, be it hurtful or helpful. It's my not-so-secret goal to have this be the top reviewed story of the SnS fandom, help me achieve it guys! Only like 200 more to go!There’s a massive trend brewing in America’s nightlife scene. Nightclub and bar attendance has been on a steady decline for the past several years and counting. Nightclubs are going out of business left and right with more being threatened to close their doors each and every day. There has been a massive decline in liquor profits and overall revenue. This trend isn’t only exclusive to the United States; the U.K. has also been experiencing a similar drop in their once world-renowned nightlife scene. What is to blame for all of this, you ask?
Millennials.
Who are these impactful millennials?
According to GFK, the global research firm, millennials are widely categorized individuals who were born anywhere between the years 1977 and 1994. Ranging between the ages of 21 and 38, they are the target demographic for all club owners and other current nightlife vendors. These millennials are very different from their Generation X parents—they were raised to be extremely tech savvy since they entered adulthood equipped with cellphones, up-to-date social media interactions, and would certainly much rather spend their hard-earned money on experiences rather than material possessions.
While evaluating such preferences, millennials sound like the ideal group to be regularly enjoying themselves at various nightclubs—or so one would think? If this is the case, why are nightclubs and entertainment venues alike suffering such massive declines in their numbers? Since millennials favor experiences over material things, shouldn’t nightclubs be benefiting? Where are these millennials going instead?
Are millennials going to nightclubs?
Simply put, not really—at least not as frequently as their Generation X counterparts did at popular discotheques. Countless studies, as well as daily observations, show millennials are no longer opting to go to nightclubs anymore when contemplating the value of a night out. A survey by ULI/Lachman Associates dictates that only slightly higher than 60% of all millennials spend time at nightclubs. Of that 60%, only 25% spend time at nightclubs more than once a month. The millennials who go to nightclubs say they |
be influenced by something massive and very distant, the proposed Planet X. Hide Caption 53 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Say hello to dark galaxy Dragonfly 44. Like our Milky Way, it has a halo of spherical clusters of stars around its core. Hide Caption 54 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe A classical nova occurs when a white dwarf star gains matter from its secondary star (a red dwarf) over a period of time, causing a thermonuclear reaction on the surface that eventually erupts in a single visible outburst. This creates a 10,000-fold increase in brightness, depicted here in an artist's rendering. Hide Caption 55 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Gravitational lensing and space warping are visible in this image of near and distant galaxies captured by Hubble. Hide Caption 56 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe At the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, researchers discovered an X-shaped structure within a tightly packed group of stars. Hide Caption 57 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Meet UGC 1382: What astronomers thought was a normal elliptical galaxy (left) was actually revealed to be a massive disc galaxy made up of different parts when viewed with ultraviolet and deep optical data (center and right). In a complete reversal of normal galaxy structure, the center is younger than its outer spiral disk. Hide Caption 58 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of the Crab Nebula and its "beating heart," which is a neutron star at the right of the two bright stars in the center of this image. The neutron star pulses 30 times a second. The rainbow colors are visible due to the movement of materials in the nebula occurring during the time-lapse of the image. Hide Caption 59 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe The Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of a hidden galaxy that is fainter than Andromeda or the Milky Way. This low surface brightness galaxy, called UGC 477, is over 110 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces. Hide Caption 60 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe On April 19, NASA released new images of bright craters on Ceres. This photo shows the Haulani Crater, which has evidence of landslides from its rim. Scientists believe some craters on the dwarf planet are bright because they are relatively new. Hide Caption 61 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe This illustration shows the millions of dust grains NASA's Cassini spacecraft has sampled near Saturn. A few dozen of them appear to have come from beyond our solar system. Hide Caption 62 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe This image from the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile shows a stunning concentration of galaxies known as the Fornax Cluster, which can be found in the Southern Hemisphere. At the center of this cluster, in the middle of the three bright blobs on the left side of the image, lies a cD galaxy -- a galactic cannibal that has grown in size by consuming smaller galaxies. Hide Caption 63 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe This image shows the central region of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The young and dense star cluster R136, which contains hundreds of massive stars, is visible in the lower right of the image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Hide Caption 64 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe In March 2016, astronomers published a paper on powerful red flashes coming from binary system V404 Cygni in 2015. This illustration shows a black hole, similar to the one in V404 Cygni, devouring material from an orbiting star. Hide Caption 65 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe new map of the Milky Way was released February 24, 2016, giving astronomers a full census of the star-forming regions within our own galaxy. The APEX telescope in Chile captured this survey. Hide Caption 66 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe This image shows the elliptical galaxy NGC 4889, deeply embedded within the Coma galaxy cluster. There is a gigantic supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. Hide Caption 67 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe An artist's impression of 2MASS J2126, which takens 900,000 years to orbit its star, 1 trillion kilometers away. Hide Caption 68 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune. Hide Caption 69 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe An international team of astronomers may have discovered the biggest and brightest supernova ever. The explosion was 570 billion times brighter than the sun and 20 times brighter than all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy combined, according to a statement from The Ohio State University, which is leading the study. Scientists are straining to define the supernova's strength. This image shows an artist's impression of the supernova as it would appear from an exoplanet located about 10,000 light years away. Hide Caption 70 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Astronomers noticed huge waves of gas being "burped" by the black hole at the center of NGC 5195, a small galaxy 26 million light years from Earth. The team believes the outburst is a consequence of the interaction of NGC 5195 with a nearby galaxy. Hide Caption 71 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe An artist's illustration shows a binary black hole found in the quasar at the center of the Markarian 231 galaxy. Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope discovered the galaxy being powered by two black holes "furiously whirling about each other," the space agency said in a news release. Hide Caption 72 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe An artist's impression of what a black hole might look like. In February, researchers in China said they had spotted a super-massive black hole 12 billion times the size of the sun. Hide Caption 73 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Are there are oceans on any of Jupiter's moons? The Juice probe shown in this artist's impression aims to find out. Picture courtesy of ESA/AOES Hide Caption 74 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Astronomers have discovered powerful auroras on a brown dwarf that is 20 light-years away. This is an artist's concept of the phenomenon. Hide Caption 75 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Venus, bottom, and Jupiter shine brightly above Matthews, North Carolina, on Monday, June 29. The apparent close encounter, called a conjunction, has been giving a dazzling display in the summer sky. Although the two planets appear to be close together, in reality they are millions of miles apart. Hide Caption 76 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Jupiter's icy moon Europa may be the best place in the solar system to look for extraterrestrial life, according to NASA. The moon is about the size of Earth's moon, and there is evidence it has an ocean beneath its frozen crust that may hold twice as much water as Earth. NASA's 2016 budget includes a request for $30 million to plan a mission to investigate Europa. The image above was taken by the Galileo spacecraft on November 25, 1999. It's a 12-frame mosaic and is considered the the best image yet of the side of Europa that faces Jupiter. Hide Caption 77 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe This nebula, or cloud of gas and dust, is called RCW 34 or Gum 19. The brightest areas you can see are where the gas is being heated by young stars. Eventually the gas burst outward like champagne after a bottle is uncorked. Scientists call this champagne flow. This new image of the nebula was captured by the European Space Organization's Very Large Telescope in Chile. RCW 34 is in the constellation Vela in the southern sky. The name means "sails of a ship" in Latin. Hide Caption 78 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe The Hubble Space Telescope captured images of Jupiter's three great moons -- Io, Callisto, and Europa -- passing by at once. Hide Caption 79 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe A massive galaxy cluster known as SDSS J1038+4849 looks like a smiley face in an image captured by the Hubble Telescope. The two glowing eyes are actually two distant galaxies. And what of the smile and the round face? That's a result of what astronomers call "strong gravitational lensing." That happens because the gravitational pull between the two galaxy clusters is so strong it distorts time and space around them. Hide Caption 80 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Using powerful optics, astronomers have found a planet-like body, J1407b, with rings 200 times the size of Saturn's. This is an artist's depiction of the rings of planet J1407b, which are eclipsing a star. Hide Caption 81 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe A patch of stars appears to be missing in this image from the La Silla Observatory in Chile. But the stars are actually still there behind a cloud of gas and dust called Lynds Dark Nebula 483. The cloud is about 700 light years from Earth in the constellation Serpens (The Serpent). Hide Caption 82 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe This is the largest Hubble Space Telescope image ever assembled. It's a portion of the galaxy next door, Andromeda (M31). Hide Caption 83 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe NASA has captured a stunning new image of the so-called "Pillars of Creation," one of the space agency's most iconic discoveries. The giant columns of cold gas, in a small region of the Eagle Nebula, were popularized by a similar image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. Hide Caption 84 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Astronomers using the Hubble Space pieced together this picture that shows a small section of space in the southern-hemisphere constellation Fornax. Within this deep-space image are 10,000 galaxies, going back in time as far as a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Hide Caption 85 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe Planetary nebula Abell 33 appears ring-like in this image, taken using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The blue bubble was created when an aging star shed its outer layers and a star in the foreground happened to align with it to create a "diamond engagement ring" effect. Hide Caption 86 of 88
Photos: Wonders of the universe This long-exposure image from the Hubble Telescope is the deepest-ever picture taken of a cluster of galaxies. The cluster, called Abell 2744, contains several hundred galaxies as they looked 3.5 billion years ago; the more distant galaxies appear as they did more than 12 billion years ago, not long after the Big Bang. Hide Caption 87 of 88It is impossible to miss when you fly into New York City and spot the golf course in the shadow of the Whitestone Bridge. It is hard to avoid when you stroll along Fifth Avenue, or venture past the skating rink or carousel in Central Park. And it is there in bright lights, no less, when you pass the sleek hotel near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel: the name of Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Trump has embraced his roots as a New Yorker as being crucial to his presidential bid, and in so doing, the Republican candidate has given the impression as he crossed the country that he is a force to reckon with in the city of his birth.
But while Trump remains a visible brand name around the city’s five boroughs, it is much harder to discern his imprint as a classic power broker, someone who is feared and can make things happen with a phone call or a quiet aside with the right person at the right time.
His real estate holdings in New York are modest; he did not make the top 10 in lists of major condominium developers and power players in real estate in the city, as judged by several publications. He does not belong to trade groups like the Real Estate Board of New York or the Association for a Better New York. He rarely interacts with top politicians or government officials, or contributes to campaigns. Discussions about a bid for governor in 2014 never got off the ground.Dark Matter, the indie game accused by customers of releasing unfinished last week, has been pulled off of Steam until it gets a proper ending, and Steam users say they're getting refunds if they ask for them.
A report by Gamasutra also says the development studio, which blamed Dark Matter's abrupt conclusion on the fact it ran out of money when a Kickstarter campaign didn't succeed, laid off most of the staff working on the game after that effort failed
Michiel Beenen, InterWave's managing director, acknowledged to Kotaku that the studio is "indeed working on an alternative ending that should hopefully fix the biggest complaint of the current way the game ends.
"We should hopefully have this done end of this week or beginning of next week. Valve has indeed also made sure we would make this better before returning it to Steam," Beenen said.
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Asked about InterWave's staffing level, Beenen declined to comment, other than to reiterate that InterWave continues to work on the game.
Dark Matter, a side-scrolling 2.5D platformer, released on Steam for $15 (discounted to $13.49) on Oct. 17. (It also went on sale on Good Old Games, where it remains listed.) Players complained that the game released in an incomplete state because, after about four hours of play, the game abruptly served a screen full of text explaining the end of the story and declaring the game over.
On the Steam forums this weekend, an InterWave representative said the studio had plans to create a larger game, but a failed £50,000 Kickstarter caused them to scale back sharply and release what they could. InterWave defended Dark Matter as a completed game, noting that its product description said it contained 14 levels—which it does.
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That said, InterWave apologized for the game's conclusion, and evidently constructing a better one is a requirement to get the project back on the Steam Store.Although it’s increasingly common, telecommuting may be hazardous to employee evaluations. But employers can take steps to ensure that remote workers are judged fairly.
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These days, more and more corporate employees are working at least part of the time from home offices. Working from home, or other types of remote work arrangements such as using a drop-in work center, can be beneficial to both employees and companies. However, our research suggests that these nontraditional arrangements also have hidden pitfalls. Employees who work remotely may end up getting lower performance evaluations, smaller raises and fewer promotions than their colleagues in the office — even if they work just as hard and just as long.
The difference is what we call passive face time. By that we are not referring to active interactions with coworkers or clients, but merely to being seen in the workplace. To be credited with passive face time you need only be observed at work; no information is required about what you are doing or how well you are doing it.
Even when in-office and remote employees are equally productive, our research suggests their supervisors might evaluate them differently because of differences in their passive face time. Especially in white-collar settings, the presence or absence of passive face time may influence evaluations used to determine the fitness of employees for specific tasks such as team leadership. As Jack and Suzy Welch wrote in a 2007 BusinessWeek column:
Companies rarely promote people into leadership roles who haven’t been consistently seen and measured. It’s a familiarity thing, and it’s a trust thing. We’re not saying that the people who get promoted are stars during every “crucible” moment at the office, but at least they’re present and accounted for. And their presence says: Work is my top priority. I’m committed to this company. I want to lead. And I can.
Related Research K. D. Elsbach, D. M. Cable and J. W. Sherman, “How Passive ‘Face Time’ Affects Perceptions of Employees: Evidence of Spontaneous Trait Inference,” Human Relations 63, no. 6 (June 2010): 735-760.
For the last decade we’ve studied the concept of passive face time from the perspective of hundreds of corporate workers, including both supervisors and subordinates. (Details of our research were published in the June 2010 issue of Human Relations. See “Related Research.”) We used observation, unstructured interviews and tightly controlled experiments to gather information about how passive face time affects employee evaluations. This data led us to three key findings.
1. There are two kinds of passive face time. The first, which we call expected face time, is simply being seen at work during normal business hours. The second, which we call extracurricular face time, is being seen at work outside of normal business hours — arriving before most employees arrive, staying late or coming in to work on the weekend. When you are at work is noticed by your coworkers and supervisors. “Who cares?” you might legitimately ask. It turns out your boss and coworkers do. This leads to our second finding.
2. Different kinds of face time lead to different evaluations. The two forms of passive face time lead to two kinds of “trait inferences,” or conclusions about what type of person someone is. Specifically, we found that expected face time led to inferences of the traits “responsible” and “dependable.” Just being seen at work, without any information about what you’re actually doing, leads people to think more highly of you.
You get labeled when you put in extracurricular face time, too. But rather than just being considered dependable, you can get upgraded to “committed” and “dedicated.” As one manager said:
There seems to be a norm that anyone hoping to move up in the management ranks needs to be here late at night and on the weekends. If you’re not willing to do that, you’re not going be seen as dedicated enough to get promoted.
3. Managers may not be aware they are making evaluations based on face time. Our interviews suggest that managers’ inferences based on passive face time are unintentional — even unconscious. This supports research findings that people generally form trait inferences spontaneously, without realizing they are doing so. As one subject we interviewed noted:
I think it really has sort of an automatic negative effect when a manager is in crisis mode, and they look and notice you’re not there. It’s kind of irritating to them if you’re not immediately available, or [on the other hand, comforting] if they can check and see you are there in the office, just in case they need you. Because they’re in crisis mode they may not even really remember what it was that irritated them, but they’ve just got this feeling that you’re unreliable or something.
To test our interview findings, we conducted a series of experiments in which managers from a dozen industries were asked to recall employee traits after reading written descriptions of the employees. If a participant mistakenly said that a trait — for example, “committed” — had been listed in a description of someone who was described as working late in the office, they were said to have unconsciously inferred that trait. The results were clear and robust across multiple samples: Managers were 9% more likely to unconsciously attribute the traits “dependable” and “responsible” to people who put in expected face time and 25% more likely to unconsciously attribute the traits “committed” and “dedicated” to people who put in extracurricular face time. These results were statistically significant across each of our experiments.
Remote Workers’ Face Time Tactics » Remote Workers’ Face Time Tactics Many remote employees use “virtual” face time to make up for their absence from the office. Here are some common tactics, as described by employees in our study: Make regular phone or e-mail status reports. Used by 83% of remote workers. “Take advantage of technology to let colleagues know you are working from home. When I work from home, I send my colleagues e-mail messages reporting progress. I try to make them aware that, while they left at 5 p.m., I am still working after 9 p.m.” Be extra visible when in the office. Used by 35% of remote workers. “I work hard when I am at the office and point out to colleagues and my boss when I do things such as miss lunch and breaks because I am working to meet a deadline. I also make sure I meet with my supervisor every time I’m in the office to make sure he sees me and I can update him on what I’ve accomplished.” Be immediately available at home. Used by 26% of remote workers. “When I’m working from home I respond immediately to e-mails, so that somebody isn’t sitting around saying, ‘She’s not in the office today so now I’ve got to wait for her to get back to me.’ I make sure I respond to people just as quickly as I would if I was in the office. And I have our phone systems’ pagers, so if somebody leaves me a message, it’s going to page me. So it’s not as if I’m not available if people need me. It’s not like I’m sitting in the back yard sunbathing or something. They know they can get me.” Get others to talk you up. Used by 22% of remote workers. “I try to make sure that my peers and the other directors know who I am. I make sure they know my name and what I’m doing. Whenever I get a chance I go say hello, say a couple of words about what I’m working on. The more they see me, the more they are going to remember me when it comes time for my appraisal. And they are likely to say a positive thing about me and talk about me to my supervisor.” E-mail or voice mail early or late in the day. Used by 20% of remote workers. “I send voice mail late in the evening because my boss’s voice mail system would report what time the message was left and if it came from home or work. It was an important cue that I was working hard, even though he couldn’t see me.”
Implications for Managers
Our findings suggest several steps managers should take to prevent unfair employee assessments.
1. Don’t use trait-based evaluations. Growing evidence from research on performance appraisal suggests that these evaluations are flawed in a number of ways, including not being linked to companies’ strategies or objective outputs and not helping employees understand what to change. Our findings add to this evidence by showing that trait-based evaluations — measuring employee “leadership ability” or “teamwork,” for example, may be biased by the mere physical presence of employees at the work site.
2. As much as possible, use objective output measures. Critics of remote working arrangements have long suspected that telecommuters lose out on specific types of information, such as hallway conversations or impromptu help from coworkers. Our findings suggest that remote workers might be further handicapped by perceptions that they are not as responsible or committed as other employees. To avoid such unfair perceptions, managers who implement telecommuting and flexible hours should revise their performance appraisals to measure mostly objective outputs, such as number and type of projects completed or expert evaluations of project quality.
3. Consider work arrangements when using peer feedback. Many organizations use “360-degree” appraisals in which employees are rated by peers and subordinates as well as managers. However, our research suggests that coworkers and subordinates may be just as prone to making unconscious trait judgments as managers are.
The bottom line is that employees should be wary of work arrangements that reduce their office face time, and supervisors should be wary of using trait-based performance measures, especially when evaluating remote workers. Finally, employees working remotely need to make sure they are evaluated on objective outputs. Barring that, you might consider sending an e-mail to your boss tonight... say, around midnight. advertisementNorthern Strike Exercise Features Joint STARS Participation
For the last five years, the Michigan National Guard has hosted Northern Strike, a National Guard Bureau-sponsored exercise uniting about 5,000 service members from 13 states and five coalition countries at Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center in northern Michigan.
This year, the exercise features one of the most advanced and versatile pieces of military technology: the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, known as Joint STARS, an advanced ground-surveillance and battle-management system.
The E-8C Joint STARS is a modified Boeing 707, an aircraft that was originally manufactured in the 1960s. Internally, it's equipped with 22 radios, seven data links, two internets and secure telephone capability, all operated by 21 personnel.
The Joint STARS team consists of the Georgia Air National Guard's 116th Air Control Wing, the active-duty 461st Air Control Wing, and Army Joint STARS personnel and it provides simultaneous wide-area joint airborne command and control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support over land and water from a manned platform to combatant commanders around the globe.
The joint total-force integration unit operates the world’s only Joint STARS weapon system, based out of Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. Its role during Northern Strike 2017 is to provide battle-management command and control as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data.
Realistic Scenarios
The realistic training scenarios during Northern Strike 2017 present the Joint STARS team with "abundant opportunities to hone our wartime capabilities while incorporating our joint and multinational partners," said Air Force Lt. Col. Kenneth Billings, mission crew commander with the 116th Air Control Wing's 128th Airborne Command and Control Squadron.The art of quietly skulking in the shadows, treading softly and waiting in the wings for a stealthy kill has become incredibly loud over the past few years. Since 2006's Hitman: Blood Money, Arkham Asylum lent the stalk 'em-up genre the gravitas of an icon as well as a handful of new ideas. Meanwhile, last year's Splinter Cell: Conviction turned Sam Fisher into a primitive, snarling action hero.
You'd probably expect Hitman: Absolution to have caught up with the times. And it has, to a point. After five years away, IO Interactive marks the return of Agent 47 by landing him in territory which comes perilously close to that previously explored by Ubisoft Montreal in Conviction. At first sight, Absolution is a game that's just as happy to put a pistol in its player's hands as some piano wire.
The game is set in a rain-lashed Chicago whose grim, oppressive look defines the tone of what's to follow. Agent 47 is introduced in an abandoned library. Flashes of lightning crash through tall, gothic windows, sporadically illuminating discarded volumes and bookshelves draped in tarpaulin. Bumbling cops wander around while up above, in the darkness, Agent 47 presses himself against the balustrade.
One by one the cops are picked off. The methods and the pace feel a step removed from the previous games; this is stealth that's quick to climax, fast and direct in its action. Moving from cover to cover has a rhythm as well as a muscular grace, while the way our hero shimmies across ledges and leaps across gaps suggests the clumsy marionette stylings of past Hitman games are no more.
Stay still and the influence of another stealth game begins to seep through in bright, phosphorous yellow. Agent 47 now has access to Instinct, a feature that IO Interactive insists is an offshoot of his genetically enhanced, near supernatural abilities. Enemies across the map are highlighted in glowing yellow, and in a manifestation of 47's foresight their paths are laid out as a flaming trail.
In an effort to sidestep the problems encountered by Batman: Arkham Asylum (in which players would rely wholly on the comparable Detective Mode), there will be limitations in place. How exactly these will be implemented remains a mystery. The trail will, traditionalists will be pleased to learn, be optional, with harder difficulties removing it all together.
There's more to appease the hardcore too. The improvisational element of the past returns with a visceral twist. Takedowns are savage and brutal, with Agent 47 taking whatever's to hand and transforming it into an instrument of death. A power cord gets wrapped violently around someone's throat, a marble bust comes thundering down on someone else's head and a baton is used to audibly snap a neck.
Environments are susceptible to player tinkering, and through all the bustle and noise of this new brand Hitman the old sensation of being given a murderous toy box returns. A fuse box can be sabotaged, used to coax one cop out while plummeting the others into darkness, raising the morbid question: who to kill first?
In the action that ensues, the most brilliant addition to this toy box emerges. Agent 47's targets are now much more than binary automatons; they're well-defined characters who respond to whatever obstacle you put in their way believably. Playing with the hunted before swallowing them whole looks to be that much more delightful than before.House Democrats are accusing the Department of Transportation (DOT) of improperly lobbying Congress and other organizations to support a legislative effort to overhaul air traffic control.
The minority members on the House Transportation and Infrastructure and the Appropriations committees asked the DOT’s inspector general on Wednesday to investigate whether agency officials violated federal laws in urging support for a bill that would privatize the country’s air navigation system.
In a letter to the watchdog organization, the lawmakers claim that “at least four DOT political appointees” have contacted lawmakers and aviation or airport association representatives to build support for the bill, either through e-mails, written materials or phone calls.
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The lawmakers pointed to a memo emailed to Hill staff by Chris Brown, the associate administrator for government and industry affairs at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), that said “it’s time for the U.S. to join most of the industrialized world and separate its ATC system from the agency that also provides safety oversight.”Brown previously worked for United Airlines and Airlines for America, which have long been pushing for the spinoff plan.The letter also highlighted a DOT website outlining the proposal and included a report from The Hill that the White House sent a high-ranking official to Capitol Hill to woo skeptical Republicans on the plan.Democrats argue that this violates federal anti-lobbying laws, which prohibit federal dollars from being used to “pay for any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter … intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, a jurisdiction, or any official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose, by vote or otherwise, any legislation.”“Even when viewed in the light most favorable, these e-mails, phone calls, and other activities are highly irregular, at best,” the Democrats wrote.
A DOT spokeswoman said all information was shared in compliance with federal rules.
“The Department has shared factual information in support of the President’s Air Traffic Control Reform initiative with members of Congress and other stakeholders in response to questions and issues that have frequently come up," the DOT said. "This has been done in compliance with the Anti-Lobbying Act."
The Democratic letter comes as the battle over air traffic control heats up on both sides.
Supporters of the spinoff model, who have been working hard to educate members and the public about the proposal, say that opponents are just desperately scrambling to find new lines of attack against the idea.
The legislation has so far remained stalled in the House, while the Senate has decided not to include the proposal in a long-term aviation bill.We know that Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan doesn't care for a lot of aspects of today's music industry: distribution of streaming revenues, the " feckless idiots " who run the industry and asinine questions about Kurt Cobain's death are a few recent examples.
Speaking of Cobain, at a recent Q&A in Atlanta, Corgan lamented the state of modern alternative rock and said, "You do not hear people playing guitar the way Kurt Cobain played guitar.
Corgan said in full :
Listen to most alternative rock, you hear very little guitar. You hear a slight return to guitar in maybe the last year, but it’s more like a prop. You do not hear people playing guitar the way Kurt Cobain played guitar, the way I played, even a Stone Gossard [of Pearl Jam ], you know what I mean? A very individuated style, that says this is our band, and this is the way we rock.
He went on to shoot down the use of the Telecaster guitar, lambasting it for its "real thin sound" that doesn't intrude on the track's vocals:
Guitar is a prop in alternative music now, and the reason most of them play Telecasters, for anyone that knows music, is because it’s a real thin sound. It gets a lot of energy, and does not get in the way of the vocal, because it’s all about the vocal. So when we look at that landscape right, and we can not get played on the radio, and the difference between that audience knowing our new music and not, is can we break through? To me it’s the same, when we looked at the landscape in 1992, or 1994, when we were making those albums, we still had to step back and say: ‘Okay, if we’re going to penetrate this market, can we do it in our own style?’ And I think there’s plenty of substantive stuff in the Pumpkins’ past that shows I can penetrate any of those markets if I write an A-level song and we produce it in a contemporary frame.
Smashing Pumpkins are currently on the road in the U.S., so check out their upcoming tour dates at their website.We could sit here and talk for ten years about how amazing the worlds are in Hayao Miyazaki films, dreaming about turning them into theme parks, and just generally loving the stories he brought us over the years. But for all of of the time we've all spent watching Studio Ghibli films and pretending we could spend time in the world of movies like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, wouldn't it be nice to actually have a piece of those places at home with you? Thanks to a Japanese papercrafting company, you can have a part of the Miyazaki world right in your own home. Sort of, anyway.
As our friends at Rocketnews 24 report, thanks to the paper crafting company in Japan called Sankei that brought you the Cat Bus paper crafting kit, you can create a miniature version the village from Spirited Away. If you've never seen any of the amazing miniatures that a Sankei paper crafting kit produces, don't for a second think you're in for a low quality result. You can expect an incredibly detailed village once your project is all said and done, and even better, it's not going to make you want to poke your eyes out in the process. While there are several small pasrts to take care of like the details both outside and inside Chihiro's parents' food stall, you don't need to be a paper crafting master to make the village successfully. Each of the pieces is laser cut on paperboard, so you only need to glue the pieces together. That's right, no awkward attempts at folding and cutting paper--just grab some adhesive to stick it all together.The news out of Steubenville today is a *small step* in the right direction for a town that seems to be plagued with cover-ups in an attempt to save their beloved football team. Two young men were sentenced to juvenile detention in the Steubenville rape case today. I suggest you look up what they put the victim through if you are not familiar with the story. Anyway, as per usual when the internet discusses rape, there’s some pretty horrible stuff online today.
Take it away, Twitter…
And Conservative news website, Breitbart, would like you to focus on how evil Anonymous is (because they helped bring much of what happened in Steubenville to light):
And over on Reddit, a number of comments posted to the more mainstream subreddits had to be quickly downvoted…
And over on Facebook, folks seemed to focus on trying their hardest to blame the victim and her being drunk. Here’s a small sample…
(Update: There’s so many, I just put up a second post HERE.)Rum-running, or bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting (smuggling) alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law. Smuggling usually takes place to circumvent taxation or prohibition laws within a particular jurisdiction. The term rum-running is more commonly applied to smuggling over water; bootlegging is applied to smuggling over land.
It is believed that the term "bootlegging" originated during the American Civil War, when soldiers would sneak liquor into army camps by concealing pint bottles within their boots or beneath their trouser legs. Also, according to the PBS documentary Prohibition, the term "bootlegging" was popularized when thousands of city dwellers sold liquor from flasks they kept in their boot legs all across major cities and rural areas.[1][2] The term "rum-running" most likely originated at the start of Prohibition in the United States (1920–1933), when ships from Bimini in the western Bahamas transported cheap Caribbean rum to Florida speakeasies. But rum's cheapness made it a low-profit item for the rum-runners, and they soon moved on to smuggling Canadian whisky, French champagne, and English gin to major cities like New York City, Boston, and Chicago, where prices ran high. It was said that some ships carried $200,000 in contraband in a single run.
History [ edit ]
Kirk and Sweeney with contraband stacked on deck Rum runner schooner with contraband stacked on deck
It was not long after the first taxes were implemented on alcoholic beverages that someone began to smuggle alcohol. The British government had "revenue cutters" in place to stop smugglers as early as the 16th century. Pirates often made extra money running rum to heavily taxed colonies. There were times when the sale of alcohol was limited for other reasons, such as laws against sales to American Indians in the Old West and Canada West or local prohibitions like the one on Prince Edward Island between 1901 and 1948.
Industrial-scale smuggling flowed both ways across the Canada |
stino's days seem to have been numbered. His name had appeared on a police "watch list" of drug suspects drawn up with the help of community leaders and other people who lived alongside him in Palatiw, a frenetic, traffic-choked area on the eastern side of the nation's capital.
The local officials who help cops draw up these lists are foot soldiers in a war on drugs that has led to the killing of more than 3,600 people since President Rodrigo Duterte took office on June 30.
Most of the 1,377 people shot by the police had appeared on the lists, according to national police chief Ronald Dela Rosa. It was unclear how many of the remaining 2,275 victims, who human rights activists suspect were mostly killed by vigilantes, were on the lists.
The campaign draws its momentum from President Duterte: last Friday, he seemed to compare himself to Hitler and said he would be "happy to slaughter" three million drug addicts in the Philippines. But the campaign's efficiency depends on the lowliest officials in the country's barangays - its districts and villages.
"They are on the forefront of this fight," Dela Rosa told Reuters. "They can identify the drug users and pushers in their barangays. They know everyone."
MOTORBIKE-RIDING ASSASSINS
Interviews with local police, residents and barangay officials reveal the mechanics of an anti-drugs crusade that the popular Duterte has vowed to wage until next June in the face of global condemnation.
Barangay leaders, known as "captains," have been instrumental in drawing up the lists, say police.
Maricar Asilo Vivero is the captain of Pinagbuhatan, a Manila barangay with about 145,000 people, and says she is an enthusiastic supporter of Duterte's campaign.
"The war on drugs is good," she said. "It lowers crime. It identifies those who want to change."
The night before, said Vivero, motorbike-riding assassins killed two men who had been named as pushers on the barangay's watch list. Vivero said she sympathised with the victims' families but didn't feel responsible for the deaths.
People weren't included on the watch list with "the objective of killing them, or asking the police or authorities to kill them," she said. "Our objective is to guide them, to direct their lives to the better - not to kill."
Asked if people named on the watch list were more likely to get killed, Vivero replied: "No, I don't think so."
There were 323 suspected users and dealers on Pinagbuhatan's watch list, according to a computer print-out seen by Reuters. It had been swelled by people who had gone to the barangay office to admit to police they were users, a process known as "surrendering".
OFTEN A FAMILY AFFAIR
The origins of the barangay system predate the arrival of Spanish colonisers in the 16th century. In Manila, a barangay can consist of just two densely populated streets; in the countryside, it can sprawl for miles.
Each has a barangay captain and six kagawad, or councilors, who are elected in polls often dogged by allegations of corruption. And as with more senior posts in the Philippines, the barangay captaincy often passes between members of the same family.
The barangay office sits at the heart of the community and, on any given day, its hallways are clogged with people seeking so-called "clearances." These are certificates, signed by the captain, for people needing to establish residency, set up a business, apply for a job or enroll a child at a local school.
Barangay captains routinely attend the weddings, baptisms and funerals of constituents, and even victims of serious crimes will sometimes report to them first rather than the police.
"They trust us more and get an immediate response," said Eriberto Guevarra, who for 11 years was captain of Palatiw.
His wife Dinah now occupies the position, while Eriberto works at her side as a self-styled "peace and order czar".
"DRUG PERSONALITIES"
The Barangay Anti-Drug Action Committees (BADACs) play a key role in helping the police identify alleged drug dealers and users in each district.
Each BADAC's 6-10 members are chosen by the barangay captain, who also chairs the committee. They might be teachers, church workers, youth leaders or members of other civil society groups.
Each BADAC provides the names of what police term "drug personalities", meaning suspected users or dealers, most of them small-time. Police say they then "validate" these names in consultation with national anti-narcotics and intelligence officials. They also add names of their own.
First created by the government in 1998, BADACs were meant to convene every month, but for years many did little or existed only on paper. Duterte not only revived the BADACs, he made them the lynchpin of his war on drugs.
Duterte pioneered the nationwide campaign in the southern city of Davao, where he was mayor for 22 years.
There, barangay leaders and police compiled similar lists that were used by death squads to assassinate hundreds of alleged drug dealers, petty criminals and street children, said Human Rights Watch in a 2009 report. Duterte denied any involvement in the killings.
Dinah Guevarra, a village chief, leads the pledging of a new life of a married couple who are self-confessed drug users and had voluntarily surrendered to the police's "Operation Tokhang (approach and talk)" in Pasig city, metro Manila, Philippines September 15, 2016. Picture taken September 15, 2016
"A GRUDGE AND A GUN"
Officials say the watch lists are not arbitrary hit lists.
Metro Manila's list of 11,700 users and dealers has been "validated and revalidated by intelligence", said Kimberley Molitas, police spokeswoman for a region that has seen more than a quarter of the drug-war deaths.
Human rights monitors and some officials counter that the process is open to abuse.
Lists have included the names of people "who are not even drug users, never mind pushers," said Karen Gomez-Dumpit, a commissioner at the Philippines' Commission on Human Rights.
"It's an environment conducive to someone with a grudge and a gun to hunt you down," she said.
In one high-profile case, the bullet-riddled body of Mark Culata was found in Cavite, a province south of Manila, on Sept. 9. It bore a placard identifying him as a drug dealer.
Culata's mother Eva told local media that her 27-year-old son had nothing to do with drugs and had been heading overseas to start a job. Police told Reuters in a statement that investigators were considering the "illegal drug trade and love triangle" as a possible motive.
Four officers involved in the case have been moved to administrative positions pending an investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippines equivalent of the FBI. Culata's death was raised as a possible extrajudicial killing in a Philippines Senate hearing on Oct. 3.
Police told Reuters that watch lists are confidential. But so-called "knock and plead" operations, in which police visit drug suspects at their homes and urge them to mend their ways, means inclusion on a list is often public knowledge.
Drug pushers and users are also urged to "surrender" to the police at barangay meetings that are, again, public. Their names are added to the watch list.
The process resembles a mass arrest. The so-called "surrenderers" are questioned by police, who ask for details of their dealers and fellow users. This information can be used to identify other drug suspects, police said. The names of surrenderers are later added to a national database so they can be watched even if they move to another barangay.
After the questioning, the users are fingerprinted and pose for a mugshot holding a whiteboard bearing their name and that day's date. Raising their right hands, they then swear to stay away from drugs and support "the government and the police in their noble campaign."
In the following weeks, said barangay captain Vivero, surrenderers are expected to do community service such as painting walls, unclogging sewers or picking up trash.
INTENDED TO CHANGE
Former barangay leader Eriberto Guevarra said he tried to avert the killing of pedicab driver Celestino. The dead man, Guevarra said, was just a small-time dealer and user, not the "notorious pusher" police dubbed him.
"He was endangered because he was on the watch list," he said.
Guevarra said he had warned Celestino to stop dealing and using drugs. Three days before his death Celestino had attended a three-hour "drug awareness" seminar run by police and barangay officials.
"It was his intention to change," said Guevarra.
John Patrick Celestino, 17, one of Celestino's four children, trembled as he recalled the night his father died.
The dogs began barking at about 9 p.m. There were armed men at the door who showed John Patrick a photo on a cellphone. "Is this your father?" they demanded.
When he said it was, according to John Patrick, the men rushed upstairs and kicked open the door to a small room where Celestino was hiding.
John Patrick, who had followed them to the room, said: "The men kept shouting, 'Where's the shabu?' Where's the shabu?'" referring to the local name for crystal methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug widely available in the Philippines.
He told them his father was unarmed and begged them not to shoot. But one gunman fired three rounds into the room, and the teenager heard his father gasp with pain.
The gunman then ordered John Patrick to flee. As he ran downstairs, he heard five more shots.
Police said they found a.22 revolver and three sachets of shabu on Celestino. His wife Zandey, 38, denies this was the case.
"My husband had already surrendered, so why did they kill him?" she asked. "Why didn't they give him one more chance?"
Sitting around his coffin, relatives told a Reuters reporter of a long-running feud with another family, who they blamed for telling the police that Celestino was a drug dealer. Reuters was unable to independently verify this claim.
Relatives sits in-front of a poster of Neptali Celestino, who was killed in a police anti-drugs operation, at his wake in Pasig city, metro Manila, Philippines September 15, 2016. Picture taken September 15, 2016. To match Special Report PHILIPPINES-DUTERTE/HITLISTS REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
"NEFARIOUS ACTIVITIES"
Celestino was on the watch list as a drug dealer, confirmed Chief Superintendent Romulo Sapitula, director of the Eastern Police District of Manila.
"The information came from the community," he said. "It was given by barangay officials and validated by the police."
The "best information" comes from the neighborhood itself, he added. "Most of the watch lists which came from that place are true and correct."
Celestino's surrender as a drug user didn't put him above suspicion, said Sapitula.
"There are some on the watch list who surrender but continue their nefarious activities," he said. "They pretend to embrace the programme, but in reality... they are still doing their old thing. And there are some who surrender as users when they're really pushers."
Sapitula confirmed the operation was carried out by seven or eight members of the anti-narcotics police. He rejected the family's claim that drugs were planted on Celestino. An internal investigation, he said, had concluded that the police opened fire in self-defence because Celestino had "opted to shoot it out".
Sapitula said family members shouldn't be afraid to file a formal complaint, but only "if they're innocent" and not involved in criminal activities.
The Celestinos told Reuters there was little point appealing to the same people who had killed their relative. Zandey said she feared not only for the safety of her children, but for other members of her extended family who, like Celestino, had "surrendered" to authorities.
Her older son, Cedric, 19, was so traumatized by the killing that he has stopped talking, she said.
"IT WILL BE BLOODY"
Some local leaders plead with the police to spare lives.
In the Manila slum of Tondo, barangay captain Erick Simbiling said two policemen recently told him they had "scheduled to kill" a local man who was a small-time but persistent drug dealer.
"I spoke to the policemen and said, 'Please give him a chance,'" Simbiling said.
He then visited the dealer and urged him to surrender to the authorities. The dealer did so, like hundreds of thousands of others nationwide, and then fled the barangay.
The barangay captains are under pressure from the president himself. Duterte has vowed to publish a list of a thousand elected officials suspected of drug ties. Prominent among them are captains who have connived with terrorists and drug lords, he told reporters on Sept. 18.
But not all barangays have toed the line. Police in central Luzon told Reuters that 31 of the region's 3,100 barangays had not supplied a watch list.
Romeo Caramat, police chief of Bulacan province in central Luzon, said these barangay officials were probably either allied to Duterte's political opponents or bankrolled by drug traffickers.
"Actually, one of the barangay captains who was uncooperative got killed," said Caramat. The man was shot in early August in San Jose Del Monte city by unidentified assassins on a motorbike, he said.
"One barangay chairman runs out of luck!" added Caramat, laughing. He described the man as "a well-known drug pusher and user" who had not included himself on his barangay's watch list.
The dead captain, Damaso Santiago, was a drug user, not a dealer, said his younger brother Arman Santiago. "Anyone you ask, they will say he does not peddle drugs. He was just a victim of drug use," said Arman.
Police chief Caramat described his province's 17,000 drug dealers and users as "a walking time bomb". For him, the death toll in his province is a measure of the campaign's success.
"It will be bloody," he said. "You have a problem with dengue. You think you can solve it without killing mosquitos?"
--- With additional reporting by Clare Baldwin, Manuel Mogato and Neil Jerome Morales in ManilaNEW technology could see the Chinese potentially “track” where every Australian soldier is at any given moment, after a firm in China was handed a lucrative contract to make dress uniforms for the Australian Defence Force.
At least that was the latest bizarre claim by Labor involving China and its regional strength and capability.
A parliamentary review into the defence portfolio could have focused on Australia’s diminishing combat strength capability, huge armaments procurement program and the war in the Middle East.
Instead multiple questions were fired at Army on the procurement of the formal dress of officers, including those worn by officers giving evidence before the cross-party committee.
While combat uniforms including boots, socks and slouch hats are made in Australia, a 2015 tender to make dress uniforms saw no Australian company with the capacity to make them locally.
The contract was awarded to Bendigo-based Australian Defence Apparel (ADA) who subcontracted the process to a Chinese firm.
Victorian Labor Senator Kim Carr asked Australian Defence chiefs whether they were aware ADA’s parent company in Canada, Logistik Unicorp, conceded it had radio frequency identification technology to track raw materials and finished goods. He questioned whether Army knew if this involved the embed in fabric of tracking material to see where there garments are at any time.
Major General David Coghlan who leads that particular industry division conceded he didn’t and also admitted when asked he was not aware of whether the subcontractor was an arm of the Chinese Government or was linked to the fearsome PLA (Peoples Liberation Army).
He could not say what security checks were made prior to the contract being handed out or whether Australian officials had made an audit site inspection of the subcontractor’s Chinese plant.
Defence do not know who is making ADF uniforms in China! #auspol #estimates — Kim Carr (@SenKimCarr) October 19, 2016
He later returned to the committee to confirm the Chinese contractor was the privately owned Shandong Yeliya, which did not produce Chinese army uniforms nor was linked to the government of army.
He was then asked whether he knew who the shareholders of the subcontractor were. He didn’t but told the committee he would endeavour to find out.
Last month Labor made headlines when Labor powerbroker Sam Dastyari backed China’s position on the South China Sea contrary to the party’s position on China. He later quit over Chinese donations scandal. Labor also has sought changes to the Migration Act in relation to the Australia-China free trade agreement to protect Australian workers and called for a ramping up of freedom of navigation exercises near the contested South China Sea islands.
Australian firms have not had the capacity to make “Australia only” uniforms for more than a decade due to cost, capacity and manufacturing ability.
Senator Carr also questioned whether the vetting process for uniform manufacturings was adequate.Another Trouble with the TPP is its foray into the software industry. One of the more surprising provisions in the TPP’s e-commerce chapter was the inclusion of a restriction on mandated source code disclosure. Article 14.17 states:
No Party shall require the transfer of, or access to, source code of software owned by a person of another Party, as a condition for the import, distribution, sale or use of such software, or of products containing such software, in its territory.
The provision is subject to some limitations. For example, it is “limited to mass-market software or products containing such software and does not include software used for critical infrastructure.” The source code disclosure rule is not found in any other current Canadian trade agreement, though leaked documents indicate that it does appear in a draft of the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA).
The provision has generated considerable uncertainty since key aspects are undefined. For instance, what is “mass market software or products containing such software”? There is no definition in the TPP nor a generally accepted definition for mass market software or products, meaning it could include software sold to businesses or software in mass market products.
The inclusion of “software used for critical infrastructure” is similarly open to interpretation, raising the possibility of conflicts between mass market software and critical infrastructure software. Indeed, Stewart Baker, the former general counsel at the NSA, has noted:
“the ban doesn’t apply to code run on critical infrastructure, which will make for endless disputes, since there’s very little mass market software that doesn’t run on computers involved in critical infrastructure.”
Baker’s concerns extend beyond the likelihood of confusion and disputes, as he also notes the long term risks of including this provision in a trade deal:
Right now, this is a measure US software companies want. That’s because we make most of the mass market software in the market. But that’s likely to change, especially given the ease of entry into smart phone app markets. We’re going to want protection against the introduction of malware into such software. The question of source code inspection is a tough one. If other countries can inspect US source code, they’ll find it easier to spot security flaws, so the US government would like to keep other countries from doing that. But I doubt US security agencies are comfortable letting Vietnam write apps that end up on the phones of their employees without the ability to inspect the source. In short, this is a tough policy call that is likely to look quite different in five years than it does today.
Confusion about the scope of the provision and worries about what it might mean longer term are just two of the concerns with the source code rule in the TPP. One more that brings in one of the founders of the Internet in tomorrow’s post.
(prior posts in the series include Day 1: US Blocks Balancing Provisions, Day 2: Locking in Digital Locks, Day 3: Copyright Term Extension, Day 4: Copyright Notice and Takedown Rules, Day 5: Rights Holders “Shall” vs. Users “May”, Day 6: Price of Entry, Day 7: Patent Term Extensions, Day 8: Locking in Biologics Protection, Day 9: Limits on Medical Devices and Pharma Data Collection, Day 10: Criminalization of Trade Secret Law, Day 11: Weak Privacy Standards, Day 12: Restrictions on Data Localization Requirements, Day 13: Ban on Data Transfer Restrictions, Day 14: No U.S. Assurances for Canada on Privacy, Day 15: Weak Anti-Spam Law Standards, Day 16: Intervening in Internet Governance, Day 17: Weak E-commerce Rules, Day 18: Failure to Protect Canadian Cultural Policy, Day 19: No Canadian Side Agreement to Advance Tech Sector, Day 20: Unenforceable Net Neutrality Rules, Day 21: U.S. Requires Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Report Card, Day 22: Expanding Border Measures Without Court Oversight, Day 23: On Signing Day, What Comes Next?, Day 24: Missing Balance on IP Border Measures, Day 25: The Treaties With the Treaty, Day 26: Why It Limits Canadian Cultural Policies)The booming cryptocurrency industry is full of scathingly smart technologists pioneering a completely new type of economics. As for the rest of us, joining the bitcoin community can be a real pain in the ass.
Signing up for a cryptocurrency exchange is a time-consuming process. Once your account is set up, there are still public and private keys, plus long addresses to remember. Each is made up of a random jumble of numbers and letters, which is hard to memorize. Even with a user-friendly blockchain wallet app like Jaax, which lets users send cryptocurrency simply by scanning a QR code, there’s no simple way to translate cold hard cash into virtual tokens.
The fintech startup Coinme is on a mission to change all that.
This small Washington-based company recently announced an initial coin offering to fund the spread of proprietary bitcoin ATMs, starting with 15 new bitcoin ATMs a month across the United States. There are already more than 1,500 cryptocurrency ATMs worldwide, mostly in North America. Coinme’s ATMs are a little different than the rest. Here’s how a Coinme ATM works: you scan your driver’s license or ID, like a passport, and immediately the ATM opens up your unique wallet account. You put cash in the ATM, just like a regular deposit. Then you can instantly buy bitcoin. It’s one of the world’s fastest ways to get bitcoin, and it’s almost idiot-proof.
Photo: Coinme
“The majority of people using the ATM are buying cryptocurrency for the first time,” Coinme CEO Neil Bergquist told International Business Times. “We found having a hosted wallet at the ATM was an easier user experience, because people know where their money is. And if they have a question, they can call our 24-hour customer support.”
Photo: Newsweek Media Group
This wallet can also be accessed online. More experienced bitcoin users who prefer complex wallet addresses, keys, cold storage hardware and all the trappings of an aficionados’ toolbox can choose to transfer their bitcoins to an external wallet. As a matter of fact, one of Coinme’s most outspoken advocates is cryptocurrency veteran JR Willett, the man who created initial coin offerings. Forbes reported ICOs have raised $2 billion so far in 2017. Willett launched the first ICO in 2013. Now he’s a contract consultant and advisor for Coinme’s token sale.
“I’m involving myself in every part of this,” Willett told IBT. “I don’t get involved in a lot projects. But when I do, it’s because something doesn’t exist that I want it to exist so I can personally have it or buy it. I really want a good ATM token to exist.”
Willett hates what the current ICO craze has become. Many teams launch fundraising campaigns with little more than a white paper and a website. Others offer scam tokens or cryptocurrencies that are pretty much blockchain-shaped securities, which is illegal to sell to the American public. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Coinme’s new currency UpToken is a utility token. This campaign flouts industry norms by skipping the standard pre-sale to wealthy investors. Instead, the Seattle startup opened up pre-registration directly to the public. Willett called it the “perfect token sale.”
Photo: Coinme
“I really don’t like pre-sales,” Willett said. “It’s so much better for the general public to have fair and clear method that everyone can participate in...What I love about this particular token sale is it is scalable.” There’s no target fundraising goal the company needs to hit in order to deliver on the expansion plan. Willett himself is contributing more than $1 million of his own money to the token sale, which launches on Oct. 16. Whatever additional funds the sale raises, it will only bolster the ATM network’s growth. This startup, which has already been around for three years, plans to go global in 2018.
Coinme ATMs already handle an average monthly transaction volume around $100,000 each, thanks to thousands of uniques users who frequent 39 pre-established Coinme ATMs on the West Coast. Bergquist said this user base is growing at a consistent monthly rate of around 16 percent.
ATM fees are still relatively high, ranging between 5 and 10 percent per transaction, although Bergquist wants to lower them as soon as it’s financially feasible. In the meantime, UpTokens can help absorb transaction fees. Users will earn one percent "cash back" in UpTokens for every ATM transaction. If a user has enough UpTokens, he or she can pay transaction fees with those tokens instead of dollars or bitcoins.
Aside from reducing transaction fees, UpToken holders will be able to vote on which cryptocurrencies the ATMs offer. Right now it’s only bitcoin. By 2018, the team plans to add support for a few more cryptocurrencies. Coinme wants to keep increasing currency options over time, letting the community decide which ones are most important. “If you’re in a gold rush, you don’t want to be digging for gold. You might dig in the wrong spot. You want to be selling shovels,” Willett said.
Photo: Coinme
Coinme also offers personal account management and consulting for transfers over the $2,500 daily ATM limit. These financial services include cryptocurrency investments and 401Ks. One-on-one assistance from a real human is so rare in the cryptocurrency industry that some rookies hear the echo of a celestial hallelujah chorus following the word “hotline.” However, bitcoin veterans hear alarm bells ringing when service providers offer seemingly simple access. Coinme doesn’t have its own corresponding hardware product. Service providers can always be hacked.
Bergquist didn’t try to sugarcoat the threat of cyber attacks. He estimated compliance, legal costs and security combined make up around 30 percent of his startup’s budget. “We do cold storage whenever possible. We are obviously doing encryption whenever possible,” he said. “As a startup, to be honest, it’s very painful. It’s extremely expensive...but that’s how you build a business that will last 100 years. These are fundamental things that need to be employed.”
Today, there are millions of fiat currency ATMs around the world. The World Bank estimated there were 40.5 ATMs for every 100,000 adults in 2015. The only way for cryptocurrency to reach mass market adoption is for the ecosystem to spread beyond mobile phones and computer screens. The growth of bitcoin meetup groups, crypto-friendly festivals, financial advisors and cryptocurrency ATMs are all helping the more diverse users join the crypto community. There's still a huge gap between access to traditional fiat currencies versus decentralized, virtual tokens. But it's getting a little bit smaller every day.In his big New Yorker profile on AOL this week, Ken Auletta explained that 80% of the company's profits STILL come from AOL's subscription business.
What's troubling about AOL's subscription business is who the subscribers are and why they may be sticking around - in Auletta's words, "older people who have cable or DSL service but don't realize that they need not pay an additional $25 a month to get online and check their email."
A former AOL exec explains that this is AOL's "dirty little secret" - "that 75% of the people who subscribe to AOL's dial-up service don't need it."
AOL's subscriber revenues during Q3 2010 were $244 million on 4 million customers.
Unless AOL can figure out a way to give subscribers something that they do need to pay for (and then keep paying), this will eventually come to an end. AOL is down from 35 million subscribers in 2002.
But if a big portion of AOL's subscribers really are only paying the company because they think they have to to keep using their free email, you have to agree - this is not ending fast enough.
To help change that, we've put together a click-by-click demonstration showing how any AOL user can quit the service from the AOL web client (presumably where most users who get their Internet service from somewhere else still get their AOL mail.) Pass this post on to anyone you think might need it.
To be clear: If you have a cable or DSL Internet you do not need to pay AOL any money ever to access your email, even it is AOL email.
Editor's note: This post originally referred to AOL's subscription business as a "scam." It does raise some interesting ethical questions, but it is not a scam. We have apologzed to AOL and our readers for describing it as such here.After weeks of suggesting it might be difficult to trade down from #32, that’s exactly what the Seahawks did today. They made a deal with Minnesota to move out of the first round, collecting a fourth rounder (#108 overall) in the process.
They now own the #40 pick.
Was this always destined to happen? Perhaps.
But you could watch the Seahawks war room on a live feed online. And those watching certainly detected an air of deflation when New England selected Dominique Easley at #29.
Easley. RT @NEPD_Loyko: Just got it confirmed to me “Seattle got their guy stolen from them” “They packed up shop after that pick”. — Doug Kyed (@DougKyedNESN) May 9, 2014
It felt pretty deflating watching at home too. Easley is a terrific prospect and clearly some teams feel comfortable about the situation with his knees. He’s not just an explosive interior rusher — he has a Seahawks attitude and personality. He would’ve fit like a glove on this defense. Imagine him blowing up the pocket from the interior with Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett working the edge? What a shame.
Ian Rapoport has since confirmed Seattle wanted Easley:
Why did the #Seahawks want Dominique Easley before the #Patriots drafted him? DC Dan Quinn recruited him at Florida. He went, they traded — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 9, 2014
Dan Quinn didn’t join the Gators until 2011 and Easley was part of Florida’s 2010 class — so Quinn didn’t recruit him. But he coached him — and clearly he made an impression.
Only five receivers went in the first round, with several good options remaining in the second frame. Getting Easley at #32 would’ve allowed Seattle to still get a receiver at #64 and feel pretty satisfied with that deuce. Now the best option at #40 could be a wide out, so the complexion of the draft plan potentially shifts in a big way.
Here’s a list of the best players remaining options for Seattle:
Marqise Lee (WR, USC)
He’s extremely competitive and gusty. He’s intense, he fights to succeed. In 2012 he was the ultimate playmaker in college football. So why’s he still on the board? You start to fear if there are unknown health concerns. He’s not the biggest guy. He ran a 4.50 and dropped a few too many passes last year. If the 49ers are willing to take Jimmie Ward at #30 instead of Lee — what does that tell you? Is he a product of other receivers moving up — or is he set for an even bigger fall based on circumstances we don’t know about? Would Seattle even consider him if he’s there at #40 — given so many other teams have already passed?
Cody Latimer (WR, Indiana)
Tall, fast and with strong hands. He’s a top-tier athlete with big potential. Doesn’t drop the football ever. Spent the off-season working his tail off to get better with Brandon Marshall. I’m surprised he lasted beyond the end of round one. He’s also the best run blocking receiver in the class. He’d make a lot of sense at #40 if they want to take a punt on athletic skills. But is he tough enough to make it in Seattle? Marqise Lee will go up against the LOB and demand respect. Latimer’s a little quieter and won’t get in your face. You better come ready to play in camp if you’re playing receiver for this team. Cleveland (#35), Oakland (#36) and Jacksonville (#39) could take him.
Joel Bitonio (T, Nevada)
Solid tackle or guard. Athletic with a great attitude. Had been tipped to go to the Panthers at #28, who instead took Kelvin Benjamin. Not a long-limbed lineman like Okung or Carpenter but will come in and work hard to succeed. Shut down Anthony Barr last year — the #9 overall pick. Is he special enough? I felt coming into today they wanted to add an explosive player and there are more explosive guys available. It really depends how badly the want to fill the depth on the offensive line.
Martavis Bryant (WR, Clemson) or Donte Moncrief (WR, Ole Miss)
If they want explosive, one of these two could be the guy. A pair of 39 inch jumpers, 4.3/4.4 runners with height to match. If you want to swing for the fences this is an option. Bryant is immature but an excellent deep threat who’s well coached. Moncrief needs to play tougher but he has a unique blend of size and speed. Both players really only scratched the surface of their potential in college.
Other options
Ra’Shede Hageman (DT, Minnesota) — more miss than hit in college but a big time athlete with a lot of potential
Davante Adams (WR, Fresno State) — not a great straight line runner but he can jump (39.5 inch vert) and great character
Demarcus Lawrence (DE, Boise State) — fluid pass rusher with a quick get off, Character concerns
Cyrus Kouandjio (T, Alabama) — would be gone by now if not for the knee issues
Morgan Moses (T, Virginia) — another long limbed, massive tackle
Brent Urban (DT, Virginia) — I’m calling him a wild card. Incredibly athletic, huge size. They love length inside.
Jordan Matthews (WR, Vanderbilt) — I’m not a fan personally but he’s competitive and athletic
Second round mock draft up to #40
#33 Houston Texans — Stanley Jean-Baptise (CB, Nebraska)
#34 Washington Redskins — Morgan Moses (T, Virginia)
#35 Cleveland Browns — Cody Latimer (WR, Indiana)
#36 Oakland Raiders — Marqise Lee (WR, USC)
#37 Atlanta Falcons — Demarcus Lawrence (DE, Boise State)
#38 Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Kony Ealy (DE, Missouri)
#39 Jacksonville Jaguars — Donte Moncrief (WR, Ole Miss)
#40 Seattle Seahawks — Joel Bitonio (T, Nevada)
Final thoughts on the first round
— The big shock initially was Blake Bortles to the Jaguars. He’s a high character passer with the charisma to lead that franchise. He carries the drive Blaine Gabbert lacks. He’s a competitor and someone the Jags can build around. I like that pick.
— Cleveland grabbed another first rounder next year to pass on Sammy Watkins. It looks like a good deal on paper now that they have Johnny Manziel, but wouldn’t their offense look even better with Mike Evans catching passes from his former QB? Is Justin Gilbert and an extra pick worth giving that up now that they’re all-in on Manziel? As for Buffalo — they better hope they improve in 2014 or that’s a gift for the Browns next year.
— I was surprised to see only five receivers leave the board. I expected seven. A bad call on my behalf.
— The Rams had a great draft getting Greg Robinson and Aaron Donald. Superb. 10/10. I’m not sure what the 49ers were doing with their pick. They now have three safeties. Arizona also added a safety and further improved their blossoming defense.
It’s now 6am here so I’m going to wrap up for tonight. We’ll be back with more live coverage tomorrow — I hope you’ll join us.Mike Hauke inside the original Tony Boloney's in Atlantic City. All photos by Adam Robb
More than a dozen successful restaurants — including Marc Forgione’s American Cut, four Jose Garces concepts, and the House of Blues — shuttered on the Atlantic City boardwalk last weekend as Revel and Showboat casinos closed their doors. But, in their shadow, Tony Boloney’s has only thrived over the last five years, drawing casino employees, construction crews, and savvy tourists to his beach shack-like BYO pizzeria on an undeveloped stretch of Oriental Avenue, where he serves a Shopsin’s-sized menu of eclectic subs, pies smothered with toppings like fried chicken and waffles, and truffle-buttered Brussels sprouts.
Since winning LIVE with Kelly and Michael’s Truckin’ Amazing Cook-Off last summer, Hauke’s invested his $20,000 prize into opening a Hoboken pizzeria. He also caters for Manhattanites, and he’s eying Philadelphia for his next move.
We spoke with Hauke about using a $2 billion casino as his prep kitchen, how he got kicked out of the Hamilton Park farmers’ market, and what he’s bringing to the Hoboken dining scene besides Rando Bakery’s sub rolls.
What made Hoboken your first choice for expansion beyond Atlantic City?
My family’s from North Jersey, from Newark and Perth Amboy. After I sold my first company that I started in college — a laundry delivery service called Dirty Business — I came back to Jersey, rented an apartment in Jersey City, and opened a business |
is alleged to have criminal connections. But having possibly dodgy business dealings with Russians isn’t the same as being an agent of the Russian intelligence services, and, as far as I can tell from what has been published on the matter, no evidence has ever been produced to suggest that Putilov actually is such an agent. At any rate, influencing a minor official in a small political party is hardly the same as influencing a senior journalist in a major media outlet. Perhaps Russian intelligence agencies have targeted and bought such journalists, but this report fails to mention who they are.
Next, the report states that, ‘Candidates, their teams, and their relatives can become targets of online active measures, blackmail or intimidation.’ To back this up, it adds that this could be done by:
Promoting pro-Kremlin candidates who have been compromised/threatened/blackmailed/bribed to switch their policies pro-Kremlin already decades ago. The Russian intelligence services can work with (manipulate, persuade, softsoap etc) their target for years and finally recruit the already before the person becomes a relevant candidate for national or local elections. These seemingly independent politicians, but actually long-term pro-kremlin agents of influence inside our electoral systems are damaging and sabotaging our parliamentary decision making as well as public debate.
Theoretically, this is possible, but who are these alleged sleeper agents? And what is the evidence that they are ‘damaging and sabotaging parliamentary decision making as well as public debate’? I suspect that this is hinting at the allegations in the discredited dossier drawn up by ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele that the Russian secret services have kompromat concerning Donald Trump. Maybe there are some Russian sleeper agents out there working their way up the political greasy pole, but without names, without even the slightest hint of the possibility of some actual evidence, this is pure speculation and completely without value.
The report also claims that ‘In countries where the local environment allows it, a candidate may be directly provided with campaign financing or media support,’ and gives the following example:
Russian-backed disinformation outlets support and help build support for their own extremist candidates. Russia secretly finances and creates audiences for fake media and prokremlin extremists to create more acceptance for their favourite candidate and even mobilize targeted citizens to campaign for their candidate. This has been happening for example in Finland, where known neo-nazi hate site MV-lehti and network of similar sites have for months aggressively promoted a suspected criminal Ilja Janitskin as the president of Finland.
MV-Lehti is often described as being financed by Russia, and more specifically by the FSB. But is it? One shouldn’t imagine that every crackpot neo-Nazi who happens also to be pro-Russian is on the FSB’s payroll. Again, we need some evidence, and once again we aren’t given any.
Finally, the report makes what is my favourite claim about how Russia undermines democracy in the West, namely that, ‘A candidate can be getting in-kind support by being invited to Russia or Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine’. Oh the joy! Spend years spreading Kremlin propaganda, and what do you get? An all-expenses-paid holiday on some charming tropical island? No, something even better: a trip to Lugansk! Those Russians sure know how to reward their servants.
Evidence. I’ve used that word a lot in this post, but with good reason. Evidence – or rather the lack of it – is the real problem with this report and Matthew Fisher’s article. They consist entirely of unsubstantiated allegations. Perhaps it’s all true – perhaps Moscow is behind the story about Harjit Sajjan’s turban, perhaps it does have active agents in the Western media and sleeper agents biding their time until they become political leaders. Perhaps the Kremlin is financing neo-Nazi websites, however stupid that might be. But without evidence to support these claims, believing them is an act of faith, and nothing more.
AdvertisementsWhen I first came to Baltimore, I had a series of "listening tours." One of the most poignant experiences was with a group of youth — some no more than 8 years old. I asked them to share the single biggest issue on their minds. Their answers shocked and saddened me; the biggest problem these children saw was mental health.
They didn't say those words, but what they spoke about was trauma — trauma of watching people they loved being shot and killed; trauma of not knowing whether they would have a bed to sleep in or dinner that night; trauma of being the only person in the household who gets up in the morning because everyone else is addicted to drugs.
There are those events we can directly point to as a source of trauma — such as gun violence and death in the family. However, there are so many other inputs of trauma that impact our communities every day, including domestic violence, economic hardship and the experience of living with someone struggling with drug or alcohol addiction.
Tragically, our children are often the most at-risk to suffer the effects of this trauma. We know from scientific studies that childhood trauma is a risk factor for many adverse outcomes later in life. We also know that there is pervasive trauma in our communities, every single day. This is what our residents tell us; what our teachers tell us; what our families tell us; and what our children tell us themselves.
The Baltimore City Health Department, together with our partners across the city, knew that we needed to act. To address trauma, we started with four principles.
First, our children are not problems to deal with; they are our greatest assets. As our youth tell us, they are not "at risk," but rather "at hope."
Second, our city should not be branded as one of violence and unrest; we must set the expectation to become the national model of recovery and resilience.
Third, we must acknowledge that the pervasive trauma did not occur overnight. We must accept that decades of poverty, neglect, racism and widespread disparities have gotten us to where we are. This responsibility requires both shouldering the weight of our history and accepting the duty to reshape our future, and it is the underpinning of our new blueprint for health, Healthy Baltimore 2020.
Fourth, we must fight stigma with science. There is pervasive stigma and misconception around mental health and trauma. Science shows us that the earlier we get involved, the more we can improve outcomes for our young people. Science shows that we can break systemic cycles of trauma. Science shows us that mental health is just as important to well-being as physical health.
Last month, we were excited to announce a big step forward in our ongoing efforts to bridge the gap of unmet mental health and trauma needs here in Baltimore City. The Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore City Public Schools and our partners were proud to announce multiple awards that will allow us to flip the narrative around violence, trauma and mental health.
Through a $5 million grant by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), we will be able to directly fund our community partners to reduce the impact of trauma and build resilience in Sandtown-Winchester, Penn North and Upton/Druid Heights.
Through a $2.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, we will be able to treat mental health with the same attention and focus as we do physical health, by expanding mental health services with a full-time clinician at each of our 13 focus schools. We will be able to provide training to all staff in every school so that teachers, support staff, and anyone who comes in contact with our students are trained to recognize, treat and prevent effects of trauma.
And through a $500,000 grant from the Department of Justice, we will be able to interrupt the cycle of violence and trauma in our hospitals so that those who are the victims of violence will receive outreach services at the time that they present with an injury.
These grants are just the beginning of many years of work that must be done. It will take all of our federal, state and local leaders to focus on prevention, increase treatment, reduce stigma and improve health, well-being and resiliency of our young people.
Congressman Elijah Cummings speaks about how our children are messengers to a future that we will not see. It is our duty to ensure that where our children live does not determine whether they live. It is our duty to create a community such that pervasive trauma is no longer the accepted norm. It is our duty to work in partnership toward a Baltimore where all young people are valued, protected and empowered.
Dr. Leana Wen is the commissioner of health in Baltimore City. Twitter: @DrLeanaWen and @BMore_Healthy.Under Apartheid, Trevor Noah's Mom Taught Him To Face Injustice With Humor
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Growing up in South Africa with a white father and a black mother, Trevor Noah confronted prejudices on both sides. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that both white people and black people would express fear and biases to him. Then, he says, "I'd have to explain to them, 'Hey, you can't think like that. You can't hold these views, because you're generalizing everybody.' "
His experience growing up enables him to see both sides of an issue — which helps when it comes to creating political satire on The Daily Show. "I've understood multiple experiences simultaneously," he says. "That's something I've always done and I continue to do till this day: I try and see the perspective of the other side."
I can't trick myself into getting stressed by First World problems. Things are going great. Things are going very, very well.
He adds that while the pressure of creating a daily television show can be intense, those pressures pale in comparison with those he knew growing up in Soweto during apartheid.
"When I think back.... Not 25 years ago, I was living in basically a very elevated hut with no running water or indoor sanitation. I can't trick myself into getting stressed by First World problems," he says. "Things are going great. Things are going very, very well."
Interview Highlights
On his mother being jailed on and off for having a relationship with Noah's father, who is white
My mom opposed the system as a whole, so she never let that stand in her way, and I think I have a lot of my mom's demeanor. Even when she told me the story she was never angry, she just went, "It's a stupid thing, and so I refused to listen to it."
She never came at it from a place of anger. If anything, she defied it and she didn't give it the credibility that it was trying to create in the world. So that's something that I inherited from my mom — that in my family we're not quick to anger, if anything, obviously there are moments where you find things ridiculous or ludicrous, but not quick to anger, rather find a way to laugh about it or to minimize it using humor....
As much as there were the people on the forefront fighting, really every movement is also underwritten to a certain extent by the people who undermine the restriction or the laws that restrict people by just refusing to adhere to those laws.
On growing up in Soweto during apartheid
It was wonderful; it was electric. Even today Soweto is a beautiful community; everyone knows everybody's names, there's just a sense of togetherness. And I think because everyone was going through the same thing, it was a shared experience. It didn't feel like it was suffering.
You knew that there was a cloud hanging over a nation, but there were lots of moments of joy within that time period. The streets were dusty, there weren't many tarred streets. The houses were very modest, because the government would allocate land and that's where you could live. So everyone found a way to make ends meet.
I'm very lucky in that I never look back at it as a tough upbringing because it was the only upbringing I knew, and everyone was doing it with me. Essentially it's like being in a very stringent fitness class — if everyone is suffering together it doesn't seem so bad.
There were seven or eight of us at one point living in a one-room house or two-room house at some point. We had outdoor sanitation, every four or five houses would share one toilet outdoors, and then you would have one faucet outdoors that you could go and get your water from.
But this is how everyone lived, and because everyone was doing it, then it's normal. I'm very lucky in that I never look back at it as a tough upbringing because it was the only upbringing I knew, and everyone was doing it with me. Essentially it's like being in a very stringent fitness class — if everyone is suffering together it doesn't seem so bad.
On the way his family coped after his former stepfather shot his mother
When someone gets shot in the head and suffers no brain damage and is alive and needs to go through no surgery and a bullet completely passes through the head, then you almost have to concede. Who was I to say "I don't believe in miracles" when I've seen this happen in my life?
We laughed about it, we joked — that's really the hallmark of my family is a few days afterwards in the hospital — my mom was the person who cracked the first joke. I was crying by her bedside and she said to me, "Don't cry. Look on the bright side: Now you're officially the best-looking person in the family."
We've overcome a lot because of laughter. I think that's why I love comedy so much, it's because it's the thing that has kept my family going through every single type of adversity.
On being aware of cultural differences in comedy
It's a process of trial and error. You work through the material, you talk to the people. It also helps to live here, which is something I could only do with time. So for instance, in America there's a huge sensitivity around "fat." If you say somebody's fat, because there's been a culture of fat-shaming and there's clearly an epidemic, partly because of the food and just because of the lifestyle and so on that this is no longer being seen as a choice thing anymore.
Whereas where I'm from, you would be teased more for being skinny. Fat and thin were two sides of the same coin; it was never something that could be held over anyone.... It's not judged as much, it's just a statement of a fact.... These are small land mines that you pick up as you go from one place to the next; you go, "OK, this is sensitive here but it's not sensitive there."
On the criticism he received for a tweet from 2014, in which he retweeted: "When a woman is loved correctly she becomes ten times the woman she was before," and then commented: "so she gets fat?"
I'm not surprised by the response to any comedy taken out of context. Comedy is all about context. If you think about the things that you say to your friends or to people you know, if a stranger hears them they would think you're the most horrible human being in the world. When you know someone, that's when it becomes comedy. That's exactly what comedy is: It's a familiarity that is combined with you breaking down a commonly held belief.
So, what was ironic about that tweet that you're reading is that was me and my girlfriend at the time. That's something that no one even bothered to check. You go, "Who was he messaging?" I was speaking to my girlfriend at the time in public, and we were both fat at the time. We had gained a lot of weight, we were both happy, we were both lazy, and so we were joking about it. But people don't bother, they go, "You were fat-shaming a stranger on the Internet!" This is not a stranger, this is somebody that I live with and somebody that I love....
With the change in social media and sharing and videos and so on and sound bites, we now live in a world where people are part of conversations that they originally weren't really, so you're now overhearing everything that everybody's talking about and you're not part of the conversation.
On advice he received from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow about dealing with the intensity of daily television
The quickest thing you have to learn is your best show only lasts for a night and your worst show only lasts for a night, and then you're back doing it tomorrow.Mauricio Rua has pretty much done it all in MMA - Pride Grand Prix champion, UFC light heavyweight champion, two fights of the year. After 11 years and 28 fights, Rua (21-7) might have problems finding the motivation to get back in there and keep grinding away. He will step into the octagon next at UFC 161 on June 15th where he'll fight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in a rematch of their 2005 bout, one of the best of all time. So what inspires Shogun to train so hard for a fight against a guy he's already beaten? He explains to Fighters Only:
"Remembering my glories is wonderful, makes me feel good, and gives me more will to live up to that again. It was an indescribable sensation, there are no words for it, especially because I got to achieve the dream of any fighter, which was to be both a UFC and Pride FC champion."
Shogun did offer up one more interesting tidbit in the article - when he won the UFC light heavyweight title from Lyoto Machida in their second meeting at UFC 113, he probably shouldn't have even been in the cage that night:
"I had burst my appendix two months before the fight. I recall that my team would rather I didn’t fight at the time, they wanted to rest but I said no. I was almost a month without training, in order to heal up. I had to undergo surgery but I still managed to finish the camp - and the outcome was great."
Hopefully both men come into this bout in Winnipeg healthy and we can get a fight that comes close to living up to their epic Pride fight.A TONDAR member in Iranian custody tells the State-run media his connection to the group originated through a U.S.-run media corporation.
Ali Motlaq, who is under arrest in Iran for “planting bombs and orchestrating the assassination of top Iranian figures”, was put in touch with the Los Angeles-based Royalist Association of Iran (TONDAR) through the U.S. State Department, he recently told Press TV:
In an exclusive interview with Press TV’s IRAN TODAY, he said he first got in touch with the group through Radio Farda—a Persian language radio station funded by the U.S. State Department.
TONDAR, a group represented by a former representative to the late-Shah of Iran’s, public objective is to re-institute the Shah leadership in Iran—but hold elections for the post after whatever amount of time is necessary to ‘re-educate’ the Iranian people. It is “a terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for the attacks across Iran in the last 5 years”, according to the Iran-government-run television station, which has “killed and wounded hundreds”:
In January 2010, the group claimed responsibility for the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, who was killed by a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle outside his home in north Tehran. The terrorist group had earlier claimed responsibility for the April 12, 2008 bombing of a religious compound in the city of Shiraz, which left 14 people killed and more than 200 others wounded.
Mehdi Eslamian, a TONDAR member, was recently executed by the Iranian government for participating in the Shiraz bombing. Mohsen Eslamian, his brother, was executed last year, but the group said in a statement, “Similar to his brother, he was never a part of armed resistance.”
On January 28, two TONDAR members were hanged after confessing to “obtaining explosives and planning to assassinate officials”, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi “said at the time”, the AFP reported in mid-May. Mr. Dolatabadi linked Mehdi to the four members of the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), hanged on the same day, Press TV reported.
This is significant, as Iran has been “shelling” the semi0autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan for almost two weeks now, killing at least one civilian—a 14-year-old girl.
This is “nothing new”, Jason Ditz wrote yesterday at AntiWar News, as “both Iran and Turkey have been launching salvos intermittently basically since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq”.
“The attacks are aimed at Kurdish rebel groups that use the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan as a staging area, and generally have been shrugged off by the Iraqi national government and the U.S. occupation forces,” he added.
Iran has “begun constructing a small fort in Iraqi territory, suggesting they plan on staying for a while”, as Asso Ahmed reported today at the Los Angeles Times, according to “Kurdish officials”. Add this to the long-looming theory that the U.S. is fighting a proxy war with Iran in Iraq. Past evidence has extended this war into the Islamic republic to depose the government via terrorist groups—notably, Jundallah and the Mujahedin-e Khalq (M.E.K.).
Then again, this whole story could just be another case in the long list of belligerence by the Iranian government, with the latest threat to send ships to break the Gaza blockade. Israel’s ready to start World War III if it does and has recently prepared to station three nuclear-armed submarines off of the Iranian coastline—whether or not they’re there yet, I’m not aware. On the other hand, this could be another case where Iran’s belligerence is—yet again!—easily baited into geopolitical pissing contests, as it is with economic sanctions against the Iranians due to pass the U.N. Security Council, tomorrow.
A Facebook group, claiming to be run by TONDAR, displays it as the type of group the U.S. typically wants to make efforts toward deposing the Iranian hard-liner regime. It is secular, mutli-faceted and inclusive. The page claims its members include: “guerrilla fighters, news correspondents, legal activists, and thousands of active Iranians who say NO to the terrors of this Mullah regime”.
The administrators and officers of the group are pretty savvy in 21st propaganda methods—with YouTube channels, syndicated broadcasts and surprisingly far-reaching access—when one considers the methods of its “guerilla fighters”. Of course, a large reason for this is probably that—today’s Press TV report notes—the U.S. government has not recognized TONDAR as a terrorist group, as it has not with Jundallah. The M.E.K. is on the U.S. State Department’s “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” list.
The group aims to “rebuild” Iran “by using our great traditions in a modern way and getting help from new technology”, TONDAR’s English site claims. Though, it dislikes being dubbed a monarchist group, it aims to re-institute the Shah—but with electoral political methods—and spokesman Forud Fuladwand “worked with [Reza Pahlavi, the former crown prince of Iran and eldest son of the late U.S.-puppeteered Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi] for twenty two years to help him to be the future Shah”.
When I read this story on Press TV, it seemed like a ridiculous stretch. It didn’t take much digging to begin bursting into laughter and wondering why the U.S. government wouldn’t back such a group, let alone aid it in recruiting.
AdvertisementsIran's former hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the shock move on Wednesday of registering for next month's presidential election, going against the advice of the supreme leader.
Ahmadinejad had previously insisted he would not run after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last year that his candidacy would have a "polarizing" effect on the nation, and instead backed his ex-deputy Hamid Baghaie.
But the former president — whose tenure between 2005 and 2013 saw mass protests at home, plummeting relations with the West and a shattered economy — surprised everyone when he registered along with Baghaie on Wednesday.
He told reporters at the interior ministry, where registration was taking place, that he remained committed to his "moral promise" to Khamenei of not running for the May 19 election.
But he said Khamenei's "advice was not a ban."
"I repeat that I am committed to my moral promise and my presence and registration is only to support Mr. Baghaie," he added without explanation.
Only last week, flanked by his former deputy at his first press conference in four years, Ahmadinejad said he had "no plans to present myself. I support Mr. Baghaie as the best candidate."
The formal registration period for presidential hopefuls began on Tuesday and will continue until Saturday evening, after which candidates are vetted by the conservative-dominated Guardian Council, with a final list to be announced on April 27.
So far, 197 people have registered to run in the May 19 vote, eight of them women. No woman has ever been allowed to stand for the presidency in the Islamic republic.
End for Ahmadinejad?
Ahmadinejad lost the support of many mainstream conservatives during his contentious presidency, and some said on Wednesday that violating the supreme leader's advice was a final straw.
"With today's move — registering for the presidential election, my belief in you was broken," ex-lawmaker and Ahmadinejad loyalist Mehdi Koochakzadeh wrote on social media.
"End of Ahmadinejad," tweeted Elyas Naderan, another conservative former lawmaker.
Analyst Farzan Sabet, a fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation in Stanford University, said his registration was indeed "shocking".
But his motivation "may be to send an implicit threat to the Guardian Council that if they disqualify Baghaei — like they did his former chief-of-staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei in the 2013 presidential election — he will go back on his pledge and run for president," said Sabet.
He added that the Guardian Council would find it hard to disqualify Ahmadinejad, a two-time president who previously had the firm support of conservatives and the supreme leader.
"Although it is quite possible that Ahmadinejad will be disqualified by the Guardian Council, this could turn out to be politically messy for them," said Sabet.
The conservatives have been struggling to unite around a single candidate to challenge President Hassan Rouhani, who is expected to register in the coming days.
They held a mass meeting last week at which they shortlisted five candidates, who will be narrowed down to one before the vote, although some conservatives have already suggested they will run independently.
Ebrahim Raisi, a judge who currently heads the powerful Imam Reza charitable foundation in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Mashhad, topped the shortlist.
Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was also on the list, but it remains unclear if he will make his third bid for the presidency.
Rouhani has stabilised the economy and ended some sanctions through a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
But many Iranians are frustrated by the continued lack of investment in the economy and a jobless rate that remains at 12 percent.
Rouhani's administration argues it inherited a devastated economic landscape — the result of Ahmadinejad's populist policies that included monthly cash handouts and ill-fated housing projects.
But these policies have also ensured Ahmadinejad, 60, retains considerable popularity, particularly among the poor, potentially undermining attempts by conservatives to unite their base around a mainstream candidate.
If Ahmadinejad is allowed to run, "he would likely draw more votes away from conservative candidates than from Rouhani," said Sabet.
By AFP's Ali Noorani in Tehran.SHARON REECE’S morbid curiosities lead her to standing at the property – not necessarily the house – where the forgotten mass murder commonly reported as “the Invercargill Tragedy” took place in 1908 and asks the question; how much do you really know about the history of your house? And more so, how much would you really want to know?
Mass murder is not your usual conversation over coffee at the local café. It is more the type of topic that fills the news for weeks and is talked about for decades. Such an instance has the ability to leave a black-mark on a town long after the crime is committed.
Yet it appears Southland’s biggest mass murder has simply been forgotten.
Te Ara, the encyclopaedia of New Zealand, carries no reference to it despite having a section on mass murders. The police files and property files are long gone. Any remaining references to the “Invercargill Tragedy” disappear after a month or so of the murders. Like a bad dream, it is forgotten.
With no major landmarks or amenities, Crinan Street, Invercargill, can be easily overlooked on the grand scale of the city’s streets. The South City street is much like any other, boasting an empty reserve, an abandoned school and an abundance of aging houses.
What Crinan Street does have, however, is a secret that shades a corner of history for the City of Water and Lights. But how has Invercargill’s biggest mass-murder been forgotten by a nation? It is a question which has even the experts scratching their heads.
James Reid Baxter is a name virtually unknown to Southlanders. Before 1908, Baxter was a wealthy seed merchant and good friend and neighbour to the city missionary, Archibald McLean. Before 1908, Baxter was a prominent member of society and a man who loved his wife and five children.
After Wednesday, April 8 1908, James Reid Baxter became known around New Zealand as the man who woke during the night to systematically butcher his entire family.
Newspapers around the country used the poetic license of the times and graphic narrative to describe the grisly scene:
“A GHASTLY DOMESTIC TRAGEDY: Father and three children dead. Mother, daughter and baby unconscious. J. Reid Baxter attacks his sleeping family and then blows his head off – A house of horror,” wrote Hawkes Bay’s The Weekly Times.
Tuesday night was just like any other for the Baxter family. It seemed as though the family had gone to bed in the usual manner. Mrs Baxter had washed, ironed and folded the family clothes as was her normal housewife routine. Basil, 9, and Roy, 4, were put into the double-bed they shared. Phyllis, 11, shared a room with her two-year-old brother Ronald. Across the hall Baxter and his wife Elizabeth had laid their new-born, John, in his cot before going to bed.
On Wednesday morning, city missionary and neighbour to the Baxters, Archibald McLean noticed a lack of movement coming from what was usually a busy household next door. Having been closely acquainted with the family, McLean went to the property and peered through the window of the young boys. Lying in bed, the faces of the boys were undisturbed. It was the pillows caked in blood and the lifelessness of the children that caused McLean to run to the nearest police telephone to call for help.
“I accompanied Sergeant Mathieson into the house, entering by the front window. We made a hurried examination of the two bodies in the front room and found life extinct. In the room immediately behind it Roy was dead in bed and Phyllis was on the floor alive but unconscious. She was lying on one elbow and one hand with the other hand stretched out in front of the other. We next entered Mrs. Baxter’s bedroom. As we went, in, she raised herself, turned towards the door and said “what is the matter”. She then sank back unconscious. The baby was in the cot alongside, also unconscious. Having found that three of the inmates were alive, I hurried back to the telephone, and hurried up the ambulance and doctor…we then continued our search. The door into the scullery through which the bathroom was reached was locked. We went outside and looked through the bathroom window, seeing a body in the bath…” said McLean during the coroner’s inquest.
Baxter had used a 30cm long stove scraper to kill his three sons and left his wife, daughter and new-born baby clinging to life. He then proceeded to half fill his bath tub and blew his head off with a single-barrelled breech-loading shotgun, falling back into the filled bathtub to ensure his own demise. Although the three survivors had been expected to pull through, each died within weeks.
Little information could be found about Baxter prior to committing the crime, other than the fact he was a successful businessman who had emigrated from England to New Zealand.
It was known that just weeks before the murders he had suffered from British cholera.
Baxter had been behaving oddly after his illness, and this was noted in the witness testimony to Stout’s inquest. George McCarter, who worked for Baxter, said Baxter had been ill for about a month before the killings, and seemed depressed in the two weeks preceding the murders.
At the coronial inquest which concluded in May 1908, William Anderson Stout, the acting coroner (and first LLB graduate from the University of Otago) found Baxter had killed himself and his family while in the grip of “impulsive insanity”.
As there are no other documented cases of cholera leading to insanity, the reason behind Baxter’s depression and subsequent killing spree remain known only to him.
Nearly three weeks after the tragedy, an Otago Daily Times Bluff correspondent noted that Baxter had been seen in Bluff just weeks before the tragedy.
“He spent the day in the bush, and on returning in the evening, minus coat and vest; showed two rather nasty wounds, one in the head and another in the arm. A proposal made to dress the wounds was stoutly resisted by him, and he left without any provision…He was, however, supplied with a coat and vest. Strange to say, these arrived back to their owner at the Bluff on the morning of the tragedy.”
For a few weeks after the murders, the “Invercargill Tragedy” was mentioned in papers throughout New Zealand and Australia. Once Phyllis Baxter, the last surviving member of the family, died on April 22, the Baxter’s lives and deaths seemed to have been erased from history.
Lloyd Esler is known for many things in Southland. He is a city councillor, teacher, historian and the author of a number of books about Southland. Esler is working on a new book called Dead and Buried in Southland. It is a collection of unusual deaths, strange burials, lonely graves and missing people. Yet he, and other local historians knew nothing of the Baxter tragedy.
Perhaps it is morbid curiosity that leads people to visit the grave of Minnie Dean or the streets in which the Aramoana massacre took place. No such attention surrounds the Invercargill tragedy, because no one seems to know it ever happened.
Lloyd Esler could list bank robberies, kidnappings, homicides and even petty crimes throughout the history of Invercargill. He could say what was happening in the city in any given era; who was mayor, which parts of town were being developed in what year. When questioned about Baxter, he came up empty.
The research for this story went from Esler to one expert after another; librarians, archivists, museum curators and historians. Endless hours of dredging through online articles, books, coronial records, property files and library archives; speaking with anyone willing to weigh in on the subject, produced very little.
Many newspaper records, police files and medical records could not be found. It seemed as though any information surrounding the topic had vanished. The ancient coroner’s report shed little more light than what was reported at the time.
Southland Museum and Art Gallery’s history curator David Dudfield seemed intrigued by the mystery and searched museum records in hopes of shedding some light. The museum held many old newspapers and historic photographs. Just not for 1908.
“Unfortunately it’s not looking too promising for any extra leads on Baxter. Our newspapers and directories don’t cover the period of the murder and our photographs seem to be all facing the wrong direction,” Mr Dudfield said.
Mr Dudfield could give only his opinion, which was Invercargill having had a “Victorian ‘don’t talk about it’ mentality”; that the city mourned and moved on.
The only mention which could be found of the Invercargill tragedy since 1911 was made by Mr Esler in an ‘About the South’ article in the Southland Times in 2013. Mr Esler said he had stumbled across an old article while doing research for a book.
The ‘violent crimes’ section of the Te Ara – Encyclopaedia of New Zealand website has a section dedicated to mass murders in New Zealand which states there were only four mass murders, involving 20 victims in total before 1990. However, the Baxters weren’t listed in this section, giving an indication of just how omitted the tragedy has become.
For more than 100 years, James Reid Baxter’s awful crime went without thought; he and his family, forgotten.
In an unmarked plot at the Invercargill Eastern Cemetery lie the bodies of John, Basil, Roy, Ronald, Phyllis and Elizabeth Baxter. In the very same plot is the man who raised them, cared for them and for reasons unknown, took their lives.
No mention was made of a funeral or family and friends. No history books to record the atrocity which took such young lives. No record of whether their house was demolished or whether it still stands, lived in by someone unaware of the horrors it once held.
In recent times Invercargill residents have begun to embrace the city’s history, celebrating its heritage in all different forms. It’s interesting to think, if people keep digging, what might resurface? If a city can forget one of its biggest tragedies, what else is hidden in the deepest corners of our archives?
Perhaps the Weekly Times gave the best explanation of all:
“Unheard, unsuspected, there happened in a quiet Crinan Street one of the completest and most ghastly tragedies that have ever occurred in New Zealand. No motive can be reasonably suggested, no explanation may be justly given. Men do these things sometimes and those who hear and see can only shudder and wonder and then try to forget…”
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proud that I went to Bosnia. It was a war zone.
General Wesley Clark is here in the audience with me as one of my major supporters. He and I were talking about it before I came out. You know, our soldiers were there to try to police and keep the peace in a very dangerous area. They were totally in battle gear. There were concerns about the potential dangers. The former president of Bosnia has said that he was worried about the safety of the situation.
So I know that it is something that some people have said, "Wait a minute. What happened here?" But I have talked about this and written about it. And then, unfortunately, on a few occasions I was not as accurate as I have been in the past.
But I know too that, you know, being able to rely on my experience of having gone to Bosnia, gone to more than 80 countries, having represented the United States in so many different settings gives me a tremendous advantage going into this campaign, particularly against Senator McCain.
So I will either try to get more sleep, Tom, or, you know, have somebody who, you know, is there as a reminder to me. You know, you can go back for the past 15 months. We both have said things that, you know, turned out not to be accurate. You know, that happens when you're talking as much as we have talked.
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But you know, I'm very sorry that I said it. And I have said that, you know, it just didn't jibe with what I had written about and knew to be the truth.
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Obama, your campaign has sent out a cascade of e-mails, just about every day, questioning Senator Clinton's credibility. And you yourself have said she hasn't been fully truthful about what she would do as president.
Do you believe that Senator Clinton has been fully truthful about her past?
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, look, I think that Senator Clinton has a strong record to run on. She wouldn't be here if she didn't. And you know, I haven't commented on the issue of Bosnia. You know, I --
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Your campaign has.
SENATOR OBAMA: Of course, but --
SENATOR CLINTON: (Laughs.)
SENATOR OBAMA: Because we're asked about it.
But look, the fact of the matter is, is that both of us are working as hard as we can to make sure that we're delivering a message to the American people about what we would do as president.
Sometimes that message is going to be imperfectly delivered, because we are recorded every minute of every day. And I think Senator Clinton deserves, you know, the right to make some errors once in a while. I'm -- obviously, I make some as well.
I think what's important is to make sure that we don't get so obsessed with gaffes that we lose sight of the fact that this is a defining moment in our history. We are going to be tackling some of the biggest issues that any president has dealt with in the last 40 years. Our economy is teetering not just on the edge of recession, but potentially worse. Our foreign policy is in a shambles. We are involved in two wars. People's incomes have not gone up, and their costs have. And we're seeing greater income inequality now than any time since the 1920s.
In those circumstances, for us to be obsessed with this -- these kinds of errors I think is a mistake. And that's not what our campaign has been about.
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What our campaign has been about is offering some specific solutions to how we move these issues forward and identifying the need to change the culture in Washington, which we haven't talked at all about, but that has blocked real reform decade after decade after decade. That, I think, is the job of the next president of the United States.
That's what I intend to do. That's why I'm running.
MR. GIBSON: And Senator Obama, I want to do one more question, which goes to the basic issue of electability. And it is a question raised by a voter in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a woman by the name of Nash McCabe. Take a look.
NASH MCCABE (Latrobe, Pennsylvania): (From videotape.) Senator Obama, I have a question, and I want to know if you believe in the American flag. I am not questioning your patriotism, but all our servicemen, policemen and EMS wear the flag. I want to know why you don't.
MR. GIBSON: Just to add to that, I noticed you put one on yesterday. But -- you've talked about this before, but it comes up again and again when we talk to voters. And as you may know, it is all over the Internet. And it's something of a theme that Senators Clinton and McCain's advisers agree could give you a major vulnerability if you're the candidate in November. How do you convince Democrats that this would not be a vulnerability?
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, look, I revere the American flag, and I would not be running for president if I did not revere this country. This is -- I would not be standing here if it wasn't for this country.
And I've said this -- again, there's no other country in which my story is even possible; somebody who was born to a teenage mom, raised by a single mother and grandparents from small towns in Kansas, you know, who was able to get an education and rise to the point where I can run for the highest office in the land. I could not help but love this country for all that it's given me.
And so what I've tried to do is to show my patriotism by how I treat veterans when I'm working in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee; by making sure that I'm speaking forcefully about how we need to bring this war in Iraq to a close, because I think it is not serving our national security well and it's not serving our military families and our troops well; talking about how we need to restore a sense of economic fairness to this country because that's what this country has always been about, is providing upward mobility and ladders to opportunity for all Americans. That's what I love about this country. And so I will continue to fight for those issues.
And I am absolutely confident that during the general election that when I'm in a debate with John McCain, people are not going to be questioning my patriotism, they are going to be questioning how can you make people's lives a little bit better.
And let me just make one last point on this issue of the flag pin. As you noted, I wore one yesterday when a veteran handed it to me, who himself was disabled and works on behalf of disabled veterans. I have never said that I don't wear flag pins or refuse to wear flag pins. This is the kind of manufactured issue that our politics has become obsessed with and, once again, distracts us from what should be my job when I'm commander in chief, which is going to be figuring out how we get our troops out of Iraq and how we actually make our economy better for the American people.
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator, if you get the nomination, you'll have to -- (applause) -- (inaudible).
I want to give Senator Clinton a chance to respond, but first a follow-up on this issue, the general theme of patriotism in your relationships. A gentleman named William Ayers, he was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol and other buildings. He's never apologized for that. And in fact, on 9/11 he was quoted in The New York Times saying, "I don't regret setting bombs; I feel we didn't do enough."
An early organizing meeting for your state senate campaign was held at his house, and your campaign has said you are friendly. Can you explain that relationship for the voters, and explain to Democrats why it won't be a problem?
SEN. OBAMA: George, but this is an example of what I'm talking about.
This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.
And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense, George.
The fact is, is that I'm also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who during his campaign once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions.
Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn's statements? Because I certainly don't agree with those either.
So this kind of game, in which anybody who I know, regardless of how flimsy the relationship is, is somehow -- somehow their ideas could be attributed to me -- I think the American people are smarter than that. They're not going to suggest somehow that that is reflective of my views, because it obviously isn't.
SEN. CLINTON: Well, I think that is a fair general statement, but I also believe that Senator Obama served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid directorship position.
And if I'm not mistaken, that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11 and after his reported comments, which were deeply hurtful to people in New York, and I would hope to every American, because they were published on 9/11 and he said that he was just sorry they hadn't done more. And what they did was set bombs and in some instances people died. So it is -- you know, I think it is, again, an issue that people will be asking about. And I have no doubt -- I know Senator Obama's a good man and I respect him greatly but I think that this is an issue that certainly the Republicans will be raising.
And it goes to this larger set of concerns about, you know, how we are going to run against John McCain. You know, I wish the Republicans would apologize for the disaster of the Bush-Cheney years and not run anybody, just say that it's time for the Democrats to go back into the White House. (Laughter, applause.)
Unfortunately, they don't seem to be willing to do that. So we know that they're going to be out there, full force. And you know, I've been in this arena for a long time. I have a lot of baggage, and everybody has rummaged through it for years. (Laughter.) And so therefore, I have, you know, an opportunity to come to this campaign with a very strong conviction and feeling that I will be able to withstand whatever the Republican sends our way.
SENATOR OBAMA: I'm going to have to respond to this just really quickly, but by Senator Clinton's own vetting standards, I don't think she would make it, since President Clinton pardoned or commuted the sentences of two members of the Weather Underground, which I think is a slightly more significant act than me --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Applauds.)
MR. GIBSON: Please.
SENATOR OBAMA: -- than me serving on a board with somebody for actions that he did 40 years ago.
Look, there is no doubt that the Republicans will attack either of us. What I've been able to display during the course of this primary is that I can take a punch. I've taken some pretty good ones from Senator Clinton. And I don't begrudge her that. That's part of what the political contest is about.
I am looking forward to having a debate with John McCain, and I think every poll indicates that I am doing just as well, if not better, in pulling together the coalition that will defeat John McCain.
And when it comes to November, and people are going into the polling place, they're going to be asking, are we going to go through four more years of George Bush economic policies; are we going to go through four more years of George Bush foreign policy?
And if we as Democrats and if I as the nominee have put forward a clear vision for how we're going to move the country forward, deal with issues like energy dependence, lower gas prices, provide health care, get our troops out of Iraq, that is a debate that I'm happy to have and a debate that I'm confident I can win.
MR. GIBSON: And Senator Clinton, I'm getting out of balance in terms of time.
SENATOR CLINTON: I've noticed. (Laughs.)
MR. GIBSON: And you're getting shortchanged here. And so if you want to reply here, fine. If you want to wait, we'll do it in the next half hour.
SENATOR CLINTON: We can wait.
MR. GIBSON: All right.
We will take a commercial break. We will come back. And the Democratic debate, from the city of Philadelphia before the Pennsylvania primary, will continue. Stay with us. (Applause.)
(Announcements.)
MR. GIBSON: Another quote from the Constitution, apropos because we are here, as you heard just a moment ago, at the Constitution Center.
Senator Clinton, a question for you. We talked about the military applications from the Constitution and this is a question that involves the war in Iraq. It comes from Mandy Garber of Pittsburgh. Take a look.
MANDY GARBER (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania): So, the real question is, I mean, do the candidates have a real plan to get us out of Iraq or is it just real campaign propaganda? And you know, it's really unclear. They keep saying we want to bring the troops back, but considering what's happening on the ground, how is that going to happen?
MR. GIBSON: Let me just add a little bit to that question, because your communications director in your campaign, Howard Wolfson on a conference call recently was asked, "Is Senator Clinton going to stick to her announced plan of bringing one or two brigades out of Iraq every month whatever the realities on the ground?" And Wolfson said, "I'm giving you a one-word answer so we can be clear about it, the answer is yes."
So if the military commanders in Iraq came to you on day one and said this kind of withdrawal would destabilize Iraq, it would set back all of the gains that we have made, no matter what, you're going to order those troops to come home?
SENATOR CLINTON: Yes, I am, Charlie. And here's why: You know, thankfully we have a system in our country of civilian control of the military. And our professional military are the best in the world. They give their best advice and then they execute the policies of the president. I have watched this president as he has continued to change the rationale and move the goalposts when it comes to Iraq.
And I am convinced that it is in America's best interest, it is in the best interest of our military, and I even believe it is in the best interest of Iraq, that upon taking office, I will ask the secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and my security advisers to immediately put together for me a plan so that I can begin to withdraw within 60 days. I will make it very clear that we will do so in a responsible and careful manner, because obviously, withdrawing troops and equipment is dangerous.
I will also make it clear to the Iraqis that they no longer have a blank check from the president of the United States, because I believe that it will be only through our commitment to withdraw that the Iraqis will begin to do what they have failed to do for all of these years.
I will also begin an intensive diplomatic effort, both within the region and internationally, to begin to try to get other countries to understand the stakes that we all face when it comes to the future of Iraq.
But I have been convinced and very clear that I will begin to withdraw troops within 60 days. And we've had other instances in our history where some military commanders have been very publicly opposed to what a president was proposing to do.
But I think it's important that this decision be made, and I intend to make it.
MR. GIBSON: But Senator Clinton, aren't you saying -- I mean, General Petraeus was in Washington. You both were there when he testified, saying that the gains in Iraq are fragile and are reversible. Are you essentially saying, "I know better than the military commanders here"?
SENATOR CLINTON: No, what I'm saying, Charlie, is that no one can predict what will happen. There are many different scenarios. But one thing I am sure of is that our staying in Iraq, our continuing to lose our men and women in uniform, having many injured, the Iraqi casualties that we are seeing as well, is -- is no way for us to maintain a strong position in the world.
It's not only about Iraq. It is about ending the war in Iraq, so that we can begin paying attention to all of the other problems we have. There isn't any doubt that Afghanistan has been neglected. It has not gotten the resources that it needs. We hear that from our military commanders responsible for that region of the world. And there are other problems that we have failed to address.
So the bottom line for me is, we don't know what will happen as we withdraw. We do know what will happen if we stay mired in Iraq. The Iraqi government will not accept responsibility for its own future.
Our military will continue to be stretched thin, and our soldiers will be on their second, third, even their fourth deployment. And we will not be able to reassert our leadership and our moral authority in the world.
And I think those are the kind of broad issues that a president has to take into account.
MR. GIBSON: And Senator Obama, your campaign manager, David Plouffe, said, when he is -- this is talking about you -- when he is elected president, we will be out of Iraq in 16 months at the most; there should be no confusion about that.
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So you'd give the same rock-hard pledge, that no matter what the military commanders said, you would give the order: Bring them home.
SENATOR OBAMA: Because the commander in chief sets the mission, Charlie. That's not the role of the generals. And one of the things that's been interesting about the president's approach lately has been to say, well, I'm just taking cues from General Petraeus.
Well, the president sets the mission. The general and our troops carry out that mission. And unfortunately we have had a bad mission, set by our civilian leadership, which our military has performed brilliantly. But it is time for us to set a strategy that is going to make the American people safer.
Now, I will always listen to our commanders on the ground with respect to tactics. Once I've given them a new mission, that we are going to proceed deliberately in an orderly fashion out of Iraq and we are going to have our combat troops out, we will not have permanent bases there, once I've provided that mission, if they come to me and want to adjust tactics, then I will certainly take their recommendations into consideration; but ultimately the buck stops with me as the commander in chief.
And what I have to look at is not just the situation in Iraq, but the fact that we continue to see al Qaeda getting stronger in Afghanistan and in Pakistan, we continue to see anti-American sentiment fanned all cross the Middle East, we are overstretched in a way -- we do not have a strategic reserve at this point. If there was another crisis that was taking place, we would not have a brigade that we could send to deal with that crisis that isn't already scheduled to be deployed in Iraq. That is not sustainable. That's not smart national security policy, and it's going to change when I'm president.
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Obama, let's stay in the region. Iran continues to pursue a nuclear option. Those weapons, if they got them, would probably pose the greatest threat to Israel. During the Cold War, it was the United States policy to extend deterrence to our NATO allies. An attack on Great Britain would be treated as if it were an attack on the United States. Should it be U.S. policy now to treat an Iranian attack on Israel as if it were an attack on the United States?
SEN. OBAMA: Well, our first step should be to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of the Iranians, and that has to be one of our top priorities. And I will make it one of our top priorities when I'm president of the United States.
I have said I will do whatever is required to prevent the Iranians from obtaining nuclear weapons. I believe that that includes direct talks with the Iranians where we are laying out very clearly for them, here are the issues that we find unacceptable, not only development of nuclear weapons but also funding terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as their anti-Israel rhetoric and threats towards Israel. I believe that we can offer them carrots and sticks, but we've got to directly engage and make absolutely clear to them what our posture is.
Now, my belief is that they should also know that I will take no options off the table when it comes to preventing them from using nuclear weapons or obtaining nuclear weapons, and that would include any threats directed at Israel or any of our allies in the region.
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: So you would extend our deterrent to Israel?
SENATOR OBAMA: As I've said before, I think it is very important that Iran understands that an attack on Israel is an attack on our strongest ally in the region, one that we -- one whose security we consider paramount, and that -- that would be an act of aggression that we -- that I would -- that I would consider an attack that is unacceptable, and the United States would take appropriate action.
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Clinton, would you?
SENATOR CLINTON: Well, in fact, George, I think that we should be looking to create an umbrella of deterrence that goes much further than just Israel. Of course I would make it clear to the Iranians that an attack on Israel would incur massive retaliation from the United States, but I would do the same with other countries in the region.
You know, we are at a very dangerous point with Iran. The Bush policy has failed. Iran has not been deterred. They continue to try to not only obtain the fissile material for nuclear weapons but they are intent upon and using their efforts to intimidate the region and to have their way when it comes to the support of terrorism in Lebanon and elsewhere.
And I think that this is an opportunity, with skillful diplomacy, for the United States to go to the region and enlist the region in a security agreement vis-a-vis Iran. It would give us three tools we don't now have.
Number one, we've got to begin diplomatic engagement with Iran, and we want the region and the world to understand how serious we are about it. And I would begin those discussions at a low level. I certainly would not meet with Ahmadinejad, because even again today he made light of 9/11 and said he's not even sure it happened and that people actually died. He's not someone who would have an opportunity to meet with me in the White House. But I would have a diplomatic process that would engage him.
And secondly, we've got to deter other countries from feeling that they have to acquire nuclear weapons. You can't go to the Saudis or the Kuwaitis or UAE and others who have a legitimate concern about Iran and say: Well, don't acquire these weapons to defend yourself unless you're also willing to say we will provide a deterrent backup and we will let the Iranians know that, yes, an attack on Israel would trigger massive retaliation, but so would an attack on those countries that are willing to go under this security umbrella and forswear their own nuclear ambitions.
And finally we cannot permit Iran to become a nuclear weapons power. And this administration has failed in our efforts to convince the rest of the world that that is a danger, not only to us and not just to Israel but to the region and beyond.
Therefore we have got to have this process that reaches out, beyond even who we would put under the security umbrella, to get the rest of the world on our side to try to impose the kind of sanctions and diplomatic efforts that might prevent this from occurring.
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me turn to the economy. That is the number one issue on Americans' minds right now.
Yesterday, Senator McCain singled that the number one issue, in the general election campaign on the economy, is going to be taxes. And he says that both of you are going to raise taxes, not just on the wealthy but on everyone. Here's what he said in his speech yesterday.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ): (Pre-recorded remarks.) All these tax increases are under the fine print of the slogan: hope. They're going to raise your taxes by thousands of dollars a year. And they have the audacity to hope you don't mind.
(Laughter.)
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Clinton, two-part question.
Two-part question: Can you make an absolute, read-my-lips pledge that there will be no tax increases of any kind for anyone earning under $200,000 a year?
And if the economy is as weak a year from now as it is today, will you -- will you persist in your plans to roll back President Bush's tax cuts for wealthier Americans?
SENATOR CLINTON: Well, George, I have made a commitment that I will let the taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year go back to the rates that they were paying in the 1990s.
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Even if the economy is weak?
SENATOR CLINTON: Yes. And here's why: Number one, I do not believe that it will detrimentally affect the economy by doing that. As I recall, you know, we used that tool during the 1990s to very good effect and I think we can do so again.
I am absolutely committed to not raising a single tax on middle class Americans, people making less than $250,000 a year. In fact, I have a very specific plan of $100 billion in tax cuts that would go to help people afford health care, security retirement plans, you know, make it possible for people to get long-term care insurance and care for their parents and grandparents who they are trying to support, making college affordable and so much else.
Well, if you look at how we'd have to sequence that, we might not be able to do all of that at once. But if you go to my website, HillaryClinton.com, it is laid out there how I will pay for everything, because everything I have proposed, I have put in how I would pay for it.
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: An absolute commitment, no middle-class tax increases of any kind.
SENATOR CLINTON: No, that's right. That is my commitment.
MR. GIBSON: Senator Obama?
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Would you take the same pledge?
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, I not only have pledged not to raise their taxes, I've been the first candidate in this race to specifically say I would cut their taxes.
And one of the centerpieces of my economic plan would be to say that we are going to offset the payroll tax, the most regressive of our taxes, so that families who are earning -- who are middle-income individuals making $75,000 a year or less, that they would get a tax break so that families would see up to a thousand dollars worth of relief.
Senior citizens who have earnings of less than $50,000 wouldn't have to pay income tax on their Social Security. And middle-class homeowners who currently don't itemize on their tax filings, they would be able to get a deduction the same way that wealthy individuals do.
Now, here's the reason why that's important. We have seen wages and incomes flat or declining at a time when costs have gone up. And one of the things that we've learned from George Bush's economic policies, which John McCain now wants to follow, is that pain trickles up. And so, partly because people have been strapped and have had a tough time making ends meet, we're now seeing a deteriorating housing market.
That's also as a consequence of the lack of oversight and regulation of these banks and financial institutions that gave loans that they shouldn't have. And part of it has to do with the fact that you had $185 million by mortgage lenders spent on lobbyists and special interests who were writing these laws.
So the rules in Washington -- the tax code has been written on behalf of the well connected. Our trade laws have -- same thing has happened. And part of how we're going to be able to deliver on middle-class tax relief is to change how business is done in Washington. And that's been a central focus of our campaign.
MR. GIBSON: Senator Obama, you both have now just taken this pledge on people under $250,000 and 200-and-what, 250,000.
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, it depends on how you calculate it. But it would be between 200 and 250,000.
MR. GIBSON: All right.
You have however said you would favor an increase in the capital gains tax. As a matter of fact, you said on CNBC, and I quote, "I certainly would not go above what existed under Bill Clinton, which was 28 percent."
It's now 15 percent. That's almost a doubling if you went to 28 percent. But actually Bill Clinton in 1997 signed legislation that dropped the capital gains tax to 20 percent.
SENATOR OBAMA: Right.
MR. GIBSON: And George Bush has taken it down to 15 percent.
SENATOR OBAMA: Right.
MR. GIBSON: And in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased. The government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down. So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness. We saw an article today which showed that the top 50 hedge fund managers made $29 billion last year -- $29 billion for 50 individuals. And part of what has happened is that those who are able to work the stock market and amass huge fortunes on capital gains are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. That's not fair.
And what I want is not oppressive taxation. I want businesses to thrive and I want people to be rewarded for their success. But what I also want to make sure is that our tax system is fair and that we are able to finance health care for Americans who currently don't have it and that we're able to invest in our infrastructure and invest in our schools.
And you can't do that for free, and you can't take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children and our grandchildren and then say that you're cutting taxes, which is essentially what John McCain has been talking about. And that is irresponsible.
You know, I believe in the principle that you pay as you go, and you don't propose tax cuts unless you are closing other tax breaks for individuals. And you don't increase spending unless you're eliminating some spending or you're finding some new revenue. That's how we got an additional $4 trillion worth of debt under George Bush. That is helping to undermine our economy, and it's going to change when I'm president of the United States.
MR. GIBSON: But history shows that when you drop the capital gains tax, the revenues go up.
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, that might happen or it might not. It depends on what's happening on Wall Street and how business is going. I think the biggest problem that we've got on Wall Street right now is the fact that we've got a housing crisis that this president has not been attentive to and that it took John McCain three tries before he got it right.
And if we can stabilize that market and we can get credit flowing again, then I think we'll see stocks do well, and once again I think we can generate the revenue that we need to run this government and hopefully to pay down some of this debt.
MR. GIBSON: Senator Clinton.
SENATOR CLINTON: Well, let me start by saying that I think we know that we've got to get back to an economy that works for everyone. The president has been very good for people who are doing well, and that's great. But it was better for our country when we had an economy that lifted everyone up at the same time, and we had that during the 1990s; you know, 22.7 million new jobs, more people lifted out of poverty than any time in our recent history. A typical family saw a $7,000 increase in income.
And we have lost that. You know, now the typical family has lost at least $1,000. And the fact is that, you know, I don't want to take one more penny of tax money from anybody. But what I want to do is make some smart investments. And I was the first to come out with a strategic energy fund, where we need to be investing in clean renewable energy. And I think we could put 5 million Americans to work.
I think we have to invest in our infrastructure. That also will get the economy moving again, and I believe we could put about 3 million people to work in good union jobs where people get a good wage with a good set of benefits that can support a middle-class family with a rising standard of living.
I want to see us actually tackle the housing crisis, something I've been talking about for over a year. If I had been president a year ago, I believe we would have begun to avoid some of the worst of the mortgage and credit crisis, because we would have started much earlier than we have -- in fact, I don't think we've really done very much at all yet -- in dealing with a way of freezing home foreclosures, of freezing interest rates, getting money into communities to be able to withstand the problems that are caused by foreclosures.
Governor Rendell has done a great job in Pennsylvania. He saw this coming. And unlike our current president, who either didn't know it or didn't care about it, he has really held the line, and Pennsylvania has been much less affected by home foreclosures. But the president hasn't done that, and what I have proposed would do that.
So you've got to look at the entire economy. And from my perspective, yes, taxes is a piece of it. But you've got to figure out what is it we would invest in that would make us richer and safer and stronger tomorrow, which would be helping everybody.
MR. GIBSON: I'm going to go to a commercial break. But I just want to come back to one thing you said, and I want to be clear. The question was about capital gains tax. Would you say, "No, I'm not going to raise capital gains taxes"?
SENATOR CLINTON: I wouldn't raise it above the 20 percent if I raised it at all. I would not raise it above what it was during the Clinton administration.
MR. GIBSON: "If I raised it at all." Would you propose an increase in the capital gains tax?
SENATOR CLINTON: You know, Charlie, I'm going to have to look and see what the revenue situation is. You know, we now have the largest budget deficit we've ever had, $311 billion. We went from a $5.6 trillion projected surplus to what we have today, which is a $9 trillion debt.
I don't want to raise taxes on anybody. I'm certainly against one of Senator Obama's ideas, which is to lift the cap on the payroll tax, because that would impose additional taxes on people who are, you know, educators here in the Philadelphia area or in the suburbs, police officers, firefighters and the like.
So I think we have to be very careful about how we navigate this.
So the $250,000 mark is where I am sure we're going. But beyond that, we're going to have to look and see where we are.
MR. GIBSON: Very quickly, because I owe Senator Clinton time, but, yeah, you wanted to respond.
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, Charlie, I just have to respond real quickly to Senator Clinton's last comment. What I have proposed is that we raise the cap on the payroll tax, because right now millionaires and billionaires don't have to pay beyond $97,000 a year.
That's where it's kept. Now most firefighters, most teachers, you know, they're not making over $100,000 a year. In fact, only 6 percent of the population does. And I've also said that I'd be willing to look at exempting people who are making slightly above that.
But understand the alternative is that because we're going to have fewer workers to more retirees, if we don't do anything on Social Security, then those benefits will effectively be cut, because we'll be running out of money.
MR. GIBSON: But Senator, that's a tax. That's a tax on people under $250,000.
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, no, look, let me -- let me finish my point here, Charlie. Senator Clinton just said she certainly wouldn't do this; this was a bad idea. In Iowa she, when she was outside of camera range, said to an individual there she'd certainly consider the idea. And then that was recorded, and she apparently wasn't aware that it was being recorded.
So this is an option that I would strongly consider, because the alternatives, like raising the retirement age, or cutting benefits, or raising the payroll tax on everybody, including people who make less than $97,000 a year --
MR. GIBSON: But there's a heck of a lot of --
SENATOR OBAMA: -- those are not good policy options.
MR. G |
of years the Khawarij continued to be a source of insurrection against the Caliphate.[3] and they aroused condemnation by mainstream scholars such as 14th-century Muslim Ismail ibn Kathir who wrote, "If they ever gained strength, they would surely corrupt the whole of the Earth, Iraq and Shaam – they would not leave a baby, male or female, neither a man or a woman, because as far as they are concerned the people have caused corruption, a corruption that cannot be rectified except by mass killing."[5] In a similar vein, the 10th century Islamic scholar Abu Bakr al-Ajurri said, "None of the scholars, in either past or recent times, ever disagreed that the Khawarij are an evil group, disobedient to Allah Almighty and to His Messenger - Peace Be Upon Him. Even if they pray, fast, or strive in worship, it does not benefit them, and even if they openly enjoin good and forbid evil it does not benefit them, as they are a people who interpret the Quran according to their desire."[16] One modern historian describes Khawarij as "bedouin nomads who resented the centralization of power in the new Islamic state that curtailed the freedom of their tribal society."[4]
In hadith [ edit ]
Among the hadith that refer to the Khawarij (according to some sources) include:
A narration attributed to Yusair bin Amr [17][18] reports: I asked Sahl bin Hunaif, "Did you hear the Prophet (saws) saying anything about Al-Khawarij?" He said, "I heard him (saws) saying while pointing his hand towards Iraq. "There will appear in it (i.e, Iraq) some people who will recite the Quran but it will not go beyond their throats, and they will go out from (leave) Islam as an arrow darts through the game's body.'"
A narration attributed to Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri [19][20] reports: There will come a people from the east who recite the Quran but it will not go beyond their throats. They will pass through the religion just as an arrow pierces its target and they will not return to it just as the arrow does not return to the bow.
A narration attributed to Abu Dharr [18][21] reports: Allah's Messenger (saws) said: Verily there would arise from my Ummah after me a group (of people) who would recite the Quran, but it would not go beyond their throats, and they would pass clean through their religion just as the arrow passes through the prey, and they would never come back to it. They would be the worst among the creation and the creatures.
Beliefs and practices [ edit ]
Assassination attempts [ edit ]
Among the surviving Kharijites, three of them gathered in Mecca to plot a tripartite assassination attempt on Muawiyah I, 'Amr ibn al-'As and Ali. The assassination attempts were to occur simultaneously as the three leaders came to lead the morning prayer (Fajr) in their respective cities of Damascus, Fustat and Kufa. The method was to come out of the prayer ranks and strike the targets with a sword dipped in poison.[22]
Muawiya escaped the assassination attempt with only minor injuries. Amr was sick and the deputy leading the prayers in his stead was martyred. However, the strike on Ali by the assassin, Abdur-Rahmaan ibn-Muljim, proved to be fatal. Ali was gravely injured with a head wound and succumbed to his injuries a few days later.[23]
The circumstances in which Ali was attacked is subject to debate; some scholars maintain that he was attacked outside the mosque, others state that he was attacked while initiating the prayer and still others reiterate that ibn-Muljim assaulted him midway through the prayer while Ali was prostrating.[22][24][25]
All the assassins were captured, tried and sentenced to death in accordance with Islamic laws.[23]
Modern times [ edit ]
Like-minded groups [ edit ]
In the modern era, some of Muslim theologians and observers have compared the beliefs and actions of the Islamic State (IS), al-Qaeda, and like-minded groups to the Khawarij.[26][27][28][29][30] In particular, the groups share the Kharijites' radical approach whereby self-described Muslims are declared unbelievers and therefore deemed them worthy of death and their disinterest in Quranic calls for moderation.[5][6][31] However, IS preachers strongly reject being compared to the Khawarij.[32]
The Ibadis, a fellow early sect with similar beliefs, form the majority of the population of Oman (where they first settled in 686),[33] and there are smaller concentrations of them in the M'zab of Algeria, Djerba in Tunisia, the Nafusa Mountains in Libya, and Zanzibar.
In the 18th century, Hanafi scholar Ibn Abidin declared the Wahhabi movement of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab as modern Khawarij although he does not consider them non-Muslims.[34] [35]
According to some Muslims (such as Abu Amina Elias), Kharijites will "continue to cause strife" in the Muslim community until End Times,[20] and cite a hadith (# 7123)[20] from Sahih al-Bukhari in support of this.
Early Muslim governance [ edit ]
The Khawarij considered the caliphate of Abu Bakr and Umar to be rightly guided but believed that Uthman had deviated from the path of justice and truth in the last days of his caliphate and hence was liable to be killed or displaced. They also believed that Ali committed a grave sin when he agreed on the arbitration with Muawiyah.
The Kharijites thus deemed the arbitrators (Abu Musa Ashaari and 'Amr ibn al-'As), the leaders who appointed these arbitrators (Ali and Muawiyah I) and all those who agreed on the arbitration (all companions of Ali and Muawiyah]) as kuffar "disbelievers", as they had breached the rules of the Qur'an. They also believed that all participants in the Battle of the Camel, including Talhah, Zubayr ibn al-Awam and Aisha had committed a major sin.[36]
Doctrinal differences with other sects [ edit ]
Kharijites differ with both Sunni and/or Shiʿa on some points of doctrine:
Sunnis accept Ali as the fourth rightly-guided Caliph and also accept the three Caliphs before him, who were elected by their community. Shi'a believe that the imamate was the right of Ali, and the rule of the first three Rashidun caliphs was unlawful. Kharijites insist that the caliph need not be from the Quraysh tribe, but any pious Muslim nominated by other Muslims was eligible to be the caliph. [36] [37]
Unlike Sunni and Shia, Kharijites believed that Muslims had the right and duty to revolt against any ruler who deviated from their interpretation of Islam, [37] or, according to other interpretations, failed to manage Muslim's affairs with justice and consultation [36] or committed a major sin. [3]
or, according to other interpretations, failed to manage Muslim's affairs with justice and consultation or committed a major sin. Kharijites reject the doctrine of infallibility for the leader of the Muslim community in contrast to Shi'a but in agreement with Sunnis. [38]
Unlike the more extreme Kharijites, the Ibadis reject the murder of Uthman as well as the Kharijite belief that all Muslims holding differing viewpoints were infidels.[ citation needed ]
Other doctrines [ edit ]
Many Khawarij groups believed that the act of sinning is analogous to kufr "disbelief" and that every grave sinner was regarded as a kafir unless they repent. They invoked the doctrine of free will, in opposition to that of predestination in their opposition to the Ummayad Caliphate, which held that Umayyad rule was ordained by God.[39]
According to Islamic scholar and Islamist pioneer Abul A'la Maududi, using the argument of "sinners are unbelievers", Kharijites denounced all the above Sahabah and even cursed and used abusive language against them. Other non-Khawarij Muslims were declared disbelievers because they were not free of sin but also because they regarded the above-mentioned Sahabah as believers and religious leaders, even inferring fiqh from the hadith narrated by them.[36]
The Khawarij considered the Qur'an as the source for fiqh but disagreed about the other two sources (hadith and ijma).[36]
Based on Kharijite poetry writings, scholar Ihsan Abbas finds three categories of focus among them:[40]
the strong desire of Kharijites for martyrdom and dying for the sake of God [40]
detailed descriptions of how Kharijites defined a just and pious ruler [40]
their universal tendency to blame the self for failing to establish the previous two categories.[40]
On the basis of women fighting alongside Muhammad, Khārijīs have viewed fighting jihad as a requirement for women. One famous example is the warrior and poet Laylā bint Ṭarīf.[41]
Principal groups [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]MMA fighter Kimbo Slice died Monday night after being hospitalized in Florida earlier in the day. He was 42.
American Top Team, a mixed martial arts academy in Coconut Creek, Florida, sent out a tweet late Monday night stating that Slice had died.
TMZ Sports confirmed the report of Slice’s death, quoting Bellator MMA President Scott Coker from a statement:
We are all shocked and saddened by the devastating untimely loss of Kimbo Slice, a beloved member of the Bellator family. One of the most popular MMA fighters ever, Kimbo was a charismatic, larger-than-life personality that transcended the sport. Outside of the cage he was a friendly, gentle giant and a devoted family man. HIs loss leaves us all with extremely heavy hearts, and our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Ferguson family and all of Kimbo’s friends, fans and teammates.
Coker tweeted this late Monday night:
Shortly after the news broke that the fighter was in the hospital, one of Slice’s former training partners, Tyler Cook, had said Slice had already died. Cook posted photos of himself with Slice on his Facebook account with a status update reading “RIP to my man KIMBO SLICE love ya man damn.” Cook said he got a phone call and was told Slice died of heart failure. Though the cause of death has yet to be released.
Soon after Cook’s post, Twitter took off with thousands of tweets of people expressing their condolences, including ESPN Radio’s Peter Rosenberg:
Slice, a former UFC fighter, last fought on February 19, 2016, against Dhaffir “Dada 500” Harris in Bellator 149. Slice originally won by a TKO, but the decision was reversed after he tested positive for banned substances.
Slice, real name Kevin Ferguson, was born in the Bahamas, but moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Florida. He was born February 8, 1974.
As a professional boxer, Slice had a 7-0 record with six knockouts. As an MMA fighter, he was 5-2 with one no contest (his final fight).
Slice became an internet sensation in 2003 when videos of him competing in unsanctioned street fights went viral.Moderately Sized Star Destroyer (w Full Interior)
FOLLOWERS 1402 FOLLOW LIKES 1505 LIKE MOC
I'm pleased to present the Moderately Sized Star Destroyer (a/k/a the ISD Aggressor or the "mini-Tyrant"). It's an Imperial Star Destroyer MOC that attempts to maximize exterior detail, interior detail, and playability.
Details:
- 15310 parts
- Instructions are step-by-step, professional-quality pdfs. There are eight volumes totaling 1291 pages.
- Interior includes bridge, barracks, canteen, conference room, and more.
- Hangar carries two folding TIE Fighters.
- Press a button to launch probe droids.
- Turbolasers rotate in unison by turning one of the main engines.
- Model features an original structure and design (NOT based on set 10030).
- Easy to remove top panels for (relatively) quick access to the interior
- Weight: ~27 lbs (12.25 kgs)
- Length: ~37 inches (94 cm) (i.e., approximately the same length as set 10030)
Model by Raskolnikov (Doomhandle)
Instructions by Legolijntje
NOTE: This model is intended for very advanced and patient builders. If you attempt it, please take your time and check your work at each step. Small mistakes during the building process could result in significant issues (i.e., modules not fitting together properly) later on.
Due to the size of the build and the length of the instructions, we also cannot guarantee that the build is error free. We have done our best, but please let us know if you have any feedback or if you run into any issues. If you have a question about a specific part of the build, taking a picture would be really helpful.
We will attempt to update the instructions periodically. If you purchase the instructions, links to any updated versions will be emailed to your paypal email address.
This took a lot of work, we hope you enjoy it :)
OLD UPDATES
- August 5, 2017: Version 1.1 of the instructions uploaded. Parts list changes: two lbg 1x1 round plates replaced with two lbg 1x1 round plates with hole [part 85861], one lbg 1x1 tile removed.
- August 7, 2017: Version 1.2.1 uploaded. Parts list changes: Thirty-six lbg 1x2 tiles replaced with lbg 1x2 grilles, two lbg 2x2 turntable bases changed to black for cost reasons, two lbg 3L bars added.
- August 22, 2017: Version 1.3.1 uploaded. No significant parts list changes.A New Hampton family is happy to be home, thanks to the help and generosity of some state troopers and a tow truck driver in Vermont.
Advertisement NH family grateful for kindness of Vermont State Police, tow truck driver Tow truck driver changed flat tire for free after troopers offered to pay Share Shares Copy Link Copy
A simple act of kindness made all the difference for a New Hampton family on a night when they needed help.Click to watch News 9's coverageSuzanne Beaupre said she and her son couldn’t afford to get back to New Hampshire after their car had a flat tire, but the help and generosity of some state troopers and a tow truck driver in Vermont turned their luck around.Earlier this month, Beaupre picked up her son in Middlebury, Vermont, but they ran into car problems when her pickup truck got a flat tire and they couldn't dislodge the spare tire.“I wanted to be home, absolutely. I mean there's a lot of frustration. I was praying,” said Hayden Smith, Beaupre’s son.Beaupre couldn't afford a tow, and she didn't have many options.“We're going through some financial difficulties, (and) really at that point of night, a lot of stores are closed and stuff,” Beaupre said.That's when the Vermont State Police stepped in.“We didn't really want to leave them stranded there because it was about 1 (o'clock) in the morning and nothing's open,” Trooper Stacia Geno said.Troopers called a tow truck and offered to front the $75 charge to replace the tire.“The troopers themselves said they would split the bill and pay me,” tow truck driver Kyle Blakeman said.“I said, 'No way.' I was, like, so thankful. I just felt like crying,” Beaupre said.But then, the tow truck driver refused their money, changing the tire for free.“I would never come out and ask. So when he said that, it was a done deal. They had already done it. It just made me want to cry,” Beaupre said.Troopers then followed the family to the interstate, making sure they were safely on their way back to New Hampton.The generosity caught them by surprise, furthering their appreciation for police.“The love and the care that they showed, it's amazing,” Beaupre said.The family said they'll never forget those three Vermont state troopers, who ended up spending about four hours with them.Get the WMUR app12967056As part of our Behind the Burner food series, I had the unbelievable opportunity to chat with John DeLucie, Executive Chef and Partner of one of New York City’s top celebrity hang outs, The Waverly Inn, a spot so exclusive, the dining is by invitation only.
Needless to say, this gastronomic gem has catered to the highest of high profile crowds, making it a venue to see and be seen while serving up some of the most extraordinary cuisine this side of Eden. But thanks to the passion of Divya Gugnani, chef, foodie and founder of Behind The Burner, a website that brings the most coveted tips and trends in the culinary scene to the masses, dining like a star is as close as this blog post.
So, read on as we literally go Behind the Burner of the Waverly Inn and inside the creative mastermind that has turned dining into a red carpet event.
DeLucie, one of today’s hottest chefs, is as personable as he is talented, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to quality, well prepared traditional fare with a twist (like his Mediterranean Octopus appetizer), and known for creating an experience that’s as enjoyable as the food itself.
Favorite indulgent food: Lombardi’s Pizza-classic margherita
Favorite healthy food: Basmati Rice (that counts right?)
One kitchen tool you can’t live without: My micro-plane. It does exactly what it promises consistently, and without complaint.
One ingredient you can’t live without: Garlic; it can be harsh, it can be sweet and somehow there is always some around when you need it most.
Most prized recipe: My grandmother’s “Pasta Fazool”
What inspires your cooking?
Movies, books, music, NYC… I recently saw a documentary about the artist Chuck Close and I swear I was able to make my Amish chicken juicier and crispier.
Do you have a signature dish?
The restaurant has several signature dishes. Chicken pot pie, mac and cheese with truffles, trout cooked on a cedar plank. My own personal signature dish would probably have mortadella in it.
How does it feel to own a celebrity “hot spot?”
Hmmm… all tingly and warm.
I understand that you have chicken pot pie on the menu. How do you innovate such a traditional meal?
Just by simplifying it and using the best, most natural ingredients possible.
Do you change the menu with the seasons? Or do the seasons affect your cooking style?
As a rule I find that that customers don’t really want the menu to change very much. The offerings become reliable and comfortable. If suddenly the dish isn’t there one day, anarchy can ensue! So we incorporate the seasonal offerings as additions to the menu.
Do you think it’s important to experiment as a chef?
Yes, experiment, eat out, travel, have sex. These can all have an invaluable benefit to cooking.
Are there green elements to your cooking style?
Sure, we use lots of green market stuff, local produce and Hudson Valley purveyors.
Tell us more about your upcoming book, The Hunger.
It’s an inside look at the restaurant business from a very personal perspective. How a guy (me) changed careers in young middle life, took a cooking course in a basement brownstone and ended up the Chef at a truly spectacular restaurant. It’s aspirational, a little dirty and a lot of fun.
Is it difficult to balance the business and creative sides of your business as chef and partner?
No, not really. I have an amazing set of partners who are each good at a different thing. The menu and the management of the kitchen is my main responsibility.
How do you feel about sharing your tips and trade secrets at BehindtheBurner.com?
If anyone can learn anything at all from me I am all for it. There is nothing new under the sun as a very wise French Ch ef once told me.
What excites you most about food?
Mostly what it’s capable of — bringing people together.
You seemed very comfortable on camera preparing octopus for the Behind the Burner viewers. Is a TV show or food podcast in your future?
I am fairly comfortable doing in front of a camera what I normally do for 12 hours a day. TV is fun. If there is ever a show that needs a rapidly aging chef as its host, please call me.
With your vast and eclectic background, what do you envision your next endeavor to be?
Another restaurant or book I suppose. As long as The Hunger isn’t piled to the ceiling in the.99 cent bin at the Strand once its released!
5-star dining at home is only a click away when you join Behind the Burner for access to trade secrets from other culinary masters like John plus exclusive membership savings on the tools and ingredients that will have you cooking like a top chef by the new year! Enter code ‘polipetti’ for a special 15% discount on seafood and other fine foods at MYLOgourmet, where John purchases many of his key ingredients.
And be sure to check back each week as we feature another renowned chef who will share unique culinary insights and advice with you. Next week, meet Gavin Kaysen of Cafe Boulud, known for his inventive vegetarian dishes, and the following week, enjoy a VIP pass to the one and only, Harold Dieterle, winner of Season 1 of Bravo TV’s Top Chef, and owner of the booming new downtown NYC restaurant, Perilla!By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairman, International Network for Philippine Studies
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
7 May 2005
(Lecture to Filipino Catholic priests in The Netherlands, Belgium and Austria)
Dear friends,
The subject given to me for discussion today is quite general and large. We need to reduce the scope to something more manageable. I propose that we take up the three ideologies that are historically most influential in the Philippines or have demonstrably most affected the Filipino people. These are Christianity, bourgeois liberalism and Marxism.
I use the term ideology, to mean the study of ideas or a system of ideas. For the purpose of our study, I shall make some differentiation of the aforesaid three ideologies at the philosophical level, by referring to their respective basic weltanschauung (world view) and some basic tenets.
We shall not go deep into philosophical questions, like ontology, epistemology, or even ethics as such from any viewpoint. But we shall discuss how each of these three ideologies has taken some material, institutional or social force in the Philippines and how significantly it has influenced and affected the Filipino people.
We may discuss briefly how the ideologies are irreconcilable at the philosophical or theological level and likewise how they are open to dialogue and cooperation. We can discuss how these ideologies have materialized in the Philippines and have resulted in friendly or unfriendly relations among their adherents. The ultimate purpose of the study is to prove that dialogue and cooperation among adherents of different ideologies are possible and desirable, especially at the social level for the common benefit of the people.
I. CHRISTIANITY
Some Christians say that there is a Christian philosophy in several respects but other Christians may say rigorously that Christianity is essentially not an ideology or philosophy but a set of religious beliefs that the best of philosophy cannot totally explain. For instance, how can human reason explain completely the Trinitarian mystery of three persons in one God? At any rate, I think that all Christians hold the view that Christian theology is the rational study of God and related religious questions.
St. Augustine said that it is alright for Christians to avail of philosophy so long as belief in the existence of the Supreme Being is affirmed a priori. Thus, he made use of Platonic philosophy (as interpreted by Plotinus) in order to assert the existence of God prior to all creation and shed light on other fundamental doctrines of the church. Later in the Middle Ages, St. Thomas Aquinas in his theological work made use of Aristotle to deal more elaborately with the relations of the divine and the mundane.
From the point of view of Marxists, it is idealism of the objective type to believe in any supernatural being existing objectively and independently of and prior to material reality. Christian believers consider material reality as God’s creation. At any rate, they stand for the combination of faith and good works as they follow the first great commandment “to love God above all” and the second great commandment “to love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Christianity came to the Philippines with Spanish colonialism in the 16th century. The early Christian fathers acted in the service of the church and the Spanish crown. They served as the chaplains of the expeditionary forces and as missionaries to Christianize the natives and persuade them to accept Spanish colonial rule. In a manner of speaking, it was true that the sword and cross combined to subjugate the people.
The colonialists used divide-and-rule tactics. They recruited native troops from one part of the country to quell the rebellious natives elsewhere. But they also made use of the friars to persuade the natives to submit to the colonial authority. They made use of the catechism, the mass and the confessional box to great effect. They followed the line of reasoning that it was better to colonize and Christianize the natives than to let them be as pagans or as Muslims.
Spanish colonialism could last for so long in the archipelago because of the network of friars in parishes and convents. These provided a widespread base for the development of the central administration in Manila and the galleon trade between Manila and Mexico. The Spanish religious orders gained authority and wealth. A theocracy veritably came to exist.
Within the first century of Spanish colonial rule, the Spanish friars successfully pushed the formal abolition of slavery and the encomienda system. But the feudal system of land ownership by the religious orders and native landlords had already expanded. Serfdom took the place of the pre-colonial system of small scale patriarchal slavery. Corvee labor was required for public works.
The religious orders engaged in works of charity. They used these as the reason and the base for playing a major role in the galleon trade. They made money on the cargo space allocated to them. When agricultural production for export and foreign trade flourished in the 19th century, the religious orders arbitrarily expanded their landed estates and exacted higher rent from the tenants. Thus, the people became outraged.
Before the middle of the 19th century, most of the indios and mestizos that reached the university level studied for the priesthood. But upon the growth of foreign trade, local production and domestic commerce, more students could afford to reach the university to study not only for the priesthood but also for such other professions as law and medicine.
The increase of secular priests among the indios and mestizos eventually led to the secularization movement led by Fathers Burgos, Gomez and Zamora who demanded that the religious orders turn over the parishes to the secular priests. These three priests were garroted in 1872 after having been convicted of the false accusation of masterminding the Cavite mutiny. Their martyrdom ignited an unprecedented wave of national sentiment against the injustice. The moral authority of the colonial authorities, lay and clerical, came into question in the minds of the people.
In the 1880s well-to-do families sent their children to study in Europe for several reasons, like getting a better kind of higher education and avoiding the repressiveness of the state and friar-controlled university. The students who went to Spain started the propaganda movement for reforms within the colonial framework. Although they were reformists, they served as the conveyor of bourgeois liberal ideas from Europe to the Philippines.
In the 1890s the revolutionary current surged in the Philippines. The armed revolution led by the Katipunan of Andres Bonifacio broke out in 1896. It called for separation from Spain. It was inspired by the bourgeois liberal ideas of the French revolution. It stood for national independence, republicanism, separation of church and state, public educational system and the promotion of industry, agriculture and trade.
The Catholic Church hierarchy and the religious orders served Spanish colonialism to the end. But the Filipino secular priests in general were either supportive of or sympathetic to the revolution. Father Gregorio Aglipay joined the Filipino revolutionaries and became the vicar general of the revolution after Bishop Nozaleda sent him as emissary to them.
In both phases of the Philippine bourgeois-democratic revolution, first against Spanish colonialism and then against US imperialism, Filipino priests actively participated by rallying the people to the revolutionary cause and by being the most effective collectors of resources for the revolutionary government and army. After the Malolos constitution was promulgated in 1899, Apolinario Mabini had to propose to the cabinet the suspension of the provision on the separation of church and state for fear that this would prevent the clergy from doing logistical work for the revolutionary movement.
After Spanish authorities surrendered Intramuros (the walled city of Manila) to the US military forces in 1898, the United States and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris under which the US purchased the Philippines from Spain for 20 million US dollars and Spanish corporations and citizens, including the Spanish religious orders, retained their property rights in the Philippines. This was the big compromise between the outgoing and incoming colonial powers.
In the course of the Philippine revolution, the Filipino secular priests came in control of the parishes and the convents abandoned by the friars. After the revolution, the religious orders would recover from their losses by concentrating on their convents and schools and by taking missionaries from the US and Ireland to suit the circumstances of the US colonial rule. The Society of Jesus was quickest at taking in a mix of Spanish, American and Irish Jesuits. The Augustinians and Dominicans were slower in recomposing their religious personnel.
The US colonial administration expropriated large tracts of land from the religious orders for redistribution at a price to the tenants. The religious orders sent a part of their cash income to their Rome headquarters and used another part to invest in big comprador operations run by the rich Spanish families, Roxas, Ayala and Soriano. Thus, the church became a major part of the comprador big bourgeoisie ruling the semifeudal society. To this day the Bank of the Philippine Islands is a major factor of big comprador collaboration between the church and the old Spanish super-rich.
As the US colonial government established the public school system and encouraged Protestant missions to enter the Philippines, the Catholic Church and the religious orders (including new ones from the US) developed their own educational system at various levels. They used both the churches and the schools to retain their role as the dominant church in the Philippines. Through the Catholic schools, they combined in the curricula religious instruction with the subjects of bourgeois liberal education and training.
In the social encyclicals since Rerum Novarum, the Popes present the Church as above Marxism and liberalism or above socialism and capitalism and as being in favor of some idealized medieval guild system. But in Catholic schools in the Philippines, there is in fact a partiality to capitalism and bourgeois liberal ideas, especially in courses in business, accounting, law, economics, political science and other social sciences. The Church believes that the encyclicals would help the members of the exploiting classes to have a social conscience and to cope with the social discontent and mass movements of the working people.
In the second half of the 1930s, the Commonwealth government president Quezon raised the slogan of social justice and offered cooperation to progressive organizations in order to deal with the social discontent and the threat of fascism. Fascist-minded Spanish Dominican friars openly provoked President Quezon when they had the school band play a Spanish fascist march when he visited his Letran alma mater. A fascist-minded American Jesuit also used the Chesterton Guild to make radio broadcasts of anti-Bolshevik propaganda.
During my years in high school at the Ateneo de Manila in the 1950s, the Jesuits there were quite rabid in pushing Cold War propaganda and were proud of the Jesuit-educated Senator Joseph McCarthy of witchhunt notoriety. They called then Senator Claro Mayo Recto a “crazy communist”. Jesuit-trained anti-communists like Manuel Manahan and Raul Manglapus were the rah-rah boys of the CIA handpicked President Magsaysay.
I was deeply pleased when Fr. Hilario Lim rebelled against the Jesuit Order and, together with other priests belonging to other religious orders, advocated the Filipinization of the Catholic religious orders. I helped him to speak in the University of the Philippines and other universities. I was very glad to do so because I saw the colleges and universities run by the foreign-controlled religious orders as the hotbeds of the most reactionary ideas, intolerant of patriotic and progressive ideas.
The influence of Catholic thinking extended into the supposedly nonsectarian and liberal University of the Philippines, when I was a student and then a young teacher. The Catholic militants among the faculty and students tended to overreach. At one time, I denounced the authorities in my department for overloading a course on great ideas with the writings of such Catholic thinkers as Cardinal Newman, G. K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the neo-Thomists Jacques Maritain and Etienne Gilson, and totally ignoring those of Marx and Engels.
Cardinal Santos and other bishops endorsed the martial law proclamation of Marcos in 1972 and called for giving the latter a chance to undertake “reforms”. But I had high hopes that the pro-imperialist and reactionary big comprador-landlord character of the institutional church could be counteracted from within. The Christians for National Liberation (CNL) was then budding forth.
I expected that the CNL could take more courage and strength by availing of the tradition of the revolutionary clergy in the old democratic revolution and the progressive provisions in the social encyclicals of Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI. The CNL became a major organization in the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in 1973. By 1974 the progressive clergy was ready to openly support the La Tondeña strike and subsequent strikes and to press Cardinal Sin and other bishops to speak up against the human rights violations being perpetrated by the Marcos fascist regime.
The patriotic and progressive clergy and church people did splendid work in participating in the struggle to expose, oppose, isolate, weaken and overthrow the Marcos fascist dictatorship. They demonstrated that their faith in God is in harmony with their determination and passion to serve the people. After all, the teaching of the church requires that faith and good works must go together.
II. BOURGEOIS LIBERALISM
What Marxists may describe as the philosophy of subjectivist idealism, using the perception or cognition of the individual as the starting point, reached the Philippines mainly in the form of the political philosophy of bourgeois liberalism. This was imbibed by the propagandists of the 1880s and adopted definitively by Andres Bonifacio and other revolutionary leaders in the 1890s through their reading of books about the Enlightenment and the French revolution and liberal constitutions from abroad in order to confront the colonial and feudal situation in the Philippines.
This bourgeois liberalism is more in the tradition of French rational philosophy bannered by Descartes (cogito, ergo sum) than British empiricism. The Cartesian deduction is that God created the world and left it like a clock to function by itself. Whether it is that of John Locke or David Hume, British empiricism is preoccupied with the question of appearance and reality and the aspect of perception in human consciousness. The Lockean type of empiricism presumes a material substratum, while that of the Hume type presumes reality as nothing but the complex of sense data.
At any rate, bourgeois liberalism as it has come to the Philippines upholds the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity, science and democracy, freedom of thought and belief, enlightenment and education. Our Filipino revolutionary forefathers drew the ideas of bourgeois liberalism from their original sources in continental Europe. If we look for earlier conveyors of bourgeois ideology other than the reformist propagandists of the 1880s, we can look at the records of the freemasons in the 19th century.
In connection with the French revolution, exponents of bourgeois liberalism divided into two, the Jacobins who were determined to end the ancien regime by armed revolution and the Girondists who wanted to peacefully morph the monarchy into a constitutional one. A similar dichotomy occurred in the Philippines, with Jose Rizal seeking to establish the reformist La Liga de los Compromisarios and Andres Bonifacio the revolutionary Katipunan.
Revolutionary ideology may come from abroad because the revolutionary movement developed there ahead and won power earlier. But it is not only a matter of subjective borrowing from abroad. The ideas must first of all be applicable to the general level of social development and motivate the local revolutionary class and the people to wage revolution. In struggling against the colonial and feudal situation, the nascent bourgeoisie adopted bourgeois liberalism as the guiding ideology rather than Marxism, which then was also available.
It was fine enough that the Filipino people and revolutionary forces pioneered the bourgeois democratic type of revolution in colonial Asia. The Philippine revolution won resoundingly against Spanish colonialism. The revolutionary leaders and government produced political writings and adopted and implemented policies, which reflected the Filipino people’s conditions, needs, demands and aspirations for national independence, democracy, social justice and all-round social progress.
But US imperialism intervened and launched a war of aggression against the Philippine republic. To succeed, it used not only superior military power and tremendous economic resources but also ideological and political deception. To justify the aggression, it claimed to bring Christianity and democracy to the Filipino people. It proclaimed a policy of benevolent assimilation. It was monopoly capitalism on the rampage but used the Jeffersonian slogans of liberal democracy to deceive and co-opt the bourgeois leadership of the revolution.
Bourgeois liberalism bifurcated in the Philippines. One was the progressive kind still held onto by those who sought to pursue the revolutionary struggle for national independence. The other was the pro-imperialist kind that became increasingly dominant as the official signboard of the US colonial regime. The false claim to liberalism by the imperialist power had some semblance of truth because it had the leeway to carry out certain changes |
. I couldn’t stop. The TV station went off the air. I put down the pen and closed and opened my fingers. The blind man felt around over the paper. He moved the tips of his fingers over the paper, all over what I had drawn, and he nodded.
“Doing fine,” the blind man said.
I took up the pen again, and he found my hand. I kept at it. I’m no artist. But I kept drawing just the same.
My wife opened up her eyes and gazed at us. She sat up on the sofa, her robe hanging open. She said, “What are you doing? Tell me, I want to know.”
I didn’t answer her.
The blind man said, “We’re drawing a cathedral. Me and him are working on it. Press hard,” he said to me. “That’s right. That’s good,” he said. “Sure. You got it, bub, I can tell. You didn’t think you could. But you can, can’t you? You’re cooking with gas now. You know what I’m saying? We’re going to really have us something here in a minute. How’s the old arm?” he said. “Put some people in there now. What’s a cathedral without people?”
My wife said, “What’s going on? Robert, what are you doing? What’s going on?”
“It’s all right,” he said to her. “Close your eyes now,” the blind man said to me.
I did it. I closed them just like he said.
“Are they closed?” he said. “Don’t fudge.”
“They’re closed,” I said.
“Keep them that way,” he said. He said, “Don’t stop now. Draw.”
So we kept on with it. His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now.
Then he said, “I think that’s it. I think you got it,” he said. “Take a look. What do you think?”
But I had my eyes closed. I thought I’d keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do.
“Well?” he said. “Are you looking?”
My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.
“It’s really something,” I said.[5]
This is where the story ends.
In quite a real sense, the husband’s spiritual vision is restored, healed, as it were, and he sees rightly without even opening his eyes, through this near mystical experience of connection, as the blind man and the sighted man move their fingers over the bas relief of a pen drawing of a cathedral on the back of a brown paper grocery bag. The symbol of hope and rebirth in this drawn cathedral—something that blind and sighted have built together in a kind of tenuous community—attends an absolute sea-change from the skeptical, callous, sarcastic character we first meet in the opening lines of the story. This shock of a simple encounter actually does something, actually effects a change in the spiritual health of the sighted man.
Of course it is the blind man who is in the first instance the agent of vision, the character who can in a sense see beyond what the other characters can see—continuing a long and venerable literary trope, of course, including the luminously clairvoyant but physically blind Tieresius in Greek mythology, the blind beggar attending Emma’s death in Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, even the way blindness functions symbolically in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? as a recapitulation of Homer’s Odyssey, as well as many other instances, both literary and cinematic. In various ways, these examples pose the question of what it might mean actually to see. What or, more fitting here, who is the beautiful, and how does our attention to the beautiful heal our human desire?
“O Light Invisible, we glorify Thee!”:
Rehabilitating Beauty in Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Theological Aesthetics
“Rehabilitating” beauty in the title of this sub-section is meant in a double sense, to indulge a bit of a grammatical excursus: in the first sense, the verb functions gerundively, as a noun. It names Balthasar’s chosen task. That is, his work is a conscious recovery and restoration of beauty—which has been relegated to the merely subjective—back to the “main artery which it has abandoned.”[6] Balthasar begins his sixteen-volume trilogy by asserting, perhaps counter-intuitively, that “Beauty is the word that shall be our first.”[7] The story of the evacuation of beauty from Western sensibilities that Balthasar is telling is a sad one, in which something vitally important—beauty as an objective entity, a transcendental unified with goodness and truth—has gotten lost and requires full rehabilitation. Historical theological and philosophical reflection, exemplified perhaps most arrestingly in Kierkegaard’s Either/Or, seems to indicate that between the religious and the beautiful, a choice must be made, and it is nearly always the latter that is disparaged.
The second meaning of our sub-title “rehabilitating beauty” is participial, acting as an adjective. It describes the effects of beauty as a restoring force, a power that calls human beings back to true vision and, effectively, to our own true selves. For Balthasar, the stakes are high. To disengage from beauty denatures the good and the true. He writes:
Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance. We can be sure that whoever sneers at her name as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past—whether he admits it or not—can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love.[8]
These, of course, are very strong claims. But for Balthasar the loss of beauty from the modern sensibility is a serious business insofar as the good and the true lose their self-evidence and can no longer compel us with an inner necessity.
In his foreword to the first volume of The Glory of the Lord, Balthasar indicates that beauty is objectively located at the complementary junction of species and lumen, or “form” and “splendor,” a distinction with great precedence in medieval aesthetics rooted in Christian Neoplatonism. For Balthasar, the complementary relationship between “form,” that is, the shape of something, and “splendor,” or its interior luminosity, is evident insofar as in the perception of beauty “we are confronted simultaneously with both the figure and that which shines forth from the figure, making it into a worthy, a love-worthy thing.”[9] This luminosity emerges from within the interior of the form. The appearance of form has currency as something beautiful because it is the reflection of that which is, an expression of reality itself, and “this manifestation and bestowal reveal themselves to us as being something infinitely and inexhaustibility valuable and fascinating.”[10] The form, in short, is a participation in the totality of being, in infinitude itself. It should come as no surprise, then, that his theological aesthetics is governed thoroughly by the singular, perfectly un-foreseeable instance of the infinite expressed in the finite, namely Jesus Christ, to whom we shall now turn.
“The light that fractures through unquiet water”:
Beauty in/as the (Christological) Fragment
The concept of beauty has a long history in the Christian theological tradition of being connected to the Persons of the Trinity: whether to the Father as Creator, the Son as Christ the Word made Flesh, and/or the Spirit as sanctifier of matter. Here I will privilege the Christological, though with the qualification that in Balthasar’s thought Christology and Trinity are perfectly indivisible, so if Christological, then Trinitarian. It may be a temptation to assume that a theologian who intends to reclaim the concept of beauty for theological discourse may tend methodologically towards abstractions. For Balthasar, however, it is Christ—the absolutely singular and perfectly concrete instance of the infinite expressed in the finite in a genuine flesh-taking—who is the “Ur-form” of beauty.[11] Balthasar understands the “event” of beauty essentially, as the German title of one of his books suggests, as Das Ganze im Fragment, “the whole in the fragment.” Because of Christ, other finite forms—whether of nature, art, language, poetry, philosophy, and, somewhat differently, the sacraments—are capacitated to participate in some measure in this mystery, where the supernatural acts as a kind of leavening agent all throughout the “natural,” and it becomes an impossibility to demarcate these into two hermetically sealed spheres.[12]
Because of the mysteries of creation and Incarnation that invigorate the forms of the physical world with divine presence, “we can encounter the deep mystery of God nowhere else but in the context of the world it informs.”[13] It is through these concrete, visible fragments of beauty that the “the lightning-bolt of eternal beauty [can] flash.”[14] This encounter—analogous, perhaps, to being confronted with an especially masterful painting—is characterized by the simultaneous moments of beholding and of being enraptured, both of which are conditions of the possibility for the other. In the perception of any beautiful form (recalling perhaps, Carver’s story) there is always an element of surprise or shock, a sort of rupture of being taken aback. In Balthasar’s words, “the ‘shock’ of the Word becoming flesh—an event so revolutionary that it surpasses all possible anticipation” is an “extravagance” that in its singularity of human and divine together, is the form of forms.[15] The modern person thus needs to be confronted with the phenomenon of Christ and, “therein, learn to see again—which is to say, to experience the unclassifiable, total otherness of Christ as the outshining of God’s sublimity and glory.”[16]
The salvific efficacy of the Christological “whole in the fragment,” however, is not just that wholeness shines perspicuously through the Incarnation, but also includes, of course, a shattering and fragmentation of a different kind in the Crucifixion: indeed, for Balthasar “the most sublime of beauties [is] a beauty crowned with thorns and crucified.”[17] Here Eliot’s The Rock goes on, too, underscoring to us in another way the cruciform nature of the form of true beauty.
Now you shall see the Temple completed
After much striving, after many obstacles;
For the work of creation is never without travail;
The formed stone, the visible crucifix,
The dressed altar, the lifting light,
Light
Light
The visible reminder of Invisible Light.[18]
We are given to understand, then, that the possibilities for what counts as the beautiful do not exclude, but rather transfigure tragedy, ambiguity, fragility, ugliness, and death.
“That darkness reminds us of light”: A Johannine Theologia Crucis and the Isenheim Altarpiece (1510–15)
For Balthasar, whose theological imagination is formed most decisively by the Johannine corpus, especially the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation, it is altogether imprudent to venture to speak of the beauty of God apart from the form actually expressed in salvation history.[19] This is the form of cruciform love, which is all self-gift, and in the Gospel of John in particular, the Crucifixion is read as the doxological moment of the text, at which the glory of God’s love shines forth brightly in spite of—or perhaps because of—the twisted “formlessness” of the figure of Christ on the Cross.[20] To illustrate this point more concretely, I have chosen a well-known example of Renaissance art for our consideration: Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece, an enormous composite polyptych completed between 1510–1515, which unfolds into three levels.
I chose this particular work of art for several reasons. One is that it seems to me to be a material enactment of this Johannine tendency to depict the outer limits of both profound suffering and supernatural glory in the very same installation. Secondly, this large altarpiece can be thought to be a complex study in wholes and fragments. Interestingly, besides the fact that it depicts a multiplicity of scenes in plural media, but ought be regarded as a unity, the actual piece itself has known material fragmentation, having been dismantled and stored in the Colmar library during the iconoclastic fervor of the late 1700s.
When in the closed position, it depicts the famously gory crucifixion scene flanked by two saints of healing: St. Sebastian, who was thought to have the power to protect against plague and epidemic disease, and St. Anthony, whose curative ability is attested to in Athanasius’ well-known hagiography, The Life of Antony. The lower panel shows—in stark and nearly unbearable detail—the body of Jesus having been removed from the Cross, truly dead with the dead. In the middle position, there are scenes of newness, rebirth, and hope for the amelioration of suffering: the Annunciation, an angelic concert, the Madonna and Child, and, finally, one of the most striking and gorgeous scenes of the Resurrection ever painted. In the third, open position, there is an older wooden sculpture gilded with gold (by Nikolaus Hagenauer) which includes St. Augustine, St. Anthony, and St. Jerome, along with Christ seated with the twelve Apostles in the lower, supporting base panel. On either side of the sculpture are fantastical scenes from the life of St. Anthony, the first of his meeting with Paul the Hermit, and the second a rather gruesome scene of his being tempted by fierce demons.
The third reason I selected this example is that it explicitly connects beauty and healing insofar as the original physical context in which the piece was housed is the chapel monastery of the Antonite community, which was a hospital order. Most of the patients there suffered from ergotism, an infectious skin disease caused by ingesting poisoned rye that also went under the banner of “St. Anthony’s fire.” The piteous figure of the demon in the lower left likely depicts the ravages of this particular disease on the human body, including skin discoloration, boils, a swollen stomach, an amputated left arm, and, obviously great and isolating pain.[21] Poignantly, the scrap of paper on the lower left is inscribed with a Latin inscription borrowed from Athanasius’ Life that laments, “Where were you, good Jesus, where were you? Why were you not there to heal my wounds?”[22]
What might it mean, or have meant, to see this piece, to behold it as a unified work of art yet one composed of many parts, with content this seemingly incongruent? How might it be interpreted, for those with eyes to see? What would it have meant for the original viewers under monastic medical care, that this piece was in a sense both static and dynamic, that though at any given moment the beholder could see only one aspect, there was also always already the possibility for unfolding progression and promise, because now cruciform beauty points to hope?[23]
Consider first the exterior or closed view of the piece, which depicts a devastating Crucifixion scene, especially in the splayed fingers of Jesus, the lacerated, discolored body, the crudely twisted feet. On his right, Jesus is mourned by John, the beloved disciple, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdelene. On his left, Jesus is anachronistically heralded by John the Baptist (who, according to the Gospels, had of course already died by the time of Jesus’ Crucifixion), and attended by the Lamb as though slain from the Book of Revelation—bleeding, in an abundance of liturgical imagery, from its torn side into a Eucharistic chalice.
The inclusion of the slain Lamb here is a latent promise of sacramental healing that gestures towards the more hope-filled images directly underneath in the second set of panels. Below the main panel in a lower register is the depiction of the Entombment, which, like the Crucifixion above it, certainly does not shrink from depicting the authentic disfigurements of death. Neither can be identified unambiguously as beautiful either in terms of actual content, pleasingness to the eye, or even intuitive proportionality, if we compare, for instance, the size of Mary Magdelene to that of John the Baptist. If we recall from Balthasar the inversion of beauty that can now include the cruciform, however, it is easier to see how these images might, in a sense, effect healing of a sort.
In the first instance, there is a kind of solidarity to be had. As we’ve mentioned, the original location of the altarpiece was in a hospital. These people are the dying. What is particularly significant is that historically the altarpiece was left closed, except on a handful of Marian and other feast days, so that the exterior panel depicting the Crucifixion is what these sick and dying saw for the great majority of the time. The unrelenting realism of the way the body of Jesus is portrayed, both on the Cross in the central panel and in the Lamentation below—with an excruciatingly pockmarked body, skin of a sallow, greenish tinge, the disfigured limbs, even the central seam on the wood that bisects Jesus’ right arm and amputates the legs below the knees and the hand of the John the evangelist appearing very much like a crutch under the arm of the dead Jesus—mimic the horrific symptoms of the audience, including gangrene, lost limbs, skin discoloration, convulsive disorders, and permanent disfigurement. What greater solidarity with the suffering than for these patients to meet in the body of Jesus a reflection of their own suffering bodies?
Secondly, the audience would have known what hope and glory and sublimity lay just underneath the first panel: Annunciation and Nativity and especially Resurrection. In a very Johannine sense, then, the Cross is read as concomitantly the locus of suffering and death and the place of redemption and effervescent glory. As one commentator on the altarpiece rightly puts it, “seen against the Resurrection, the Crucifixion sheds any potential sadism and becomes a more complex image of a love beyond reason capable of assuming the greatest torment and miraculously triumphing over it.”[24] One way of elucidating this point is a consideration not only of Grünewald’s use of light and darkness, but also that of darkness and darkness.
The original location of the altarpiece was in a hospital.... What greater solidarity with the suffering than for these patients to meet in the body of Jesus a reflection of their own suffering bodies?
Compare, for instance, the quality of darkness in the first, exterior position of the Crucifixion to the bright, near living darkness that surrounds this Resurrected Christ in the middle position. In the former, the darkness is an absolute; it is black as pitch; it seems, indeed to have had the final word. But, in the Resurrection-Ascension panel, the darkness is lush—shot through with stars, floodlit by the large and brilliant halo behind the figure of the transfigured Christ, whose body still bears the marks of crucifixion on his hands and feet.[25] As Balthasar’s essay “Revelation and the Beautiful” observes, “the humiliation of the servant only makes the concealed glory shine more resplendently, and the descent into the ordinary and commonplace brings out the uniqueness of him who so abased himself.”[26] That the Isenheim Altarpiece is both of these together—both Crucifixion and Resurrection, death and glory in one installation—is quite theologically significant. The Johannine profile is clear, where suffering and glory are presented together. As Balthasar puts it, the Cross, “with all its terrors and feelings of abandonment, cannot shake for a moment the loyalty of the lover. He remains enclosed and protected within an unbreakable, crystalline form,”[27] which is, of course, the healing form of self-evacuating love.
“The ends of our fingers and beams of our eyes”: Poiesis, Attunement, and Eternal Youth
As we conclude our reflection, a consideration of the etymological roots of the word “poetry” is apropos. The ancient Greek root is ποιέω, which means, in its simplest definition, “to make.” In a sense, our hypothetical triptych of Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece and T.S. Eliot’s choruses from The Rock are various ways of giving expression—in forms as distinct in time as they are in genre—to the practice of making, of building or creating something, both in their content as well as in their own performance in poetry, short fiction, or in paint and wood. Even the various characters are “makers,” whether in the increasingly complex pen drawing in Carver’s story or the workers in Eliot’s The Rock building a Church with new stone, new timbers, even new speech:
The soul of man must quicken to creation.
Out of the formless stone, when the artist united himself with stone,
Spring always new forms of life, from the soul of man that is joined to the soul of stone;
Out of the meaningless practical shapes of all that is living or lifeless
Joined with the artist’s eye, new life, new form, new colour.
Out of the sea of sound the life of music,
Out of the slimy mud of words, out of the sleet and hail of verbal imprecisions,
Approximate thoughts and feelings, words that have taken the place of thoughts and feelings,
There spring the perfect order of speech, and the beauty of incantation.[28]
Part of what it is to be a Christian is to be young, and young in a way that has nothing to do with the passing of physical years.
Here at this juncture we might think about how forms of art can speak to forms of life, how this making of artwork can parlay thematically into the making (and even the healing) of a human life. Recall that Balthasar places great emphasis on the conjunction rather than the disjunction between the aesthetic and the ethical. Drawing from Rilke’s famous poem “The Archaic Torso of Apollo,” Balthasar states that “an apparent enthusiasm for the beautiful is mere idle talk when divorced from the sense of a divine summons to change one’s life.”[29] With Christ as the form of forms and the model which can imprint itself upon human lives, human beings are called to make themselves, in Balthasar’s language, “into God’s mirror and seek to attain to that transcendence and radiance that must be found in the world’s substance if it is indeed God’s image and likeness—his word and gesture, action and drama.”[30] Being a Christian, then, is itself a life-form, which opens up a particular “possibility of existence” attuned to its position as an individual member of the Body of Christ but situated ecclesially in the Church, and, as Balthasar puts it in no uncertain terms, “When it is achieved, Christian form is the most beautiful thing that may be found in the human realm.”[31]
Moreover, for Balthasar, part of what it is to be a Christian is to be young, and young in a way that has nothing to do with the passing of physical years.[32] One way of effecting this healing transformation, of being reborn to this eternal youth—and here I am following Balthasar directly—is the conscious cultivation of a sense of attunement “to the art of God.”[33] A child-like receptivity to beauty becomes a cipher or measure of the human capacity to know God and to love God, even to be evangelized at all. Balthasar suggests that one of the fundamental functions of poetry—and here we might extend this category to all those things artfully “made”—is a softening of the soul, the restoration and renewal of human beings “to a condition of openness” to eternity, to transcendence, to eternal childhood marked by a kind of gameness, a willingness to accept ordinary existence as a reality that is “what is wonderful: frightening and seductive, burdensome to the point of melancholy, yet inviting one to a secret, continual feast.”[34] Importantly, it is this “mysterious youthfulness” of the Word that for Balthasar marks the saints, more than any other characterization[35]
This sphere of openness is a sphere of healing, and it contains hidden within it, in Balthasar’s own words, “the goods of salvation: peace in God, beatitude and transfiguration, victory over sin, paradise present though concealed, all that the beautiful consoles us with.”[36] To be attuned and receptive enough to the immense and mysterious possibilities of the Christian life is, perhaps, to have our vision be healed—to learn to see again, like children, in a kind of transformative rhapsody that is drawing cathedrals with our eyes closed, conscious of the fact that the whole can and does shine luminously through these bright fragments of beauty, in what is a genuine encounter with the crucified and risen Christ.
In the spirit of this constitutively Christian attunement to poetic beauty, it seems only fitting to allow T.S. Eliot the last word, which is none other than a prayer and our benediction:
O Light Invisible, we praise Thee!
Too bright for mortal vision.
O Greater Light, we praise Thee for the less;
The eastern light our spires touch at morning,
The light that slants upon our western doors at evening,
The twilight over stagnant pools at batflight,
Moon light and star light, owl and moth light,
Glow-worm glowlight on a grassblade.
O Light Invisible, we worship Thee!
We thank Thee for the lights that we have kindled,
The light of altar and sanctuary;
Small lights of those who meditate at midnight
And lights reflected from the polished stone,
The gilded carven wood, the colored fresco.
Our gaze is submarine, our eyes look upward
And see the light that fractures through unquiet water.
We see the light but see not whence it comes.
O Light Invisible, we glorify Thee!
In our rhythm of earthly life we tire of light. We are glad when the day ends, when the play ends; and ecstasy is too much pain.
We are children quickly tired: children who are up in the night and fall asleep as the rocket is fired; and the day is long for work or play.
We tire of distraction or concentration, we sleep and are glad to sleep,
Controlled by the rhythm of blood and the day and the night and the seasons.
And we must extinguish the candle, put out the light and relight it;
Forever must quench, forever relight the flame.
Therefore we thank Thee for our little light, that is dappled with shadow.
We thank Thee who hast moved us to building, to finding, to forming at the ends of our fingers and beams of our eyes.
And when we have built an altar to the Invisible Light, we may set thereon the little lights for which our bodily vision is made.
And we thank Thee that darkness reminds us of light.
O Light Invisible, we give Thee thanks for Thy great glory![37]
[1] T.S. Eliot, The Rock: A Pageant Play, Written for Performance at Sadler’s Wells Theatre (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1934), 7.
[2] Hans Urs von Balthasar, “Revelation and the Beautiful” in Explorations in Theology, Volume I, The Word Made Flesh, trans. A.V. Littledale and Alexandre Dru (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989), 117.
[3] Raymond Carver, “Cathedral” in Collected Stories (Des Moines: Library of America, 2009), 525.
[4] Ibid., 527.
[5] Ibid., 528–29.
[6] Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics, Volume I: Seeing the Form, [GL I], 2nd ed., trans. Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, ed. Joseph Fessio, SJ and John Riches (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2009), 9.
[7] Ibid., 18.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid., 20.
[10] Ibid., 118.
[11] Ibid., 29.
[12] Hans Urs von Balthasar, A Theological Anthropology, trans. William Glen-Doepel (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1968), 226.
[13] “Revelation and the Beautiful,” 120.
[14] GL I, 32.
[15] “Revelation and the Beautiful,” 118.
[16] Hans Urs von Balthasar, Theo-Logic, Volume I: Truth of the World, trans. Adrian J. Walker (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2001), 20.
[17] GL V, 33.
[18] Eliot, The Rock, 76.
[19] GL I, 124.
[20] GL II, 354-5.
[21] For wonderful scholarly commentaries on the historical, theological, and artistic subtleties of this important work, especially with an eye toward its hospital context, see Andree Hayum, The Isenheim Altarpiece: God’s Medicine and the Painter’s Vision (Princeton University Press, 1993), 20, and Robert Baldwin, “Anguish, Healing, and Redemption in Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece,” Sacred Heart University Review, Volume XX, Issue 1 (Fall 1999/Spring 2000), 80-91.
[22] Hayum, 30.
[23] Baldwin, 82.
[24] Baldwin, 88.
[25] Ibid., 89.
[26] von Balthasar, “Revelation and the Beautiful,” 114.
[27] Ibid., 123.
[28] Eliot, The Rock, 75.
[29] von Balthasar, “Revelation and the Beautiful,” 107.
[30] GL I, 22.
[31] Ibid., 28.
[32] von Balthasar, A Theological Anthropology, 260.
[33] “Revelation and the Beautiful,” 126.
[34] A Theological Anthropology, 245.
[35] Ibid., 261.
[36] “Revelation and the Beautiful,” 111–112.
[37] Eliot, The Rock, 84–85.
Jennifer Newsome Martin Jennifer Newsome Martin is an assistant professor in the Program of Liberal Studies, with a concurrent appointment in the department of theology at the University of Notre Dame. She is author of the book Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Critical Appropriation of Russian Religious Thought (University of Notre Dame Press, 2015).From Bohemia Interactive Community
Introduction
ArmA II is not like other FPS's, it is a simulation. Most, if not all that you learned in other FPS's is wrong. You cannot stand out in the middle of an open street or field or run around blasting away and expect to survive long in a real battle or in a simulation of real battle. Bouncing around in full kit in real battle does not stop you getting shot; you simply get tired quickly, attract the wrong kind of attention, and would probably break your ankles; so just as you would not do it in real life you cannot do it in ArmA II. You have no uber body armor, no magical medipacks, no bunny hop rocket boots. It is just you, and what ever weapons you are carrying. If you get shot any where important you are going to die, often right away.
If you are a new player you are going to die and you are going to die a lot. This is simply part of the learning curve, there are ways however you can get over the hump faster. That is what this section of the biki will help you with.
You are going to have learn the basic battle drills and the difference between cover and concealment. There is a lot to learn but it can be fun. Surviving in ArmA II is hard, but one day you may find yourself with a bunch of your buddies hunting T90s like stone age humans hunting mammoths.
Sources of help
There are many sources of information for ArmA II
The ArmA II Official Website includes descriptions of, factions, weapons, vehicles and different official Areas of Operations (AO) or islands:
Official ArmA II Training Videos
There is an official ArmA II YouTube channel with videos under the Developer Diary title, describing basic controls, the use of the editor, commanding teams etc.
ArmA II YouTube Channel
Official ArmA II Manuals
There is a manual that comes with all copies of ArmA II. If you have not got one contact the publisher and report it to BIS. For ArmA II Free players there should be a manual in the install folder default:X:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2 Free
For those with steam the US version can be downloaded here: PDF ArmA II manual for Steam customers
OFP and ArmA I hints and tips
There is a Hints and Tips link on the index page of this wiki; it leads to this link which is OFP and ArmA hints and tips. Most still apply!
The ArmA II Bible
Dslyecxi's ArmA II Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures Guide is considered to be the bible of ArmA II play. Much of it applies to both Single Player and Multi Player but it has sections that apply to Multi-player PvP and others that particularly apply to the Coop game form.
Dslyecxi's ArmA2 Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures Guide
Battle Drills
This page links to the basic Battle Drills
Battle Drills are the basic moves to perform in battle, they are a subset of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), that are trained in the military to replace the normal human reaction to threat, those of Fight, Flight or Freeze. The Fight, Flight, Freeze, response is default coded into to your Amygdala; a part of your brain comparible to the BIOS of a computer.
The Amygdala reacts much faster than the conscious brain and can thus short circuit it. The Amygdala is also comparable to a computer BIOS in that it can be reprogrammed by in the case of BIOS by flashing it; in the case of a human brain by the use of operant conditioning. Part of Basic Training in the military uses operant conditioning to replace the Fight, Flight, Freeze responses
The idea of training a Battle Drill or SOP is to replace these Fight, Flight, Freeze responses with the following useful actions:
The Freeze Response is not always beneficial, freezing in the same spot that the enemy is putting down effective fire on you, does not stop the bullets, the Freeze Response is replaced with The Basic Drill.
is not always beneficial, freezing in the same spot that the enemy is putting down effective fire on you, does not stop the bullets, the is replaced with The Basic Drill. Firing blindly may kill your buddies who are likely to be closer and thus occupying a larger percentage of your Arc, thus the Fight Response is replaced with the React to Contact drill.
is replaced with the React to Contact drill. Altering the Flight Response so that you do not get shot in the back is also useful, the highest casualties in war happen during head long retreat, it is very hard to fire over your shoulder while running in the opposite direction, so the Battle Drill that replaces head long retreat is the Break Contact drill.
Don't Get Shot!
The key to survival in ArmA is not to get shot. When you say it like that it sounds simple. Surprisingly virtually every other First Person Shooter (FPS) you may have played, never ever teaches this! Magic health packs, super body armor, uber stamina, super player speed, unlimited respawns close to where you got killed, and the imbecilic, short sighted, inaccurate AI in all those other FPS teach you to stand up in the open blasting away, its safe; yeah right.
In ArmA there are four defenses to being shot:
Make your self a small target
Shoot at them! This will make them scared so they will shake, dither and miss and you might even hit them and wound them or even kill them.
Don't let your self be seen. Concealment! (If they cannot see you the only way they can shoot you is by guess work; but beware of educated guesses!)
Best of all get behind something thick. Cover! (Fat Stupid Generals do have their uses)
Making your self small
There are two ways to make your self small:
Go horizontal (also know as crawling)
Distance
Learn to crawl!
The first thing to do when being shot at is to get down and face the enemy! This is the first lesson of ArmA. Survival time increases exponentially after you learn this vital lesson, that is only bested by true cover. By lying down face toward the enemy you turn a 2m high by 0.7m wide target into 0.5 high by 0.7m wide target. You have reduced your target size to quarter of what it was! And if you are facing them it makes it easier to shoot at them!
Repeat the ArmA mantra after me: "Crawl, Crawl, Crawl, Crawl, Crawl!" Once you have learned to Crawl you can graduate to the second mantra "I am up, he sees me, I am down" bounds of the The Basic Drill.
Distance
Stay a long way away from nasty men with big guns. Bullets are fired in a grouping affected by both the gun and the person firing. [1] Distance increases the dispersion of that grouping.
Close up that grouping will be tight; the further the target is away from the muzzle, the looser the grouping becomes and the more space there is between the bullets impact points for you to get missed in. Every meter you are away from the source of fire on you, decreases the percentage of bullet grouping ellipse you occupy for the gun and soldier firing it at you, and decrease the power with which round will hit you. Most Assault Rifles are ineffective beyond about 350m without optics, 500m for MGs. Opt |
constitution of new regional knowledge networks. Theorizing the existence of the Guaraní Aquifer System, hydrogeologists suggested that the regional aquifers were part of an interconnected system. Such an approach was instrumental to the regional hydrogeologists’ ongoing struggle for recognition and resources within regional academic institutions. The scale and, thus, geostrategic importance of the transboundary aquifer, supported the capture of new economic resources from international agencies dedicated to funding research about shared natural resources, as well as the hydrogeologists’ claim for recognition.
Moreover, scientific research on regional groundwater resources fuelled explicit calls for internationally-coordinated political action. The regional scale of the aquifer system catalyzed the recognition of the potential geostrategic value of the resources and prompted the involvement of public officials. Driven by the demands of regional scientists and local stakeholders, but reflective of the strategic interest of the national governments, the transboundary groundwaters entered the political agenda. The countries engaged in a process of multi-lateral cooperation and established a project – co-financed by the Global Environment Facility – for the assessment of the resources and the established regulatory frameworks in the year 2000. The initiative produced a knowledge base for the development of policies aimed at the protection and sustainable management of the aquifer system. The international cooperation project concluded in 2009 with the production of a strategic action plan, which facilitated the development of concrete management policies at the local, regional and national levels. Information gathered through the cooperation process was centralized in a system of geographic information publicly accessible and made available for decision-makers. On this basis, local level stakeholders implemented new well drilling standards, determined minimum buffer zones between wells, and protected vulnerable recharge areas. The action plan also led to the signature of a multi-lateral framework agreement in 2010, which outlined general non-binding principles for future transboundary groundwater governance in the region. The agreement emphasized the countries’ inalienable sovereignty over the resource and enshrined reciprocal no-harm and sustainability as guiding principles for the future exploitation of the resources.
The process that led to the creation of the governance instruments for the management and sustainable exploitation of the Guaraní Aquifer System is indicative of the many political roles of scientific knowledge. Information about transboundary groundwaters was simultaneously instrumental to the introduction of the resources in the political agenda and the political negotiation of concrete management provisions. The process of political recognition of the resources was inseparable from the emergence of new theories about the aquifer system’s geographical scale and from the struggles for disciplinary recognition led by the regional scientists. Official negotiations about the ‘new’ shared resources – the waters stored in the Guaraní Aquifer System – resulted from the mobilization and interest of actors who, historically, had been marginal in regional politics. Instead of being designed and directed exclusively according to the preferences of State agents, the governance of the aquifer system was fostered by subsidiary political authorities and non-state actors: expert networks and international organizations.
Footnotes:
1. Located under the Paraná, Uruguay and Paraguay River basins, the Guaraní Aquifer System extends over one million square kilometers and is a significant renewable source of safe fresh water in the region. The aquifer system occupies 8.1% of the territory of Argentina, 8.1% of Brazil, 21.5% of Paraguay, and 19.5% of that of Uruguay.
References:
1. Bacolla, A., Pujol, M., Lozecco,C. and C. De La Fich (2005). 35 Años (Paraná: Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Hídricas de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral).
2. Stone, D. and S. Maxwell (2005). Global Knowledge Networks and International Development: Bridges across Boundaries (New York: Routledge).
3. Rocha, G. A. (1997). “O Grande Manancial Do Cone Sul,” Estudos Avançados, no. 30.
4. Organization of American States (OAS) (2009). Guarani Aquifer: strategic action program (Brazil; Argentina; Paraguay; Uruguay: Organization of American States (OAS)).
5. Síndico, F. (2011). “The Guarani Aquifer System and the International Law of Transboundary Aquifers,” International Community Law Review, vol. 13, no. 3.
Martin Walter is currently in the final stages of a dual doctoral program at Northwestern University and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. His research deals with the socio-political intricacies of implementing projects for the protection and sustainable development of the environment; it focuses on the history and politics surrounding the emergence of water governance systems and, in particular, policies for the management of transboundary groundwaters. In addition to his academic activities, the author also conducts research for the United Nations Environment Programme (Regional Office for North America) and for independent professional consultancy projects. This article is based on a version published in the Boletín Geológico y Minero, Vol 123, No 3 (2012) pp. 367-376 under the same title (pdf). For more information please contact the author at mw.martinwalter@gmail.com
The views expressed in this article belong to the individual authors and do not represent the views of the Global Water Forum, the UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance, UNESCO, the Australian National University, or any of the institutions to which the authors are associated. Please see the Global Water Forum terms and conditions here.The parents of preschool children in the northern district of Reinickendorf threatened to gather names for a petition against the kindergarten when they found out that one of the nursery teachers was gay, Tagesspiegel reported on Wednesday.
At first the protest led the young man to request to be transferred to another kindergarten. But the management of the preschool put their foot down and gave the parents the choice: either accept that a gay man would look after their children, or put their kids into a different preschool.
According to Tagesspiegel, the parents had a problem with the fact that the young man was in physical contact with their children and would take them to the toilet.
“For some of them, a gay man is automatically a paedophile,” the nursery teacher in question told Tagesspiegel.
Many of the parents have since taken their offspring out of the kindergarten.
The case has led to a public discussion on the difficulties homosexuals face in gaining employment in primary and preschools.
"The general suspicion against males becomes even more potent against gay educators," Stephanie Nordt, a spokeswoman for the initiative Queerformat, an organization which provides classes on gender and sexuality in education, told the Berliner Zeitung.
On Twitter under the hashtag #Erzieher (kindergarten teacher), people showed support for the young teacher.
“It’s important to show our colours! For tolerance, for teachers, homosexuals and the LGBT community. Don’t give homophobia a chance!” wrote Green party supporter Christoph Peschke.
Another user commented "Muslims protest against teacher - the problem? He's gay: welcome to the Middle Ages."
Muslime protestieren gegen #Erzieher. Problem: Er ist schwul. Willkommen im Mittelalter. https://t.co/U4hPBWY6w4 — Herr Bert (@Herr_Bert_1) March 27, 2017
The outcry has also led to a response from the capital city’s government.
“We don’t tolerate discrimination. We want to raise the number of male kindergarten teachers so that they become important role models for children,” said Sandra Scheeres, the senator for education from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
Scheeres said that she did not know of another case in Berlin in which a gay nursery teacher was discriminated against, but added that "again and again, parents treat male nursery teachers with suspicion."
But Die Welt reports that this isn't the first time a gay nursery teacher has faced discrimination because of their sexuality.
In Neu-Ulm in Bavaria, a lesbian teacher did not have her contract extended in 2012 when her Catholic employer found out she was gay.
SEE ALSO: A rare breed - the male kindergarten teacherOf the approximately eleventy billion books in the original Star Wars Expanded Universe, there are the hallowed (the Thrawn books by Timothy Zahn), the good (the X-Wing books), the bad (The Jedi Academy), and the mediocre (...most of them). And then there’s The Crystal Star, a novel so bad it ruined me. Let this article serve as a warning to the rest of the galaxy.
In full disclosure: In the past, I’ve defended Crystal Star as being “not as bad you think.” For one thing, unlike The Courtship of Princess Leia, it didn’t ruin something fans were looking specifically forward to. (Yes, I’m still pissed Han and Leia got married after he kidnapped her to prevent her from ending up in an arranged marriage designed to get arms for the New Republic.) For another, I always said that one bad book didn’t beat a bad series or trilogy of books, since it’s confined to a single book.
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I will admit to being stupid. It became abundantly clear from the very first page of Crystal Star that I had blocked out a lot what made this book so awful. It’s like my brain, in self defense, had deleted almost all of the details of Crystal Star. I owe the Corellian Trilogy a massive apology—I had merged the kidnapping of the Solo children from Crystal Star into the kidnapping in those books. In my defense, those kids get kidnapped a lot. Like, way more than they should, given how important their parents are and that they’re really powerful in the Force. Han and Leia are really irresponsible parents is what I think I’m saying here.
Anyway, the point is that I didn’t really know what I was getting into when I volunteered to reread the book for the next installment of “Torturing Katharine by Forcing Her to Reread the Worst Star Wars Books in Existence.” I was... unprepared.
Crystal Star is bad from the very first page. The poor quality of the prose hits you like a fist in the face. And then it just keeps punching you until you decide to that you and the pain are just going to have to live together forever now. I present page two of this nightmare:
A crater was ripped into the soft grass. The leafy blades had been flattened into a circle around the raw patch of empty dirt. A pressure bomb! Leia thought in horror. A pressure bomb had gone off, near her children. They aren’t dead! she told herself. They can’t be, I’d know if they were dead!
The exclamation points don’t make Leia seem like she’s panicking, they make her seem like a simpleton. Granted, everyone in this book is an idiot, but this is where I point out that Leia is, at this exact moment, the political head of the New Republic. And this is her interior monologue!
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The book opens with the attack on Munto Codru where Leia is on a diplomatic mission. Munto Codru is a planet where the people who inhabit it are humanoids with four arms. But they start life as giant six-legged dogs before entering a cocoon. The dog form? “Wyrwulves.”
NO. Go back and look at that again. If I had to read about the fearsome child-dogs with the misspelled name, SO DO YOU. Every time I read the word “wyrwulf,” another part of me died. This is rule one of bad science fiction and fantasy writing: include something from our world, but spell it all X-TREME. I’m shocked it isn’t peppered with random apostrophes, the other version of this trope that I’ve seen far too often.
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Later in the book, there’s a centaur who befriends the Solo children. A CENTAUR.
Munto Codru is a planet with a long tradition of kidnapping the children of important people. So of course Leia brought her kids with her there. Sounds like a solid fucking plan, right there. LEAVE THE KIDS AT HOME FOR THIS ONE, LEIA. I swear to god this book says she had just sort of trusted in the Force to let her know when her kids were in danger. All of this is just the first chapter and, were I not under obligation to finish this thing as part of my job, I would have stoped here. But there is much more pain to come.
Because that is only chapter one, chapter two sends Luke and Han on a secret mission to look for some Jedi. Like so many characters here, Luke is a presented as an empty-headed moron. Why? Two reasons: 1) The book’s plot doesn’t work if characters aren’t dumb and 2) being stupid helps counteract Luke’s Jedi powers. In fact, since Han and Luke are undercover, Luke doesn’t use a physical disguise. He uses the Force to make himself look different to others. Hope that holds up when he’s asleep or unconscious! Or that none of the Jedi Luke’s looking for are real and evil and can see through the Force illusion!
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And Luke being easily led and a moron explains this:
“Why’d you want to follow that guy all the way out here?” he asked Luke, who sat on his heels at the edge of the indoor pool, scooped his hand through the running water, smelled then briefly tasted it. “We needed a native guide.” “We’re supposed to have one,” Han pointed out. “And he might be useful to us,” Luke said. “I doubt it,” Han said. “And … he reminded me of Yoda.” “You think he might be one of the Jedi?” “I thought he might be. Now I don’t think so. But he could have been.”
You thought he might be a Jedi because...he looked like Yoda. Luke can use the Force to change his features, can’t sense another Jedi.
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Also, in this chapter a succubus hits on Han and he reminisces about his previous encounters with them. Because this book came from hell to test me.
Meanwhile, Han and Leia’s three children have been taken by Hethrir, who tells them he is their “hold-father” (I assume that’s the Star Wars equivalent of “godfather.”) He convinces the children that their whole family died and they live with him now. Of course, he’s a moron because the kids know that Han and Luke are on a secret mission. Of course, the adults are idiots because the preschoolers managed to find out about their secret mission.
Hethrir is supposed to be an evil Force-user trained by Vader himself, but he’s outsmarted by the kids a lot. They figure out he’s a liar right away by saying Jacen is the oldest kid, when it’s Jaina. I’d assume the kids of Han and Leia had a very documented early life, but sure. The kids also find ways to rebel and keep making escape attempts.
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Leia goes searching for her kids in her ship, The Alderaan. And she uses the totally believable pseudonym of “Lelila.” And she dyes her hair brown and green. That’s sure to hide your identity, Leia! Enjoy this bit where Leia imagines disguising herself as man, which is one of the only things I have retained of this book for 15 years:
She envied Han his beard. Such an easy way to hide one’s face. She considered disguising herself as a man, but only for a moment. In stories, she said to herself, princesses always disguise themselves as princes. But princesses in stories never have any hips. They never have any breasts. No. I’d look like a woman in disguise; I’d only draw more attention. Better to be invisible.
I hate this writing so much I think it may actually be a personal attack. This prose has invaded my dreams, where it taunts me. Blandly.
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Understand that I’m only about halfway through the book right now. But suffice it to say, the evil plan involves Hethrir trying to bring back the Empire. He’s allied himself with a transdimensional blob of golden semi-liquid, semi-gelatin covered in scales (LOOK. I DON’T KNOW EITHER.) called Waru. Waru wants to go home and he wants to use the life of someone powerful in the Force to punch through the dimensional walls. Hethrir promises to get him someone if Waru will grant him power over the Force. The whole thing.
While Hethrir sets his plan in motion, Waru sets himself up as a magical healer, gathering acolytes by convincing them they need his healing. He’s actually sucking out their life force to keep himself alive. Han and Luke are lead to Waru, where Luke’s Force affinity and the weird location of the station they’re on makes him fall for Waru the evil scaled Jell-O cube’s healing scam. LUKE. You’re supposed to be a Jedi master!
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Oh, but it gets better. Hethrir’s plan was to give Han and Leia’s youngest, Anakin (oh, the fact that Leia named one of her kids after the dad that tortured her is a debate for another time), to Waru. Leia and Han arrive in time to save him, but not before Luke the Idiot offers himself in Anakin’s place. And is engulfed in Waru’s golden jelly mass. Leia jumps in after him. AND HAN. YOU HAVE JUST RESCUED YOUR THREE CHILDREN, ONE OF YOU SHOULD REALLY STAY BEHIND.
By the way, if you guessed that Crystal Star would blackout the trope bingo board by ending the evil plot with “the love of children saves the world,” congrats! Because it’s the kids calling for their family that snaps Leia and Luke out of it so they can wade out of Waru, who turned into a whirlpool. It’s Crystal Star, I promise that’s what happened and that there isn’t a real explanation.
Waru eats Hethrir and uses him to leave—why he didn’t do that in first place, I don’t know and I don’t care anymore—and then everyone has to flee because a star’s collapsing. Much like my will to live as this book goes above the 400-page mark.
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Crystal Star is so much worse than I remember. It lives up to its reputation in every possible way. The writing is as simple as the minds of its characters. The villains’ plan makes less than no sense, and they do not live up to being either an apprentice of Darth Vader or an intergalactic traveler with amazing powers. The inclusion of succubi, centaurs, and wyrwulves makes it even more absurd. I don’t know what happened, Vonda McIntyre isn’t a bad writer, usually. But every single decision in this book is bad.
To end this, I will share with you a bit of Han’s inner monologue. Note the lack of flow to the thoughts combined with the hilarity that Han has had two sons, in two different Star Wars timelines go evil. The Force Awakens loses points for going this obvious and boring route, but gains them back for not being as bad as the Star Wars Legends’ many books on that theme:
Han seldom admitted his nightmares, but he had nightmares about what could happen to his children if they were tempted to the dark side.
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I’ve read those books, I have those nightmares, too, Han.Ken Niumatalolo, who interviewed for BYU's head-coaching job on Monday, will remain the coach at Navy, the team said Wednesday night.
Niumatololo was offered the position at BYU but declined, a source told ESPN's Joe Schad.
"It was a long and agonizing two days, probably the hardest two days of my life, but the Naval Academy has been my life for the last 18 years, and I love it here," Niumatololo said in a statement. "I love the kids that go to school here and the people I work with."
Niumatalolo confirmed on ESPN's College GameDay that he was meeting with BYU about the position, saying that while he had received interest from several schools, the BYU job "was just different" for him because of his faith. Niumatalolo is a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His son Va'a is a sophomore linebacker at BYU, and his other son, Ali'i, has committed to play at Boise State beginning in 2018 after he serves a two-year mission for the church.
"BYU was something I need to look into because of my faith and the opportunity to coach my two sons," Niumatalolo said. "But ultimately, I decided to stay at the Naval Academy because this is the best place for me and my family, and we are at peace with the decision."
Ken Niumatalolo, who visited BYU about its opening on Monday, said Wednesday "after a long and agonizing two days" he had decided to stay at Navy. Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire
Niumatalolo's decision followed a week of speculation leading up to Navy's game against Army last Saturday. He traveled to Utah on Sunday night and met with BYU officials on Monday.
"I'm glad to have this all behind us," Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk said. "It's been very stressful for everyone involved. There was never any reason in my mind for Kenny to leave, but he had to go through this exercise to be sure.''
Niumatalolo was the top choice to replace Bronco Mendenhall at BYU. The school also has interviewed Kalani Sitake, a former BYU player and current Oregon State defensive coordinator, for the position.
The job at BYU opened when Mendenhall left for Virginia after 11 seasons with the Cougars. During that period, the Cougars were one of only 11 programs to advance to a bowl game each season, including this one, winning six of those games.
Niumatalolo is the all-time winningest coach at Navy, with a 67-37 record in eight seasons. He took over for Paul Johnson, now coach at Georgia Tech, in December 2007 and signed a long-term extension with Navy in April 2011.An NYPD officer has been indicted on manslaughter charges in the shooting death of an unarmed 18-year-old in his Bronx home in February, NBC 4 New York has learned. Andrew Siff reports. (Published Tuesday, June 12, 2012)
An NYPD officer has been indicted on manslaughter charges in the shooting death of an unarmed 18-year-old in his Bronx home in February, NBC 4 New York has learned.
Sources familiar with the case tell NBC 4 New York that Officer Richard Haste is being charged with first-degree manslaughter. He is expected to turn himself in on Wednesday.
Security video shows Graham entering his home, and police running after him. Police at the time said officers witnessed a drug deal and pursued Graham, believing he had a gun.
They went in and found him in the second-floor bathroom, and ended up shooting him in the chest. He died shortly afterward.
Video Shows Teen Just Before Police Shooting
Ramarley Graham, 18, was chased into his apartment and shot to death by police who thought he was an armed drug suspect. Police later said no gun was recovered. Lori Bordonaro reports. (Published Monday, June 11, 2012)
Police said later that Graham was not found with a gun.
The officers involved were stripped of their guns and assigned to desk duty.
Darnett Richards, a spokeswoman for the Graham family, said the young man's relatives were encouraged by the news but consider it a long road.
Anger Grows Over Bronx Teen Shot, Killed By Cops
Days after the deadly shooting of an unarmed teenager by police in the Bronx, neighbors continue to ask why it happened. News4's John Noel reports. (Published Monday, Feb. 6, 2012)
"We're happy and still, the fight isn't over, it's just started," Richards said.
Attorney information for Haste was not immediately available. The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association said in a statement that it believed the officer would be exonerated.
"We look forward to a complete review of the facts in this case which will demonstrate that this police officer believed that he was pursuing an armed felon who bolted rather than be caught with an illegal gun," PBA President Patrick Lynch said.
Get the latest from NBC 4 New York anytime, anywhere. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Get our apps here and sign up for email newsletters here. Get breaking news delivered right to your phone -- just text NYBREAKING to 639710. For more info, text HELP. To end, text STOP. Message and data rates may apply.Back in 2009, conservative commentators were quick to cry 'Pork!' as the House and Senate debated the $800 billion stimulus bill known as ARRA - the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. A year later the Cato Institute argued that the funding was targeted at counties that strongly supported Obama in 2008, claiming that "the counties that did the most to put Obama in the White House received a taxpayer-funded thank you in return."
But a new study released today at the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity finds no evidence that political influence or graft played a role in how stimulus dollars flowed to congressional districts. The paper, by economists at Columbia University, UMass-Amherst, and the University of Maryland, concludes that "for the most part, politicians did not exploit their individual positions of power within the Congress to grab funds."
The authors did find a lot of variation in the amount of funds sent to each district. Districts including all or part of a state capital received the lions' share of funding, primarily because much of the money was sent directly to state governments for disbursement across the state. But even when excluding state capitals, per-capita district spending ranged from $7 in Anthony Weiner's (D-N.Y.) district to $3,750 in Doc Hastings' (R-Wash.) district.
Use the map or search below to see how funds were allocated in your congressional district. Keep in mind that the stimulus was passed during the 111th Congress, and that many district boundaries have changed since 2009 as a result of redistricting.
While the study does find that Democratic-held districts received roughly $95 more per capita than Republican ones, when controlling for rates of employment and poverty the difference shrunk to a not-statistically significant $19. The authors also ran comparisons between swing and safe districts, long-serving and newer members, and members in leadership vs. non-leadership roles. In all of the above cases, there was no meaningful difference in the amount of stimulus funds disbursed.
On the other hand, the authors found that Congress didn't do a fantastic job of targeting funds to the areas that needed it the most - money didn't flow to districts with high unemployment. The availability of "shovel-ready" projects didn't play a significant role either.
Overall, the study paints a mixed picture of the effectiveness of the stimulus bill. It showed great strides in transparency and accountability since the New Deal era, when higher dollar amounts were sent to pro-Roosevelt areas. But it was also less effective at sending money to high-unemployment districts than the New Deal was. This suggests something of a tradeoff between transparency and the ability to allocate funds effectively.The Rolling Stones drummer doesn't listen to his own band's songs any more, but he must be excited about playing Glastonbury, right? Er...
So Charlie, the Stones are playing Glastonbury! Excited?
I don't want to do it. Everyone else does. I don't like playing outdoors, and I certainly don't like festivals. I've always thought they're nothing to do with playing. Playing is what I'm doing at the weekend (1). That's how I was brought up. But that's me, personally. When you're a band … you do anything and everything. But Glastonbury, it's old hat really. I never liked the hippy thing to start with. It's not what I'd like to do for a weekend, I can tell you.
But surely …
[Interrupting] The worst thing playing outdoors is when the wind blows, if you're a drummer, because the cymbals move … it really is hard to play then.
Well, you're also playing Hyde Park this summer. What do you remember about your famous gig there in 1969 (2)?
Oh, quite a lot. The Dorchester! That was our dressing room. And Allen Klein walking about like Napoleon. He was the same kind of shape. And the armoured van going into the crowd. I had to rush around and get my silver trousers done for it. And then Mick Taylor, of course, it was his first big gig. And my wife got hit with a stale sandwich. I remember her going mad with that. I don't blame her. She got hit on the back. She reckoned it was stale because it obviously hurt a lot. The butterflies. I didn't like that, because the casualty rate was worse than the Somme. Half of them went woosh. And the other half of them were dead.
Were you still in shock from Brian [Jones]'s death?
Shock? Brian dying? No. It was very sad but it wasn't unexpected. We'd carried him for a few tours and he was quite ill. We were young, we didn't know what was wrong with him. I still don't really. He always suffered from terrible asthma, and he drank heavily on the road and he got into drugs before anyone else in the band. It was a question of, "Do we carry on?"
And Mick Taylor joined the band …
Amazing player. I think we did our best music with Mick.
Hyde Park was the height of the hippy thing …
Altamont was more hippy than that, I thought. That was a very peculiar one, that was.
With a lot of big stadium bands these days, it feels like the staging of the show is the most important thing, whereas the Stones still strike me as being a real band. Sometimes you're good and sometimes … less so.
Mick [Jagger] is the show, really. We back him. But Mick wouldn't dance well if the sound was bad. It doesn't come into it with a lot of bands because the lead singer just stands there. We've always been about playing it properly. I don't mean technically brilliant … The rest is candyfloss, it's froth. You know, the costumes you're wearing, that's … [shrugs] What you're really doing is playing the drums or the guitar.
The Rolling Stones in 1969, before their concert in Hyde Park. Left to right: Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Mick Taylor and Keith Richards. Photograph: PA
What do you think of drum machines?
They're great for songwriters and producers. Recording is a very precise thing – it's playing it dead right every time, and it can be fun. But if you're writing a song, it's great to be able to tell the machine you'd like it louder, rather than having to tell the drummer. It's not what I'm interested in. I like the drum kit sound and somebody playing it – preferably me, but it could be anyone.
Given your jazz background, was it a bit of a comedown when you joined the Stones?
It was more of a shock joining Alexis Korner (3). I'd never played with a harmonica player before – I couldn't believe Cyril Davies when he started playing! We only played out of London once, in Birmingham. Cyril got £1 because he was a professional musician; so did [sax player] Dick Heckstall-Smith and [bassist] Jack Bruce. I wasn't so I got half a crown. Fantastic, isn't it? Half a crown! The Stones were just another gig, but then we started touring around England … I was waiting to start another job, but I never went back to it. I was a bit out of sync with all of them, Brian, Mick and Keith [Richards], but Keith taught me to listen to Buddy Holly and things like that. Mick taught me a lot about playing with songs, really, the melodies and that.
Was part of the Stones' success down to the fact that each of you had really done your homework?
I sort of agree with that. Everything's easier and quicker now. I wanted to be Max Roach or Kenny Clarke playing in New York with Charlie Parker in the front line. Not a bad aspiration. It actually meant a lot of bloody playing, a lot of work. I don't think kids are interested in that. But that may be true of every generation, I don't know. When I was what you'd call a young musician, jazz was very fashionable. It was very hip to know there was a new Miles Davis album out. Now no one knows what records come out. Especially me! Because of this thing [gestures at my iPhone recording the interview, with the inference that it is somehow the devil's work] … But in those days … an album: you kept it, you treasured it.
You must have really studied the records you had.
Oh, we did. I remember a Duke Ellington album that we played for ever.
And you must have had to save up for them.
I'd swap things: a cymbal for a certain record … Then I'd go to Ray's Jazz Shop (4). That's when it was in New Oxford Street, in the basement of Collet's. God bless him! He was green, he was never allowed to see daylight, they used to keep him in the cellar. And then I'd sell the record and go and buy the cymbal back.
What was your big problem with the hippies when that all started?
I wasn't a great one for the philosophy and I thought the clothes were horrendous, even then.
Charlie Watts in 2010. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features
So what did you think of the rest of the Stones in their Satanic Majesties phase?
I didn't mind them doing it. Brian was the first one at it. I remember him doing the London Palladium with his bloody hat on, and his pipe and sitar … fantastic. Brian was the first one to know and meet as a friend Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix. He used to be fun in those days.
At the height of the Stones' success in the 60s, did you have a sense that you were making history?
No. It was just a case of keeping up with everyone else. It's still the same now.
You said the band did its best work with Mick Taylor. What's your favourite Stones song?
God, I don't really have one to be honest, I don't really listen to them that much.
Do you think Bill [Wyman] made a mistake in leaving the group?
No, not a mistake, because he was in the middle of a terrible marriage that he should never have got into – he had a horrendous time with the Mandy girl – and he then married a very good woman and had three children very quickly … and he was very, very happy. But it was a shame he left because a) it was great having him and b) I think he missed out on a very lucrative period in our existence. There were very sparse periods you went through building the band, and he didn't really reap the rewards that we do now.
What do you spend your money on?
Me? I collect things.
Old records?
Yeah. There's a great place in Vienna. I collect jazz mostly. Drum kits as well. I've got one of Kenny Clarke's drum kits that he gave to Max Roach – I bought it off his widow. I have Duke Ellington's, the famous Sonny Greer drum kit, it's fantastic. Big Sid Catlett, one of the great 30s swing drummers, one of his … [continues in this vein for some time]. And books. Not antiquarian books. Signed first editions of mostly 20th-century writers. Agatha Christie: I've got every book she wrote in paperback. Graham Greene, I have all of them. Evelyn Waugh, he's another one. Wodehouse: everything he wrote.
It sounds like quite a healthy addiction.
Well, I'm old. It's not the sort of thing a boy of 20 would be keen on.
Have there been times when you've thought about knocking it on the head?
I thought that before the O2, but it was actually very comfortable to do. It was good fun, is what I meant to say.
But you had misgivings.
Misgivings? Yeah, oh yeah, I always do. It's a young person's [game]. The thing I find difficult is that 50% of it is image, not my side of it, but it is, and as you get a bit older you think, "Oh gawd!" I don't like looking at the pictures. I think Bowie looks all right. For some reason everyone's talking about David Bowie at the moment. But he does look good. Some others haven't weathered so well. And some guys who were really on fire haven't made it. It can take its toll on you. Without you knowing, or caring at the time, because you don't care when you're in your 30s or 40s.
Charlie Watts in 1965. Photograph: Dezo Hoffmann/Rex Features
Was it fun playing with Mick [Taylor] and Bill again at the O2 show?
It was great. I loved it.
And what about your guests, there and in the States?
It was really good. We were lucky we had Jeff Beck. He's a phenomenal player.
What about the younger bunch like Florence and the Machine?
Florence, she was all right. Lady Gaga was a really good sport. But they hung about with my granddaughter more than they did with me. We're silly old farts! I think Mick tries to keep up with them …
As well as Hyde Park, you've also announced a US tour.
It's a very short tour for us. It's only 18 shows. It's nothing.
Who's the driving force in putting the band back on the road?
Well, you wouldn't do it if Mick didn't want to do it. You've got to have Mick and Keith, but the driving force is Mick. If he's enthusiastic, he'll push everyone along. Keith's much more laidback about it.
Are they getting on well? Keith was quite rude about Mick in his book.
Oh yeah. Oh, that. Brothers, innit? Brothers in arms. You just let it take its course, really, things like that.
Is there any more new music in the offing?
There's nothing yet. I've lost track with the record industry world, I don't get it any more. It's gone beyond me. The last single I thought was very good, but things don't mean anything any more. They're just tacked on the end of a reissue – and that ends up selling more than a new album. It's |
ball and the Quarterback Catalogue charting re-emphasizes that. In 2015 he threw a pass that should have been intercepted once every 70.2 attempts, almost twice as good as the second-best quarterback, Sam Bradford. In 2016 he threw an interceptable pass once every 40.89 attempts, fifth-best in the league. None of the quarterbacks ahead of him were as productive and none of them consistently threw into tight windows as regularly or with as much success.
That precision plays a big role in Rodgers’ ability to avoid turning the ball over but that’s only part of it. He’s also a very intelligent quarterback, something that is regularly discussed, and possesses rare ability to maximize his pass protection with his footwork, something that is never discussed.
Rodgers has had all this success while playing in a scheme that doesn’t use a lot of play action or create a lot of yards after the catch. Twenty-eight quarterbacks used play action more often than Rodgers last year while 17 gained a higher percentage of their yards after the catch. It’s not a scheme that creates easy reads or changes every week to attack the specific weaknesses of its opponents. The only reason the Packers offense works is because it boasts the best quarterback in the NFL. Quarterbacks in general don’t control as much as is suggested but those at the extremes — the Blake Bortles and Jared Goffs at the bottom, or the Tom Bradys and Aaron Rodgers at the top — can drag down or elevate everyone around them.
Because the NFL focuses more on counting Super Bowls and playoff victories when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks, Rodgers – with his one championship so far – will always be regarded as one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. That’s wrong: he’s the best quarterback of his generation.Torbjørn C. Pedersen is currently on a mission to visit every country in the world in a single journey, without flight, and is currently succeeding in achieving this goal. Slowly traversing his way across the globe utilizing a mixture of trains, cars, buses, canoes and the odd container ship, Thor’s aim’s are twofold: to inspire others to travel and challenge their preconceived worldview, and to prove that people are basically the same all over the world. The project motto is: “a stranger is a friend you’ve never met before”. On an average budget of $20 per day, he’s also proving that travel is a dream which is possible for every individual, and one which can be completed successfully on a shoestring budget. “Once Upon a Saga” is the name of this epic journey around the world, and we’re all wishing Thor every success in completing the journey without flight. What do you love the most about travelling?
I absolutely love being surprised by new encounters within foreign cultures as well as being confirmed in my belief that the world, although not always a good place, by far mostly is full of good people who will go far out of their way to help and encourage you.
I love a good adventure and traveling provides the baseline.
What inspired you to start travelling?
My mother is a travel guide, and as my father was stationed in various different countries while I was growing up, our family moved around a lot. So in some ways I was brought up with traveling.
As I child I began walking off on “long” day trips into and through forests and fields. On some occasions I ventured so far that my parents would have to bring me back in the evening by car.
As a soldier I was stationed in Africa and within my later employment in the private sector I was stationed in various countries such as Libya, Greenland, Kazakstan and Azerbaijan. Whenever I was stationed I would always hear about some dam, waterfall, market, village, mountain, volcano etc and would get curious.
I would almost always find a way to get to whatever it was in my spare time.
Tell us about Once Upon a Saga.
This is a big one: Once Upon a Saga is a sponsored journey to every country in the world in a single journey, without flight.
For me it is a very serious project which is full of wonder and amazement. Graham Hughes from Liverpool claims to be the first person to travel to every country without flight. He somewhat inspired me when I first read an article about his achievement.
I think it is very important for people to keep pushing the envelope forward as this inspires others. Especially within travel as this is something which undeniably opens people’s eyes to how the world really is.
It’s a shame when some North Americans are scared of visiting Mexico. Or when some people refrain from visiting Honduras or Colombia based on some misplaced information of hazardous conditions. Granted you could risk getting hit on the head in some countries, but surely the same could happen visiting the wrong streets at the wrong hour in London, Paris, Tokyo, New York or anywhere else.
You cannot judge a country based on the news because it will never give you the full picture. You simply need to avoid the “wrong streets” and keep your eyes and mind open. The world is always a wonderful place if you are ready to give it a chance.
Once Upon a Saga aims to prove that people are basically the same all over the world. For most people religion and politics do not play a vital role on a day to day basis. You are much more likely to find yourself speaking to people about children, the weather, sports, food and other “eye level topics”.
People with children, wherever they live, have an interest in bringing them up with clean clothes, good good, solid friends, the best education and with odds of achieving the best possible life. That I believe is universal.
When I reached Panama I met Graham Hughes who confirmed that he actually flew on 5-6 occasions although he came back to the same location in order to continue his journey. To this I say that you wouldn’t break a marathon into pieces by running 5 km today, 3 tomorrow, 6 the next day and so on.
We also talked about how he visited 7 countries in 1 day and why he only spent 30 seconds in North Korea but still claims it counts as a visit. This is the “completion element” of the journey. While I respect Graham Hughes as an outstanding adventurer I cannot back his claim as being the first person to visit every country without flying.
On Once Upon a Saga it has been decided that the following rules must be observed: 1) minimum 24 hours in each country. 2) absolutely no flights. 3) no return to your home country until the end.
Last but not least, the Danish Red Cross came onboard as an “add on” to the project in the “final hour” of project planing.
I have been awarded the honor of traveling as goodwill ambassador where my duty is to write a short story about Red Cross activity throughout all 189 countries where they are represented.
In effect I am writing 189 stories about the same movement which, while challenging, is possible due to the great diversity within the geographical locations as well as cultural backgrounds. It has to me personally been an interesting journey into the 151 year old history of the movement.
The project motto is: “a stranger is a friend you’ve never met before”.
What inspired you to attempt such a huge challenge?
I think I basically always wanted to travel to every country in the world but thought it to be impossible unless you were a millionaire or if you had all the time in the world.
When I realized it could be done on a low budget and in less than 4 years the idea stuck with me. But most of my friends who all have children, a home, a job, a cat, a dog, a piano and a lot of debt looked at me as if I was insane so I almost didn’t do it. Not until 1 friend looked at me and said: “you know, you can get something like that sponsored!”
That was the push I needed and we got serious with the planing. I guess the most important part of achieving anything in life is really making the decision.
How far into the adventure are you and which countries have you seen so far?
I have visited 56 countries out of 203. I started in my home country of Denmark and crossed into Germany. From there I visited 37 European countries mostly by train.
From Norway I boarded a boat to the Faroe Islands and made my way to Iceland, Greenland and Canada.
In total I boarded 7 vessels (fishing boats, container carriers, shrimp trawlers) until I had crossed the North Atlantic. From Canada I was back on trains and busses until Mexico where from it was all busses down to Panama.
I crossed the Darien Gap from Panama to Colombia by boat and continued through another 6 South American countries to Chile where I am now.
How are you travelling if not by airplane?
I am traveling by “scheduled ground transportation” wherever possible. That is trains, busses and boats.
I would love to ride a motorcycle through many of these countries but the aim is to inspire others and not everyone can ride a motorcycle. Anyone can board a bus.
Sometimes I need to board a container carrier or similar in order to make it across the oceans. E.g. for Greenland there is no scheduled transportation for passengers other than airplanes so I need to get creative.
What is the most unique form of transportation you will be using?
Perhaps a canoe or a horse somewhere?
I figure that “local taxis” in some places may mean getting in the back of a pickup truck and stuff like that. So far though, getting onboard a shrimp trawler takes the prize!
Your project budget is $20 per day. Has this been difficult?
The $20/day budget has been tough in some countries. Especially in Europe. But it is not meant as a daily limit but more so as a project average.
Most countries in the world are manageable on a very low budget and lately a country like Bolivia has proven to be very easy on that budget.
How do you think this budget will hold up when you hit western countries like Australia, which are known for being expensive?
Actually I might do well in Australia as it is towards the end of the project and it might be easier to catch a couch surfers attention. Though in general western countries simply demand a higher budget.
Where have you been sleeping for $20 a day?
In cheap dorm rooms, on busses, trains, boats and I have been couch surfing. I have even had a night at a bus station in Honduras as well as I have been sleeping in Central Park in New York.
What have you been eating?
I quickly realized that I needed good food in order to maintain the energy I need for this project. This has been a real challenge for the budget at times, though I’ve been getting away with buying bread and toppings in supermarkets and making my own sandwich in a park.
Or in many countries there is good cheap food to be found on the street. Here in Chile, where most food is expensive, I recently bought a kebab for only $ 1.00 – and it tasted goooood!
Buying pasta or rice and cooking it at a hostel is also cost efficient, and many hostels have a free food shelf with leftovers from earlier visitors.
Getting fruit directly from fruit markets is also cost efficient and finally keeping an eye out for what is locally produced is often a good hint to what is cheap – and culturally adventurous.
Tell us about the ups and downs of your nomadic lifestyle.
The “ups” are easily meeting strangers and turning them into friends, but also being inspired by different ways of doing things.
I have mainly based my opinion on the USA on their foreign policies before. But now I base it on the many states I have seen and the hundreds of people I have met. I did not previously know that Andorra is such a rich country. I had no idea that San Marino had so much to offer.
From this experience I have found almost every country to be far more advanced and modern than I had previously appreciated, and I love “updating” my worldview by personal accounts. Besides, I rarely really remember a bridge, a building or even a mountain. It’s the people I meet that stay within my memory.
The biggest “down” is not having enough time. It’s always leaving when I want to stay.
With around 200 countries to visit it would take me around 4 years if I only spent 7 days in each country. On the other hand, a month in every country would add up to 16 years and my girlfriend wouldn’t wait for that!
You believe every country deserves a shot at being the best in the world…which is the best you’ve been to so far?
Well, in my opinion every country IS the best country. I normally dodge offering a direct answer by replying: “what do you mean? The best country for food, nature, relaxing, museums, culture, innovation, trekking, biking or what?”
You see, the best country depends on your focus, and I believe every country has so much to offer that it could very well be the best country in the world. I guess it’s a little like asking which is the best color.
With that in mind I state that the best country is always the country I am inside – and it is my obligation to make it so.
Will you continue to travel after having visited every country in the world?
ABSOLUTELY (I hope). There is a fair chance that I may become tired of travel for a while after returning home, but there is still so much I haven’t seen. My own country, Denmark, for instance, is pretty small but I haven’t seen it all.
Even though I have been to every country there will be much more to see and some things, places and people to revisit.
I crossed through 11 states in the USA. But I have still to visit Alaska and Hawaii some day. I went through Ecuador and Chile but still desire to visit the Galápagos and Easter Island. In some ways I like to leave something in a country which I would like to see so that I have an excuse to return.
And don’t forget Antarctica! It doesn’t count as a country so it’s not included in this adventure – but you can bet on that I will go some day!
What are three things you never travel without?
I always bring: 1) a scarf. 2) a pen. 3) my passport.
Why should people travel?
People should travel more in order to expand their minds and become more tolerant. They should travel to become inspired so that we would get new inventions, conversations and dreams.
Ultimately to create a better future. A soldier may ultimately shoot another man on the battlefield…but he may hesitate if he knew his name.PARIS/MUNICH (Reuters) - French train maker Alstom and German engineering group Siemens said on Friday they were in talks about a tie-up of their rail activities as European companies struggle to cope with competition from China.
A logo is seen on the facade of the main plant of the French engineering giant Alstom SA in Belfort, France, September 15, 2016. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen
A deal between Siemens and Alstom would mark the first industrial Franco-German alliance under President Emmanuel Macron as he pushes for greater European economic integration.
Rail mergers have become a trend over the last few years as companies seek to contain costs and compete with China’s state-backed CRRC (601766.SS).
The French government said it approved of a tie-up between the rail businesses, which have combined sales of nearly 15 billion euros ($6 billion), as long as jobs were not affected.
“It is important that we can strengthen our industrial sectors... in partnership with Germany,” government spokesman Christophe Castaner told journalists.
The government took control of a 20 percent voting stake in Alstom as part of a 2014 deal that saw the group sell its energy division to General Electric, snubbing Siemens at the time.
It has until October to exercise an option to buy that stake from construction group Bouygues.
While the French government looks on the potential deal with a positive eye, it would also closely watch the impact on corporate governance and research and development, a French source said.
“It would be a balanced marriage between the French and the Germans, the French government will want to ensure that this balance is maintained,” the source said, adding that combining two businesses would make the group competitive in a wider market.
ALSTOM OR BOMBARDIER?
Siemens has held discussions with both Alstom and Canadian group Bombardier, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
Earlier on Friday, Le Monde newspaper reported Siemens could announce a deal with Alstom as early as Sept. 26.
Siemens would contribute to the deal rail assets valued at 7 billion euros ($8.4 billion) in return for a 45-50 percent stake in Alstom, according to that report.
A source familiar with the discussions told Reuters on Friday that if the deal with Alstom goes through, Siemens would have a slight majority but Alstom’s French CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge would head the merged company.
“The prospects are better with Alstom,” another source with knowledge of the situation said. “Everything is still open, there’s a lot of movement.”
Alstom is in a stronger financial position than Bombardier, the second source said. Bombardier also wanted control of the new group which was not acceptable to Siemens.
A Bombardier spokesman declined to comment. A Siemens spokesman confirmed talks with Alstom but declined to comment on Bombardier.
Alstom and Siemens confirmed talks were under way after the close of financial markets on Friday in Europe. Bombardier’s shares were down 4.6 percent at 1719 GMT in Toronto.
“Assuming a solution can be found that both parties can agree to and anti-trust authorities allow the merger to proceed, there would be a significant opportunity to create an even stronger global signaling leader and take out costs,” analysts at Barclays said in a note.Image caption Thousands attended an atheism rally in Washington DC this March
A new poll suggests that atheism is on the rise in the US, while those who consider themselves religious has dropped. What's the cause? Two writers debate.
Recently, researchers conducting a WIN-Gallup International poll about religion surveyed people from 57 countries.
The poll suggests that in the US, since 2005:
the number of people who consider themselves religious has dropped from 73% to 60%
those who declare themselves atheists have risen from 1% to 5%
What's behind the changing numbers? Is the cause churches that chase modern trends at the expense of core beliefs? Or are those who have always been ambivalent about religion now less likely to identify as Christian? We asked two writers for their take.
Rod Dreher: Progressive churches fuel apathy
As a practicing Christian of the Hitchens sort (Peter, the good one), I welcome the news that more Americans are willing to identify as atheists. At least that clarifies matters.
I respect honest atheists more than I do many on my own side, for the same reason Jesus of Nazareth said to the tepid Laodicean church: "because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth".
About the contributors Rod Dreher is a senior editor at the American Conservative. He is the author of Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return to Roots. Dreher lives in Louisiana with his family.
David Ellis Dickerson is also the author of House of Cards: The True Story of How a 26-Year-Old Fundamentalist Virgin Learned about Life, Love, and Sex by Writing Greeting Cards. He has also contributed to the Atlantic and This American Life. He lives in Tucson, AZ.
Take this summer's General Convention of the Episcopal Church, the triennial gathering of the main American branch of the Anglican Communion.
The church's legislative body approved a liturgy for same-sex unions and removed impediments for transgender people to serve as priests.
During the debate on transgender clerics, one bishop said the proposal, if adopted, would bring about theological confusion. Another rose to say that confusion is precisely why the measure should pass. As it did, easily.
At a special communion service after the victories, a lesbian bishop of the church recited an offering prayer thanking the "Spirit of Life" for "disordering our boundaries", and asking the non-specific, non-patriarchal spectre "to feel your laughter".
Laughter indeed - but not the sort the liberal bishop was looking for, I fear.
This is not to make fun of the dignity of sexual minorities, but rather to marvel at the way these Episcopal elites run like lemmings off the cliffs of progressive extremes.
Like Wile E Coyote of the old Warner Brothers cartoons, one of these days the bishops are going to look down and see that there is no ground beneath their feet.
America's postmodern religious future would appear to belong to theological slackers who believe in a vague deity, who makes no demands and only provides psychological comfort. Who needs that mush?
They are nearly there already. The Episcopal Church, like all of America's mainline Protestant denominations, is in steep decline, and has been for decades.
Yet as New York Times columnist Ross Douthat laments, progressive Christians and secular media sympathisers are unable to admit that that their willingness to radically redefine the faith is helping drive liberal Christianity to extinction.
Douthat points out that the media freak-out over the Vatican's chastising liberal American nuns conveniently ignored the complete collapse in female vocations. Over 90% of US nuns are 60 or older. Conservative women's religious orders are the only ones growing.
Conservative US churches may be doing better, but can't gloat. According to exhaustive social science data analysed by Robert Putnam of Harvard and David Campbell of Notre Dame, all organised American religion is in demographic decline.
So, good news for atheism? Not really. Putnam and Campbell, writing in their much-praised 2010 book American Grace, found that atheism continues to be confined to a relatively tiny population, disproportionately concentrated in academia and media.
The blockbuster growth in American religion is happening among a category the authors dub the "Nones" - people who claim no religious affiliation, but most of whom believe in God.
This is the "spiritual but not religious" crowd. About 17% of America belongs to their number, three percentage points higher than mainline Protestantism.
But the Nones number is deceptively low, understating the generational wave now breaking upon the US religious landscape. Among young adults aged 18-29, 30% are Nones, and their numbers are rapidly rising.
Why?
According to the research, the young are leaving conservative churches because they disagree with traditional views on homosexuality. They chafe at those churches' association with the Republican Party.
They're not joining liberal churches, the ones that make a big deal out of welcoming and affirming gays. Instead, young adults increasingly see no reason to go to church at all.
Image caption A mourner attends a funeral service in Mt Vernon, New York, for the noted restaurateur Sylvia Woods
This rapid and widespread falling away of the young from institutional Christianity is the first harvest of what sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton dub "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism".
According to Smith's research, MTD is the default religion of nearly all American young people, both Christian and non-Christian, who are a generation of theological illiterates (Mormon youth are a fascinating exception).
MTD teaches that God exists and wants us to be nice, and that happiness is the point of life. In MTD, God, who is "something like a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist", doesn't have to be involved in one's life unless one needs something.
It's the perfect pseudo-religion for an individualist, consumerist, prosperous culture. You can see why a generation raised on MTD would have no interest in traditional religion, with its truth claims and strictures.
If God expects nothing of you but to be nice and to be happy, why roll out of bed on Sunday morning, even for the most progressive of liturgies?
America's postmodern religious future, then, would appear to belong to theological slackers who believe in a vague deity who makes no demands, and only provides psychological comfort. Who needs that mush? At least atheists have the courage of their lack of religious convictions.
The thing is, if America's historic religion had been about therapeutic self-love and bourgeois bedlam instead of rigour, repentance and reform, neither the 19th-century abolitionists nor the 20th-century civil rights marchers would have had a thing to go on.
At some point, the Nones may discover that neither MTD nor atheism can give them the otherworldly hope they need to endure and to triumph over true suffering.
Should that come-to-Jesus moment happen, there will be some churches, diminished, yes, but still extant, left to take in the shipwrecked souls.
Christian churches that traded their faith inheritance for a pot of progressive message will not be among them.
Email: rod.dreher@gmail.com
David Ellis Dickerson: Conservative churches are losing the moral high ground
Atheism in America has quintupled since 2005. Or, to put it another way, it rose 400%.
Seven years ago, atheists were barely a blip.
But more significant than the atheist numbers is the 13% drop in people identifying as "religious."
Even if some of these form the new atheists, that still leaves at least 9% who have left their religious identity entirely.
Many of these respondents are presumably the religious equivalent of undecided voters; the mushy middle that shrugs at questions like this. But now they say, "I guess I'm no religion" when seven years ago they said "I guess I'm Christian".
It's a large shift, but it's probably not a passionate one. So what caused these folks to bother changing their minds at all?
Image caption Some young Christians argue that all marriage, including gay marriage, is a conservative principle
Although this drop in religious identity comes during the spread of "New Atheism" in the wake of bestselling books by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and others, attributing this change to those works seems unlikely.
Nothing has happened in the last seven years to make the philosophical arguments for God any more or less plausible.
What's more, as a person who has read Harris and Dawkins—who both treat saying grace at dinner as if it were morally adjacent to slapping Galileo—you can hardly claim that the New Atheists have mounted an unusually empathetic charm offensive.
I give them credit for a 1% atheism bump, max. Maybe two.
So what else happened? It can't be the Catholic abuse scandal, because that started over seven years ago, and it's not just Catholic churches losing members. It's not Muslim terrorism, because hostility to radical Muslims is often more a reason to cling defensively to Christianity than it is a reason to reject all religion entirely.
And as much as my liberal friends might want to tell themselves otherwise, it can't be that people suddenly woke and realised the religious right wants to clamp down on sex, birth control and lady parts in general, as if this were some surprise tactic that only liberals were ever wise to.
Heck, that's been part of the public platform of the religious right since the Moral Majority, and people on those platforms continue to get elected to Congress.
The real issue is homosexuality.
The conservative Christian church, though it may still own the label "religion", no longer owns public morality along with it.
Consider: In the early 2000s, the Barna Group—an evangelical survey organisation that has long tracked American attitudes toward religion—discovered that, almost overnight, the reputation of evangelicals had cratered.
For the first time in Barna's polling history, Americans were more likely to view Christians negatively than positively. This attitude was especially marked in Americans aged 16-29, and so David Kinnaman, now the president of Barna, spent the next three years examining why.
When he asked these younger people what words described evangelicals, the number one answer was "anti-homosexual," at 91%. (You can see the full survey results in his book, unChristian).
Evangelicals were also called judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), too involved with politics (75%) and out of touch (72%), but any of these critiques could have been—and have been—levelled by Christians' enemies since at least the 1970s.
Only our attitudes toward homosexuality have actually changed since 2005, and that change tracks with younger respondents. So does loss of religious identity. I'm no pollster, but this does not seem coincidental.
I speak from personal experience here, too. I was raised a devout evangelical, and studied to be a pastor.
But although scholarly readings of the Bible troubled me, and although I was startled that many of my fellow students weren't Christians but still seemed like moral people, I remained a devout conservative.
Global findings Worldwide, 59% of those polled consider themselves religious; 23% consider themselves non-religious and 13% say they are atheists
Top three atheist countries: China: 47%, Japan: 31%, Czech Republic: 30%
Top four religious countries: Ghana 96%, Nigeria 93%, Armenia and Fiji, 92%
82% of Hindus said they were religious, compared to 81% of Christians, 71% of Muslims and 38% of Jews Source: WIN-Gallup International 'Religiosity and Atheism Index'
It was only when three of my friends came out of the closet in one month that I was forced to look at the consequences of my theology. It was The Literal Bible As I Understood It v My Friends, and my friends won.
Historically, friends always win. When Republicans have spoken in favour of gay rights they have always talked about their love for family and friends, and their unwillingness to yank happiness away from others.
That's the unanswerable argument: Why would God be against good people loving each other? If that's what religion is, we can do better.
This is why it's good news that mushy-middle people are saying "I'm no religion" in response to poll questions. Not because anyone's behaviour has actually changed—I doubt these folks were going to church anyway, even when they called themselves merely "religious" in 2005—but because it means that "no religion" is now the safe neutral thing to say.
It means that the conservative Christian church, though it may still own the label "religion", no longer owns public morality along with it.
This gives everyone else—other Christians, other religions, and even atheists like me—room at the conference table.
And it also means that evangelicals will have to change if they plan to stay popular enough to convert people, as they've always striven for.
For the near future, and if it can manage to, the conservative church is going to have to listen, humbly, to homosexuals and atheists who are both fresh out of the closet.
Because on this issue, those are the groups that currently have the moral high ground. If evangelicals don't change, their numbers will continue to fall.
Email: wordboydave@gmail.comFrontwire, the developer behind the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront III remake, Galaxy in Turmoil, has announced that Valve has agreed to host the game on Steam. This is a big change, as Frontwire had previously told its fans it might not be possible (on Steam proper or Steam Greenlight) due to its use of the Star Wars IP. But there was a breakthrough recently.
"It is with great pleasure that as of today I am able to officially announce that Frontwire Studios has officially signed a distribution deal with Steam/Valve for the game Galaxy in Turmoil," Frontwire president Tony Fergie Romanelli said in a statement. "After ongoing discussion between Valve representatives and myself, Valve/Steam has agreed to ship Galaxy in Turmoil to its millions of users for FREE."
Since Galaxy in Turmoil will make use of the Star Wars IP, and is unlicensed, you might be wondering if Disney will come forward to shut it down, even though Frontwire won't charge for it. Romanelli shares some of those concerns, but he isn't overly worried, it sounds like.
"I'll be honest--I've had mild concerns myself from time to time," Romanelli explained. "However, Valve clearly lacks that same concern. By agreeing to publish Galaxy in Turmoil, Valve is assisting us in growing and ensuring the longevity of the Galaxy in Turmoil project and community as a whole."
Romanelli shared an image of Galaxy in Turmoil's Steam page, but it does not appear to be live on the platform just yet.
For more on Galaxy in Turmoil, which runs on Unreal Engine 4, check out this roundup of everything we learned from a recent livestream.
Despite numerous and detailed evidence about its existence and development, LucasArts never actually confirmed that Battlefront III was in fact in production. The game has long been the subject of much rumor, speculation, and head-butting.
EA launched a new Star Wars Battlefront game in November for PlayStation 4,Xbox One, and PC--it was a big, big hit. Multiple sequels are apparently also on the way.What are the phenomena of nationalism? Here are some of them: 1) National egoism, from which many other negative traits of nationalism are derived, as for example — a desire for foreign conquest, a desire to oppress other nations, a desire to impose economic exploitation upon other nations, and so on; 2) national-chauvinism which is also a source of many other negative traits of nationalism, as for example national hatred, the disparagement of other nations, the disparagement of their history, culture, and scientific activities and scientific achievements, and so on, the glorification of developments in their own history that were negative and which from our Marxist point of view are considered negative.
And what are these negative things? Wars of conquest are negative, the subjugation and oppression of other nations is negative, economic exploitation is negative, colonial enslavement is negative, and so on. All these things are accounted negative by Marxism and condemned. All these phenomena of the past can, it is true, be explained, but from our point of view they can never be justified.
In a socialist society such phenomena must and will disappear. In the old Yugoslavia national oppression by the great-Serb capitalist clique meant strengthening the economic exploitation of the oppressed peoples. This is the inevitable fate of all who suffer from national oppression. In the new, socialist Yugoslavia the existing equality of rights for all nationalities has made it impossible for one national group to impose economic exploitation upon another. That is because hegemony of one national group over another no longer exists in this country. Any such hegemony must inevitably bring with it, to some degree or other, in one form or another, economic exploitation; and that would be contrary to the principles upon which socialism rests. Only economic, political, cultural, and universal equality of rights can make it possible for us to grow in strength in these tremendous endeavours of our community.This Black Friday only you can get unlimited access to the Ron Paul Channel without paying a cent for 30 days when you use the signup code below:
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But remember, this offer is good on Black Friday only, so sign up now!Dave Baxter, the man behind ‘Love Love Love‘, recently won a large payout from his former manager Matt Coleman. Hayden Donnell gleans some key findings from the judgment – and explains why Baxter may still never receive what he’s owed.
About a month ago, Matthew Coleman, one of New Zealand’s leading music managers (and 2010 New Zealand Music Manager of the Year), was ordered to pay $307,287.27 to Dave Baxter, a musician better known as the one-man band Avalanche City.
The High Court judgment against Coleman and his company Let The People Speak is interesting in revealing how Baxter lost out on what is known in legal circles as ‘shitloads’ of money through a combination of lax accounting and what appears to be dishonesty.
It’s also a devastatingly boring 60-page snooze-fest only a spreadsheet nerd like journalist Matt Nippert could love.
Mercifully for you, and traumatically for me, I’ve read the whole thing. Combed it for the most egregious breaches of trust. The worst examples of financial mismanagement. The most incisive legal judgments. These are my findings from a landmark case in New Zealand music.
Baxter lost money in a lot of ways, and none of them were good
How did Coleman not pay Baxter what he was due? Let High Court judge Justice Susan Thomas count the ways. She found Coleman had withheld more than $240,000 owed to Baxter through various means including:
– Under-reporting Avalanche City’s income, and keeping more than the 20% share he was owed as the band’s manager.
– Under-stating funding given to the band
– Charging for disputed expenses
– Overstating his commissions on merchandise sales
But none of those actions were as on-the-nose as this one…
Coleman siphoned nearly $85,000 of Baxter’s royalties into his family bank accounts
Some of Coleman’s actions could be explained by incompetence. In her judgment, Justice Thomas was careful to point out that one incident couldn’t be interpreted so charitably.
The judgment states that Coleman signed Let The People Speak – which represented several artists including Dane Rumble, Ezra Vine and Jupiter Project – up to receive Recorded Music NZ royalties earned by Avalanche City without Baxter’s knowledge. All the royalties collected on the band’s behalf were then paid directly into a joint bank account Coleman held with his wife, or, in one case, his wife’s personal account. Coleman never reported the income to Baxter, the judgment shows.
Coleman argued he was entitled to collect the royalties as the band’s label. Justice Thomas ruled several things:
1. He wasn’t the band’s label
2. Even if he was, he’d only be entitled to 50% of the royalties he took
3. He should’ve reported the income to Baxter no matter his role
4. Under no circumstances should income have been paid into Coleman’s personal account
She decided Baxter was owed nearly $85,000 and issued this precisely worded legal burn:
“A generous interpretation of Mr Coleman’s dealings with Mr Baxter would conclude that he had not deliberately siphoned off money due to Mr Baxter but rather displayed an inexcusably lax attitude towards accounting practices…
“The Recorded Music situation however falls into a different category. It is difficult to accept any innocent explanation of the non-disclosure of those sums.”
Elsewhere she wrote:
“The payment of the money into various personal bank accounts of Mr and Mrs Coleman emphasises |
2017
Scientists have also examined Neanderthal coprolites for clues to the complex diets of these human relatives. National Geographic, "Ice Age Hyenas Left Clues About These Ancient Human Sites," 26 June 2017
In one coprolite the researchers found the remains of three beetle species, including two wing cases and a part of a leg. Jason Daley, Smithsonian, "Researchers Use Particle Accelerator to Peek Inside Fossilized Poop," 9 June 2017
Some coastal travelers did eventually turn landward, as shown by early inland sites such as Oregon's Paisley Caves, which yielded a 14,200-year-old human coprolite. Lizzie Wade, Science | AAAS, "Most archaeologists think the first Americans arrived by boat. Now, they’re beginning to prove it," 10 Aug. 2017
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'coprolite.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.“We haven’t had any issue with crazy crowds we’re not able to handle,” Devin Maier, managing director of Balance Gym in the District, said Thursday. “But it’s nice seeing a couple of people that we haven’t seen in awhile show back up.”
(Marvin Joseph/WHome to what retailers describe as a bunch of fitness-minded, income-wielding smart people, the Washington area is hog heaven (reverse fitness pun!) for businesses hawking overpriced yoga pants and for developers launching boutique gyms. ASHINGTON POST)
So, while the “January Gym People” re-enroll and begin their annual de-bloating, there’s no shortage of comment about how to keep up the New Year’s fitness resolution, especially locally. That’s because the Washington area is home to what retailers describe as a bunch of fitness-minded, income-wielding smart people; in other words, it’s a hog heaven (reverse fitness pun!) for businesses hawking overpriced yoga pants and for developers launching boutique gyms.
Since I’m among the horde of people in too-shiny sneakers aggravating the disciplined regulars, I thought I’d compile a list of the worthwhile reading:
• Stephanie Witt Sedgwick tackles healthful eating in this week’s Nourish column. I’ll break this down for you: Eat more vegetables. It’s something many of us have read before, but the twist is that Sedgwick is offering to help reconfigure some of your favorite recipes to make them more resolution-friendly. Send your request to food@washpost.com to participate in her “Nourish Makeover” series. (Sedgwick is live-chatting Thursday at noon, if you can make it.)
• If you need to endure the uphill battle with a sense of humor (recommended), Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal has crafted a list of hysterical and true rules of conquering the gym. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I’d have to go with: “Everyone sees you secretly racing the old people in the pool.”
• Has anyone else noticed the onslaught of tech-friendly fitness apps and gadgets this time around? Naveen Selvadurai, who co-founded mobile check-in site Foursquare, tweeted Wednesday that Jan. 3 was the biggest day ever for gym check-ins on the site:
There’s Runkeeper, a free app that measures your workouts based on mapping data and spams my Facebook news feed; Big Stretch Reminder, which is pretty self-explanatory; and newbie Gympact, which charges you $5 for missing a workout. (This seems innovative at first, until you remember that there’s already a long-existing app that charges you $50 a month for only working out once a week. It’s called a “gym membership.”)
When it comes to gadgets, many of the new products look overpriced and sort of silly. Save your money for a low-carb night out on the town.
Tell us:
It’s time for a #resolutioncheckin: What’s getting you through the post-New Year’s workout frenzy? Send @PostLocal what you’re reading using the hashtag and I’ll add it to this post.If you don't know what League of Legends is, then you don't spend enough time on Twitch (which is to say that you spend an entirely appropriate amount of time on Twitch). It's one of the biggest games in the ballooning "MOBA" genre, a combination of multiplayer team-based combat and top-down RPG sensibilities that's thrived on a PC-exclusive, free-to-play model. Thanks to League of Legends' highly competitive and social setup, it's become one of the spectacle events around the new boom in professional-level video game competition.
That being the case, it's easy to see why some of the most obsessive players might want to keep track of their league and other game friends for every second of the day. Enter the official LoL social app from developer Riot Games, League Friends, which dropped into the Play Store late last night. It's essentially an instant message client built exclusively for your League of Legends friend list: you can chat about games, set up games, or even talk about things that are not games at all. Ducks, for example.
Riot says that the app will be expanded as time goes on, particularly for the official 2016 pro League season. Exactly what form those expansions will take, I couldn't guess at, since I'm more of a Rocket League player myself. Anyway, League Friends is a free download for Android 4.1 and higher.A guy who apparently got a huge Romney “R” tattooed on his temple, now wants it removed.
While he doesn’t mind having a tatoo of a losing candidate, every since Romney made his comment about Obama winning the election because he gave “gifts” to various constituencies, the guy’s been getting yelled at by strangers, and he’s had enough.
You have to love how the LA Times summed it up:
Yeah, who would have guessed that having a giant red-and-blue R tattooed on your face would lead to ridicule?
From ABC OTUS News:
“I could deal with being a part of a losing campaign, but to still stand behind Gov. Romney with the positions he’s taken post-election with the blame game instead,” Hartsburg said. “To be such a sore loser about it, to me I can’t walk around representing that.”The tattoo was meant to make politics more fun, Hartsburg said, but since Romney made those remarks strangers have been shouting lewd comments and hissing at Hartsburg on the street.
Romney made quite a splash post-election with his comments about President Obama winning the election because of his “gift”-giving:
“In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups,” Mr. Romney said. “With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest, was a big gift,” he said. “Free contraceptives were very big with young college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents’ plan, and that was a big gift to young people. They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008.”
The theme of Obama not quite winning the election fairly and squarely was repeated by Romney’s top strategist Stuart Stevens in a Washington Post op ed yesterday, who suggested that Obama didn’t really win young voters since he didn’t win young “white” voters under 30:
While John McCain lost white voters younger than 30 by 10 points, Romney won those voters by seven points
And his now-infamous line that Obama didn’t win the middle class (which isn’t necessarily true) and therefore didn’t “really” win the election:
On Nov. 6, Romney carried the majority of every economic group except those with less than $50,000 a year in household income. That means he carried the majority of middle-class voters.
So, while I’m glad tattoo guy finally saw the light about Romney, come on – it wasn’t exactly a secret that the man had a problem with 47% of the country.Story highlights A Harambe-shaped Cheeto was allegedly sold for $100k
Somewhere, Marcel Duchamp is rolling in his grave.
(CNN) In the 26th century BC, the Egyptians constructed the Great Pyramid of Giza, an architectural marvel that would remain the tallest structure in the world for millennia, and still stands to this day.
In 1499 AD, Michelangelo completed the Pieta, a transcendent marriage of classical ideals and divine imagination long considered one of the finest works ever freed from stone.
In 2017, a Flamin' Hot Cheeto that looks like a dead gorilla was put up for sale on the internet.
Well, we had a good run.
We're going to choose NOT to believe the Cheeto -- which "looks like Harambe the Gorilla" in the way any given Cheeto looks like anything -- sold for almost $100,000 after a 132-episode bidding war.
Read MoreA photo of the author, second from right I was the black guy in a white frat Nothing about the racist OU chant surprises me. I spent years ignoring white prejudice just to fit in
“There will never be a nigger in SAE!” chanted a bunch of Biebers from the dark side. The OU frat video released earlier this week shocked the nation. But not me. I never believed the lie of a post-racial America, so new heights of white shittiness don’t surprise me. Instead, my mind went to that kid who still longed to be the unwanted “nigger” in a fraternity where he’d be like Baldwin’s “fly in the buttermilk.” That black boy or girl who has no idea who the hell s/he is, who thinks that finding a home in places like the SAE house might offer some desperately needed sense of belonging. I write this in the hopes of reaching that lost black body floating adrift in the chaos of racial identity — just like I did for much of my life.
In the fall of 2003, I pledged a fraternity, the only chocolate member in the whole house. White kids trying to be black don’t count, of course. I was a blackout drunk, and I resolved long before setting foot on campus to surround myself with other blackouts, even if they were all white. Never mind that I was the first in my family to go to a proper university. Academia was the last thing on my mind. Fraternity culture gave me a place where I could indulge the way I wanted, without loved ones or teachers or longtime friends to slow me down. During orientation, I asked which houses hazed the worst and drank the hardest. It was nothing short of a drunk’s providence that landed me at 3 Frat Row.
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In the house I settled on, the hazing was mental from the jump. Older guys seeking to humiliate me and 10 other strangers laughed when, after being told in a “lineup” to actually “Fuck the wall like I meant it!,” I asked said wall if “she” enjoyed my black cock. It was a stupid bit of levity in an otherwise out-of-control 10-week hazing process. (My hell week ended with someone losing the top half of a finger. The chapter has since been shut down.) I took a bleak sort of pride in making the house’s worst hazer laugh so hard he had to leave the room, but I couldn’t see my shucking and jiving for what it was. I signed up willingly for the puking and the push-ups and the fists through panes of glass and the destruction of property and the coke-fueled misery that led to my half-assed suicide attempt and the being shitty to women and all the clichés of being a “frat dawg.”
When I passed the old group photos hung in the frat house, I would scan previous chapters for other chocolate faces. There was one from '96-'97. Another from '81-'82. Whooooaaa. One from 2000-'01. That was recent! “They’re probably all proud Republicans,” I couldn’t help but think.
At the time, I saw nothing wrong with this environment. During pledging, there was a frat brother who’d make me sing country music at dinner; no way the house colored boy would be into country, he probably wagered. Clearly, he didn’t know how white my childhood surroundings had been. In school settings, at least.
I came up in a decidedly middle-class, entirely black neighborhood in Baltimore. My mother was a government employee who worked impossibly hard, as black mothers with hardheaded black children often do. My father was a Vietnam vet who quit his warehouse job upon the birth of my younger sister to become Mr. Mom to both of us. My parents went to great lengths to assure that I received the best education the city could offer and a shot at opportunities they never got. My first and only year of public school was overcrowded and out of control: A classmate told me to say ahh, then promptly stabbed me in the roof of my mouth with a pencil. My parents’ had seen enough, and worked their magic to get me a shot at testing into the Calvert School, alma mater of John Waters, which I attended until sixth grade.
In my teen years, I went to a private school held up by many as the best in the area, but I quickly learned I wasn’t like the other boys, virtually all white and upper-middle to upper class. I spent those years being reminded of my blackness, mostly in negative ways. This alienation — coupled with static from black friends in my neighborhood for “acting white” — properly knocked my racial identity off its axis. Attempts to thrive simultaneously in both the black world at home and the white world at school soon gave way to a misguided quest for assimilation into the latter. I fried my scalp with relaxer to straighten my hair. I lusted after white female classmates, while denying that anything black could be beautiful. My father had hit me before, out of the frustration and pain of losing my older half-brother to violence and seeing me repeat his mistakes. But he didn’t touch me when I told him that black girls were ignorant and ugly. I will always remember the disappointment and heartbreak etched into his face that night.
Years after my private-school stint, my mother would ask why I didn’t tell her how I was treated at school. I mean, yadda yadda yadda, “snitches get stitches,” I’d rationalize to myself. But I also didn’t want to visit any more hurt and stress on a strong black woman who’d already sacrificed plenty. I still hear echoes of my father’s reminders that in this white man’s world, I had to be at least twice as good as my white counterparts. This was the real affirmative action. Affirm yourself, your black skin and your big lips and your big nose and your hair, even at its nappiest. Fucking love that shit, because they don’t feel obligated to. And take action, even when you don’t feel like it, even when it’s the unpopular move, because to regress is to die.
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I’d gotten the the memo outside of home as well. I just never opened the envelope. “You can fuck ‘em, but you can’t be ‘em,” warned a concerned black coach who’d noticed my group of friends’ attempts to “be” white. We could dye our hair blond and date white girls and listen to Smashing Pumpkins, but we were still black as all hell. I thought he was being harsh, but I can see now it was a message of self-love and self-acceptance I simply wasn’t ready for.
It didn’t take long for me to learn where I stood in this environment of prestige and tradition — “a diverse community of racist white people,” as one older classmate put it to me. On an overcast September day at recess, one of my first few days in this school, I was called nigger to my face for the first time. All I did to provoke this was introduce myself in an attempt to make a new friend.
And while I wanted nothing more than to put my fist through the back of that kid’s skull, I receded in the face of this ugliness in what would be the beginning of a pattern of turning more cheeks than I probably should have. Even as a pubescent little shit, I knew I had what Toni Morrison referred to in a 1998 interview with Charlie Rose as a “moral high ground” in the face of these not-so-microaggressions. Yet, it was hard to see the tactical advantage, as these classmates of mine, reflections of the bigots in their homes, like all those spiritually sick individuals suffering from the diseases of racism and prejudice, felt they occupied that high ground as well, the delirium of white supremacy making them believe their own bullshit. It took some time and some sobriety to get in touch with gratitude for attending these schools, but at the time, I wanted nothing more than to get the hell away.
I held a naive notion that college would be different. But wherever I went, there I was. During the two-month period of pledging, it seemed like that long sought-after feeling of being “a part of” was within my grasp. But it was soon after that an older brother mentioned, in an “I don’t care how this makes you feel” way that one is afforded by the cashmere womb of white privilege, that the reason people didn’t fuck with me during that time was because I was black and no one wanted to be known as the “racist house.” I was crestfallen; I’d thought it was because they really liked me. This house, racist? No! Never mind that my pledge brother had been called a “spic” in front of 100 people at a tailgate weeks before.
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When asked why I didn’t go Omega or Alpha, prestigious black fraternities known by my family and neighbors, I used the excuse that black frats were kind of a joke at my school, disorganized and sparsely populated. Yet I wouldn’t have joined them even if they were legit. The insanity and idiocy of (white) Greek life was the only normal I knew then, and the next logical step in a life of seeking white approval. Admittedly, being a lone black face in a patently white space had been my default setting throughout most of my life.
Today, I want to go back and tell my younger, frustrated, confused self that it’s going to be all right. That I’m enough. “Don’t let these Lacoste-wearing motherfuckers get you down. Your black features are beautiful. Your heritage is fucking awesome!” The self-doubt of my formative years can still creep up on my ass, and I can still feel burdened with the daunting task of “Keeping It 100" (read: keeping it real). But most of my life I’ve either kept it 17 or kept it 1000 while trying to color within the lines.
Today, I seek that middle ground, that lofty state of being: “Yourself.” All of that noise in my head — from the committee that led me through those frat house doors telling me I belonged there to the insanity of trying to spike my hair like Pauly D — stemmed from a virulent self-loathing that I’ve thankfully surmounted in the years since. It’s taken me damn near 30 years, but I’m finally learning that what other people think of me is none of my damn business and that chasing white approval, even as a means of survival, is a fool’s errand indeed.
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If I’m honest with myself, there’s still work to be done, and I still find myself struggling to find equilibrium occasionally. When even the most well-meaning friend/co-worker/girlfriend throws the “You’re the whitest guy I know” at me, it’s like Nat Turner’s ghost taps me on the shoulder and says, “Just do it.” And conversely, whether it’s at the barbershop or at a cookout, I still get the “You ain’t a real nigga ” look/line/whatever. (Was it my skinny jeans that gave it away?) I want to ask: If I walked up in Barney’s, would I not get followed, scoped out, harangued, even after droppin’ hard, legally earned stacks, only to be stopped and frisked once out on Madison Ave., cuz I should know better, right?
I like what I like, and I am who I am, But most important, I can look myself in the mirror today. In essence, I’m connecting to my own sort of black privilege. For me, that privilege is a silver lining resiliency, a mental toughness whose bedrock was laid down centuries ago by ancestors who lived more hell in 24 hours than I will in a lifetime. Through the cascading pain and injustice dealt us, and through all the shit we’ve put ourselves through worshiping false idols in innumerate forms and complexions, we have built a spiritual fortitude that can be tapped into not only to survive, but to thrive. I strive for an unshakeable pride in myself, one that must be rediscovered on a daily basis most times.
Eventually, I had to come to grips with my drunken lifestyle and start living as a sober man. So too did my blackness require a rehabilitation. All of it’s been a process not without some pain, but it’s brought me to a point where I will never be anyone’s “nigger,” in SAE or anywhere else.In general, your baby shouldn’t drink water until he's about 6 months old. Until then, he gets all the hydration he needs from breast milk or formula, even in hot weather.
Once your baby is 6 months old, it's okay to give him sips of water when he's thirsty. Don't overdo it, though, or you might give him a tummy ache or make him too full to eat well.
After his first birthday, when your baby's eating solids and drinking whole milk, you can let him drink as much water as he likes.
Why it's unsafe to give water to babies 6 months and younger
Giving a baby younger than 6 months old too much water can interfere with his body's ability to absorb the nutrients in breast milk or formula. It can also cause his tummy to feel full, which curbs his desire to feed.
In rare cases, a baby who drinks too much water can develop a condition known as water intoxication, which can cause seizures and even a coma. Water intoxication happens when too much water dilutes the concentration of sodium in the body, upsetting the electrolyte balance and causing tissues to swell.
Is it okay to dilute formula with water?
Don't try to stretch formula by diluting it with water – carefully follow the package directions for making formula and use the recommended amount of water. Adding too much water to your baby's formula not only risks water intoxication, it means that your baby is taking in fewer nutrients than he needs.
What to do if your baby becomes dehydrated
In some instances – if your baby has stomach flu (gastroenteritis), for example – the doctor might advise you to give him an electrolyte drink like Pedialyte or Infalyte to help prevent dehydration.
Learn more:
What kind of water should I use to prepare formula?
When can my baby drink carbonated or mineral water?
Is it safe to mix milk with formula?Mashable Choice highlights the best of everything we cover, have experienced first-hand and would recommend to others.
ZTE first made a splash with the Axon name last year by sending out mysterious press invites teasing what eventually became the Axon Pro.
The Axon Pro was a respectable first attempt at a flagship-caliber, budget-friendly smartphone. But it ultimately had issues with overheating and wound up being forgettable.
After using the Axon 7 for a week, it’s apparent ZTE took the lessons learned from the Axon Pro and applied them here. For a $399 unlocked phone, the Axon 7 punches way above its weight class and easily competes with phones that cost almost twice as much.
Axon 7 unboxing! Review hitting Mashable soon. A video posted by Jason Cipriani (@mrcippy) on Jul 27, 2016 at 12:14pm PDT
Slight refinements over the Axon Pro
The Axon 7 carries over the same metal housing of the Axon Pro, with minor tweaks here and there. Gone is the gimmicky dual-camera system on the back, which ZTE replaced with a fingerprint sensor below the rear-facing camera.
Metal body Image: jason cipriani/mashable Front-facing speakers Image: JASON CIPRIANI/MASHABLE
Sandwiching the screen are the same two speaker grills, but the front-facing camera breaking up the top speaker. ZTE shrunk the Axon 7 just a tad, making it shorter and a bit thinner when compared to last year’s model. That’s a good thing, as our review found the Pro to be far too tall for one-handed use.
In fact, the Axon 7 is slightly smaller than the OnePlus 3 despite both devices having the same 5.5-inch display. Speaking of the screen, the AMOLED display on the Axon 7 is a looker. Colors are bright and vivid without being oversaturated.
An Android skin that stays out of the way
Image: jason cipriani/mashable
The Axon 7 runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, with ZTE’s MiFavor UI 4.0 Android skin. As we’ve seen other Android makers do over the past few years, ZTE has taken a very light approach to the scope of tweaks and customization.
For example, there’s a nifty wallpaper feature that changes your lock screen images every time you wake the device. You can even swipe through images on your lock screen should you get bored.
One aspect of the lock screen I didn’t like at first but grew fond of was that notifications aren’t prominently displayed at all times. Instead, you have to tap on a notification icon to display alerts on your lock screen. It’s an extra step, and an annoying one to adjust to, but at the end of the day you gain some privacy and an unobstructed view of the lock screen images.
Image: jason cipriani/mashable
You can expect only a few system apps pre-installed outside of Google’s standard affair, but nothing like an AT&T or Verizon phone loaded with everything from VZ Navigator
Because the Axon 7 is unlocked to work with AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks, ZTE doesn’t have to bend to carrier demands and overload the phone with crapware. Meaning, you can expect only a few system apps pre-installed outside of Google’s standard affair, but nothing like an AT&T or Verizon phone loaded with everything from VZ Navigator (seriously, how is that still a thing?) or a DirectTV remote app.
Another appreciated option ZTE implemented is the ability to change what the soft keys on either side of the home button do when touched. Prefer to have the back button on the right side of the home button, like on Samsung’s Galaxy line? Or would you rather have the recent app button there? Well, you can set it to do that too. Overall, ZTE’s approach to software on the Axon 7 is to get out of Android's way.
Fast and reliable, but one gripe
Inside the Axon 7 is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of memory, 64GB of storage, with microSD support up to 128GB and a 3,250 mAh battery. These specs parlay into a device that runs fast, with little if any performance issues. Battery life was more than enough to get through a day of use. Granted, it’s not going to last through an all-day sesh of Pokémon Go, but I don’t know of a single device that would.
Equipped with Quick Charge 3.0, you can go from a complete dead battery to 50 percent in around 30 minutes.
USB Type-C Image: jason cipriani/mashable Expandable storage Image: JASON CIPRIANI/MASHABLE
On a few occasions, I caught the phone in the midst of rebooting while sitting on my desk. It’s hard to say what caused the sporadic restarts. It could have been an app I installed, or something with the device itself. Though I do have the same exact set of apps installed on over a dozen Android devices right now and don't have this issue.
Outside of the random reboot, my biggest complaint about the device's overall performance is related to the fingerprint sensor waking and unlocking the phone. This isn’t even really a performance issue, but more of a user experience dilemma. (At first I thought it was a performance hiccup.)
Image: jason cipriani/mashable
As with the 2015 crop of Nexus devices, you can place your finger on the Axon 7’s fingerprint sensor to simultaneously wake and unlock the device. Most of the time this occurs without issue. But when the Axon 7 doesn’t recognize your finger there’s a short vibration and nothing else happens. The screen remains dark and fails to provide any more information as to what the vibration meant. At first I assumed the device was unlocking, but the display wasn't properly lighting up.
To clear up any confusion, it would be nice to have an error message on the display to let you know what is going on. Mind you, the Nexus 6P vibrates once when it successfully reads your fingerprint and twice when it doesn’t.
Gimmick-free camera
Image: jason cipriani/mashable
The dual-lens setup on the Axon Pro was nothing more than a cheap parlor trick for adding depth-of-field to a picture. Thankfully, ZTE realized this and did away with it for the Axon 7.
Now you’ll find a single, 20-megapixel camera on the back and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. Video capabilities include 4K recording. There are several shooting modes built into the camera app, each one designed for a different setting including sports, slow motion, and panoramas.
Crisp shots Image: JASON CIPRIANI/MASHABLE Low-light shooting Image: JASON CIPRIANI/MASHABLE
Overall, the camera snaps crisp photos in outdoor settings where there’s adequate light. In low-light scenarios, auto-focus takes a bit more time to sharpen and photos come out a bit on the grainy side.
Daydreamin’
Those interested in using Google’s forthcoming virtual reality platform Daydream will be happy to know the Axon 7 is ready for it. While that means little to users today, it will prove beneficial later this year when Google releases Android 7.0 Nougat and its Daydream headset.
Of course, that means ZTE will need to update the Axon 7 to Nougat shortly after Google makes it official.
$400 well invested
Image: jason cipriani/mashable
Just a few weeks ago, OnePlus made a big splash with the OnePlus 3, and it was well deserved. The OnePlus 3 is a solid phone and well worth the $400 price tag.
And so is the Axon 7. Actually, it beats the OnePlus 3 in terms of screen quality, megapixel count, and Daydreaminess. At this price, you get a fast phone that takes sharp photos and is ready to turn into a VR machine when the time comes. At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with the Axon 7 or the OnePlus 3 if you’re shopping for an unlocked device on a budget.Add your name now to tell President Trump you want him to sign the American Anti-Corruption Executive Order.
Email Copy and paste the text below into a new email message Hi, I just added my name to this campaign calling for President Trump to sign the Anti-Corruption Executive Order. Will you add your name too? https://act.represent.us/sign/Trump-Executive-Order/?source=taf Here's the deal with the campaign: Trump campaigned on a promise to Drain the Swamp - but he's halfway through his first 100 days, and Washington is mired in corruption scandals. So anti-corruption experts drafted an Executive Order for him, and all he has to do is formalize and sign it. The Order would go into effect immediately and would enact popular reforms, including stopping his appointees from getting wined and dined at fundraisers, and forbidding them from attending fundraisers hosted by foreign interests. Trump made anti-corruption a huge part of his campaign, which is why this campaign could win. Hope you'll join the effort!
President Trump campaigned on a promise to Drain the Swamp – but Washington is still mired in corruption scandals.
We decided to make it easy for him to get started.
We've written an Executive Order that President Trump could sign to take immediate action to Drain the Swamp. If enough people sign on, we can build the pressure to get him to sign it.
This model Executive Order was crafted by senior counsel at RepresentUs. It includes nine of the most popular reforms that mirror the American Anti-Corruption Act, and that Trump could actually put in an Executive Order.
It would:
Stop political appointees from being wined and dined at political fundraisers.
Require federal contractors to publicly report their political spending.
Ban appointees from organizing or attending political fundraisers hosted by foreign governments.
All Trump has to do is formalize and sign it.
Add your name now to ask President Trump to sign the American Anti-Corruption Executive Order.Soul Jazz Guitar Licks
Soul jazz has an interesting place in the history of jazz. It’s where jazz, blues, and rock met a decade before jazz fusion became ‘a thing.’ In the 50s and 60s the lines between these different styles were pretty blurry. Was T-Bone Walker a jazz or blues artist? What about Ray Charles, or Jimmy Smith? Putting these soul jazz guitar licks into your vocabulary is a great way to expand your jazz and blues playing.
Much of this music that straddled the line featured the guitar playing of either Grant Green or Melvin Sparks. Let’s take a look at some of great jazz guitar licks these players played.
Soul Jazz Guitar Licks
Melvin Sparks
Melvin Sparks played on many recordings by Lou Donaldson, Sonny Stitt, and Idris Muhammad. He played mostly out of the pentatonic scale-which was typical for this style, but would use more blues mannerisms than many of the other jazz guitarists playing soul jazz. He would frequently bend strings and use some of chitlin-circuit licks that Jimi Hendrix later became known for using.
Our first lick comes from a Jack McDuff recording of the tune “Snap Back Jack” and uses hammer ons and double stops. The lick is based on an Eb chord-it could be major or dominant, and is from the Eb major pentatonic scale.
The second lick is from a great Lou Donaldson recording called “Everything I Play From Now On Gonna Be Funky” in Bb. Here we have some creative uses of the minor pentatonic scale and repeated notes. He also uses some bends here to make the lick funky. The second half of this lick uses double stops and ends with a bend on the b3.
Green With Soul Envy
Grant Green was a fantastic bebop player, but many feel he really made his name playing funky. His album Live at the Lighthouse is sited as a huge influence on many players.
Double Stop Licks
Green played double stops frequently and made them funky. Our first lick is from the tune “Iron City” from the album of the same name. The lick is over a G7 chord. He starts it out playing a 5th and ends it with a funky half step bend line going back to the tonic.
The second lick uses another double stop-this time a minor 6th between the 5th and flat 3rd. This lick ends with a simple pentatonic lick again going back to the root.
Our third lick is a very simple repeating lick that is very effective. Green uses repeating licks in many of his solos, even dating back to his bebop days. This one is a pull off lick from the b5 to the 4 and flat 3rd. Again, he resolves it to the root.
The final lick from Grant is from the tune “Down Here on the Ground” which has been used as a sample for some hip hop groups. The lick is a pretty simple minor pentatonic lick in the key of D.
If you play either jazz or blues, adding some killing soul jazz guitar licks into your playing will give you some new things to work with.
RelatedStory highlights Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner said Wednesday that Trump's administration has not contacted him about violence in Chicago.
Trump threatened in a tweet Tuesday to "send in the Feds" to Chicago.
(CNN) Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner said Wednesday that Donald Trump's administration has not contacted him about violence in Chicago.
Rauner, a Republican, made the comments in response to a question about Trump's tweet Tuesday night, when the President wrote, "If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible 'carnage' going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!"
Asked on WGN radio's " Steve Cochran Show " whether Trump has called him about helping to decrease violence in Chicago, Rauner replied, "He has not. Our administration, I've asked and it's happened now for the last 18 months, our administration has been in conversations with members of at the DEA and at the FBI. We continue to talk to experts around the country, we continue to believe it's not the right thing for us to send in the National Guard."
Rauner also said that in addition to a surge of Illinois state police in the short term, he thinks the solution to the problem lies in "more equitable school funding, more equal school funding."
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, said Wednesday that he would "welcome, always have, welcome federal participation in working with local law enforcement to dealing with guns and gangs," adding that many guns come to Chicago from out of state.
Read MoreStory highlights The girl's mother was babysitting the infant
The baby died of massive internal injuries, police say
(CNN) An 11-year-old girl in Ohio has been charged with murder after she allegedly beat a 2-month-old baby to death.
The girl, who is not being named because of her age, went before a juvenile court judge Monday and was ordered to undergo a |
2016. But US doctors said they found no evidence of the illness.
"Let us state the facts plainly: Otto Warmbier, an American citizen, was murdered by the Kim Jong Un regime," said US Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona.
President Donald Trump condemned the "brutal regime" and lamented the loss of a young man "in the prime of life."
"Otto's fate deepens my administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."
South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent his condolences to Warmbier's family, as well as a letter, the presidential spokesman confirmed.
Warmbier had not spoken or moved in any purposeful way since his return, a condition his doctors called " unresponsive wakefulness " also known as persistent vegetative state. He had suffered significant brain damage during his imprisonment.
The family thanked the staff at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for doing everything they could for their son in his final days.
"Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today."
Trip ends in allegations
Otto Warmbier was a University of Virginia student when he was detained in January 2016. He had signed up for a trip to North Korea with Young Pioneer Tours travel group. It was to be a brief stay followed by a visit to Beijing.
But as he tried to depart from Pyongyang's airport, he was stopped in security.
According to the North Korean government, Warmbier was detained because he had stolen a political poster from a restricted floor in his hotel. The next time the world saw Warmbier he was distraught, breaking down in front of Korean journalists in a video North Korea released in February 2016.
He admitted to the crime and begged for forgiveness. He pleaded to be released. Instead, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.
His death led Young Pioneer Tours to announce it would no longer offer US citizens trips to North Korea. The group said it was denied requests to meet Warmbier or anyone who'd been in contact with him in Pyongyang, only receiving assurances that he was fine.
"The devastating loss of Otto Warmbier's life has led us to reconsider our position on accepting American tourists. There had not been any previous detainment in North Korea that has ended with such tragic finality and we have been struggling to process the result. Now, the assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high."
Kenneth Bae, a US citizen who was detained by North Korea for 735 days before his release in 2014, described Warmbier's death as an "outrage" and a "tragedy."
"We plead with the US government, the international community, and leadership in North Korea to value human lives. Every life is important -- Otto's life, lives of the American detainees, and the lives of each person in North Korea," Bae said.
"I pray that these innocent people suffering in North Korea are not forgotten in this high-stakes game of weapons, sanctions, and international diplomacy," he added.
Three US citizens and a Canadian pastor are still being detained in North Korea.
How the US secured his release
Warmbier's father last week praised the Trump administration for bringing his son home and criticized the Obama administration's approach, saying the family heeded the US government's initial advice to take a low profile "without result."
After being briefed on the situation, Trump directed Tillerson to take appropriate measures to secure the release of American hostages there, a senior State Department official told CNN. Tillerson began the effort and routinely updated the President.
Then, on June 6, State Department special representative Joseph Yun learned of Warmbier's deteriorating health in a meeting with North Korean UN Mission Ambassador Pak Kil-yon in New York City, the senior State Department official said.
Yun went to North Korea on June 12 with a medical team to secure Warmbier's release, the official said. Yun and two doctors visited Warmbier that morning, marking the first time the United States was able to confirm his status since he was sentenced in March 2016. Yun immediately demanded that Warmbier be released on humanitarian grounds and arrangements were made for him to leave.
He was evacuated the next day and reunited with his family in Cincinnati.
"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13 he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished," the family's statement said.
"Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that."Scientists unveil 20 new species... including a giant blue scorpion and massive hairy spider (how DID we ever get by without them?)
For 20 years, field scientists working with Conversation International have been exploring some of the world’s most abundant, mysterious and threatened tropical ecosystems.
To date, they have discovered more than 1,300 species new to science - although so far only 500 or so have been formally described by taxonomists, in terms of classification and naming.
And now, to celebrate their 20 years of cataloguing, the group has released 20 of their favourite finds.
While some - like the fish that flashes a beautiful array of colours when it is in love - make a great sight, others are more than likely to quiver, such as the giant blue scorpion, or the ants which hook on to each other with sharp barbs when threatened.
And arachnophobes - take a deep breath, because this is what is thought to be the largest tarantula known to exist - oh, and it eats lizards.
Brave scientists: To discover a species such as the goliath bird-eating spider is one thing - to put your hand next to it is quite another
Sends a shiver: This is the largest (by mass) spider in the world, reaching the weight of 170g and a leg span of 30cm
The giant spider is the G oliath bird eating spider (theraphosa blondi) and is the largest (by mass) spider in the world, reaching the weight of 170g and leg span of 30cm.
It was observed by Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program scientists in Guyana in 2006, where it lives in burrows on the floor of lowland rainforests.
Despite the name, it feeds primarily on invertebrates - but have been observed eating small mammals, lizards and even venomous snakes.
They have venom fangs, which are not deadly to humans, but their main line of defense are hairs that cover their entire body – when threatened their rub their legs agains the abdomen and send a cloud of microscopic barbs that lodge in the skin and mucus membranes of the attacker, causing pain and long-lasting irritation.
The Emperor scorpion (Pandinus imperator): With an eight-inches-long body, this is one of the largest scorpions in the world (a species from India is reputedly slightly longer)
Poised in attack mode - but maybe this scorpion is here to help, as his pigment may help combat cataracts Meanwhile the emperor scorpion (pandinus imperator) has an eight-inches-long body, this is one of the largest scorpions in the world - a species from India is reputedly slightly longer. Observed by scientists in Atewa, Ghana in 2006. Despite their enormous size they feed primarily on termites and other small invertebrates, and its venom is not particularly harmful to humans. The venom of this species contains compounds that are being tested as potential drugs to control arrhythmia (a heart disease) and the blue fluorescent betacarbolines that cover its body (visible only in ultraviolet light) are studied in order to understand degeneration of proteins in human eye lenses, which leads to cataract blindness. RELATED ARTICLES Previous
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Next The real Angry Birds: Finches' personalities match their... Can I get a lift, mum? Tiny snail climbs aboard mother's... Share this article Share Not new to science, but observed by the RAP team, is the fish-hook ant. Scientists, as well as mammal and bird predators, think twice before messing with this large (1.5 cm) ant in the forests of Cambodia - their curved spines can easily slice through skin and tend to hold on for a while. These ants live in large numbers in nests in dead tree trunks on the forest floor, and when attacked they swarm out and hook onto each other, making extracting an individual ant by a predator difficult.
The hooking together behavior is inadvertent - they do not seek each other to hook together - but nevertheless quite effective as a defense mechanism. Ants play an important ecological role as scavengers - they are often some of the first organisms to feed on dead insects and animals, which help to recycle organic material back into the ecosystem and to keep dead animals from piling up. A fish-hook ant spotted in Cambodia in 2007: These ants live in large numbers in nests in dead tree trunks - their curved spines can easily slice through skin and tend to hold on for a while When attacked the ants swarm out and hook onto each other, making extracting an individual ant by a predator difficult The RAP project's achievements are highlighted in the new book 'Still Counting…' edited by Leeanne Alonso, Director of CI's Rapid Assessment Program in collaboration with other leading scientists. Part memoir, part historical report, part methodology guide, 'Still Counting…' revisits RAP expeditions to some of the most remote and least known areas on the planet, recounting the physical challenges and personal highlights experienced by its scientists and features more than 400 amazing color photographs of rare and exciting species from around the globe. 'It's been an amazing adventure,' said Alonso, who has coordinated and led surveys for the past 13 years. 'Despite the pressures we put on nature, it continues to mystify, inspire and teach us with a wealth of hidden treasures and ecosystem services that people rely on, and that we're still only beginning to understand.' To mark the twenty years, CI has designated the Top 20 'RAP stars' of the program's history. Species include some of the most biologically surprising, unique, or threatened discoveries of the teams' surveys, and include poster species that have captured the public's and media's imagination with popular nicknames like the 'Pinocchio frog'. Launched in 1990, the idea behind the creation of CI's Rapid Assessment Program was to build a team of the best field biologists from different disciplines, and create what CI founder, CEO, and Chairman Peter Seligmann described in the foreword to the book as 'An ecological SWAT team that could accurately assess the health of an ecosystem in a fraction of the time it would normally take'. Among the program's achievements, are the completion of 80 surveys in 27 countries, including 51 terrestrial RAPs, 15 MarineRAPs and 13 freshwater AquaRAPs.
The next animal on the list is the strumigenys tigris ant, which lives in the leaf litter of rainforests of Papua New Guinea. This tiny ant, about 2 mm long, walks around with its mandibles held wide open so that it can capture small invertebrates with a lightning fast snap. Its colour pattern may help it blend into the rotting sticks in which it lives. Predaceous ants such as these help to keep populations of small organisms in balance.
This tiny ant (about 2 mm long) walks around with its mandibles held wide open so that it can capture small invertebrates with a lightning fast snap
The ant, carrying a larvae, blends in with its surroundings Nyctimystes is a large tree frog, approximately 15cm long, with enormous eyes was found next to a clear running mountain river during an expedition to Papua New Guinea’s highlands wilderness in 2008. It belongs to a group of frogs with an unusual vein-like pattern on the eyelid and its tadpoles have enormous sucker-like mouths that allow them to graze on exposed rocks in torrential stream environments. The abundance and diversity of amphibians are indicators of an ecosystem's general health. Amphibians are often referred to as 'the canary in the coal mine', as they have permeable skin meaning that they all too easily absorb toxins or pollutants to which they are exposed, making them some of the first species to disappear from ecosystems declining in health. Their disappearance can be used as an early warning sign that something bad is happening to a given environment - including environments humans inhabit.
A large tree frog, approximately six inches/15 cm, with enormous eyes was found next to a clear running mountain river in Papua New Guinea
Uroplatus phantasticus, is 'the satanic leaf-tailed gecko', observed in Madagascar in 1998 - the species was first described in 1888.
The gecko is the smallest of 12 species of bizarre looking Leaf-tailed geckos and are nocturnal, with extremely cryptic camouflage.
They are only found in primary, undisturbed forests, so their populations are very sensitive to habitat destruction. Large uroplatus species have more teeth than any other living terrestrial vertebrate species.
In 2004, WWF listed all of the uroplatus species on their 'Top ten most wanted species list' of animals threatened by illegal wildlife trade, because of it 'being captured and sold at alarming rates for the international pet trade'.
The satanic leaf-tailed gecko was observed in the Mantadia-Zahamena corridor of Madagascar in 1998: They are usually nocturnal animals - and very sensitive to landscape changes
The tube-nosed fruit bat nyctimene, from the Muller Range mountains does not yet have a name but has been found in other parts of New Guinea. It is likely restricted to hill forests on the island. Fruit bats are important seed dispersers in tropical forests.
What a hoot: The tube-nosed fruit bat is likely restricted to hill forests on the island of New Guinea. Fruit bats are important seed dispersers in tropical forests.
This genus of salamanders has fully webbed feet which help them climb high into the canopy of tropical forests; they also have no lungs and breathe instead through their skin
The w alking shark (hemiscyllium galei), found in Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesia in 2006, can swim, despite the name.
However, it prefers to walk along the shallow reef flats on its fins, preying on shrimp, crabs, snails, and small fish. They emerge above the reef, show off their grandeur with lateral displays and just as quickly dive back into their coral lairs.
The chinchilla tree rat was discovered in the Vilcabamba mountain range, very close to the world famous ruins of Macchu Picchu.
It is pale grey in color, possesses a stocky build, has large claws, and is characterised by a white stripe along its head.
It is related to the chinchilla rats which are known to have been buried alongside the Incan people in their tombs.
The fact that this is a new genus (i.e. a group of individuals that have similar characteristics) made the discovery even more exciting for the team, as it suggests there could be many more similar species just waiting to be uncovered.
Don't be fooled by its name, this shark can swim! However, it prefers to walk along the shallow reef flats on its fins, preying on shrimp, crabs, snails, and small fish
The chinchilla tree rat was discovered in the Vilcabamba mountain range, very close to the world famous ruins of Macchu Picchu
The peacock katydid (Pterochroza ocellata) observed on an expedition to Guyana's Acarai Mountains in 2006.
It is a large rainforest insect that employs two effective strategies to protect itself from predators: at a casual glance it looks just like a dead, partially damaged leaf, but if threatened is suddenly reveals a pair of bright eye spots and starts jumping excitedly, which gives the impression of a giant head of a bird suddenly pecking at the attacker.
Males of this species produce very loud but almost entirely ultrasonic and thus inaudible to humans courtship call.
Peacock katydids are found across the Guiana Shield in lowland, undisturbed rainforests. While not currently threatened, their survival is closely tied to the survival of their habitat.
The RAP katydid (brachyamytta rapidoaestima) – discovered in Ghana and Guinea is a newly discovered species and a sit-and-wait predator, hiding on the underside of leaves, and attacking small insects that make the mistake of landing on the leaf.
Males communicate with the females by producing ultrasonic songs that are inaudible to humans.
It was named after the RAP program because it was first discovered during a survey in 2002 and it lives in the most threatened habitats of West Africa that the RAP program is trying to save.
At a casual glance it looks just like a dead, partially damaged leaf, but if the peacock katydid is threatened is suddenly reveals a pair of bright eye spots and starts jumping excitedly
So.... er... Don't mess with it Dragonfly platycypha eliseva have a unique combination of colors which differentiate it from other species; specifically the yellow tipped abdomen and the red and white tibiae
Blattodean are insects are known from a single cave in Guinea's Simandoa Range, discovered in 2002
The dragonfly platycypha eliseva, discovered in 2004, has a unique combination of colors which differentiate it from other species; specifically the yellow tipped abdomen and the red and white tibiae.
The species was found on three clear sandy streams within 5km of the Congo River.
Two streams were in dense forest and largely shaded, while the other ran along an oil palm plantation and was largely sunny. The species may be localized: despite being conspicuous, it is absent from the substantial collections from surrounding areas.
Dragonflies are good indicators of water quality since they need clean water, aquatic nymphs feed on other insects and aquatic organisms (predators), adults are also predatory and thus help to regulate insect populations including mosquitoes, serve as food for larger animals.
Many dragonfly larvae are voracious predators on mosquito larvae and have been used in human-health programs to control disease-carrying mosquitos
Moving on to fishes, the male paracheilinus nursalim go through an amazing courtship ritual in which "electric" colours are flashed periodically to attract nearby females
The courtship dance takes place every afternoon, beginning about one hour before sundown and continuing until dusk.
The modified mouth and lips allow the fish to feed, breathe, and attach to the substrate through suction.
Parental care is usually well-developed and the male guards the eggs and sometimes the larvae.
Meanwhile the RAP katydid (brachyamytta rapidoaestima) discovered on a survey in Ghana and Guinea.
This newly discovered species is a sit-and-wait predator, hiding on the underside of leaves, and attacking small insects that make the mistake of landing on the leaf.
Males communicate with the females by producing ultrasonic songs that are inaudible to humans. It was named after the RAP program because it was first discovered during a survey in 2002 and it lives in the most threatened habitats of West Africa that the RAP program is trying to save.
The male paracheilinus nursalim goes through an amazing courtship ritual in which 'electric' colours are flashed periodically to attract nearby females
The RAP katydid newly discovered species is a sit-and-wait predator, hiding on the underside of leaves, and attacking small insects that make the mistake of landing on the leaf
The honeyeater was discovered at an altitude of 1,650m (5,445 feet) above sea level, in the Foja Mountains of Western New Guinea
A new species called'smoky honeyeater', discovered in the Foja Mountains of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea in 2005.
The honeyeater was discovered at an altitude of 1,650 m (5,445 feet) above sea level, in the Foja Mountains of Western New Guinea.
This medium-sized, sooty-gray songbird has a short black bill, and each eye is surrounded by an orange-red patch of bare skin, below which hangs a pendant wattle. It is these features that distinguish it from the more widespread Common Smoky Honeyeater.
In addition, the species is exceedingly quiet, rarely giving any vocalizations. The Wattled smoky honeyeater is a common and unwary inhabitant of the Foja uplands. The Honeyeater eats nectar and thus pollinates flowers, it also eats insects and thus helps to regulate their populations, food for larger animals
The 'Pinocchio' frog has a long, protuberance on its nose that points upwards when the male is calling but deflates and points downwards when he is less active
This frog (litoria sp. nov.) was also discovered in the Foja Mountains in 2008.
The frog has a long, Pinocchio-like protuberance on its nose that points upwards when the male is calling but deflates and points downwards when he is less active, represents a particularly distinctive find that scientists are interested in documenting and studying further.
Its discovery was a happy accident, after herpetologist Paul Oliver spotted it sitting on a bag of rice in the campsite.
The abundance and diversity of amphibians are indicators of an ecosystem's general health. Amphibians are often referred to as 'the canary in the coal mine.
Amphibians have permeable skin meaning that they all too easily absorb toxins or pollutants to which they are exposed, making them some of the first species to disappear from ecosystems declining in health. Their disappearance can be used as an early warning sign that something bad is happening to a given environment - including environments humans inhabit.
Meanwhile the ET salamander - bolitoglossa - found in Ecuador in 2009.
This genus of salamanders has fully webbed feet which help them climb high into the canopy of tropical forests; they also have no lungs and breathe instead through their skin.Ammon Bundy, leader of the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, has gone from counting the days of the occupation to counting the days behind bars.
Thursday marked his 37th day in a single cell at Portland's downtown jail on federal conspiracy charges.
"It's the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life,'' said Bundy, his hair cut short and wearing the standard blue jail smock over a pink T-shirt in a visiting room of the Multnomah County Detention Center. "But I don't regret what we did because I knew it was right.''
Bundy led a group of protesters in seizing the bird sanctuary Jan. 2 in Harney County to protest federal control over public land. He was arrested Jan. 26 along with other key occupation figures on their way to a community meeting 100 miles away.
Bundy said he misses his wife and six children in Idaho -- three daughters and three sons ages 1 to 13 -- and struggles to maintain contact with them through letters and phone calls.
To pass the time, he takes inspiration from the jailhouse words of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. about the importance of civil disobedience, reads passages from Scripture, keeps a journal and tries to respond to the more than 220 people who have sent him letters since his arrest. He also runs in place and does jumping jacks in his 7-by-12-foot cell to keep in shape.
During an hourlong interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive, the 40-year-old spoke about the surprise of his arrest, his father's influence on his beliefs, the police shooting of occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum and his future.
He said he had gone to Burns to rally behind two local ranchers who were returning to prison for burning federal land and even his wife didn't know he was planning to end up at the wildlife refuge.
"I began to look at what we can do to make a stand, to make a point, demonstrate that this is not OK, much like many others have done in our history,'' he said. "We needed to make a lot of noise to get people to understand what is happening.''
Ammon Bundy interview at Multnomah County Detention Center 43 Gallery: Ammon Bundy interview at Multnomah County Detention Center
He's satisfied that the occupation drew national attention to his cause.
He doesn't feel responsible for Finicum's death or his 24 co-defendants who also face federal indictment, he said.
"Everyone made their own decision,'' Bundy said. "We're all adults.''
Bundy said he knew his arrest was a real possibility, but he was surprised when the FBI and state police moved in while they were traveling to John Day to meet with residents there.
"We were headed with weapons of laptops, projectors and PA systems and they attacked us - literally ambushed us with a standing army,'' Bundy said. "Yeah, we were surprised because we were going peacefully to a community meeting. We were legally moving about the country peacefully the way that people should be able to do.''
He never considered not surrendering to officers at that point. "Why wouldn't we?'' he asked.
While Bundy's older brother, Ryan Bundy, 43, and their father, Cliven Bundy, are being held in the same jail, they have no contact at all, he said.
He described his father's arrest as he stepped off a plane in Portland as "vindictive." Cliven Bundy, 69, faces federal charges for the 2014 standoff near his Nevada ranch when armed militants confronted federal rangers in a dispute over grazing fees. His dad had flown all over the country since 2014 and was never bothered before now, he said.
"I'm grateful for him teaching me to do what is right, no matter what the consequences are,'' Ammon Bundy said.
He hung his head and talked softly when he described how hard it is being away from his wife and children.
"We are in here locked away and our families are trying to survive, and they're struggling out there especially when we were the primary breadwinners,'' he said. "My babies are at home. My beautiful wife is at home. Everything is at risk right now for us, as far as our income, our house. But we have to ask ourselves - was it worth it? I believe it was.''
He wakes up and reads Scripture and each night at 5:30 p.m, he calls his family. They discuss the passages they read that day -- a family tradition. The calls can't exceed 15 minutes.
"We were not and have never been ashamed of what we did,'' Bundy said.
He holds out hope that his side of the story will prevail in court.
"We went into a public building and we did a demonstration,'' he said. "I believe that this will be recognized for what it is and we will be able to go home to our families. It will take us some time.''
-- Maxine Bernstein
mbernstein@oregonian.com
503-221-8212
@maxoregonianImage copyright AP Image caption The president has been keen to show his sporting prowess
The president of Turkmenistan, which has a hot desert climate, has ordered his government ministries to create their own ice hockey teams.
President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has urged his nation to become a sporting power and regularly shows off his own sporting activities.
He recently proclaimed a "Week of Health and Happiness".
The president has ruled the gas-rich nation since 2007 and enjoys absolute power, with orders rarely challenged.
Concrete staircase
Summer temperatures in the capital, Ashgabat, hover around 45C but there are two large winter sports stadiums.
Speaking at the finals of Turkmenistan's first youth ice hockey tournament on Wednesday, the president ordered state enterprises and government departments to create ice hockey teams.
The BBC's Rayhan Demytrie says the interior ministry became the first government body to follow the edict. The police are said to be following suit.
She says Mr Berdymukhamedov is proud of his own athleticism, with state media often showing him riding horses, cycling, practising martial arts or racing cars.
Earlier this month, state workers performed mass physical exercise and were encouraged to climb an 8km (five mile) concrete staircase built into a hillside outside Ashgabat.
Mr Berdymukhamedov's predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, who died in late 2006, built a cult of personality in the country and was responsible for a number of maverick policies, including banning opera and renaming the months.
Mr Berdymukhamedov, who won presidential elections in February with 97% of the vote, has tried to ease the nation's isolation, courting international investment.Last August, I reported on the case of Walt Stanton, a graduate student at Claremont Theology School who, with a group called “No More Deaths,” deposited bottles of water at points in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, an 18,000-acre area on the Arizona-Mexico border. Stanton and his group have no particular position on the illegal immigration issue—they just think that the immigrants shouldn’t die from dehydration. The Justice Department, however, saw the offer of a drink of water as a criminal act, and brought charges. In the absence of any clear criminal statute that would cover the situation, the prosecutors argued that Stanton’s act of Christian charity was in fact “criminal littering.” Under heavy pressure from the feds and a federal magistrate who made his intention to convict plain, Stanton agreed to 300 hours of community service in lieu of a prosecution.
As it turns out, Stanton should have stood his ground. Some of Stanton’s colleagues pushed the case and appealed their conviction. Now the Court of Appeals has handed down its less-than-astonishing decision: leaving purified water in sealed containers for human consumption is not “littering.” The convictions were overturned, and the Justice Department was given a smackdown.
One judge on the panel saw things differently: Jay Bybee. He argued that the statute, which prohibits “littering, disposing, or dumping in any manner of garbage, refuse sewage, sludge, earth, rocks, or other debris,” was actually intended to criminalize Samaritans who offer a drink to illegal immigrants. This is the same Jay Bybee who wrote a series of memoranda for the Bush Administration in which he concluded that a specific criminal prohibition–against torture–was so hopelessly vague and unclear as to be meaningless. He and his colleagues at the Office of Legal Counsel approved waterboarding, premised on the notion that the torture sessions would be limited by the number of bottles of water used to induce drowning. (CIA-procured waterbottles are now being examined by prosecutors in Poland and Lithuania investigating crimes committed at black sites on their soil.) So while Bybee concludes that simulated drowning of prisoners was perfectly lawful (a position repudiated even by the Bush Justice Department before it left), he concludes that leaving a bottle of water for a person stranded in a desert so as to forestall death is a crime.
Bybee’s impeachment and removal from office has been openly discussed in Congress for some time. An internal ethics review by the Justice Department concluded that he had engaged in serious professional misconduct and recommended referral for bar disciplinary action. The recommendation was, however, blocked in a political maneuver. Bybee is currently the only member of the federal judiciary who is himself the subject of a pending criminal investigation—now being pursued by two judges of Spain’s Audiencia Nacional looking into the torture of Spaniards held at Guantánamo, apparently using procedures that Bybee authorized. While the United States is refusing to cooperate with the criminal inquiry (violating its treaty obligations to Spain in the process), Bybee risks arrest if he ever leaves the country.Carter signed an 11-year, $58 million deal with the Philadelphia Flyers in November 2010 but now will be joining his third team since agreeing to it.
Acquired in a blockbuster deal with Philadelphia last summer, Carter was expected to center the Blue Jackets' top line with captain Rick Nash, who is also rumored to be on the trading block leading up to Monday's NHL dealing deadline. But Carter missed 20 games with a broken foot and a separated shoulder. He had three goals in the Blue Jackets' previous game and has 15 goals and 10 assists in 39 games this season.
Carter will now be reunited with forward Mike Richards, who was traded by the Flyers to the Kings last June on the same day Carter was shipped to Columbus in a major Philadelphia housecleaning.
"I am obviously excited," Carter told the Kings' website. "I am familiar with the team and a lot of guys on the team.... I looked at the Kings at the start of the year as being a club in a good position to win. I look forward to coming to L.A."The Dogecoin Race Car Is A Reality And It Is Every Bit As Amazing As We’d Hoped
A few weeks back, we told you how supporters of the Dogecoin virtual currency had banded together on Reddit in just a few days to raise enough money to sponsor NASCAR driver Josh Wise’s car. The car itself has finally been revealed and it is, well… it is.
Wise’s racing team unveiled the Dogecoin car last night on Twitter, and the paint job is so much better than we’d expected based on the initial sketches.
Not only does it feature the thoughtful Shiba Inu dog that sparked the Dogecoin meme, but the design also incorporates some random thoughts popping into its head. Where else at a NASCAR race are you going to see a car with the word “shibe” painted in comic sans on its hood for no reason other than it’s funny?
Here at Consumerist HQ, we think Wise might actually gain a competitive advantage by driving such a frickin’ awesome vehicle.
“Can you imagine being another driver and passing that car with that dog looking at you?” imagined one of my colleagues. “It would go, LOL->crash->hospital.”
Not that we wish a crash on any driver; we just think the Dogecoin car will be hilariously distracting.
The Dogecoin car will make its debut this weekend during the Aaron’s 499 Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.
[via dailywhat]Teen wunderkinds Babymetal are slated to release their sophomore effort, Metal Resistance, on April 1 via RAL/Sony Music Entertainment. Check out the tracklisting and cover art for the new album below, which is available for pre-order with CD and special bundles now.
Read more: Let’s talk about Babymetal
Metal Resistance will follow-up the band’s self-titled debut album. The forthcoming record’s first single, “Karate,” will drop this coming Thursday, Feb. 25. Babymetal will also be hitting the states later this year for the “Babymetal World Tour 2016.”
Tracklisting:
1. Road of Resistance
2. KARATE
3. Awadama Fever
4. YAVA!
5. Amore
6. Meta Taro
7. From Dusk Till Dawn
8. GJ!
9. Sis. Anger
10. No Rain, No Rainbow
11. Tales of The Destinies
12. THE ONE – English ver.
Dates:
Wednesday, May 4 – Playstation Theater – New York, NY
Thursday, May 5 – House Of Blues – Boston, MA
Saturday, May 7 – Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA
Sunday, May 8 – Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion (Festival) – Concord, NC
Tuesday, May 10 – The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD
Wednesday, May 11 – The Fillmore – Detroit, MI
Friday, May 13 – House of Blues – Chicago, IL
Saturday, May 14 – Northern Invasion (Festival) – Somerset, WI
Tuesday, July 12 – Showbox SoDo – Seattle, WA
Thursday, July 14 – Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
Friday, July 15 – Wiltern Theater – Los Angeles, CA
Sunday, July 17 – Chicago Open Air (Festival) – Bridgeview, IL
Watch more: APTV interviews Babymetal at their first US festivalDo you want a new Alice game from American McGee?
You’ve come to the right place…
“Every adventure requires a first step. Trite, but true, even here.”
American is hard at work on design, art, and story for the next chapter in Alice’s adventures. “Alice: Asylum” will present the story before “American McGee’s Alice,” with young Alice fighting through the trauma of losing her family.
Show your support for this effort in 4 easy steps:
1. Sign the mailing list!
Let’s show how many people want a new Alice game! Because your support matters! Provide your email address and name to be added to the Alice: Asylum fan list. We promise not to spam you with unrelated emails.
Be sure to click the link in the verification email to complete the sign-up.
2. Follow American on Social Media!
Follow American on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook for updates on project development. Join the weekly live-streams on YouTube to give direct feedback and suggestions to American and the pre-production team!
3. Support “Asylum” Pre-Production via Patreon!
American is sharing pre-production art, design, and planning via his Patreon Page. You can support these efforts and get directly involved in the feedback process via our dedicated Discord Server by becoming a Patron for as little as $1 per month.
Unique backer rewards are available too! Like this “White Rabbit Collector Set” which will be physically mailed to eligible supporters once we hit 3222 Patrons.
You’ll get design and art updates like these before anyone else…
4. Purchase American’s official merchandise at his online shop!
Mysterious has everything from Vorpal Umbrellas to Autographed Art Prints. Proceeds go to support American’s creative efforts.
That’s it! 4 easy ways you can support Alice’s next adventure into Wonderland. Remember, as Cheshire says, “Threats, promises and good intentions don’t amount to action.” Take action NOW!Q: Is it possible to be a pro racer in Europe but still be based in the US?
IB: There are a few riders who have tried that before, to spend more time in the US, but they always have some sort of European base. Whether it’s in Nice, Italy — maybe Tuscany somewhere. And some people go back to the US more so than myself. For me, as someone who comes from the west coast, it’s a lot further to get home compared to someone who lives on the east |
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